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What does a seared conscience look like? America

Posted on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Eight years ago, Naomi Wolf wrote an article for CNN asking the question, CNN-is porn driving men crazy?

It is hard to ignore how many highly visible men in recent years (indeed, months) have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways. Some powerful men have long been sexually voracious; unlike today, though, they were far more discreet and generally used much better judgment in order to cover their tracks.Of course, the heightened technological ability nowadays to expose private behavior is part of the reason for this change. But that is precisely the point: so many of the men caught up in sex-tinged scandals of late have exposed themselves – sometimes literally – through their own willing embrace of text messages, Twitter, and other indiscreet media.What is driving this weirdly disinhibited decision-making? Could the widespread availability and consumption of pornography in recent years actually be rewiring the male brain, affecting men’s judgment about sex and causing them to have more difficulty controlling their impulses? … The hypothesis among the experts was that pornography was progressively desensitizing these men sexually.

She asks a good question, especially in light of the fact that the past 8 years has seen a precipitous plunge into depravity at a speed one would not have guessed. Same-sex-marriage, trans-gender, the advent of ‘non-binary’, even many Christian pastors unveiled as plumbing the depths of all kinds of sexual sin.

Wolf offers a different possible answer to it than I would. I say it is the fallen-ness of our sinful world and the fact that satan inhabits it, provoking our own sin-nature He is actually the god of this world and operates within it through the boundaries that God sets. On the other hand, Wolf could be unknowingly exactly right when she speaks of ‘desensitizing’, because Paul spoke of some people who, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”

The full verse from 1 Timothy 4:1 is: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron“. The Matthew Henry commentary on this verse explains,

It is done by their hypocrisy, professing honor to Christ, and yet at the same time fighting against all his anointed offices, and corrupting or profaning all his ordinances. This respects also the hypocrisy of those who have their consciences seared with a red-hot iron, who are perfectly lost to the very first principles of virtue and moral honesty.

We get desensitized to sin. The ‘desensitization’ Wolf noticed is the seared conscience of a sin-scarred soul. Once engaging in it, unless we repent and confess immediately, presenting ourselves for a spiritual bath by the Holy Spirit, we remain unclean in that little spot, and we get used to the unclean feeling. We decide that it wasn’t really so bad, and we do it again. And again. Until we’re so strewn with scar tissue from the searing of our consciences, we become inured to the effects of sin and never even feel its pricks any more. And before long we have men exposing themselves publicly in ridiculous ways that they have convinced themselves are fun because they have lost any ability to feel shame.

God told Jeremiah to tell the Israelites:

Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished,says the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:12).

God spoke that to Jeremiah for His people at the end of a long list of sins they were committing, which also included deceit, straying from the ways of God, listening to false prophets who say all is well, being greedy, and rejecting God. He punished them. Will He do less with us here in America? Surely not!

Edward Gibbon wrote the book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He spent twenty years researching it. Through his research Gibbon realized that all great nations, Rome included, have fallen for the same reasons. Those reasons can be boiled down to just five, usually occurring in sequence-

1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral.
4. The building of great armaments when the great enemy was within; the decay of individual responsibility.
5. The decay of religion, fading into a mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people.

So is there any good news?

Though there is much to be mournful about, there is also much to be joyful about! Each day we are not raptured is a day closer to when it happens. Each day we are on earth is a day we can obey the Lord, celebrate the Lord, proclaim the Lord, and do the work of the Lord. Each day that passes is another day in which the Holy Spirit regenerates us more into His likeness. Each day that passes is a day we can thank Him for the many, many blessings we receive from Him, beginning with salvation. And each day that passes and our country and the world dies a bit more, we know that it is one day closer to when our new home will be ready to receive us. We celebrate worship, His glowing church, and His sovereignty.

Take heart, as Jesus promised Simon,

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:17).

