Posted in discernment, theology

How to Do Discernment: Partnering

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The issue covered in this essay today concerns participating with folks who might not be the most solid. Concerns were raised when John MacArthur participated in the Sing! Getty Music Worship Conference last month where also slated to speak were Anne Graham Lotz, Jackie Hill Perry, Conrad Mbewe, and in 2018, Tim Keller on video, Ravi Zacharias, and so on. There were over 30 speakers slated to speak at the conference.

Discernment isn’t cookie cutter nor is it dot to dot. Making decisions upon what one notices discernment-wise rests on the individual’s maturity, depth of study, conscience, and ability to apply scripture. It’s a process rather than a snapshot.

There were many people who became distressed when it came out that Jackie Hill Perry had partnered with the Christine Caine crowd at Caine’s Propel Activate Women’s conferences for the last few years, and more distressed when she declared Jenn Johnson of Bethel Church a friend and a sister. Many also became alarmed when Beth Moore did the same with Joyce Meyer, appearing on Meyer’s interview show and declared each other friends & spiritual sisters.

If one is partnering with known heretics, then they are not brothers and one should not partner with them. Nor should one definitively declare them in the faith. If a person does, that is cause for concern over their own discernment.

If one is participating in a conference and someone else is participating that promotes some doctrines that you disagree with but they can’t definitively be declared a heretic, then it’s up to the individual’s conscience to make that decision whether to participate and we should leave it to trust them to make it well.

Phil Johnson and Todd Friel discussed this issue in the following podcast “Degrees of separation and where to draw the line.”

Gerhard Woest also made the following comment on Facebook about partnerships. Sometimes people  who claim to be discernment teachers use these issues to purposely confuse people and divide. Their own intents are not good and their activities certainly aren’t discernment but are discontent and stirring up strife.

JOHN MACARTHUR’S PARTICIPATION IN “SING 2019” by Gerhard Woest-

A lot of rumours are going around about John MacArthur sharing the stage with some “heretics” at the Sing 2019 conference. 

And to be honest, although I have the utmost respect for John MacArthur, after I saw this ad I also became concerned and asked myself, “What on earth is John MacArthur doing there?” 

Well, the Bible teaches us to judge fairly, but it also says “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” I therefore decided to look a little deeper into the matter and discovered that John MacArthur also participated in the Sing 2018 conference! 

My next step was to watch the video (8 minutes) and it then became clear to me that he used his time as an opportunity to glorify God. There was nothing Charismatic or “strange” about it. As a matter of fact, I believe his motives for attending is right – most probably to open some eyes.

People like Servus Christi (Joshua Chavez) are so quick to run with a skewed sensational video and sadly, we often buy into these ungodly types of ministries so easily. –end Gerhard Woest

Todd Friel spoke to that issue in this short clip, “Rules of Discernment”

John MacArthur at Sing! 2019-

You will want to make your own decisions when you see a person participating with wonky folks but do so with good intent, thinking the best of the person first, exhibiting patience, and watching them over time. A one-time stumble isn’t enough to dispense with an other wise solid brother or sister who had for decades or years demonstrated their trustworthiness.

Posted in theology, women

Bowling Alone turns into Worshiping Alone: The female pursuit of theologically self-oriented material

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This author has NAILED the issue with the rise of the Feminine Church, and that’s not even the point she was going after in her article. Her article is about the Female Evangelical Publishing industry “and the women who have had enough.”

It is this sentence which caught me-

“theologically self-oriented material that attracts many Christian women.”

The author is correct to phrase it that way, yet unknowingly write an oxymoron. There is no such thing as theologically self-oriented. If a book is theological, it’s about God. If it’s about us, it’s not about God. Yet the publishing market is flooded with books aimed at women, about women, with enough overlay of God to call it “theological.” And the industry is booming.

Here’s the article: The Quiet Revolution in Evangelical Christian Publishing And the Women Who Have Had Enough

Evangelical women as a niche demographic have less buying power in Christian publishing than all of the Garfield merchandise sold worldwide, yet apparently (according to this author) we who are submissive to the notion of complementarianism have no social capital at home or in church. (Not true but that is how the author sees it). So, how have women impacted and shifted the church so much?

Social media has allowed Instagram/Blogger/Twitter authors to directly publish their material, material that resonates with other Christian women, who, whether in the aimed-at demographic or are older, are seriously buying the books ‘evangelical’ women publish. Books such as Girl, Wash Your Face, and Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis are apparently the books these women have been waiting for. It has been a perfect fit. The mentioned social media platforms allowed Christian women dying of thirst, to bypass the restrictive traditional gatekeepers to publish and promote their tomes, their “theologically self-oriented material that attracts many Christian women.”

From the article:

The evangelical churches, by and large, left women in a discipleship vacuum and in that vacuum these other voices become really prominent,” says Katelyn Beaty, author of A Woman’s Place (2017) and an acquisitions editor for the Christian imprint Brazos Press.

When we read “discipleship vacuum” it means in many cases, the sad abdication of the pastors in oversight of women’s ministries. It means many times, neglect of husbands in oversight of or even interest in their wives’ spiritual lives. It means so often, a lapse in hospitality and fellowship among women, intentional relationship cultivating among all ages of women in a local body.

Women are relational. They thrive on talk and relationships to help make sense of the world, firming up their Christian worldview. Absent that, they will seek it elsewhere. It’s one reason that the Cursillo weekends and subsequent intense relationships (cult-like) are so popular. The IF:Gatherings, the Living Proof weekends and other minimally theological type gatherings large and small will draw women who thirst for theological companionship. But because so much of the material these gatherings are based on is aberrant, the women sadly are drawn into false teaching and indulged in their self-orientation (which our flesh is only too happy to provide).

