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Word of the week: Regeneration

Posted on October 6, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The thread of Christianity from generation to generation depends on a mutual understanding of our important words. Hence the Word of the Week.

Past Words of the Week have included Justification, Transcendence, Immanence, Propitiation, Sanctification, Glorification, Orthodoxy, Heresy, Omniscience, Aseity, and Immutability.

I then went to a series examining each of the 9 characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and on December 29, 2018, wrapped up the Fruit series with Self-Control.

Now it’s back to individual words of the week. I’ve chosen Angel, and last time, Exegesis.

Today … Regeneration

heart of stone verse

Regeneration, JI Packer

Regeneration is the spiritual change wrought in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit in which his/her inherently sinful nature is changed so that he/she can respond to God in Faith, and live in accordance with His Will (Matt. 19:28; John 3:3,5,7; Titus 3:5). It extends to the whole nature of man, altering his governing disposition, illuminating his mind, freeing his will, and renewing his nature

Regeneration, Matt Slick

Regeneration is a change in our moral and spiritual nature where justification is a change in our relationship with God. Also, sanctification is the work of God in us to make us more like Jesus. Regeneration is the beginning of that change. It means to be born again.

To understand why we need regeneration I recommend two sources. Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will, and Jonathan Edwards’ Freedom of the Will. The two men aren’t actually contradicting each other, they say the same thing: man is born with a sin nature that he cannot escape, change, or modify.

In 1524 Luther argued that humans’ sinful nature rendered them slaves to wickedness, free only to sin unless by the intervention of God’s sovereign grace. Read Bondage of the Will for free here, or buy at any book sellers’ outlet.

In this text published in 1754, Edwards investigates the contrasting Calvinist and Arminian views about free will, God’s foreknowledge, determinism, and moral agency. Read Freedom of the Will for free here, or buy at any book sellers’ outlet.

Further resources:

Short devotional from Ligonier:
The Grace Of Regeneration

GotQuestions

What is regeneration according to the Bible?

Verses, just a few on the topic:

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5).

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26).

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

theology

Thanks for celebrating 10 million views with me. Here are some of my faves over the years

Posted on October 5, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In blogging for ten years and in seeing some of the essays that have received the most views, I’m excited to see what the Lord is doing through my small ministry. But I also see some of my favorite essays receiving a more disappointing number of views. That’s the way it goes. I’m always surprised by what catches readers’ fancy.

In the ten million views since this blog was founded, discernment essays comprise most of the top-viewed essays. There are also cultural apocalypses that garner a lot of attention, and when I write to debunk those, those essays get a lot of attention, too. I hope people aren’t too disappointed when they click in to The End Time hoping to see something positive about, say, Comet Elenin’s alleged imminent smashing into earth, or the Hopi 2012 apocalypse, only to find a debunking, lol.

The theological essays don’t receive as much attention, and that’s OK I suppose. I’m hoping that’s because the readers receive plenty of teaching at their own churches or from bigger online ministries like gty.org or ligonier.org.

But here are my favorites. I write often about the pre-tribulation rapture. In these days, people have begun to heartily destroy the blessed hope of His coming to snatch away His church. Some say the event won’t happen at all, or others say it will happen at the end of the Tribulation, meaning the church will go through the wrath/judgment that the book of Revelation predicts. No.

It is also prophesied that people will mock and scoff at notions such as the prophecies of future wrath and even prophecies such as the Rapture. (2 Peter 3:3, 1 Timothy 4:1). But is IS a predicted event, as seen in John 14, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15. So since it IS an event, the only question is when will this event occur. Understanding the wide scope and sweep of prophecy scattered throughout the Old Testament and the New will hopefully show to the earnest seeker the timing to be the removal of the church prior to the judgment. The church will not go through the judgment. I am personally, biblically, convinced of this.

But it seems to me that we need now more than ever to defend the fact of the event of the rapture and the fact of the rapture occurring prior to the Tribulation. Hence some of my favorite articles:

Why pre-tribulation rapture is doctrinally correct

Some more Pre-trib Comfort

More on rapture being pre-tribulation

10-min excerpt: from full sermon titled The Final Generation of the Future Judgment, that’s linked below

Full sermon:
The Final Generation of the Future Judgment

I also enjoyed researching and writing the “Day in the Life of: Series”

Day in the Life of a: Seller of Purple

Fisherman

Tanner

Shepherd

Potter

Scribe

Roll call in Heaven was encouraging to me, I hope it is for you too. From 2011.

Hagar in the desert drinking from the well of life, is another fave of mine. From 2013.

I think about the New Earth a lot. How beautiful it will be!

Thanks for celebrating 10 Million views with me this week. Starting Monday I’ll be back to regular blogging I have some queries, some suggestions, some requests for blogs, which I’ll write; plus some drafts already in the pipeline Thanks again and all for the Glory of God.

theology

Celebrate 10 Years/10 Million views with me

Posted on October 4, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

810b2-grace2bgrace2bgrace

I’ve been blogging here daily for ten years. The Spirit has caused ten million viewings of the material at my site. It’s a weighty responsibility to be given a spark to write about the glorious of the Son of God. I feel it.

