Posted in heaven, theology

What a day that will be!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I hope you think of heaven every day. I hope you think of our home, the country where we are destined to go. I hope you rejoice in the fact that it exists. I hope you are thrilled with the fact that we will be joining the Savior in heaven someday. I hope you think on the fact that His work on the cross made this possible.

He lived as a human (though still God) … endured a lifetime of mundanity and obscurity (even though He is glorious King of All) … received mocking, insults, beatings, humiliation, and death on a cross (even though He received only praise and honor in heaven)… He did all that to be obedient to His Father, and to redeem a people.

We know all this. (I hope).

I do think about heaven a lot. What it will be like to be there. To be in a place of purity and glory. To praise Jesus.

Jesus expects certain kind of worship. He does not accept any type of worship we throw at Him. He has His commandments, which describe a high standard of having no idols, having no other gods before Him, and not taking His name in vain. He has His Old Testament, in which His standards are scrupulously outlined. (No strange fire, Leviticus 10:1-2, Numbers 26:61). He has His New Testament in which we are given precepts for worship and service (No lying, as Ananias and Sapphira discovered, etc). And so on. Jesus does not receive any old worship.

I often think of when I’m in heaven, praising him from pure lips. (Zephaniah 3:9). I contemplate the praise and song I will be delighted to offer Him. I picture the global Bride before His throne, singing and exclaiming to the King.

Then of late, my mental gaze shifts from seeing me in the global body, to picturing Jesus, receiving praise from His Bride. He will accept the song and worship and acclamations that He is due. He will accept praise and honor and glory and it will not be filtered through the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). The worship Jesus receives on the Day we are brought home will not be rejected as having impure motivations (Proverbs 16:2, Jeremiah 17:9, Hebrews 4:12).

The praise and honor we give Jesus in heaven will be pure and holy and accepted as His due. I cannot wait to see that moment. Picture the global Bride, installed in heaven’s New Jerusalem, where there is no sun to compete with the Light that is the Son. Picture the songs and praises flowing from the rejoicing (and relieved) humanity He redeemed. Picture that glorious throne, upon which sits the King at the right hand of the Father, the train of His robe filling the temple. (I know I’m mixing metaphors and timing of the heavenly temple and the eternal state). Picture the light around His face, hair white as snowy wool, smiling as He surveys His bride, who is singing to Him.

When from our lips and hearts, we offer all honor to Jesus, and He accepts it, because He deserves it. Finally, finally He is given what He expects and is worthy of.

What a day that will be.

the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
 Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.
(Revelation 4:10-11).

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9).

set your mind on heaven verse

Posted in discernment, theology

Listen carefully to what she is saying in this video…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata*

Please excuse that this is a bit long. It’s important. So, please prepare to read. I broke it up into sections.

Introduction

It was a 23,000 pound sailboat. You practically had to take a reservation to come about. When you steered it, the rudder attached to the 7,300 pound iron keel moved the boat in the direction you wanted it to go, but sloooowly. The bigger the boat, the longer it takes to change a course. You can imagine how long it takes a Destroyer to change course.

Think of America as a boat. Changing the course of a nation is hard work. The nation lumbers along as a ship of state over the societal waters. It takes a long time for a new president’s policies to cause the effect he had wanted. It takes a long time for mass attitudes to change. It takes a long time to change course of a nation.

Unless it’s sin. Then the lumbering ship that is America becomes a fleet sailfish, darting over the water as a dragonfly, skipping along instantly toward whatever course sin had wanted. I’ll give three examples of how quickly sin grips a nation (or a denomination) and changes its course, then focus on the third.

Sin embeds fast and changes the course of a nation quickly

Exhibit A: Divorce

It didn’t take long for divorces to take over once no-fault divorce became legal nation wide.

No-fault divorce came about in the 1970s and afterward, divorce rapidly began losing its stigma. Divorce as a “completely off the table” concept to “divorce is everywhere” occurred at a bewildering rate.

In this article by Meghan Kruger from the Roger Williams Law Review, we learn just how fast,

Between 1970 and 1985, the United States experienced an overhaul in divorce legislation. During that time, nearly every state either replaced or supplemented its fault-based system with some form of no-fault divorce

Divorce laws that had been instituted in the US for hundreds of years were were overhauled from coast to coast within just 15. That’s whiplash speed.

Exhibit B: Abortion.

Criminalization of abortion accelerated as a push-back from the late 1860’s when first wave feminism rose up. It was mainly doctors opposing the barbaric practice of tearing apart a baby in the womb for the convenience of the mother. By 1900 most states had criminalized it.

Only a few years later the groundswell of pushback against the no abortion pushback accelerated to Roe v. Wade. The year after abortion was de-criminalized, 1973, over 744,000 abortions were performed in the US. At its peak, 1990, 1.6 million abortions were performed. Within 20 years, an entire nation’s change of mind allowed not only so many sinful abortions, but also that doctors, once the biggest opposers of the practice, were now some of the biggest supporters.

Exhibit C: Homosexuality.