What rock is Jesus talking of? Peter’s confession! He knew, as we do, that Jesus is the Christ, (the Rock), the Son of the living God. And nothing thwarts the Living God’s plans and decrees.

We can work hard in obedience and repentance and prayer, not to spark a seared conscience in ourselves. We can be strong and bright lights for His name. We can anticipate the day of our homecoming, whether by death or rapture.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 13:4).

Keep praying, keep confessing, keep loving, even though it gets hard sometimes. Keep thinking of the lovely things. “”Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)”

And one day when we least expect, we will suddenly be clothed in new flesh, glorified and able to see Him as He is!

unspeakable glory

theology

Ayanna Mathis: “FOR THE WOMAN STRUGGLING WITH “QUIET TIME” CULTURE”

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by elizabethprata

I like Ayanna Mathis’s writing. Her name was Ayanna Thomas, but she was married last week, congratulations! So now she is Ayanna Mathis. I’ve re-posted one or two things from her before. Ayanna is young, but wise. She makes sense, is gentle, humble, and a good writer.

She posts on Instagram ayannazariya. She had a blog called The Biblically Sound Woman with lots of good stuff, but stopped updating on it, though her writing is still there to be read and enjoyed. She stopped her podcast a year ago, too, choosing to drive most of her material to Instagram, where she also posts ‘Stories’ (videos). In addition to videos on Bible topics, she creates videos on the topics of healthful living and also makeup.

Ayanna posted this week on the notion of ‘Quiet Time’. Do you struggle to carve out a quiet time to read your Bible, pray, journal, or do a devotional? There are many young mothers in our church. It seems like a baby is being born just about every week! LOL seriously, about 6 or 8 babies have been added to the church family in the last year. Another baby came home from the hospital just last night! But that’s to be expected, our main demographic when we founded the church three years ago was college and just beyond, so this is the season for folks to marry and start families. It’s wondrous to see.

But with that comes time management issues, exhaustion, and bewilderment! So I thought of the young moms, busy moms, or any woman who struggles with finding a quiet time, and I repost this piece for your perusal. I hope it edifies you as it did me. I broke the chain in my Bible reading plan and got a week behind, and felt bad about that. I’m caught up, but even with the pleasure of reading His word in an organized way, as through this plan, there is a mild pressure to ‘perform’ and guilt when I don’t.

And be sure to check out Ayanna’s Instagram. Her photos are gorgeous too. She is one talented lady.

FOR THE WOMAN STRUGGLING WITH “QUIET TIME” CULTURE

It’s been said that if you miss your quiet time for whatever reason, some how you’re lacking whatever instructions God wants to give you for your day. What can often be well-intentioned admonitions, can turn into a legalistic, “do this or you don’t get that” approach to meeting with God. And the way our busy schedules, course loads at school, children waking up at all odd hours of the night and sleep deprivation being so real are set up, we cannot afford to buy into self-deprecating messages that do us no eternal good.

I’m reminded of Exodus 25:1-9 when I think of what God does when He calls us to dwell with Him. He never said that the conditions would be perfect. He never said that He wasn’t sovereign enough to not make a ripe environment for the wayward people He chose to know Him. You know what He did instead? He spoke to Moses, told him to tell the people to take up a contribution for Him and gave specific instructions on how to build a sanctuary for God to what? DWELL IN THEIR MIDST.

God doesn’t approach quiet times the way that we often do, just as He didn’t lay on these thick, unachievable expectations on the people of Israel. He GAVE them the contributions needed from when they plundered Egypt before they got out of there. He GAVE them instructions on what to use, how to use it and how to build. And He GAVE them the knowledge that this wasn’t a little Pinterest project. This was purposed so, “that I may dwell in their midst.” (Ex. 25:8)

Your Bible is not a weapon to be used to beat yourself up with for not getting to it quick enough. It is an invitation from The Lord to see one of the means He has chosen to use to dwell in the midst of His people. Christian Woman, God is invading your space with provision for you to know Him. He’s The One working out pockets in your day to afford you the great opportunity to dwell with Him.