I blog about things I hope are encouraging. I also blog about natural history topics, personalities in the Bible, theology, the prophecies of the Bible, and discernment items.

Though all believers are called to hone their discernment skills (Hebrews 5:14), to some He gave an extra dose, as a specially set apart gift of the Spirit. This is seen in 1 Corinthians 12:10,

To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:10).

I feel I’ve been given that gift and I feel strongly that I am called to employ it steadfastly, constantly, and without embarrassment or apology. As such, many of the essays here have been written for the purpose of warning others of the result of my tests to distinguish between spirits. As you might expect, many of those are essays that are in the top ten all time popular essays. There are some though you might be surprised to see as having been launched into the top ten and remaining there.

In 2016 the phenomenon of Chip and Joanna Gaines vaulted to Christian consciousness. These two are a popular HGTV renovation married couple with a passel of children who live in Waco, TX. They also say they are Christian. A short video testimony produced by Baylor University, a private Christian university in Waco, Texas, reveals that Joanna communed audibly with God, who promised her her heart’s desire as she struggled with the notion of stay at home motherhood: a media platform and fame. He told her this.

Lots of plaudits ensued. ‘Wow, a famous couple on TV who are also Christians!’ I was saddened to see the lack of discernment from so many believers, and perplexed as to this couple overall, so I researched. As with Beth Moore and so many other famous Christian women, Joanna says one thing and does another, and the ‘doing another’ is usually antithetical to the roles the women have been biblically called to.

Joanna is President of a multi-million dollar mega-corporation with operations of and tentacles in book writing and publishing, speaking tours, restaurant, stores, furniture marketing, real estate, media stars on a TV show, and more. On television she presented herself as whole-heartedly devoted to her children, a humble, almost always stay at home, hammer wielding mum, but the reality is far from the truth. I dared to say so.

#4 most popular all-time essay-

The hypocrisy of HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines of ‘Fixer Upper’

Coming in at #5 was my 2015 discernment essay about Dr. David Jeremiah
UPDATE, Dr David Jeremiah’s shocking apostasy

#6 was a 2011 essay about Jentezen Franklin, the Law & Fasting false teacher

Jentezen Franklin, and his false teachings on fasting

#3 and #8 were my attempt to use discernment to debunk some of the more silly prophetical proclamations when the 4 Blood Moons occurred in 2013 and Comet Elenin was approaching in 2011. I enjoy studying prophecy and it grieves me when the glorious future promises through prophecy are abused and diminished in this way. I offered logic and scripture in a three-part series on the Blood Moon scenario, and it was the last in the series that launched into the top ten and stayed there.

Do the four blood moons of 2014-2015 have prophetic meaning? 3/3

And the same for Comet Elenin, a planet-sized previously undiscovered astronomical body predicted to pass between the earth an the moon in late 2011, fueling the increasingly manic 2012 doomsday scenarios.

Comet Elenin is coming

Tomorrow I’ll close out this week’s celebration with some essays that haven’t been ‘popular’ but I enjoyed writing and are my own favorites.

Thanks for reading!

discernment, theology

In 10+ years of blogging and ten million views, some more of the popular essays

Posted on October 3, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Sunday marked the day when the counter on my blog showed 10 million views. Ten million times eyes have passed over something written here. Over ten years of daily essay publishing (4,955 of them) and now 10 million views. I feel the weight of responsibility to readers and especially to the glory of Jesus.

Some of the more popular posts have stood out, and always surprise me with what becomes popular. I’ll be posting the popularly viewed essays this celebration week. I’ll also be posting some of my personal favorites that didn’t receive so many views. The top was the Sideways cross necklace, and in the top ten was the Ghost Horse of Tahrir Square.

1. Sideways Cross Necklace

2. Ghost Horse of Tahrir Square

For 8 solid years, I’ve been blogging against Beth Moore’s ministry and teaching. Since 2011 when I became aware of her mode of living, her method of study, and her manner of delivery, I have loudly and constantly decried all that she is about. In the early years, really until 2018, it’s been a slog. In the early years, there were precious few fellow bloggers warning about her danger to women and the church. The push-back I received of this deeply embedded minister of satan was pitched and sometimes virulent. Hence the comment from a reader that she was surprised that the top viewed essay wasn’t one of my discernment lessons on Beth Moore. I was too.

Below is the only mention of Beth Moore in my top ten all-time viewed, from August 2014. It was partly about Moore, but also about the difficulty in determining the moment that a person, or a church, should make the decision that a certain teacher is no longer to be trusted or followed in their teaching.

In the case of this essay, it was the moment when Moore partnered with heretic Joyce Meyer. Moore appeared on Meyer’s TV show. In a bitter irony, the topic was “Unity.” Moore praised Meyer as a sister and gushed about how happy she was to be on her show.