When challenged by a well-meaning and loving friend, the relationship the woman has with the false teacher and her circle now trumps the truth of the word. Johnny-come-lately oversight from ladies’ ministry leaders or pastors find the women are now entrenched and often disinterested. Don & Joy Veinot wrote about this in their essay Fraternity over Orthodoxy.

The author notes that prior to the advent of social media, influential women like Beth Moore were seen exactly as her publisher wanted her to be seen. Here is a rough but hilarious assessment of that:

It was easier to frame [Moore] within the context of the establishment Baptist canon: women queuing up Sunday school lessons for aging Southern belles between potluck suppers and Friday night football games.

But after the Christian publishing industry was rocked by these ‘out from under’ female voices, we began to see a different facet to Moore, now the feisty political outspoken woman, independent of any whiff of submission to a husband or or quietude about her church-going persona. Her Twitter feed is full of outspoken statements that belie the publisher’s preferred persona/image of Moore. Other wannabe women see her inappropriate role modeling and go after it themselves, buying more of these kind of books in the process.

Author Beaty went on with an important point:

Beaty points to the decline of institutions and institutional life in general as putting more strength behind the voice of the individual. As individual voices have commanded more attention, helped in large part by social media, they found their audience primed and ready with the emergence of Web 2.0.

The decline of institutional life was well documented in the seminal book of 2000 by Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone.

In a groundbreaking book based on vast data, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our democratic structures– and how we may reconnect. Putnam warns that our stock of social capital – the very fabric of our connections with each other, has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities. Putnam draws on evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter century to show that we sign fewer petitions, belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet with friends less frequently, and even socialize with our families less often. We’re even bowling alone.

But we still want fraternity, or in the case of women, sorority.

We’re not only bowling alone, we’re also worshiping alone. As women (and men) have discovered, they can express themselves and their opinions out from under what to them are a burdensome structure of church life, many eventually fail to return spiritually or even physically.

“I can worship online” they say. “I have a house church” they say, forgetting that worshiping, like any other part of a vibrant civic life, is best done together. Even more important than civic life, is worshiping the way God wants us to. He does not accept any old worship thrown at Him and He expects the body to act like a body. There are no lone ranger Christians.

Haven’t you ever wondered about the church life of a Beth Moore? A Christine Caine? A Jennie Allen? These women are all busy on their speaking tours, writing tweets and blogs and books, gallivanting from interview to publishing event. When do they have time to meet with the body? To worship together? These women are bowling alone, and it’s a dangerous precedent to set and a dangerous one to follow. But who can resist this:

Amidst the phenomenal popularity of blogs among a certain subset of young women in the mid-aughts, women of faith found their voices unshackled from the oversight of leaders who have the power to grant or deny them a platform in their local church.

They can’t resist growing their platform, and drawing women away from church along with them- the ones anyway, who believe that togetherness in worship and fellowship during the week is a shackle to be endured and not a joy to perform. Unshackling from leader oversight is the goal, not the temptation to resist. The benefit is that they speak out to other platforms instead of in church groups or fellowship gatherings of the local body.

The opportunity for would-be authors to present an unfiltered persona to potential readers who are encountering them not in the stacks of bookstores, but in primarily digital spaces, sheds light on another possibility: perhaps the ideas originally commodified for the consumption of evangelical Christian women weren’t what they wanted to begin with.

For these women, “an unfiltered persona” means in real theological terms, rebellion and desire to express themselves apart from the commands and guidance of the Bible, their pastors, and their husbands. Social media and widening of the gatekeeping of publishing industry gives them opportunity to do step outside their God-given roles.

‘Unfiltered personas’ are what needs mortifying. We are sinners, and the underlying persona the rebels want to express, is in fact, the flesh.

And the author is on the right track when she says the ideas in books published by strict gatekeepers weren’t what the women wanted in the first place. Of course not. Who wants solid theology, workbooks urging women to mortify sin, conviction, when what they really want is the “theologically self-oriented material.” And out from under the oversight of leadership, unshackled, they are getting exactly what they want- freedom to express unfiltered self under the veneer of a Christian lingo.

These women “eschew traditional redemption arcs in favor of open-ended narratives”, narratives with themselves as heroine, of course.

Solid books about women and our roles have always existed. They might be out of style, unpreferred by women who feel shackled by their roles in the church, but they are there for the women who want theologically GOD-oriented works. Here are some good books by and about women, women’s roles, women’s sorrows and triumphs:

Her Husband’s Crown: A Wife’s Ministry and a Minister’s Wife by Sara J. Leone
Selina: Countess of Huntingdon by Faith Cook
Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
Letters from the South Seas by Margaret Whitecross Paton
Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

Essay: Rock Your Role

chain
Unshackled, to use the author’s term,  they have shifted the world-wide church in pursuit of theologically self-oriented material…

 

Posted in theology

The abominable and the righteous

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Proverb says,

An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked. (Prov 29:27).

This shows the foolishness of trying to partner with the unjust (unsaved) in spiritual endeavors. Eventually and always, the gulf is too wide and too fixed. They will chafe and separate, usually badly.