The number of men who identify as homosexual in the US is 2.2%. That’s it. Yet when the homosexual revolution that came after the 1969 Stonewall riots, a significant moment in the gay agenda in which homosexual people of all stripes demanded acceptance, today the homosexual lobby makes it seem as if every other man is gay. FYI the first “pride parade” was held one year after Stonewall. That same year, 1970, the first application for a marriage license between two men was applied for (and denied). The lobby went from skulking in seedy bars out of the public eye to parading down the street in one year. Within 14 years US cities would begin passing or allowing “domestic partnership” policies opening the door to homosexual marriage.

A revolution with widespread consequences and import

What was the worst revolution in America?

What’s the most significant revolution we’ve ever experienced in the United States? I imagine most Americans would say it was the American Revolution, which marked the beginning of our existence as a country. Some might make the case that it was the Industrial Revolution, which transformed our nation into a world power. Yet both answers, I think, are wrong.

The most far-reaching, epochal revolution in American history began about fifty years ago and is now reaching its zenith. … I’m talking about the sexual revolution, which has wrought far more changes to the cultural behavior of America than the War of Independence fought against England in the eighteenth century. RC Sproul

The church is in the world. Some churches and even denominations who do not vigorously resist the homosexual influence become the world.

moore

Those inroads of homosexual acceptance (and all that comes with it; drag queens, trans-gender, bi-sexual, etc.) is widespread in secular America, but it’s seeping into even the most conservative quarters of the formerly most conservative denomination. The Southern Baptist Convention is tolerating this sin. Though homosexuality is a litmus test for determining which churches or pastors can participate in the denomination, it is creeping into the acceptance side of the equation. As of now in 2019, that litmus test means nothing. The scales are about to get tipped.

[T]he Southern Baptist Convention has, not unwisely, also made it a litmus test for whether or not churches can be in cooperation with the SBC and whether or not LifeWay will carry an author’s materials (we’ve seen this with Jen Hatmaker, Eugene Peterson, etc.). (Source)

How does this happen?

Satan uses a person or organization to push his agenda, which is sin. It’s exactly the same but opposite of Jesus using godly people to push forward His agenda, the gospel.

In each case of the change in America to accept a particular sin, it seems that there has always been a front person or a front organization. In the case of divorce, it was the National Association of Women Lawyers that paved the way. In the case of abortion, of course it was Jane Roe and the US Supreme court, 10 individuals. In the case of homosexuality making its way into the conservative realms of the SBC, what many consider the last bastion of denominational adherence to strong biblical precepts, it’s Beth Moore.

Beth Moore’s part in this

Moore is arguably the biggest influence for the SBC and we know she is their biggest moneymaker. Yet she is obviously softening toward the stance that homosexuality is a sin. With her platforms, associations, and behavior of late, her influence is massively tipping the scales- to the detriment of souls and minds.

Here’s the evidence:

  • Public associations in person, at conferences, and on social media lauding people in the SSA and gay arenas, without accompanying warnings about the sin itself. This was discussed more explicitly in the Open Letter to Beth Moore that I and 5 other ladies signed and published, and was actually one of the reasons the question was originally put to Moore;
  • Her refusal to answer a direct question as to whether homosexuality is a sin;
  • Her writhing under the microscope, exhibiting behavior that slandered, taunted, and deflected while still not answering the simple question;
  • The discovery that Moore had secretly deleted the entire discussion about overcoming homosexuality as a sin from her Kindle version of the book Praying God’s Word, re-published in 2009, and not explaining that deletion to her readers;
  • Moore’s weak and emotional answer as to why she omitted the biblical discussion on how to overcome homosexuality;
  • Moore’s video.

The Video: listen carefully to what Beth Moore is saying

In addition to the above, which definitely demonstrates a change of stance about homosexuality, consider these next items. In her latest lesson video on unity and fellowship, Moore used many phrases and code words that indicate her stance toward same sex attraction, homosexuality, and their attendant issues, is aligned with the aforementioned folks she was supposed to be ministering to in love by warning against these very things. Here is a transcript of the pertinent part from her video for evidence.

I’ve deliberately started following and reading works of far more Christians of color. And my world and my heart has just exploded. I’m so thankful.

This is the world we live in. Let’s not be scandalized by what I’m about to say. I’ve also started following and reading articles and books by our fellow believers who are singles that have much dignity and humility testified to having lifelong same sex attraction, but they have chosen in their fellowship with Christ to fellowship with Him in the tremendous sacrifice of celibacy. This how they believe [?] want to follow Him and this is what I believe the scriptures say how I want to follow Him. [I know it doesn’t make sense…it’s transcribed exactly].

I’ve been so blessed by reading, getting to know my culture. Getting to understand it through the lens of the Gospel. We were entrusted to this world, not our parents’ world. This world. Are we going to act like we don’t know what’s happening? Or are we going to deal? Are we going to try and find good conversation to have? Good dialogue that has some salt on it? If we don’t, what in the world are we in this world for? [Then turns to Philippians 1:27].