The Bible isn’t ineffective because we miss a few days. God by His Spirit is going to lead you even if you broke the streak in your Bible reading plan. Open up The Scriptures today, not out of a defeated mindset, but out of one that is encouraged. God is bigger than YOU.

Ayanna Mathis photo

theology

About “Aunt Becky”: The fragility of reputation and the devastating consequences of sin

Posted on March 16, 2019March 16, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

aunt becky — Lori Loughlin as character Aunt Becky. Source

The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his own sin entangle him. (Proverbs 5:22)

Yesterday I’d written a few thoughts on the massive college admission cheating scandal uncovered in in the US. You can read that essay here.

One of the people indicted in the scandal is actress Lori Loughlin. Loughlin has been an actress for many years, appearing in television shows such as Full House and its reboot, Fuller House, (as ‘Aunt Becky’), Hallmark TV series such as When Calls the Heart and Hallmark movie series Garage Sale Mysteries, Hallmark’s Christmas films, and family movies such as Moondance Alexander.

Lori Loughlin has built her career on ‘wholesomeness’. Some actors always play the ‘tough guy’. Clint Eastwood comes to mind. Others have built a career on playing the goofy sidekick, or the strong silent type. Steve Buscemi is typecast as a smarmy weirdo, Samuel L. Jackson is typecast as hard-core fierce. Others, such as Loughlin, were blessed with the ability to pick and choose, and Loughlin consistently chose roles depicting her as “wholesome” and “heartwarming”.

The Hallmark Channel brings to mind holidays, happy endings and now, incongruously, a college admissions scam that involves one of the channel’s favored actresses. Lori Loughlin’s surprising arrest this week poses a challenge for the family-friendly brand with heartland roots. The allegation that Loughlin paid bribes to gain her daughters’ college admissions is unconnected to Hallmark, but her career and the channel have become intertwined, [as the article explains].

Though Loughlin played wholesome characters for most of her acting life, we know from both the Bible and from experience that an actor’s life is often very different than their carefully crafted camera persona. When “wholesome, family-friendly actress” meets alleged “cheating bribery fraudster” it’s a clash that wounds. The wider the gap between inner and outer man, the worse the fall.

“[Hallmark’s] a feel-good, family values-type channel, and obviously scandal is the opposite of that,” said Atlanta-based market strategist Laura Ries. “Will people get past that to love the character on screen and not the real person?” (source again).

It did not take long for Hallmark to drop Loughlin. I really like Loughlin in Garage Sale Mystery. Last week I was looking at Internet Movie Database for the release dates of the Garage Sale Mystery movies I knew were in development, and if I remember right, there were 4 of them in production or post-production. I’d give you a screen shot, but the IMDb actress page for Loughlin has been quickly changed to reflect Hallmark’s decision to fire Loughlin, and those movies have been deleted from the list.

Loughlin has also been dropped from Hallmark’s Christmas movies and Netflix’s comedy Fuller House. Loughlin reportedly will not appear in the last season of Fuller House, as of this writing. Her appearance as Abigail Stanton in When Calls the Heart has also been pulled.

All this in one week. Hallmark’s statement:

We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin including Garage Sale Mysteries, an independent third party production.

When Calls The Heart statement:

The series will not air this Sunday March 17 while we are evaluating all creative options around the When Calls the Heart series. #Hearties please keep checking back to our social for all updates related to the beloved When Calls The Heart. (Statement here.)

Loughlin’s alleged corruption and involvement in fraud and bribery immediately destroys the fragile bubble she has built. She has squandered all her “reputation capital”. Hallmark, “As the country’s leading destination for quality family entertainment,” stated in their ‘About Us’, trades on wholesomeness, too, & does not want to be tainted by Loughlin’s taint. Hence, Lori is dropped like a hot potato.