Gill’s Expositions says,

Not his person, but his actions, his unrighteous actions, his ungodly life and conversation; which a man, holy, just, and good, loathes and abhors, and cannot forbear expressing his abhorrence of; and therefore shuns his company, and will have no fellowship with him. And, on the other hand,

he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked; that man that is upright in heart and life, that walks according to the rule of the divine word, in the path of holiness, in the way of truth and righteousness, he is abhorred by a wicked man; he cannot have any pleasure in his company; he is under some awe and restraint which is disagreeable to him; and he cannot bear the reproofs he gives him;

Churches that cater to the unjust (unsaved), seeking their approval, their interest, their anything except their soul repented to Jesus, will and always fail. Darkness and light have nothing to do with each other.

 

proverbs

Posted in discernment, theology

Big Dream/The Amazing Collection ministry review

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

 

I received an inquiry asking me to look into the ministry founded in Georgia called Big Dream Ministries which produced a Bible study called The Amazing Collection. Since I’m in Georgia, the inquirer thought I should know about the influence of the ministry, which is large and growing.

I did research it and was surprised at how large the ministry is and how far it has spread. For this essay, I read their web pages, previewed their materials, read the About, read the Beliefs, watched to two of their videos- Genesis and Revelation, and read their Facebook pages. (I believe how a person teaches Genesis and Revelation, two of the foundational books of the entire Bible, reveals their doctrinal stances and hermeneutic).

The ministry was officially founded 18 years ago but has been informally active since 1996. Their About page states,

“Under the direction of Pat Harley, a women’s ministry was initially formed in Roswell, Georgia to provide excellent Bible teaching and encourage women in their roles as women, wives, and mothers. The teaching team of Pat Harley, Eleanor Lewis, Linda Sweeney, and Margie Reuther taught the Bible in a sequential manner, in a study called The Amazing Collection.”

The Amazing Collection’s purpose is to teach the word of God sequentially, going through all the books of the Bible so that women, and the ministry is aimed at women, learn how the entire Bible hangs together. Founder Pat Harley realized that the women in her church were learning lots of bits and pieces of the Word, but not the overarching story. The word of God is the Word of God, and thus worth knowing all of, they say.

The Books of the Bible are an “Amazing Collection”, and people should be amazed by His word. hence, the ministry name. The “Big Dream” of the ministry is that women learn the entire Bible.

Mrs. Harley noticed that though she had participated in many mass-produced studies, some quite popular, she was remembering very little from them. And if she remembered little, she wasn’t translating what she had learned into practical Christian life and pursuit of holiness. She writes:

Why was I unable to recall so little from all of the studying I had done? I began to ask many other serious students of the Word. I would begin by asking what Bible studies they had taken. The response usually included a fairly lengthy list of popular studies. Some of those were considered “light” while others were very detailed and “deep”. More often than not this was preceded by a few words on how wonderful the study was and how very much they enjoyed it. But when I asked the question “What did you learn that you remember?” I was often confronted with a somewhat blank stare. It was then that I realized that I was not alone. Somehow we were learning much but remembering little.

Therefore, I was relieved to read that their foundational motto about the Big Dream and Amazing, isn’t the usual “You go, girl, you have big dreams to fulfill because you’re amazing” kind of motto. Instead, the ministry seems entirely God-focused.

Available materials are the original book-by-book lesson series, and there are additional focused series of topical studies such as the Life of Jesus, The Pentateuch, and a series based on Titus 2 for women which includes “lessons on character, relationships, and the care and management of the home. Practical topics covered include finances, hospitality, meal planning, and parenting.”

The study materials are translated into 4 languages so far, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Russian. The lesson in Genesis I watched on Youtube displayed Arabic captions. There is a children’s series of materials, too. The ministry has extended into 120 other countries via television, and there is a team on the ground in Brazil.

In the Genesis lesson I watched, the following doctrines were covered:

Evolution explicitly rejected
Literal creation affirmed
Literal word meanings in the original language
An emphasis that scripture interprets scripture
Affirmation we all have a sin nature

Genesis is usually a test case for me, because it’s the beginning and all other doctrines flow from that seminal book. That the lesson didn’t wiggle or waver on the above doctrines is a good sign. So is the ministry’s premise, that God’s word is amazing and women should know all of it, because it is God’s word.

I especially liked the founder’s thought process as she described. She realized that the canned studies she was going through were not giving her an overall biblical worldview, but were only fleetingly giving her a sense of purposeful study, but she was not retaining it. She then went one step further, and did something about it, developing the lessons from which we now have the Amazing Collection. All 66 DVD lessons have recently been completed.

The ladies listed as teachers are all teachers of women or otherwise active in their home churches. I appreciated that they seem grounded at home and in church, rather than gallivanting all over the world solving social justice issues, making sales on book tours, or preaching at conference events, as so many of the women’s ministry teachers do nowadays.

From what I’ve seen and read, the Big Dream/Amazing Collection seems solid. Thank you to the sister who brought it to my attention.

Links:

Big Dream Ministries (includes links to Bible studies, Leader resources, materials Previews, and their online store.)

Big Dream Ministries Facebook

 

Posted in false teachers, theology

The irreversible destruction of false teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. (Proverbs 29:1).