1. Choosing to read books on the criteria of the color of the author is a Critical Race Theory act, not a theological act.

2. Reading books and articles about SSA people … perhaps Moore is attempting to learn more about the homosexual folks that have overcome their sinful thoughts and intents so she can rejoice in Jesus with them. Oops, nope. Moore wrote all about that in her 2001 book Praying God’s Word, which was re-released in 2009. It was in that re-publication she deleted the information about homosexuals overcoming their sin. Given that Moore is a trend follower, she is more likely mentioning this newly discovered interest in the “tremendous sacrifice” of the homosexually inclined, because it is a popular trend in evangelicalism.

3. Moore makes it sound as if homosexuals are doing Jesus a favor by choosing celibacy. Homosexually attracted people are no different in their sin than adulterers who lust after opposite sex people, singles who look at pornography, or any other flavor of sexual sin. If you’re not married to an opposite sex person, you’re not to have sex or think about having sex (lustful thoughts of the heart). Period. SSA folks aren’t any different, but Moore’s as-usual overblown emotional speech touting their “tremendous sacrifice” makes it seem as if they are.

Up top I’d noted the statistic for how many men in the US identify as homosexual- 2.2%. How many of those, do you think would identify as Christian homosexual? We’re talking a negligible number.

Obeying Jesus in celibacy is extraordinary in that the Spirit enables it, but mundane in that it’s expected of everybody.

I believe this video and Moore’s recent handling of the homosexuality issue means Moore seems to be readying herself to ‘come out’ as it were, of affiriming homosexuals in some way as believers.

Rosaria Butterfield gives a good definition of the two sides of the issue.

Side B believes that homosexuality is not a morally culpable issue, although it is a consequence of the brokenness from the Fall; Side B teaches against homosexual sexual practice, but only for the sake of Christian tradition.

That seems to be where Beth Moore is now, against it, weakly, and only for the sake of tradition, not for the sake of obedience.

Traditional Christian perspectives of course, decry all sexual sin, and oppose it. Traditional practice urges slaying that sin in us with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Traditional Christian belief says homosexuality in any and all form (thought, deed, etc) is a sin. Butterfield continues,

While Side B seeks to uphold biblical sexual standards, because it sees sexual orientation as an accurate category of personhood (i.e., there is such a thing as a gay person—that gayness describes who someone essentially is), their theology in no way allows for an understanding of why homosexuality, even at the level of desire, is sinful and needing the grace of repentance. To the Side B Christian, homosexuality is a sexuality—one of many.

So you see the trend Moore is on. She is paving the way for conservative acceptance of homosexuality as an integral and distinct part of the faith. She is being used of satan as one of the fronts-persons to promote his agenda. If you doubt me, listen to that part of the video again.

 

Moore is arguably THE most influential Southen Baptist. Look what happened when she wrote her Open Letter to My Brothers calling out some unnamed men for sexual harassment and misogyny. The SBC had a convulsion. Look what happened when she put her toe into politics. The Atlantic came calling.

Since her church, nor Lifeway, nor any SBC colleagues that we know of have rebuked her for any of her other errant stances, it is likely that she will be projecting this errant theology into the faith, too. Remember at the beginning I’d shown you how fast sin travels? Fast.

Adjectives in terms of grammar are modifiers, their job is to tell me what kind of Christian you are. The problem with a term like ‘gay Christian’ is that it modifies Christian according to a category of the flesh.
~Rosaria Butterfield

The scales are about to get tipped on the homosexuality issue for this denomination, and Beth Moore has her hand on the balance.

NOTE:
*I know I’ve written about Beth Moore a lot lately. This summer has been extraordinary in the conservative realms, and Moore has been a crucial part of the observable decline. I have other, encouraging and theological topics I plan to write about, but I do feel a duty to chronicle, warn, and provide food for thought on these sad circumstances. Please bear with me. 🙂
———————————-

Further Resources

Living Out part 1: The Shift by Tom Buck

The Deafening Silence of the Church on Homosexual Marriage, by DB Harrison

We Will Not Bow by John MacArthur

 

Posted in theology

What do Josh Harris and Beth Moore have in common?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Wanted: SBC Church desires a substitute Sunday School Teacher for women. Term: 1-year. Prefer untrained young candidate, motivational speaking a plus. Responsibilities: Teach the word of God eisegetically to women older than yourself. It’s OK if you just think up things to speak about on Saturday night and then match some scriptures to your thoughts. Note: We will let you flounder for 9 months of the 1-year term before stepping in to help. And even then, we will only expect you to take 1 doctrine class. Bonus: Afterward, consider yourself equipped for a 35-year Bible teaching career!!