It had been easy for followers, the less mature, and the undiscerning to ignore Moore’s profligate lifestyle of wealth and feminism, her preaching to men in flagrant violation of 1 Timothy 2:12-13, her terrible eisegesis, her self-centeredness, but this photo shook many out of their slumber. It was hard to ignore the meaning:

So I wrote the following:

At what point does one declare a teacher like Beth Moore false?

If you have a discerning person in your church, please understand they are there to employ a gift from the Spirit, not a harassment to torture you in your love for certain teachers.

Author Dan Phillips wrote a helpful list of warning signs of false teachers called Red lights. I recommend it.

It occurred to me that many might be served if we offered warning-signs of (at worst) false or (at best) unreliable teachers. Here are a number of such indicators. Some are instantly obvious; others only over the passage of time (cf. 1 Tim. 5:24).

As always, thank you for reading!

theology

In 10+ years of blogging and ten million views, what’s been another popular essay?

Posted on October 2, 2019October 3, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This week I’m celebrating the Holy Spirit’s sustaining work in this ministry by noting that He’s brought ten million views of the material on this blog. I’ve been blogging daily for over ten years and on Monday the blog passed ten million views. I’m posting some of the most popular posts and also some of my own favorites.

In the Spring of 2011, it seemed that the Middle East erupted in chaos and coup. One country after another suffered civil unrest to outright revolution. This period came to be known as “Arab Spring.”

In February of 2011 I wrote about an unusual happening at the revolution in Egypt that occurred in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. High above the proceedings, a MSNBC reporter was filming from the hotel room and the video caught a ghostly apparition swooping down, over, and then upward over the crowd. It seemed to be a ghostly greenish horse with a rider in flowing robe. It brought to mind one of the 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse in Revelation, the horse that brings pestilence.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:8).

The Greek word pale for the color is chloros, or pale green.

No one could quite explain the apparition, though many saw it and it was captured on several different video cameras.

I’m intrigued by the glimpses the Bible gives us of “the other side”. We know that the other side is close…Elisha’s servant was given a glimpse of all the chariots in the air surrounding them at the city of Dothan. The King of Aram wanted to capture Elisha. Elisha’s servant quaked. When Elisha prayed for the LORD to open his servant’s eyes to see the help they were receiving from ‘the other side’, He did and the servant saw them. (2 Kings 6:17)

We know that at the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, John, and James were talking with Jesus and suddenly He was transfigured and speaking with a transfigured Moses and Elijah who were suddenly standing next to Him. (Mark 9:2–4).

We know that Jesus appeared and disappeared into another dimension by coming through locked doors or disappearing from crowds. (John 20:19, Luke 4:30).

While Daniel was still praying, the angel Gabriel appeared. (Daniel 9:21)

Where IS “the other side”? Close by? Perhaps!

Is there such thing as ‘leak-though’ of the other side to this, where we can see or hear glimpses of the activity there? Perhaps, and maybe that is what this Ghost Horse (Or Apocalypse Horse) was. My point in the article below though, was not simply noting the unusual occurrence. It was to also note that when such things happen, people think of the Bible. The innate fear of God we all have instilled in us (Romans 1:18-20, Romans 2:15, Ecclesiastes 3:11) comes out when unexplained events like this occur.

Here’s the original article. You might also enjoy:

Sky Noises/Sounds of the Apocalypse continue to perplex, frighten

—————————————-

The MSNBC crew, filming from above Tahrir Square, seemed to catch a neon horse hovering above the people and flying to the sky.

The Tribulation opens with its first set of judgments described in Revelation 6. They are the seals. The first four seals are the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse. The first Horse is white, that’s the antichrist. The second horse is red, that is war, or peace taken from the earth. The third seal is the black horse, of scarcity and famine. The fourth horse is a pale green, Greek word Chloris like the sickly green of bleach. That one is pestilence and disease.

I DO NOT believe the horsemen have been unleashed. The church is not gone yet, and we are not under judgment but are free from accusation. I do not believe or disbelieve that the horse is could or could not be moseying around on the earth. It could be a delusion perpetrated by demonic angels. It could just as easily have been a reflection of the glass of some kind. The Bible records an incident where Elisha’s servant was wobbly in his courage before a huge battle, and Elisha, God’s Prophet, asked the LORD to open his servant’s eyes so he could see that they were not outnumbered in the battle, but indeed has a legion of angels in chariots were all around them.

And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

What I am saying is that the unbelieving world is so on edge, that when they see a reflection or an apparition like this one in Egypt, they think of the Horsemen of Revelation. Suddenly the Bible comes to their mind… not Hopi prophecy, not Edgar Cayce…the Bible.

The video is making the rounds like wildfire late last night and early this morning. It is freaking people out. It does not matter if the neon horseman was real or not real, it is causing a reaction among people. Christians, capitalize on that. Show them that the unseen world is very, very real and very, very eternal.