Gill’s Exposition explains the intriguing part about broken beyond remedy:

shall suddenly be destroyed; or “broken” (e); as a potter’s vessel is broken to pieces with an iron rod, and can never he put together again; so such persons shall be punished with everlasting destruction, which shall come upon them suddenly, when they are crying Peace to themselves notwithstanding the reproofs of God and men;

I understand that when Christians are developing and practicing discernment, it’s sometimes difficult to detect a false teacher, especially in the early days of the false teacher’s ministry or the early days of the Christian. Other people, though they suspect, find it hard to admit that their favorite teacher is false. “But they teach about Jesus!” they say. I know, it’s interesting to listen to some of the more crafty (Genesis 3:1) teachers who have such eloquence of tongue and then believe they are insincere. But remember that the antichrist is prophesied to gain the world by a smooth tongue and flattery. (Daniel 11:21). These present mini-antichrists (1 John 2:22) are almost as smooth as the prophesied Antichrist will be in the future, so it is no wonder that they are so slick in their speeches.

The main way to detect a false teacher of course is to compare what they say to the Bible (Acts 17:11).

Here is another way to detect a false teacher: how they react when they are corrected or challenged. Doctrine is utmost, but behavior is important. How does the true or the false teacher respond when posed a question, challenged in their interpretation, or rebuked for their teaching?

It’s the behavior when corrected that also proves the true vs false teacher. The god-honoring teacher cares about His word as primary importance. How crushing it is when we say or teach something in error or contrary to proper exposition! We hasten to correct, humbling ourselves to Him and the truth of His word.

Justin Peters is a true teacher but is often challenged and rebuked by some who are less discerning. He responds in charity and gentleness, with a teachable spirit when warranted. At the most, if a person challenging him is not teachable, he will ignore the words of that chattering crow and go his way, sharing the Gospel and ministering in truth.

The false teacher who rebels when teaching the word will continue to rebel when corrected in the word. As the Proverb says, he will harden his neck. Stiff necked is a synonym for stubborn. Instead of being teachable and gentle, the false teacher will entrench him or herself into stubbornness and double down on their position. This is because they are full of pride, and care not for the truth of God’s word. They SAY they care, but their behavior SHOWS they do not.

The second half of the Proverb is encouraging. I know it’s all the rage to claim love and kindness to and for false teachers, but I do not. If a teacher has abused the name of Christ, twisted His words, and persistently shown that they care only for themselves, money and fame, harming His sheep in the process, the second half of the Proverb is rallying to my soul. It motivates me to leave the judgment of this scourge of fiery ants to the Lord, and to take comfort in His timing. They WILL be broken beyond remedy. Good.

John Mason on Twitter said, (@LivingGodsTruth)

It would appear that the most popular names and teachers in Christian markets are either:
1. Conforming to the pressures of LGBTQ acceptance over the Word of God.
2. Not preaching sin at all & a promoting a false prosperity centered Christianity.
This is God ordained exposure.

I agree, and in my opinion these are examples of the Proverb. When challenged over these issues the false teachers stiffen themselves, they entrench into their stubbornness. This is a God-ordained exposure. Let us not ignore these exposures seen through their behavior, but heed the wisdom in Proverbs.

It’s OK to take comfort in the knowledge of the coming permanent and irreversible destruction of these wolves. It means that the name of Jesus will eternally remain spotless with no dung thrown on Him or on His people, ever again. What a day that will be!

tombstone broken

Posted in theology

Sin from the tongue stains our witness and corrupts our ambassadorship

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Yesterday I was shocked to read a certain tweet from Beth Moore. She had obviously had some kind of interaction on Twitter with a man who was saying some things about her husband, which she did not like. I tried to find the conversation, but could not.

Her tweet stated,

 

“If you make one more remark about my husband, whom you know nothing about, I will reach through this screen and punch you in the nose.”

I have three points.

1. Threats.

After being shocked at the violent language that, Moore, a Bible teacher representing Christ employed, I was more shocked by the sheer numbers of people who came out of the woodwork to defend her statement.

It is never appropriate at any time to state that if someone does not desist you WILL punch them. I recognize that the statement is probably hyperbole. It’s not likely that Moore will go to where the man is and actually punch him. Conscious of safety, Moore herself employs or has in the past employed a bodyguard.

But in this day and age, who can tell? Maybe her followers will do it. I know of people who were angered at someone mentioning Moore in a slightly negatively way online, but in real life some of her followers stalked the person in retaliation. We read of doxxing, too (where personal information and documents are deliberately leaked online, leading to identity theft and worse.)

In this cultural climate, such threats even from a secular person are not appropriate. It’s not “just” hyperbole (as many stated to me) and it’s not “just” defending her husband. If you say such things at the office, you’ll likely be talking to HR and enrolled in an anger management class. Twitter has a block button. If you’re getting angry with someone online, push back from the computer and go your way.

2. Comportment as Ambassadors.

To comport yourself is to conduct yourself or behave in a certain way. Though I appreciate that the world wide web isn’t regulated and is sort of a Wild West, we ourselves are not free to behave in any way we choose. We are Ambassadors of Christ. Self-control is the rule of the day. (Titus 2:5). What does this mean?

An Ambassador is supposed to be a mirror likeness to the one he represents. The definition of an ambassador is: an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.

Regenerated people are Ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).

that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

Paul directly ties the ministry of reconciliation to our ambassadorship.

All believers should serve Christ as His ambassadors. Paul’s appeal was not a perfunctory pronouncement but an impassioned plea (“we try to persuade men” [v. 11]) addressed to the world on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God (cf. 1 Tim. 2:3–4). ~The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures.

What Beth Moore said was the opposite of a ministry of reconciliation. It was an extremely poor witness.