Don’t you love genesis stories? How things began? I watched the original episode that got Paladin started on his “Have Gun – Will Travel” career. That popular TV show from the 1950s and 1960s where the main character goes around fixing wrongs, featured Richard Boone, the good man in a black hat. Or the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island (that went missing until 1992?) Did you know John MacArthur started as a youth pastor? Or that Phil Johnson started as a proofreader? Or how the universe began? Fortunately, we can read that genesis story in Genesis, starting with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth …”

How did Beth Moore get started? The Southern Baptist Convention’s darling and biggest moneymaker Beth Moore started as a motivational speaker completely untrained for handling the word of God and in fact floundered in eisegesis for 9 months and even afterward only took 1 class in doctrine. The job description above is accurate, not a spoof or made up. It’s taken directly from Beth Moore’s own mouth as she related her genesis story to Transformation Church in a sermon to that congregation in May 2019.

Beth Moore began in her early 20s as a Christian motivational speaker. Beth herself stated in May 2019 at Transformation Church during her famous Mother’s Day sermon to the congregation that “I was already what you’d call a Christian motivational speaker.” When she was 27 years old, her church asked her to substitute teach a women’s Sunday School class of 28-31 year olds. The regular teacher was pregnant, and they needed a teacher to teach the class for one year. The youngest person in the Sunday School class was older than she was, Beth noted.

She said “It was a treacherous year”. Why? This inexperienced young motivational speaker, charged with teaching people older than herself, was thrown into the deep end with no support and no training. Further, she was a young woman teaching older ones, instead of as Paul advises in Titus, the other way around. The mistakes are multiple and overwhelming. Mistakes like this have conseqences for the entire Church, not just a local church, as we will see.

‘The church’ as Moore identified, had asked her to do something for which she was biblically unqualified on several levels. We don’t know who asked her to teach, she only says ‘the church’ asked her. ‘The church’ should know better. In the first place, a wise elder board or pastoral staff should be raising up men and women for these positions. It’s their literal job to keep an eye out for teachable anointed ones and train them up for the edification of the body so that when opportunities come, they are ready to install a trained, if hopefully experienced, man or women. Throwing a young, inexperienced woman into a class where the total job is to handle the Word rightly, is against so many scriptures. (Titus 2:3-4; Hebrews 5:12; Proverbs 1:5, Acts 8:30-31; 1 Peter 5:5-7…).

If Moore was humble, she would have declined. If she was wise, she would have asked for help early on, instead of allowing her “treacherous year” to continue so long to the NON-edification of herself and the other women.

Sadly, the floundering method Moore employed for herself, “thinking up stuff to say and then matching verses to it the night before” as she stated, never stopped. When I attended a Living Proof Live event in 2011, she related to us this exact scenario as to how she arrived at her two-day lessons she’d be delivering at the conference. She was still doing it, years later. Her early mistake became cemented-in.

Even more sadly, this widespread penchant for installing untrained and unready people into leadership positions continues, despite what the Bible says about qualifications of leaders. Rachel Held Evans, Jen Hatmaker, Beth Moore, Joshua Harris, Mark Driscoll, Jennie Allen, all examples taking advantage of the millennium’s global platforms to launch themselves untrained in positions of authority and teaching. With book deals. As conference speakers. With web pages or Instagram accounts intent on ‘building a brand’ and gaining followers rather than training up in the word.

It is a recipe for apostasy. Indeed, those I just mentioned are either gone or in the process of it. In fact, Moore just this week singled out Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) celibacy as a “tremendous sacrifice“. “Let’s not be scandalized by what I’m about to say” she began, saying that SSA people who have dignity have “chosen to fellowship with Him [Christ]” by “choosing celibacy”. And that she has recently read about “my culture” and “gotten to know my culture” and that “it’s not our parents’ world”, and “we need to have good conversations and dialog.” Anyone with a finger on the evangelical pulse knows those are code words for soon claiming homosexual acceptance.

 

It’s the very reason we don’t put untrained, unguided, uneducated, youths into positions of care or teaching. Would you seek a doctor answering to the job description I’d posted above? A lawyer with pedigree of Beth Moore? A motivational speaker with one law class? Of course not. So why do so many churches install the young and untrained? Souls are at stake. The spotless name of Jesus is at stake.

Put into position of leadership early, we were all both horrified and grieved at Josh Harris’s departure-from-the-faith announcement, an utter rejection of Christ and all His holiness and righteousness. At age 23 he ran a Christian magazine. Three years later he was tapped to be a pastoral intern. A couple of years after that, he authored a book that sold a million copies. Phil Johnson recently said that he had been worried about Harris from the beginning, because his first book, on dating, no less, (“I Kissed Dating Goodbye”) was first published when Harris was in his early twenties and not yet a pastoral leader. It wasn’t written from a pastor’s view, but from a layman’s.

Anyway, Harris was off and running. Sadly, at age 44, he repudiated the faith and ran away from it. His goodbye to the faith was both nightmarish and crushing.

See the Josh Harris story here.

I’m not saying that someone young can’t ever be a pastor or a leader. Some can, in certain circumstances. Paul was mentoring young pastor Timothy. (1 Timothy 4:12), after all. The Bible does suggest, though, that it’s often best when candidate elders or teachers have had a time of seasoning before they lead. What I am saying is that unmindful appointment of untrained or unready youngsters can and does do damage to the worldwide faith. Joshua Harris and Beth Moore are prime examples. My plea is for sober-mindedness, adherence to scripture, and a carefulness when installing men and women to various positions. May God always be glorified.

pews

Posted in theology

Guess which fruit of the Spirit is little spoken of and hardest to practice?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit!