Perhaps their spirit is convicting them that there is more to the events in the world than their unsaved minds would let them believe, and that these events are connected. We can see that people need to have the truth: angels ARE all around us, demons ARE all around us, that in fact the unseen world is more real than this one which is temporary. I pray that people who are attracted to the videos of the recent apparition will allow the Holy Spirit to convict them and they repent. If they do, one day they will have the scales fall from their eyes and they will see into the eternal future of glory with Jesus.

theology

In 10+ years of blogging and ten million views, what’s been the most popular essay?

Posted on October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 by elizabethprata

Elizabeth Prata

In ten years of daily blogging, there is a lot of material here at The End Time. Some of the more popular posts have stood out, and always surprise me with what becomes popular. I’ll be posting the popularly viewed essays this celebration week as this blog passes the 10 million views mark. I’ll also be posting some of my personal favorites that didn’t receive so many views.

This post about the sideways cross necklace fad vaulted to the top of the views list and has stayed there since it was posted in spring of 2013. It has remained the top-viewed post on The End Time for the last 6 years.

In my opinion, the most compelling question I’d asked below is, would you be offended if your church laid the cross on its side?

————————————–

The latest Christian fad- Is wearing a sideways (horizontal) cross good, or bad?

Kelly Ripa has one. Taylor Jacobson, Rachel Zoe’s assistant has one. Jessica Biel wears it too. Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, Jillian Michaels…all sport one. (And if you know who those people are, more power to you.) It has been described as “wildly popular”, “the hottest trend,” “totally cute”, and the “in fashion.” What is it? The sideways cross necklace.

Any time there is innovation related to anything in Christianity, we perk up. Our first question should be “What does it mean?” Why do we ask this first? We must be reverent-

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,” (Hebrews 12:28)

“And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” (Revelation 19:5).

Fads are nothing new. They affect Christianity just as they affect the world. Most often, fads are related to doctrine, movements, or worldwide phenomena in the ecclesiology department, affecting preaching. As Phil Johnson says of fads,

“In the past two decades we have seen a relentless parade of phony miraculous phenomena, and literally millions of Christians have jumped on this bandwagon, running from one charismatic fad to another, desperately trying to get in on the latest display of divine power.”

But there are Christian merchandising fads, too. Love Dare diaries from Fireproof, Courageous Decree, WWJD bracelets, prayer blankets… fads, fads, fads. As Phil Johnson asked in 2005 of the merchandising fads, “Shall we sell our birthright for a mess of faddage?”

“So why has the recent culture of American evangelicalism—a movement supposedly based on a commitment to timeless truths—been so susceptible to fads? Why are evangelical churches so keen to jump on every bandwagon? Why do our people so eagerly rush to buy the latest book, CD, or cheap bit of knockoff merchandise concocted by the marketing geniuses who have taken over the Christian publishing industry?”

Some of the beginner-level fads have seemed harmless enough—evangelical kitsch like Kinkade paintings, Precious Moments® collectibles, singing songbooks, moralizing vegetables, bumper stickers, Naugahyde® Bible covers, and whatnot. Such fads themselves, taken individually, may not seem worth complaining about at all. But collectively, they have created an appetite for “the ugly and the superficial.” They have spawned more and more fads. Somewhere along the line, evangelicals got the notion that all the fads were good, because the relentless parade of bandwagons gave the illusion that evangelicals were gaining significant influence and visibility. No bandwagon was too weird to get in the parade. And the bigger, the better.

Johnson goes on to say that somewhere along the line bandwagons become Trojan horses. I recommend Pastor Johnson’s essay in its entirety.

Is it bad to wear a sideways necklace? I’d written a few days ago about hair, clothes and jewelry, here: “Adorned in Christ, how should we dress for Holy Week?” In that essay I’d mentioned, ” 1 Timothy 2:9 says “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,” and went through the historical reasons for that admonition and the one in 1 Peter 3:3.

So we ask again, is it bad or wrong to wear a sideways cross necklace? Is it respectable apparel?

I looked for a definitive interpretation of the horizontal cross, and though a definitive one was lacking, I found the following in most places I looked:

One interpretation holds that wearing the cross sideways means that “humanity is positioned right in the middle of heaven and hell. This makes it a neutral symbol.”

This seems like an innocuous and even a pleasant notion. But, no, there is no neutrality. There is no middle road. The cross stands as a blazing dividing point between heaven and hell, between history before and after, between unforgiven and forgiven. In fact this is an insidious teaching that is contrary to what the Bible teaches. Either you believe and you’re saved as a son of God, or you do not believe and you are condemned already as a child of hell. (John 3:18, Matthew 23:15, Hebrews 3:19). Humanity is already in either heaven or hell.

Another interpretation holds that: “Because of this meaning, some people say that wearing a sideways cross necklace means that you are aware of your place in this existence; And that you are grounded here on earth.”