In the Roman Empire, there were two kinds of provinces: senatorial provinces and imperial provinces. The senatorial provinces were made up of people who were peaceful and not at war with Rome. They had surrendered and submitted. But the imperial provinces were not peaceful; they were dangerous because they would rebel against Rome if they could. It was necessary for Rome to send ambassadors to the imperial provinces to make sure that rebellion did not break out.

Since Christians in this world are the ambassadors of Christ, this means that the world is in rebellion against God. This world is an “imperial province” as far as God is concerned. He has sent His ambassadors into the world to declare peace, not war. “Be ye reconciled to God!” We represent Jesus Christ (John 20:21; 2 Cor. 4:5). If sinners reject us and our message, it is Jesus Christ who is actually rejected. What a great privilege it is to be heaven’s ambassadors to the rebellious sinners of this world! Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary

3. Scripture violation

The Bible, especially Proverbs, is rife with instructions about our language and the tongue. Here are just a few: Proverbs 15:4, James 1:26, Titus 2:5, Proverbs 21:23, Proverbs 15:1, and remember, teachers are judged MORE strictly- James 3:1.

Moore violated all of them, and there is no defense to that. Please understand ladies, this comment by Beth Moore is violent & doesn’t mirror behavior the Bible calls our women leaders & teachers to engage in as women of “noble character”. (Proverbs 31:10).

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” (Proverbs 31:26).

When we ourselves are tempted to say something like Moore did, and we all feel that way sometimes, please remember our Ambassadorship. We are not free agents. We are entrusted to carry a message of reconciliation to the world, in hopes that some will repent and believe.

Please remember our tongues are not our own, and take heed to follow the guides, instructions, and warnings about how we are to speak.

4. Sin spreads.

When sin goes unaddressed, it grows. Paul likened irreverent, empty chatter to gangrene. (2 Timothy 2:16-17). Gangrene spreads fast. Sin spreads fast, too. It is always crouching at the door, wanting to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:7). Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5:8 to

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Hurling threats of punching is not being sober minded. Sin wants to devour and it must be addressed immediately.

In a congregation it also must be addressed immediately. Either an individual in his or her prayer closet of a pastor enacting church discipline, sin has to be dealt with or it will grow to proportions with tentacles spread far and wide, as it obviously has in Beth Moore. Undisciplined, coddled, and applauded, her witness has grown increasingly tarnished. Let her unacceptable comportment be a lesson to me and all of us. There is no such thing as stasis. There are only two directions for growth, more like Christ, or less like Christ. There is Cain, and there is Abel. Upward in sanctification, or downward into sin.

Moore is demonstrating the latter. Her life as an object lesson is hard to watch, but instructive for all of us. Deal with your sin. Right away.

Final Thoughts:

I truly believe that most people, Christians included, have no clue as to the depth and the power of our sin. God is sovereign, of course, but sin rules this world. Satan is the god of it (2 Corinthians 4:4).  Satan likes sin, incites sin, and doesn’t have to work too hard to get our flesh to sin. Sin’s power in us must be reigned in and mastered, and it begins with the mind and extends next to the tongue. I sin in this area as do we all.

Just because we live with it all around us, don’t become inured to the failings and corruptions of the tongue. Don’t excuse it. It’s easy to dismiss sinful behavior because we do it ourselves, or we’ve become the frog used to hot water, or any of a thousand reasons. Sin’s power was so great that God sent His Son to die in order to break it. (Romans 6:6). We are SAVED from the penalty of sin and the power of Sin, thanks to Christ’s death and resurrection and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are heirs with Christ.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 12-17)

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Word of the Week: Justification

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

word of the week word cloud
We’re losing the meaning of our uniquely Christian words.

I listened to a Phil Johnson interview last year where he talked about being caught off guard with the flooding-in and vehemence of the social justice movement and the racial equality woke movement.

It is a true fact that many of our younger people think that ‘social justice’ is the same thing as ‘biblical justice,’ when they certainly are not.

Biblical illiteracy is high, and with the lack of actually reading the Bible, younger people are losing the meaning of foundational words like justification, sanctification, glorification.

Some years ago I enjoyed the Apologetic Index’s listing of the Emerging Church: Glossary of Emergent Terms For Those New to the Conversation. It was funny, if you were up on news of he movement. It was also sad to see how devastatingly accurate those writers were about the co-opting of normal terms and made to mean something new. Like this entry to their ‘dictionary’-

Christ – An incredible, outstanding man in the Bible who left behind a valuable story that enables us to make the world a better place. Some people (including some in the emergent conversation) say he is a divine being, but this concept is subject to deconstruction.

Since we in our native countries speak a language to each other and are subsequently understood, we tend to think that language stays the same. It doesn’t. Language isn’t static. Meanings shift and move all the time. Hogwash was a word that came into use, rise in the 1700s, peaked in the 1800s and now you rarely see it written anymore and even more rarely, spoken. Lots of words that are currently in use weren’t a existence when I was a kid, because the thing the word refers to wasn’t invented. Compact Disc (and even that is dwindling as digital music takes over), surf-n-turf, head trip, grok, miniseries, and biohazard were words that were new when I was growing up.

New words today would include adulting, sup, suh, trill…sigh, are currently trendy words.

Old words still exist but change meaning. When I was growing up, incontinent meant liable to urinate one’s pants. 2 Timothy 3:3 uses the word incontinent-

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

No it does not mean that men everywhere will be dribbling. The word in the 1300s-1400s used to mean without self-control emotionally and physically, now it evokes only the lack of control over the bladder. We don’t use the word dayspring much anymore. Suffer in the old translation of “suffer the little children to come unto me” has a different meaning now. We don’t see words like froward, graven, cleave, or husbandman in common use these days.