People of an age know this saying. It used to be said quite often. In some small pockets, it still is.

It was a time when parents were the boss and the kids were supposed to gratefully and quietly receive whatever it is that was being handed out. No asking for something different. No demanding ‘I want it now’. No waiting till a more convenient time for them. It was eat this/do this now or forgo it totally.

I blame Burger King’s “Have it your way“. (Just kidding, but let’s take a look as a metaphorical example).

For 40 years Burger King has been touting that you don’t need to eat cookie cutter meals without substitutions, taking what’s presented as is (take THAT, McDonald’s) but you can mix and match to your liking. After 40 years BK decided that they weren’t only going to let you know that you can have it your way, but you can “BE your way”. In other words, create your own reality. All so that customers can make an emotional connection with the fast food company and their product. Sometimes I wonder about ad people…:)

Fernando Machado, Burger King’s senior vice president of global brand management, explained.

Burger King says in a statement that the new motto is intended to remind people that they can and should live how they want anytime. It’s ok to not be perfect … Self-expression is most important … By contrast, he said, “Be Your Way” is about making a connection with a person’s greater lifestyle. … champion individuality…

And so it continues.

‘Have it your way’ is the embedded motto of a generation. That’s fine, ad people can devise jingles and slogans all they want. The generation they’re aiming at with their message are constantly barraged with societal claims to individuality and instant gratification, so be it. It shouldn’t affect Christians. Until it does.

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. (Prov. 25:28).

When a child of the millennium converts, he has to dispense with the cultural baggage he’s accumulated, here in the West anyway. They are a new creation and must unlearn the cultural mandates of self-indulgence and instant gratification. The child who won’t take no for an answer in the grocery aisle. The teen who demands a phone upgrade. The young man dilly-dallying in college. The young adults putting off marriage and children because they need more “me time.” All for the aim of gratifying desires and indulging lusts.

Have you noticed the little-talked about mandate in the Bible about self-control? Its silence in preaching and discussion is out of proportion to the number of times we’re told to practice it. I think we do need to talk about self-control more.

Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 speaks of self-control in the following particular sense. Discipline and self-control are important. I’ll lay the foundation of what self-control is before getting to why it’s critical to develop it.

In the Greek according to Strong’s, the word self-control as it is used in the above 3 verses, it’s “egkráteia (“self-control, Spirit-control”) can only be accomplished by the power of the Lord. Accordingly, 1466 /egkráteia (“true mastery from within”) is explicitly called a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:23).”

Today we will examine the fruit of self-control (Gal. 5:23). Basically, to have self-control means that we behave in a manner appropriate to the given situation. It means we defer when it is appropriate to defer. It means we speak when we need to speak. It means that we control our tempers and do not blow up every time things do not go our way. It means that we ignore the minor mistakes of others instead of trying to prove that we are always right.

Exercising self-control often means that we put other people before ourselves. It often involves putting the good of a group ahead of the good of an individual. Source

Since we know what self-control means, why is it important to cultivate it? Aside from the biblical mandate that says we must, that is.

Because self-control leads to self-denial. We are supposed to pick up our cross and deny ourselves. How can we deny ourselves if we can’t control ourselves?

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

If we are constantly indulging every whim, we won’t have developed the fortitude to deny ourselves on behalf of another person’s good. If we can’t control our tongue, for example, and display some restraint with what we want to say, we tarnish our witness before the unsaved. Even more so, in this age of self-expression and instantly fulfilled desires, a sacrificial, unselfish love will stand out like a beacon.

Here are some resources on developing self-control-

What does the Bible say about self-discipline?

Self-Control

Learning Self-Discipline

Old-Photo-Romantic-Couple-1

Posted in theology

What would the world look like without “Common Grace”? I’ll tell you exactly…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We know that common grace exists in the world. Even the worst sinner knows of his Creator’s grace, (Romans 1:18) because they see it and experience it every day. Sunshine, rain, beauty, the planets in their courses, the tides in their domain. The regularity of seasons, the twinkle on the stars, the crops that come up. All these are examples of the Creator’s Common Grace. (Matthew 5:45b).

Common grace is a term theologians use to describe the goodness of God to all mankind universally. Common grace restrains sin and the effects of sin on the human race. Common grace is what keeps humanity from descending into the morass of evil that we would see if the full expression of our fallen nature were allowed to have free reign. (Source)

Common grace is not only displayed in the creation, but also in another aspect, a very important one. The human race is thoroughly depraved. We are all born with a sin nature. This does not mean every human is as bad as they could be. There are Mister Rogers in the world, and there are Hitlers in the world. Some people are definitely nicer than others, but we all stand in opposition to God and are at enmity with Him, performing sin. Total depravity means every human is totally unrighteous, every one. (Romans 3:10).