Again this is contrary to what the Bible teaches. Christians who believe by faith in the Gospel have a home in heaven. This earth is not our home. (Hebrews 13:14). We are not to love the world or anything in the world. (1 John 2:15). If you are a Christian wearing a sideways necklace to show you are grounded here on earth, either you have a flawed idea of what Christianity is or you have no clue about the glory that awaits.

“There are also people who believe that the sideways orientation of a necklace symbolizes Jesus Christ carrying the cross, this is one of my favorite interpretations.”

But He is not still carrying the cross. He died and rose again from an upright cross, declaring that it is finished. (John 19:30). That supercedes the Savior’s carrying of it.

“It has also been based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The horizontal orientation of the necklace connotes that Jesus Christ has actually risen and that the cross has already been laid down to signify that humanity has been saved.”

This is also a false notion. It sounds Christian-y but it is actually untrue. First, He didn’t lay down the cross. And nether are we commanded to lay it down, we are to take it up (Mark 8:34).

Secondly, humanity has not been saved, only those who are in Christ are saved. For the unsaved billions, a sideways cross would be a futile symbol. What about them?

No, more to the point, if you’re going to symbolize things, ‘Lay down your arms’ means it is being dispensed with. It is over. Done. Fighting is stopped. You accede, acquiesce, quit, surrender.

Yet Christians are called to pick up our cross, not lay it down. (Luke 9:23). We are called to arm ourselves and fight, taking up the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13). Wearing a sideways, laying down cross seems antithetical to what we are called to do in scripture.

And how many times are we called to stand? We are not standing in our own strength, either, but stand in Jesus. (Romans 14:4). His cross is still standing! Why would we ever signal that we are laying down our Christianity?

If you are not all that into symbolical interpretations of these things, and just want to wear a horizontal cross without all the hoo-haa, then before wearing sideways cross jewelry, ask yourself these questions:

Does it make you, the wearer, consumed with how the jewelry makes you look? (1 Peter 3:3).

It’s trendy, but should we join hands with the world and monkey with the 2000 year old symbol of our faith just to be “in”?

Would you be offended if your church laid the cross at the church altar on its side?

Is it a silent statement against Christianity, a rebellion?

Is it making a commodity out of the Gospel by monkeying with its traditionality for the sake of fashion and money? Remember, Nadab and Abihu innovated a sacrificial service, and were killed for it. (Leviticus 10:1-2). Not that I am saying you will be killed by God if you wear a sideways cross, certainly, but is innovation proper? God gave us our faith, the holy Bible, and its symbols. The most important one is the cross. God didn’t have Jesus die on a guillotine, or by the sword. He died on a cross, and that was for a specific, holy, perfect reason. Do you really want to innovate that, when God set it forth in perfection in the first place?

If there is this much confusion about its meaning, can it be good?

Does it exalt Jesus? Or bring confusion to the symbol and its universally understood meaning for the past 2000 years?

Are you succumbing to a merchandising fad? “That is the culture the evangelical movement deliberately created when it accepted the notion that religion is something to be peddled and sold to consumers like a commodity. That was a major philosophical shift that created an environment where unspiritual and unscrupulous men could easily make merchandise of the gospel.” ~Phil Johnson

The Bible says that there will be fads and they come on the backs of greedy teachers bringing false words- “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” (2 Peter 2:3).

Here is the most compelling reason not to wear a sideways cross!

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up
John 3:14, Numbers 21:9.

theology

Ten Years; Ten Million Views- Celebrate with me

Posted on September 30, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Yesterday marked the day when the counter on my blog showed 10 million views. Ten million times eyes have passed over something written here. Over ten years of daily essay publishing (4,955 of them) and now 10 million views.*

Ten. Million. Views.

How did this happen? What was the origin? How can I celebrate the Spirit’s work through me and not make it about me? I hope to celebrate His sustaining grace in this piece. Please bear with me if I am clumsy about it. I want to boast in Him.

Origins of The End Time blog

I was saved by God’s grace, His massive and perfect grace, in early 2004. Eighteen months later my life changed in Maine and I was able to move to Georgia. I began attending church and studying the Bible.

It was a thrilling time. The answers I’d sought all my life were revealed to me by the illuminating and gracious Holy Spirit. Ha! I knew the earth didn’t just bang open! Yesss! I knew there was an absolute moral code, somewhere. Voila! There is a reason for our existence! These questions had plagued me for years. The futility of life’s big questions without the answers clouded my mind with a persistent overarching darkness all along. I was captive to the darkness of the evil one. I kept seeking the Light, but I’d never found it. When He came in His timing, the Light dispelled that darkness and offered reasons, satisfaction, and the rhythm of sanctification. I was relieved to hand over my life to the One who knows me better than I do, and leave living my futile Ecclesiastes life behind.