Simply put, The Situation Between Lori Loughlin, Netflix & Hallmark Is A Mess.

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Lori Loughlin describes herself as a Catholic, which we know means if she believes the dogmas of Rome, she is not saved. Her inner man is not being daily sanctified to reflect the face of Jesus.

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (Ephesians 4:1).

The unregenerate inner man can only fake it for so long. One’s sin will always find you out.

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23).

Sin is hard enough to master with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it’s a daily battle. Without the Spirit, one has zero chance of reforming one’s desires for very long.

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4:7).

Reputation and trust are fragile things. In Christendom, when someone we look up to like a pastor or leader falls ‘below reproach,’ that trust is broken and he can never lead or shepherd again. Sin happens among Christ’s people, of course. We’ve seen the fall of Art Azurdia, (adultery), RC Sproul Jr, (adultery, and also drinking), Tom Chantry, (child assault) and Mark Driscoll, (financial malfeasance, sexist comments, bullying, more…). However, the forgiving Jesus will forgive the sin but He does not forget that the line was crossed. They forfeit their role forever.

For us Christians, it’s doubly important to daily call upon the Spirit in us to continue mortifying sin. We have to be active and focused on putting off that old man-

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (Ephesians 4:22).

Undealt-with sin will cause a Christian to ‘fall.’ (Though we can never again be lost; John 10:28). Our fall is worse than an actress’s wasted reputation, because it’s the reputation of Jesus that we besmirch. We’re ambassadors of His name and character. We are trophies of His grace.

In the secular world, celebrities and actors whose reputations were shattered overnight include Mel Gibson, Paula Deen, Martha Stewart, Miley Cyrus. Sometimes the brotherhood of sinners will eventually forget and forgive. Sometimes not. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s acting career never recovered from his 1920s scandal. It does not look like Roseanne will recover from her racist tweet. Matthew McConaghey’s reputation failed, started to come back, failed again.

Time will tell of Loughlin’s reputation. However, one must ask, was it worth it? The half a million she allegedly spent on her daughter’s bribe, plus the $1M she spent on bail, plus the $1M her husband spent on bail… all for naught, as apparently their daughter Olivia Jade “didn’t know how much time she was going to spend in class” because she “doesn’t really care about college, as you guys know.”

I am personally disappointed, because I like Lori Loughlin’s work. I’m sad that her sin not only crouched at the door but entered and eventually opened the door wide for all of us to see the seaminess of her heart and mind. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. Sin is what sinners do. I think of the earnest college kids and their honest parents whose way was perverted by allegedly unscrupulous people like Loughlin and the others who were indicted.

The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice. (Proverbs 17:23).

But it did not stay a secret.

Woe to those who bribe. God said that bribery engenders His wrath. (Proverbs 21:14). My prayer is that though she claims to love God (as a Catholic), this event that’s shattered her reputation and career will cause her to do some introspection and hopefully, repentantly, call upon Jesus as her savior.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

Only Jesus ever satisfies. All else is vanity.

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“The rich are different”

Posted on March 15, 2019March 16, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The news broke a couple of days ago that 50 people; celebrities, coaches, and wealthy financiers, have partaken in the United States’ largest college admission cheating scandal ever. These people paid up to $6 million funneled through a fake non-profit to assure their children’s acceptance to Ivy League and other distinguished universities like Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. Bribery, lies, and corruption are at the heart of this scandal, the root of which is money. If you want to read more about it here is a link describing how the cheating and bribery worked, plus some other links below. Headlines regarding this recently uncovered corrupt activity include “massive” and “explosive.”

Initially I did not follow this news. I declined to read about it or learn more. I thought to myself, ‘What’s new? The rich always use their money to pressure others, bribe, or introduce corruption, so as to get their way. And what’s so different about the colleges? They’re bastions of secular, worldly philosophy, so of course there’s favoritism and unfairness.’ But as the week continued it became apparent how enormous the cheating scandal was.

I got to thinking about the money involved.