Common Grace is not just a display of beauty, but an active restrainer of sin.

It temporarily restrains sin and miliates against sin’s damaging effects. Apart from divine grace, the full expression of humanity’s fallen nature would be unleashed in society, with catastrophic results. Biblical Doctrine, MacArthur, Mayhue, et al

What would the “full expression of of humanity’s fallen nature” look like if common grace was removed from the world? We can know what it would look like because common grace in creation and restraint of man’s evil through the Spirit will be removed from the world. This will allow humanity to fully express its sin nature to the uttermost. It will be called the Great Tribulation. (Daniel 12, Matthew 24:15).

This is a future event that has not occurred yet. But it will.

When the moment begins, common grace will disappear. Hail and fire, mixed with blood, will be thrown upon the earth. Rains will no longer be regularly falling. Extreme droughts will occur. Earthquakes of mega-size will happen. Grass and trees will dry up, globally, not just locally as  happened in the Great Dustbowl, for example. Crops will fail. Rivers will turn to blood. The son and moon will be darkened. Common grace that set the word in its place and given regular of seasons and times, won’t happen. Nothing of creation will be able to be counted on during the Tribulation.

Adding to the woes of humanity besides outward physical troubles such as thirst, pain, and starvation, will be a worse specter. Evil. The internal sin nature will have full expression. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). We look at different events in history now and shake our head at the evilness. Russian Pogroms Dachau and Buchenwald. The killing fields of Cambodia. The Colosseum games. We try to convince ourselves that those were one-offs. They were an anomaly.

But they weren’t. They were mere, dare I say, comparatively gentle peeks at a sin nature that is so corrupt and depraved we can’t even comprehend it.

In that terrible time, the inward, suppressed, usually hidden sin nature of man will be allowed to be fully expressed. The horrors of that time will be so bad that Jesus said

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21).

Worse than brimstone razing Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim and killing everyone in those 4 cities of the plain (except 4). Worse than the global judgment of the flood where everyone on earth drowned (except 8 souls). Worse than the Golden Calf. Worse than when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6).

Wholesale murders and sorceries and sexual immorality and thefts… Antichrist and blasphemy and slavery and martyrdom… Every possible sin that man ever thought of will be present on earth and fully performed, and even new sins and evil will be invented. When God gives a society over, the passage below is what happens. We have seen it throughout history with this culture or that, and I believe God has given America over to its sins, but when being given over happens on a global level without restraint, just think of the horror!

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32).

The church will not go through this period. It is a time of punishment for Israel. We – the Church – will be assumed alive into heaven, both the living and the dead. We will be enjoying a welcome awards ceremony (Bema Seat), and consummation with Christ during this period of horror on earth,

If you are living in an area of America or anywhere, where sin is rampant, even though it is unpleasant, please think about what it will be like when common grace will be removed, rarely found, and sin will be fully expressed. The lost don’t know what’s coming.

Keep praying for the lost to come to Christ, generally and for specific people on your list (and mine, me too). Don’t waver, because the rapture is imminent. When that happens, the Tribulation will begin, Common grace will be a thing of the past. Grace won’t reign, evil will. Though the rapture has always been imminent, I feel that perhaps it will happen soon? I don’t know of course, no one does, but I’m grateful for a feeling of urgency, whether it happens tomorrow or after I die. I always want to be fervent for the Lord. In the face of the horror to come, who wouldn’t want to be?

stored up sin verse

Posted in encouragement, theology

The story of the rock wall

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The year was 1962. The couple was young, and it was their first house. They had saved up and moved from a small apartment over a funeral home in the city, to the best suburb in the state. The happy couple now owned 4 acres of rolling hills and wooded yard, a 90 foot chicken barn, and a 100 year old cozy Cape Cod home with a wide front porch, across the street from a pond. They had made it.

It was New England, which meant that the yard was full of rocks. If the wife wanted a garden, the rocks would have to be dealt with. What do you do with all these rocks? They did as all New Englanders had done since the first Puritans had stepped foot onto the rocky land: build a wall.

Being Italian, and knowing the best masons and builders were Italian (yes, the husband was proud of his heritage), they hired Sal and Guido to take the rocks dotting the soil of this lovely yard and the ones all strewn about, haul them to the front of the yard, and build a wall. Being Italian, it would not only be functional, but it would be beautiful. It would also last.

Sal and Guido, knowing that the best walls aren’t held together with cement, but gravity, set to work. Slowly. Sal and Guido did not move fast.

First they gathered the rocks from all about and laid them along the front of the yard. They made sure they could see each one. Once the rocks of all sizes and colors were carefully laid from one end of the yard to the other, they examined each rock, turning it over to check its size and its properties, then laid it back down. Then they did the same with all the other rocks.

This process took a while. The husband was becoming impatient. He could not see any progress. Just a bunch of rocks littering his front yard. He did not see any point to all this examination and care. The old Italian masons told the impetuous young man that anything built to last must be done slowly and carefully. Wait, they said.