So words fall in and out of use, new words emerge, and old words shift meaning.

However the thread of Christianity depends on a unity from one generation to the next of mutual understanding of our important words. Words handed down that form the bricks of our faith must be used, taught, and widely understood. We must understand the important terms.

Hence the Word of the Week series. I started the sereies last year and I’m repeating it.

JUSTIFICATION

Defined by Baker’s Exegetical Dictionary, public domain. More at link

Justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous. It is a legal term signifying acquittal.

Accordingly it is not surprising that salvation is often viewed in legal terms. The basic question in all religion is, “How can sinful people be just (i.e., be justified) before the holy God?” Justification is a legal term with a meaning like”acquittal”; in religion it points to the process whereby a person is declared to be right before God. That person should be an upright and good person, but justification does not point to qualities like these. That is rather the content of sanctification. Justification points to the acquittal of one who is tried before God. In both the Old Testament and the New the question receives a good deal of attention and in both it is clear that people cannot bring about their justification by their own efforts.The legal force of the terminology is clear when Job exclaims, “Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated” ( Job 13:18 ).

Justification means that God brings down the gavel and declares a person righteous, despite their crimes, because they have passed through the Righteous Door of Jesus. This was enacted when Jesus died on the cross, becoming sin for us, and then His righteousness was imputed to us. Therefore God can and does declared His elect justified, i.e. no longer under penalty for their crimes.

Phil Johnson wonderfully explains it here in this sermon-

Who Can Condemn Us? 
May 27, 2018 | Romans 8:34

justify justification verse
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More explanations here

Got Questions: What is Justification?

Ligonier: What Are Justification and Sanctification?

Posted in discernment, theology

Jackie Hill Perry: Discernment Review

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Jackie Hill Perry is a self-described rapper, writer, teacher, and poet. She is also a married mother and an ex-Lesbian converted to Christianity ten years ago at age 19. She expresses her Christianity through spoken word poetry, music, and essays (some at The Gospel Coalition). She has published two CD’s, and is author of the 2018 book Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been. An upcoming Bible study is due to be released this October called, Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today’s Culture. Perry says she feels compelled to share the wondrous truths of Jesus through her God-given gifts as communicator.

Perry is also friends with and partnered to in ministry with some spurious characters, all in the name of ‘not being tribalistic’ according to Perry. She recently photographed herself with Bethel Church’s Jenn Johnson of Bethel Church (daughter-in-law of Bethel cult founder Bill Johnson, who along with her husband Brian founded Bethel Music and MusicU) and pronounced her a friend. Perry also has partnered with false teacher Christine Caine, speaking at Caine’s Propel Activate conferences. Perry wrote that she is concerned about several theologically sound preachers complicit in “white supremacy who are faithfully inspired by the theological musings of slave masters”. Perry is a strident social justice warrior.

She has also just been UNinvited to the Answers in Genesis/Answers for Women 2020 conference.

So, Jackie Hill Perry is a study in contrasts.

Justin Peters (@JustinPetersMin) wrote on Twitter this week,
August 26, 2019

As has Francis Chan, Jackie Hill Perry, sadly, has now endorsed some of the most rank heretics and obvious false teachers in the “evangelical” world.

Pastor Gabe Hughes also asked (@Pastor_Gabe) @JackieHillPerry-

Mrs. Perry, you were included in the documentary “American Gospel: Christ Alone,” exposing the heresy of the prosperity gospel movement. Yet now you are partnering in ministry with one of the very churches (Bethel in Redding, CA) critiqued in that film. Are you not aware of this?

Finally, though she says “where I disagree, I’m open to discussion, and where I can learn, I have ears to hear,” she instead, rebuked those who attempted to share concerns regarding the above listed statements and partnerships, implying that distancing one’s self from those who practice discerning separation is itself loveless and arrogant.

Reading her Twitter feed is a study of social justice and racial reconciliation.

She begs the age-old question, when is it time to warn against a person who seems to be on a downward slope into false religion?

Well, it seems, now.

Perry’s commitment to the pure Gospel seemed solid until lately when she wrote a concerning rant on her Instagram– (August 26)

There are several worrisome phrases in her piece that concerned me. I’m sure there are other concerning aspects that more discerning and articulate people will spot that I have not addressed.

Tribalistic

It depends on what one means when they say they aren’t tribalistic. Though Seth Godin used the term “tribes”, it was Mark Driscoll in his earlier days that popularized it. Here from First Things in 2013, we have a short history of how this ridiculous term came into Christian use-

Driscoll tells Christians that they need to learn from each other, rather than criticize each other. He’s speaking to Evangelicals. He claims that Evangelicalism has been “tribalized.” In order for these tribes to be effective they need to cooperate and learn from each other. This talk of “tribe” is trendy thanks to guys like Seth Godin. Mark Driscoll has always been a trend follower.  He claims that the tribes of Evangelicalism manifest themselves through “magazines, publishing houses, blogs, social media, conferences, and schools.” These tribes are led by tribal chiefs.

Now, back to JH Perry, she said she is ‘not tribalistic’. There’s a good not tribalistic, like, in terms of ensuring that one does not divide into factions, following certain teachers to the exclusion of others, with pride on the rise. The Bible dealt with that in 1 Corinthians 1:12. Paul rebuked those who haughtily claimed he or she ‘follows’ Apollos, vs follows Paul, vs follows Peter vs follows Christ. We remember we are one body, united by Christ’s blood.