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
Westminster Shorter Catechism

I was so thrilled with learning all about Jesus that I began writing email newsletters to my friends sharing what the Spirit was illuminating in my mind from scripture. I loved connecting the dots, in the Old Testament and the New to the new outlook that Christ gives us. My worldview changed from the one I’d held for 42 years to the one the Lord was now knitting in me. The email list grew. More people wanted to be added. I sent the newsletter on Saturdays, filled with the rush of knowing why there was evil in the world, why the world hated Israel, why Jewish people were hunted and persecuted throughout the ages, why earthquakes and tornadoes happened. Entropy was real, i.e., the gradual decline into disorder, but the reason was sin. It was all so clear now. Though disorder exists, there is no such thing as chaos. What relief to learn that God was in control.

Though disorder exists, there is no such thing as chaos.

I looked at the news and I looked at the Bible and it was just so amazing. In my email newsletter, I did some newspaper eisegesis, matching the news that was turbulently flowing through America at the time and also the world. Remember Arab Spring? Remember the collapse of the Fourth Estate journalism in the 2007 Obama campaign for President? Journalists’ skewed political reality presented to Americans combined with the failure of diligence in what was supposed to be a watchdog for the voiceless American caused great turmoil. That was the time in which I was thrust, looking at the events occurring before me and then seeing the Bible’s prediction of it all (in theme and concept, not in details).

I began writing publicly on my The Quiet Life blog, of these and other Christian things. My personal blog was turning Christian, and I was posting more and more of these thrilling theological concepts.

If you listen to early John MacArthur (1969-1971 or so), he also engaged in some newspaper eisegesis. I understand the urge. I don’t apologize for mine in the early days. How can I? The Lord was opening my eyes to the evilness of the secular worldview and instilling in me His glorious eternal worldview. Suddenly everything all made sense! But I’m also glad that He grew me out of it. I’ve noticed over time the more one sticks to newspaper prophetical eisegesis the more wonky the ministry gets. I was happy to eventually turn to straight theology covering all God’s doctrines. My eyes need to stay focused on Jesus. I am definitely sinful and frail human.

With my personal blog filling up with theology, by January 2009 I decided to start another blog devoted to it completely. That was the beginning of this blog The End Time. I named it so because we are in the end time, the time between the first and second coming of Jesus. The time is near. The world will end, and all the unforgiven souls with it. I feel the urgency. I do not want to forget that in the next moment of time we could be taken to heaven and the wrath of God that has been promised, will unleash. He tells us twice in Revelation that the time is near.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:3).

Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.” (Revelation 22:10).

I was still thrilled and excited. I wrote every day. I still write every day. The way the Lord structured my life at that time, I didn’t need to work full time for about two years, though I was writing freelance feature articles for the Athens Banner Herald. I could and did devote myself at every spare moment to study and learning His word and on writing the blog. I felt the Lord pouring into me the concepts he wanted me to learn and retain, and a firehose rate. This was good, I spent 43 years in the dark. I had lost time to make up for.

I started listening to Adrian Rogers, Woodrow Kroll’s Back to the Bible radio program, and to John MacArthur. I was learning knotty theological concepts like election and Old Testament prophecy. I read all the OT prophets, from Nahum, Zephaniah, and Amos and the rest, to Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel. I learned later that people usually turn to the New Testament first, but the Spirit had a different path for me.

Since January 6, 2009 I’ve written an essay at The End Time every day. Including this essay, I’ve written 4,955 compositions. Every day. Only in the recent year have I even repeated any material. Unbroken, each day (if I remember correctly) I’ve written about Jesus and His ways.

But can a human think up almost 5000 ideas for essays? All based on the same book? No, at least I know I would not ever be able or even want to do that. It is not me but the strength and wisdom and creativity of the Holy Spirit that aids my brain in composing what I hope are glorious exaltations of Christ and His precepts. It is not me, but Him. I’m writing this as a celebration of His sustaining work in giving a person a ministry and carrying it through to perform His intended works.

I marvel at the Spirit’s work. I’m just an anonymous, old lady in an obscure part of a southern state in declining America, writing tiny essays of my thoughts and reactions to the Word of God, and yet the Spirit sustains it daily.

I’ve wrestled with whether to even note the milestone of 10 million views, because I want this to be about the Spirit’s work, but if I don’t celebrate the milestone, then how can the Lord be praised for it? He gave me the grace to be regenerated, the mind to understand His word, the life to have time to write, His word to read and study, His spirit to illuminate, the skill to write…it’s all Him.

At various times I’ve thought I should stop. Haven’t I said all what the Spirit wanted me to say? After nearly 5000 essays what more can there be to say? Goodness, He has shown me more of His intellect, brilliance, and infinite-ness in continually providing understanding of the word on the page. Nothing has shown me more of the word that is living and active than to have been granted an opportunity to delve into it and see its life go forth in my heart and out to the world every day for ten years.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to show us Christ. ~John MacArthur

This week I’ll be posting some of the most viewed essays at The End Time. Meanwhile please read this Ligonier essay about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and His marvelous grace in illuminating the word to our minds s that we may see Christ and what He does with that information he brings alive in us through the various permanent gifts.