There came a day that the old men started piling rock upon rock. They knew each rock well by then, and knew exactly where to place each one. They all seemed to fit! Gravity held the wall together. The careful eye from each of the old masons, knowing where to place each rock for maximum strength and performance had done its job.

At last, the wall was done. It was strong, and it was beautiful.

wall

The wall is real, and the couple were my parents. I grew up here. This is part of the wall, there is more to the left unseen in the photo. There used to be more to the right, but it was done away with to cut a driveway. Fifty-five years later, the old builders’ work is still standing strong.

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

The Great Builder is building His eternal church from living stones – us. He is taking care to examine each one, turn it over to see all the different properties and facets. He knows just where to place each of us for maximum effect and use. It takes time, but anything well-built takes time.

We are being gathered, shaped, honed for maximum use. One day, the spiritual wall will be complete, the last stone will be laid (Romans 11:25). His spiritual house will stand forever.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 13-18)

Posted in love, theology

Does God hate anyone?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Psalm 5:5, The foolish shall not stand in your sight: you hate all workers of iniquity
John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I was asked about an apparent contradiction between a God who says he hates people who sin and the love He expresses in John 3:16.

There are different types of God’s wrath. There’s cataclysmic wrath such as in when He sends tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes. There’s His wrath of abandonment such as when he ‘gives a person over’ to their sin (Romans 1:24, for example, or hardening Pharaoh’s heart). There’s eschatological wrath, prophesied to come in the future. And so on.

There’s different kinds of love. There’s God’s beneficent love to all general mankind we see in John 3:16 (That kind of love is shown as common grace, sending the rain to the wicked and the righteous alike). Then there’s His covenant love toward those He has purposed to save.

There’s different kinds of hate, too. Look at Luke 14:26,

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Is Jesus telling people to literally hate their parents? No. How do I know that? Because Jesus would not advise breaking the Fifth Commandment, “Honor thy Mother and Father.” No, He was using hate as a metaphorical comparison, you must love Jesus SO MUCH that by comparison is seems that your love for your parents is hate.

Is the hate expressed Psalm 5:5 the same kind of hate? No that is literal hate. It seems weird that God is love is also a God who hates.

That’s because in this day and age people vastly underestimate God’s hatred of sin. We’ve had a generation or two of “Jesus loves you and wants you to have a good life” kind of evangelism. It used to be “You’re a sinner that God will send to hell for rebelling against Him.” Sin is a huge problem to a thrice holy God. (Revelation 4:8, Isaiah 6:3).

Since God is love, sin is the polar opposite of everything He is. He hates sin- and the people who perform sin. Which makes his love for us all the more spectacular. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, He clothed them. Even though they had just done one of the most evil deeds in the universe of all history (Judas’ betrayal being #1, this can be seen as #2) He still loved them enough to clothe them and send them on their way and did not kill them immediately. That’s love through hate.

We’re familiar with the phrase “Love the sinner but hate the sin”. It’s a wonky phrase that actually does more damage than is helpful. If we are to love the sinner we must confront his sin. Here, Cameron Buettel explains in a clear and concise way about how important it is not to divorce the two, the sin and the sinner performing it.

That determination to separate who a person is and what he does has also infiltrated the church. The exhortation to “love the sinner and hate the sin” is a clever Christian cliché regularly used to deflect people’s responsibility and accountability for their sin. While it’s true that we should both love sinners and hate sin, the cliché distorts those truths by unbiblically severing the two.

We should love sinners. We should hate sin. And we shouldn’t divide those two truths into separate categories. Our hatred of sin should manifest itself in a love that warns sinners—compassionately, but no less clearly—of the dire consequences their sin demands. Short of that, how could we ever claim to truly love them? Source

We can take this trajectory to its ultimate conclusion. Once a sinner has been warned, given the Gospel, refused and rejected, we turn it over to God. God knows the heart and knows when it it time for His general love to turn to hate, giving the person over to his sin with the sure and devastating consequences. Since He knows the heart, He knows when it’s time to love and a time to hate.

If we agree with the advice in the essay, and apply the same principle to God, we know He would do it in perfection and purity since He is perfectly holy.

Here are two good articles talking about God’s hate. This short devotional from Ligonier makes the love-hate situation really clear. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis short article is good also.

God’s love and God’s hatred

Does God Hate Anyone?

psalm 5 hate

Posted in discernment, theology

Problems with Beth Moore’s teaching in list form- did you know there were this many?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

If I hire someone to do a service for me, like install the flashing on my deck, or clean my chimney, or fix my car, I want to ensure a quality job done. It is unlikely that I would re-hire a plumber who has demonstrated serial-mistake-making.

“I installed the wrong size pipe and that’s why it burst in the middle of the night.”

Would you rehire that same plumber? If you did, and he made another mistake…

“I forgot to turn the water off before I uninstalled the pipe, that’s why the laundry room is flooded.”

Would you hire him again?

“I used the wrong size wrench and that’s why the pipe is crushed now.”

Of course not, at some point very early on, you would seek a different person for the job.