That said, there is bad not “tribalistic” to use the faddish term, in who we should partner with in ministry. There IS such a thing as purposeful separation. The correct kind of separation glorifies God. The called-for separation is from those who teach false doctrine, promote doctrines of demons, and who snatch the unwary. (1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Jude 1).  As Justin Peters wrote this week:

Friends, the Bible is not unclear about how we are to deal with false teachers. We are not to partner with them. We are not to treat them as believers, befriend them (though we may evangelize them) or endorse them. They are to be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17; 2 Jn. 9-11).

So yes, there are tribes. There’s the tribe destroying the faith, and the tribe upholding the faith.

Perry has chosen to ignore all the Bible verses that call for separation from false teachers and instead deliberately partners with them, in a twisted name of love.

White Supremacy

Perry, to her credit, has for years spoken of her commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, and love for God and neighbor, as she stated in her recent Instagram, and her music, interviews, and book.

Sadly, though, she has recently added another criteria to her bundle of characteristics that evinces a Christian. It’s whether or not they are “being blindly complicit when it comes to white supremacy, who are faithfully inspired by the theological musings of slave masters.”

Huh? That really does not make sense. The Bible is always clear. When you start overlaying cultural trends with advocacy of how to behave, that’s when things get muddy real fast, as they do here.

In 2017 Perry was hurt by “The decision made at #SBC17 to not denounce white supremacy”.

In 2018 she advocated for the church to ‘call sin sin, and to be aware of the small, flippant, and even subtle ways people speak about race.

Her emphasis on race might be a personal concern, having grown up black, just as divorce is a personal concern of mine having been the child of divorced parents, but using her platform to single out one sin that by default should be decried along with all other sins anyway, speaks to an undue emphasis that skews one’s perception of unity in the church. She believes she’s promoting unity in the church when overemphasis on race is actually divisive. Over the years as the groundswell of thrown-about terms such as white supremacy, slave masters, slaves, and racism had grown, Perry has drifted more toward the singled-out version of calling sin sin by more narrowly focusing on race, rather than promoting unity through Christ where all sins are a blot against Him.

Hers is social justice language and has nothing to do with Christianity. It is unknown whether Perry is immaturely following a trend, or allowing her deep-seated feelings on the subject of black vs white to finally emerge, but this faddish talk of slave masters and using scare quotes on “theologically sound” people influenced by white supremacy and old slave masters is unhelpful. Any time we see a fixation on cultural issues as criteria for partnering or even loving those around us who also claim Christ is a concern.

Discernment

She lacks it. This became quite evident in her follow up rebuttal to the outcry of partnering with Jenn Johnson & Bethel Music. On August 29, Perry issued a tweet of a 7-page screen shot of her written response to concerned brother’s email and also here continued. In it, Perry announces that she does not believe Word of Faith doctrine is heresy.

She’s wrong. It is.

She does not believe that the Charismatics are in error, just misguided and uninformed.

For someone who wants us all to be “nuanced” she certainly has lumped in 300 million people along a wide Charismatic spectrum into one group- and has declared them all genuine Christians.

In fact, JHP has been partnering with Propel Women and false teachers such as Lisa Harper, Christine Caine, Lisa Bevere, Priscilla Shirer, Shelley Giglio, Jenn Johnson and Bethel Music, since at least 2017 (source & source), and also with Sarah Jakes Roberts, daughter of TD Jakes (source)

She says that people’s reactions to her partnering with Bethel & Jenn Johnson were merely visceral reactions, and insinuates therefore that such concerns are dismissable, (while obviously her immediate response tweets were measured and worthy).

She says that she operates in “spaces” that are “primarily Conservative-Evangelical and Reformed” but she does not always remain in those “boxes” and she is free to move about, doctrinally. She said she doesn’t want people to have expectations of her that she doesn’t have for herself.

It’s not a measure of maturity to hop from one doctrinal camp to another, it’s the opposite. (Ephesians 4:14).

I’m sorry, but we do have expectations that especially our leaders remain theologically settled. We do expect that laymen and leaders won’t hop around like a bunny from one group of friends touting one doctrine to another group touting a different one. Peter did that and was rebuked to his face by Paul. (Galatians 2:11). The Circumcision group was cast out and the Nicolaitians were decried.

We are not free to be doctrinal shape-shifters. Our settled convictions forming the basis of our ministries aren’t “boxes”. She speaks of the context of her life primarily of people who have influenced her rather than doctrines she believes. She says she “doesn’t define false teachers in the way that others do,” which is not a mark of maturity nor of discernment.

Disbelief in absolutism

Post-modern adherents disbelieve there is such a thing as absolute truth. We saw hints of that in Perry when she claims that her ministry “isn’t in a box” and she is “too free” to stay in one tribe or another. Now in her rebuttal she said that it grieves her that people are put into categories, or have been classified as this or that. She said, “There’s more depth and nuance to where someone stands than there is as shown in their books or their talks.”

No. No, there isn’t. When someone writes a book outlining their theological convictions or when someone stands on a stage or a pulpit proclaiming their theological convictions, they are literally telling you where they stand. You don’t rely on unseen depths or nuances. Your job is then to compare what they say to the Bible.

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11).

Perry is actually demonstrating in herself and advocating that others employ an indistinct theological viewpoint and accept all who claim Christ unless they are at some far, far end of an undefined spectrum. Yet doctrine is actually narrow, divides, and excludes most people, even and especially many who claim Christ. (Matthew 7:21).