I started thinking about how love of money truly is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10).

In one of his early short stories called ‘The Rich Boy‘, (1929) F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote,

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.

The book that more claimed my attention in my formative years as a young adult was the 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe called The Bonfire of the Vanities. It’s seen as Wolfe’s magnum opus and is thought to be the quintessential book of the era. The 1980s were all about excess, Wall Street, race, class, money, and greed. Wolfe’s book captured all of that. The main character styled himself as a “Master of the Universe”.

Another phrase that comes to mind besides Master of the Universe is ‘Captain of Industry.’ We know from history there have always been men who were on top, machinators of events, driving industry in the direction they want to go, holding forth in their cities or towns, masterminding and manipulating circumstances and people. All this in regards to self and fulfillment of selfish wants.

You know the adage, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” as explained here. Lord Acton expressed that opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887.

Given the Bible’s warnings about money being the root of all evil, I tend to believe it is less power adn more money that corrupts. Money makes it easier to satisfy self, to get what one wants. Those green bills fan the flames of discontent, and the flesh ever seeks to claim what it thinks it wants, thinks it deserves.

I got to thinking about the Bible’s men who were rich. Job, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea. Moses had all opportunity to live on Pharaoh’s riches, so did Joseph. Yet these men withstood the temptations that go along with money, and did the right thing. Poverty doesn’t automatically mean a person is virtuous, and riches don’t automatically mean a person is noble. But a noble, well-doing person who is wealthy AND virtuous, is honoring to God.

In the New Testament, there were people who weren’t especially wealthy, but the scriptures make note that they were generous givers. For example,

Dorcas was “full of good works and acts of charity“. (Acts 9:36).

Cornelius was “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God”. (Acts 10:2)

Even the widow gave her mites out of her poverty. (Luke 21:4).

Money is not evil. The love of money is the evil. When a person loves money to the exclusion of other people’s good, or your own good, it’s loathsome. Substituting money for God as an idol is a soul-killer. When it’s used to bribe, God considers this evil.

Definition of bribe: persuade (someone) to act in one’s favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement.

God forbids taking or giving a bribe. “for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23:8).

Again, we see this command in Deuteronomy 16:19, You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

The college admissions cheating scandal is a tremendous blot against those institutions, colleges, and universities named. Cheaters have been exposed. Sophocles said,

I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.

God help them if any of the cheaters were Christians. If they are wordly unsaved people, they have added this sin to their account.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
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The College Admissions Bribery Scandal

USC says students connected to cheating scheme will be denied admission

First Lawsuits Filed Over College Admissions Bribery Scandal

theology

The Day of the Rapture is ever nearer

Posted on March 14, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The rapture will happen, and every day that passes makes it one day closer.*

There are some people who say that we should not say it is near, and they cite Mark 13:32, where it says ‘no one knows the day nor hour’. Or they cite 1 Thessalonians 5:1 where Paul said the day of the Lord will be as a thief in the night, a surprise. Or they cite Acts 1:7, where we are told we will not know the times or dates God has set by His own authority.

They are right.

If you meet up with anyone who knows the time, hour, or day, run, for they are false.

In Luke 12 beginning in verse 35 there is a section called “Watchfulness”. Jesus says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,” and later in vs. 37 He says, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.”

So when you try to relate the imminence of the times don’t let anyone brush you off from speaking of it with the old chestnut, “we do not know the day nor hour” (Unless you have just told them a day or an hour.)

Others claim that the rapture as a doctrine is made-up, won’t happen, and is a false thing to believe. People who say that use a faulty hermeneutic, and thus have arrived at a false notion of things. It’s sad, because hermeneutics is a moral issue, being that it involves how one handles scripture and how the result of that handling makes one think of the Savior’s character and promises. No, the Bride will not be enduring God’s wrath at the Tribulation and she won’t be dragged through the mud during the worst time on earth. Paul explained the rapture to his people at Thessalonica and said to be encouraged by it. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).