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

*The ten million views occurred on The End Time at Blogger. When I created this mirror WordPress blog, there was a limit of how much you could transfer, so the first year of material didn’t upload to WordPress.

theology, word of the week

Word of the Week: Perspicuity of Scripture

Posted on September 29, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Knowing and understanding our historical theological words helps the next generation continue the thread of common understanding of our great faith. Hence the Word of the Week.

I’ve been asked for the list of all the essays I’ve written of the Word of the Week. The list is below the picture at bottom. You can also search category “Word of the Week”.

This week’s Word is Perspicuity of Scripture. Do we need “Bible codes”? Is scripture unclear enough so that only a few, more intelligent or higher-up, can understand it? It is too much to expect that the layman study it?

No. No. And no.

The perspicuity of scripture means that the Bible can be understood by anyone. The Holy Spirit illuminates it to us. For the most part, scripture is clear, if one studies it properly (and is saved, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing” 2 Corinthians 4:3, also 2 Corinthians 3:14).

Yes, Peter said that Paul wrote some things that are hard to understand, (2 Peter 3:16), but scripture itself can be understood clearly, without codes, mystics, or pretzel logic.

The Lord gave the word to Nicodemus, The Teacher of Israel and to the brilliant Paul, and He also gave it to fishermen and shepherds.

THE PERSPICUITY OF SCRIPTURE
Larry D. Pettegrew
Professor of Theology

The basic doctrine means that the Bible can be understood by people through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and that people need to search the Scripture and judge for themselves what it means. Scripture itself attests its own perspicuity, but not to the point that it cannot be misunderstood or is in every point equally simple and clear. The doctrine does not rule out the need for interpretation, explanation, and exposition of the Bible by qualified leaders.

The doctrine does mean that Scripture is clear enough for the simplest person, deep enough for highly qualified readers, clear in its essential matters, obscure in some places to people because of their sinfulness, understandable through ordinary means, understandable by an unsaved person on an external level, understandable in its significance by a saved person through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and available to every believer whose faith must rest on the Scriptures.

How to hear God’s voice 100% of the time

Posted on September 28, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

With all this darkness in the world and around us, where is the light? In Jesus! He is ALWAYS there, present and a very real help to us! His burden is easy and His yoke is light. But we must stay close to Him, and not drift away.

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. (Hebrews 2:1)

How do we not drift? Chris Rosebrough answered this way:

HOW TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE 100% OF THE TIME

Are you struggling to figure out if those whispers that your pastor has told you to listen for are really God’s voice or a case of gastrointestinal hallucinations caused by a bad batch of pepperoni pizza?

Are you tired of going through the whole rigamarole of filtering those voices in your head through a six point ‘discernment grid’ to try to ascertain if that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you or proof that you need to make an appointment with a shrink?
Have you read and reread Blackaby and still haven’t got the foggiest notion as to how to tell where God is working in the world so that you can join Him?

If you’ve answered yes to one or all of these questions then I’ve got great news for you! I have discovered a simple and sure fire way for you to hear God’s voice. The best part is that its 100% guaranteed and totally Biblical.

Here it is.

1. Acquire a Bible. If you do not have a Bible then you can read it for free on the internet at BibleGateway.org. I recommend the English Standard Version for both readability and translational accuracy.

2. Open the Bible.

3. Begin reading it. Read it with your mind engaged. Pay close attention to grammar and context. Take notes. Set a goal to read 3 to 10 chapters per day.

That’s it. If you do those three things then you will be hearing God’s voice every single time that you open the Bible. No guess work, no need for six point ‘discernment filters’ and no nagging uncertainty about whether your hearing God’s voice or something else.
How can I be so sure and certain that this works?

I’m glad you asked. One day, while I was reading my Bible I read 2 Timothy 3:16–17. Here’s what it says: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Let’s break this down.

1. This passage says ALL scripture is God breathed. That means that God, The Holy-Spirit, personally inspired every one of the Biblical authors. In other words, you can know with certainty that every word of scripture contains God’s thoughts and when you’re reading the Bible you’re hearing God’s voice.

2. This passage says that the man of God would be COMPLETE through the reading, learning, knowing and applying of scripture. Notice that this verse doesn’t say that the man of God would be incomplete through his reading of scripture and that he’d need to augment the scriptures through whispers, subjective feelings, internal voices, direct revelation, dreams or visions. No!

It literally says that the man of God would be COMPLETE. The Greek word that is used here is ἄρτιος and it means “complete and/or fully qualified”. There is nothing else needed for the man of God. The scriptures are totally sufficient.

3. If point two wasn’t clear enough, 2 Timothy 3:17 drives the point home by stating that through the written word of God the man of God is equipped for EVERY good work.