So why is it that people continually overlook a false teacher’s wrong acts? Dismiss obvious errant theological interpretations? Why do they put their soul at risk in ignoring the myriad issues others have raised?

I know the biblical answers to these questions, my mind is at rest with God’s ordination of these things. I ask them because though my mind is at rest, my heart mourns.

We don’t call someone false after one mistake or two. But after decades of credible problems in a ministry with no hint of its teacher repenting or showing willingness to be corrected, it becomes obvious what is happening: that teacher is falling, not rising. Yet some people disregard scripture violation after scripture violation, and they keep drawing water out of the same poisoned well, even asking for more.

This hurts me. I grieve for the women who follow false teachers, who willfully resist the attempts from discipleship mentors, elders, pastors, discernment people, to instruct them of the imminent danger to their soul.

Beth Moore has been on a downward trajectory since the beginning of her ministry. Her issues are not new. I thought if I put some of the issues in list form, it might make things plainer. This list doesn’t even contain problems about her legalism, pop psychology, or her atrocious behavior on Twitter toward those who raise objections to her teaching. It doesn’t mention unethical publication practices such as deleting half a chapter from her Kindle version and leaving it in the hard copy without letting readers know there was a substantial difference in content they were paying for. One can only fit so much into one table.

And that is the point. This list isn’t even complete. Would you hire a plumber to fix your bathroom if he has year upon year made significant foundational errors? No, and he would probably lose his license! Would you seek a doctor whose practice is riddled with malpractice – or deaths? And how much more important is your soul to keep healthy and alive?

Please accept this table as an earnest proffer. I listed the unbiblical teaching or behavior, the consequence of that belief or behavior, and the scripture we can refer to.

There are links I can provide and substantiations for each of Beth Moore’s errors. I can provide documentation, if you ask. Let us reason over scripture and let our hearts become joyful as we seek purity in our walk, good teaching, and collegial fellowship with one another.

Issues with Beth Moore in List Form2

* The lifestyle issue is not because Moore is rich (she is). The Bible has no problem with wealth. Job, Abraham, Solomon, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and others were rich. The issue is what Beth Moore does with her money, how she uses it, and how open she is about her wealthy status. Jesus didn’t mourn the Rich Young Ruler because the man was wealthy, but because he gave up eternal life to retain his earthly property and money.

Posted in theology

Enough with the ‘Girl, you are enough’

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“Girl, you are enough.”
“Girl, you are beautiful.”
“Girl, you’re a princess.”
“Girl, you’re fine just the way you are.”

I suppose it was inevitable. The Jesus is my boyfriend trend naturally morphs into the “I am a beautiful princess of God and I’m enough” trend. Browse Pinterest on the ‘Christian’ side of things and you’ll see plenty of soft-filtered flowery photos with mottos declaring these kind of statements.

Clipboard
Lower right by Madison K. Smith

Now, it’s true that we are daughters of the King. Galatians 3:26, John 1:12 declare we are children of God. And taking it a step further, God is King. And further, that children of a King are Princes and Princesses. All true, as far as it goes.

But wait a minute, if we literally take the metaphor stretched that far, wouldn’t men as Princes compete with THE Prince!? Yes. That’s why you almost always only see women being called Princesses and not male Christians as Princes.

Doing so manipulates women in an area where many are emotionally weak and needy, which is sad.

I am reminded of a scene in Exodus. Moses had been dwelling in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years when God called Moses to his ordained task, leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses had just been instructed to remove his shoes at the Burning Bush because he was standing on holy ground. He is having a conversation with God. God told Moses he must speak to Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go.

Moses asked couple of questions which could be called legitimate. But as chapter 3 rolls into chapter 4 he crossed a line from earnest questioning to not-so-thinly disguised objections. By the time we read the conversation in chapter 4 verse 10, Moses has argued he is inadequate to the task. He is supposed to speak for God to Pharaoh but is ‘slow of speech,’ he complained.

Then Moses said to the LORD, Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. (Exodus 4:10)

In the “Girl, you’re enough, you magnificent princess” world, we would see scripture reassuring Moses that indeed he IS enough, right? We’d see God cooing over Moses, telling him, ‘Guy, don’t you know you are enough? You’re my Prince, my love, my cherished bouquet in the garden of God.”

Moses’s objections would be met with a thousand assurances six ways to Sunday of all the good things Moses is. God would assure Moses that he was…enough. Wouldn’t He?

But that didn’t happen. What happened was, God essentially said, ‘You’re NOT enough, Moses. You’re inadequate to the task. But I AM adequate. I AM enough.’

The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11).

The problem with the ‘you’re enough’ trend is that it downplays our weaknesses and dismisses God’s power to perfect us in our weakness.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Moses wasn’t enough. And God considered Him a friend, and spoke to Moses face-to-face! (Exodus 33:11). But we are NOT enough. That is as it should be. The wider the gap in our abilities for the task, the more we praise God that He fills that gap with His strength, His power, His abilities.

If we were enough, we would be God.

not enough