I feel the time is getting very close. I see the geo-political platform of the pieces coming together, the days and years passing, and I want to say WAKE UP!” “BE READY!”

I know so many people who are not ready. I have a near relative who has passed on. It seems he was never ready and likely dwells in hell now. Do I want my loved ones or friends to die apart from Jesus? No. Do I want my relatives or friends to go through the Tribulation, which will happen after the Rapture? No. I don’t want even my worst enemy to face the living hell of God’s wrath on earth, nor His wrath in eternity forever. The burden for the lost is heavy.

The world’s depravity is worsening by the day, but we knew that already. Paul told Timothy that the deception of men would wax worse and worse. (2 Timothy 3:13). Jesus said that things would get worse, and love would grow cold. (Matthew 24:12).

While the Lord may choose to defuse the situation on the earth and everything go back to something akin to normal or at least less depraved, that is His prerogative in His timing, but would He? Though God could certainly pull everything back from the brink, it is not probable, based on the verses above. Genesis 6:5 says

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

That’s how it is, the longer man goes without God, the worse his culture gets. It’s always a downward spiral. See: Judges.

In his essay What is This World Coming To? Exactly What Jesus Said it Would by Stephen Altrogge-

I would venture to say that many conservative television shows, and radio shows, and blogs, and podcasts, perpetuate the “what is this world coming to?” attitude. It’s not uncommon for talk radio hosts to spend three hours lamenting the decay of morals in the world. But we shouldn’t be shocked or dismayed. The world is coming to exactly what Jesus said it would come to, and this actually gives us a lot of hope.

We can be dismayed over a culture that is gross and depraved, as ours is in the United States, but if we are going to lament, let’s lament the destiny of those without Christ. This world is not our home. However, we can hope in Him, that all His promises are true. The world is getting worse, yes, Jesus said so. However He will return, He said so.

What this adds up to is the final decision. A person must decide if they will acknowledge their sins against Jesus and ask Him to forgive them, or not. Not doing so means they will be left behind when He comes very soon for us. The Bible says it’s imminent. Worse, the day of a person’s death is unknown to him, and if he or she should die without Christ, they will be lost forever.

There is no sin you have committed in your life that Jesus will not forgive! The only unforgivable sin is refusing His pardon for your sins. He loves you and wants to take care of you and bless you and treasure you. He wants to save you and lavish love on you and adopt you. Yes, YOU!

Though Jesus could settle the world and wait another 10-20-50 years, I truly think He will not. I really think that it’s close. I’ve been saying this for ten years and I’ll go on saying it for another 40, or as long as the Lord’s days of my life haven’t reached their number.

As Altrogge says

The good news is that, in spite of the wickedness which fills the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ will continue saving sinners! Yes, evil is powerful, but Jesus is more powerful! Yes, Satan prowls about like a roaring lion, but Jesus is the great lion slayer. Jesus encouraged Peter that the church would not be overcome, and would even stand against hell itself

Repent, for the kingdom of Jesus is at hand.

Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;e repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14b-15)

*A version of this essay appeared on The End Time in February 2012. It’s been edited and changed.

rapture1

theology

Salt is a corrosive, too

Posted on March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I lived in Maine for 30 years, and was born and bred in Rhode Island before that, so I’m a New Englander through and through. I know snow.