There are no good works that God would have you do that would require you to rely on anything other than His word to make you complete and fully equipped for the task. The Bible is sufficient to make you complete and fully equipped for every good work. You don’t need whispers.You don’t need dreams. You don’t need visions. You don’t need trances. You don’t need a glory cloud. You don’t need to figure out how to ‘experience God’. You don’t need contemplative mysticism. All you need is the written word of God. The Bible is sufficient to make you complete and fully equipped for every good work and because every word of scripture is God breathed, you can know with confidence that you’re hearing the voice of God.You may be asking yourself if it could truly be that simple.Yes, it really is that simple!”

It is not only simple, it is necessary. Because the stronger we are, the more we can help those who speak of suicide, the more we can be a help to those who are stumbling, the brighter we can be to those who have no hope, or who just need encouragement. Jesus is THE HOPE.

The ladies of our church are working through a Bible Reading Plan called #KeepTheFeast. You read a few chapters from the Old Testament and a few from the New Testament each day. It’s demanding but worth it. What could be better than feasting on the bread of life? Plus, I need it. I am a terrible sinner, prone to wander.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13)

The Holy Spirit is clear in His inspiration, so the Bible is not rocket science. We don’t need to hear Him on a prayer rug while magically reciting the Prayer of Jabez. We don’t need to empty our minds so we can listen to whispers. Whispers can lead to desperation and drifting away! We don’t need those things because, you know what? Once we are in Jesus, inside the Lighthouse, The Spirit illuminates the lighthouse and shows us the way with His light!

lighthouse east quoddy canada

prophecy, theology

“Climate change”? Really?

Posted on September 27, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In the last little while, the news stories regarding weather have increased regarding “climate change”.

Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the French critic, famously said, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” The climate has been changing since the Fall of man.

I wrote a blog essay a while ago showing my interpretation of the Revelation 6:12 verse, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” It is called “Of volcanoes, dry fog, and sun as sackcloth“.

In that blog essay, I posted some examples of what sackcloth looks like. When volcanoes erupt, the ash circles the atmosphere and the sun’s rays are dimmed, and what rays do emit through the haze look hairy instead of like beams. Volcanic ash has the same effect on the sun as described in the Revelation verse.

The Byzantine historian Procopius recorded in 536, in his report on the wars with the Vandals, “during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness…and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.”

That event is thought to have been caused by an earth-covering atmospheric dust veil, probably resulting from a large volcanic eruption.

The weather changes and attendant devastation on plant and human life when a volcanic eruption takes place is called “Volcanic Winter”. The science magazine Wired has a great article about volcanic winter that occurred in our recent past, one that happened in the 1700s (that Ben Franklin wrote about) and one that occurred in the 1800s. In the article, it states,

“The cloud of ash that was fine and light enough to stay in the atmosphere circled the globe. Average temperatures dropped as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next year … and beyond. Many Europeans and North Americans called 1816 the “year without a summer.”

In Gray, Maine it was indeed called the year without a summer. The bad weather of winter 1815 continued with heavy frosts in August and snowfalls every month of the year in 1816. It became known as “The Year without a Summer” or “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”. Scientists now believe the cause was the eruption of a volcano, Mt. Tambora, in Indonesia. On its first day of eruption, it spewed 2 cubic miles of magma into the atmosphere. The next day it spewed 36 cubic miles of rock and ash into the air. This eruption was the largest in nearly 2000 years and spewed massive quantities of ash into the atmosphere which impacted the climate in the summer of 1816. Over the next year the largest famine in the 19th century devastated the northeast, maritime Canada, and northern Europe. The famine was deadly.

This report from the July 10th Eastern Argus news of Portland ME is typical: “The weather is yet remarkable! On Monday night last a smart frost was experienced in a number of towns in this vicinity—it was confined principally to low ground.” Imagine…a hard frost on July 10!

The Egypt Road was said to have been named so by people in East Raymond ME who used the road to come to Gray to get seed corn in the spring of 1817. One low-lying section of town between Colley Hill and the Mayall Road was fortunate enough to have its corn crop survive in 1816. This was thought to have been due to the fact that the hill where the corn grew was high, and prevailing winds scoured the frost before it could settle. Seed corn was given to some Raymond citizens. They named the road they took “Egypt Road” since they were remembering the long trek to Egypt to ask deliverance via corn from Joseph to the starving masses. (Genesis 41:49; 56)

We know that in the Tribulation, geologic changes occur which eventually re-form the face of the earth. Quakes are so severe that entire islands disappear. One thing people rarely connect are the drastic changes that occur with climate in a volcanic winter. Atmospheric changes which lead to temperature changes which lead to reduced or failing crops which leads to wars to obtain the remaining food which leads to famine which leads to death which leads to pestilence…you read Revelation 6:1-8 and you see this progression.

We are so fragile, really. All our human made systems will come to naught. The poor, beleaguered earth and its animals is surely groaning. Climate change occurs when we have volcanic eruptions, or are just regularly occurring as part of the normal cycle of life on earth. The more the weather changes, the more it stays the same, if I can paraphrase Monsieur Karr’s saying. It’s all in the hands of God.

dark cloud