Preaches to men

She preaches sermons, called sermons, to both men and women. She did at UYWI National Conference in 2017, Chicago’s Legacy Disciple Conference, Legacy ATL 2019, and many other venues. Partnering with women such as Christine Caine & Propel Activate does not bode well since the women involved in that conference also preach and believe it is totally OK with God that they do so.

Conclusion

Perry converted at age 19 in 2009. A year later she made news and notice when she issued her spoken word rap called “My Life as a Stud” (about taking on the manly role in a lesbian relationship). A couple of years later came the famous “Jig-A-Boo”. Many people were stunned at such a young person’s wisdom and courage contained in the title and the lyrics of Jig-A-Boo, myself included. The problem is that young, untested people launched into positions of acclaim or responsibility before they are tested often leads to downfalls, pride, or drifting into false teaching. I hope that is not the case with Perry, she said herself at the end of her 7-page response that she’s young and to pray for her and give her time. But the slide is evident and it’s not new.

Remember, her original rant on Instagram and her 7-page response is to push-back to the rant are all so that she can defend her decision to partner with one of the worst cult leaders operating today and other false teachers. Her refusal to separate from Jenn Johnson, Bethel, Propel, and to listen to those who urge her to do so are marks of someone who should not be followed, at least not at this time.

I do pray this young woman will heed correction and that the Lord will graciously guide her back to solidity. She is a gifted communicator who loves the Lord and obviously has much to say and an ability to say it.

 

Posted in Proverbs, theology

Proverbs: Who Can Understand It?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I love the wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). The purpose of wisdom, Proverbs 1:3 says, is to receive instruction in righteousness.  Its not to boast in how “wise” we are. Wisdom literature makes me think.

Not that the narratives or the historical books etc don’t make me think, the entire Bible does. But the wisdom literature is especially full of metaphors and symbols and cloaked language that I, who takes things literally, finds hard to understand. It’s a challenge, but a happy one.

Here’s a passage I read and loved, but found difficult to unravel. But below the passage, Barnes’ Notes helped:

I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
32Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
33A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
34and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
(Proverbs 24:30-34)

Barnes’ Notes

The chapter ends with an apologue, which may be taken as a parable of something yet deeper. The field and the vineyard are more than the man’s earthly possessions. His neglect brings barrenness or desolation to the garden of the soul. The “thorns” are evil habits that choke the good seed, and the “nettles” are those that are actually hurtful and offensive to others. The “wall” is the defense which laws and rules give to the inward life, and which the sluggard learns to disregard, and the “poverty” is the loss of the true riches of the soul, tranquility, and peace, and righteousness.

I never, never, never would have gotten that. David Hubbard wrote in The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 15: Proverbs, that the wisdom literature, especially Proverbs is rarely preached on because,

A further reason for their neglect may be the detached nature of the sayings, especially those in 10:1-22:16 where verse-by-verse exposition is difficult and discovery of the context of a given proverb even more so

If you also find the wisdom literature lovely but challenging, here are a few resources:

Books & Commentaries:

W. Robert Godfrey: Learning to Love the Psalms

The Preacher’s Commentary – Vol. 15: Proverbs by David A. Hubbard

Derek Kidner, The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes

David J.A. Clines — Job 1-20; Job 21-37 (Word Biblical Commentary)

Sermons:

Paul Twiss at Grace Community Church, Sermons on Proverbs

Sinclair Ferguson: Ligonier Ministries “Don’t Answer a Fool, Answer a Fool“, Proverbs 26: 4-5. This message is from our 2002 National Conference, War on the Word.

proverbs

Posted in theology

Are you wise in your own eyes?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding sees through him. (Proverbs 28:11).

I couldn’t help but stop and ponder this. I thought of the Rich Young Ruler of Mark 10:17-27. He asked Jesus as the “Good Teacher” what must he do to be saved, who thought that he had perfectly kept the first commandments, but refused to give up his money, “for he had much property”.

The MacArthur Study Bible says that this verse contrasts the discerning poor with the rich man, who is deceived by his self-confidence. Riches are not always possessed by the unrighteous and wisdom by the poor, but more often than not, his is the case due to the blinding nature of wealth.

The Rich Young Ruler was wise in his own eyes, thinking that his property and wealth would comfort him to the end. But in the end there is only Jesus and one’s sin. Your property is gone. Your wealth is gone. There is only yo, and your soul, and the Lord of our souls, Jesus. How had one dealt with one’s sin? Repentance and seeing it thrown into the Lake of Fire? Or had one clutched tightly to one’s sin and now it AND your soul will be thrown into the Lake of Fire?

I think of a certain old man, whose entire life had been a fervent and focused accumulation of money. The money enabled him to buy things, and he delighted in having these things. He loved having them first in the neighborhood. He gloated over having the largest and the best. He loved work but he loved work because it brought him money and the money brought him things. But in the last seconds of his earthly existence he lay on a hot pavement, dying, and even as his body stilled and drained of life the next second his soul was cast into the even hotter regions of the universe, for he had many things, but no faith. Faith is the only thing that lasts, and it is the only thing that brings you to the feet of Jesus, the safest and best place in the universe.

The pursuit of things took his eyes away from God’s creation where He has revealed himself, and to the casting away of the Gospel when it was offered. Keep your eyes on Jesus, whether or not you have wealth. But if you do have wealth, don’t let self-confidence mar your vision of the only thing you need: The Gospel.

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