It snows a lot in Maine and for a long time. While the rest of the country may be experiencing spring, where I used to live it still kept on snowing. Unfazed, locals opend up their ice cream shops and put on shorts anyway. Forget the Groundhog, Mainers have their own signals that spring is near: when Red’s Dairy Freeze in South Portland opens, as this story the other day from the Portland Press herald illustrates, it’s spring. It’s news when the seasonal shops come alive again.

reds — People brave an oncoming winter storm to line up outside Red’s Dairy Freeze as the ice cream shop opened for the 2018 season on March 7. The 2019 season started Monday. Staff photo by Brianna Soukup

In our town, it was Hodgman’s Frozen Custard, and Lonnie Dogs, the 40+ year hot dog vendor fixture. When Lonnie rolls his cart up to the parking lot and opens for business, you know crocuses are just around the corner.

plow blades — Snow Plow blades at rest during the summer. EPrata photo

One of the Public Works responsibilities of a town or city in New England is to lay road salt down in advance of and during a snow or ice storm. What is road salt? Anne Marie Hemelstine, PhD answers that here:

When cold weather arrives, stores stock up on big bags of road salt and you may see it sprinkled on sidewalks and roads to melt ice. But what is road salt and how does it work? … Road salt is used to melt snow and ice and keep water from freezing… Road salt is halite, which is the natural mined mineral form of table salt or sodium chloride (NaCl). While table salt has been purified, rock salt contains mineral impurities, so it is typically brownish or gray in color. Machines mine the salt, which is crushed and packaged for delivery.

Road salt is necessary for the motoring public in winter climes, if they want to keep driving semi-safely, that is. The cities and towns buy enough of it so that when it’s delivered, we call it ‘salt mountain’ because the pile is so high. But road salt is also a corrosive. If you don’t wash it off your car at regular intervals, it will eat away at the metal undercarriage of your vehicle, and after a while you’ll have a Flintstones car.

I have been thinking about the verse that says we believers are to be “salt and light.”

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. (Matthew 5:13)

We know that people regularly interpret this in a couple of ways. Salt is a preservative. Barnes’ Notes explains it this way-

Salt renders food pleasant and palatable, and preserves from putrefaction. So Christians, by their lives and instructions, are to keep the world from entire moral corruption. By bringing down the blessing of God in answer to their prayers, and by their influence and example, they save the world from universal vice and crime.

Salt is also a flavor enhancer. GotQuestions explains it this way-

Second, salt was used then, as now, as a flavor enhancer. In the same way that salt enhances the flavor of the food it seasons, the followers of Christ stand out as those who “enhance” the flavor of life in this world. Christians, living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in obedience to Christ, will inevitably influence the world for good, as salt has a positive influence on the flavor of the food it seasons. Where there is strife, we are to be peacemakers; where there is sorrow, we are to be the ministers of Christ, binding up wounds, and where there is hatred, we are to exemplify the love of God in Christ, returning good for evil (Luke 6:35).

But elsewhere in the Bible we also understand that we as believers are the aroma of death to those who are perishing-

For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).

I think that road salt can be thought of as a corrosive element generating an acid response to those who reject, i.e.s the aroma of death, and/or an abrasive element that melts hardened icy hearts into hearts that love the Lord.

Just a thought.

theology

One major way Christian self-help books damage you

Posted on March 12, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“Christian” self-help books saturate the publishing market. Isn’t the notion of Christian self-help an oxymoron? We can do all things…through Christ, who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13). Apart from Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:5).

Yet the books keep coming. Osteen, Hollis, Warren, Niequist, Lusko, Shirer, Meyer…all under the guise of helping you and all sold under the banner of the spotless Name.

These books and ideas harm you. They steer you away from Jesus and that always hurts a Christian.

I was listening to a John MacArthur sermon titled The Hope That Overcomes the World, and though the sermon was not remotely on self-help, something Dr. MacArthur said brought the issue to my mind.

Trying to secure a meaningful, lasting relationship in marriage seems well-nigh impossible. Families are full of chaos and disintegration. Add to this decades and decades of propagating self-esteem and pride, and what you have is people who are consumed with their own desires and their own wants, who then double-down on the impossibility of making meaningful relationships because they’re so self-centered. Source

That’s where self-help books fit so well into the chaos. Using these kind of books or materials will only help you circle the drain. Why? Our natural penchant for self-involvement due to our thorough depravity and sin, engenders this. Turning to these books, instead of to Jesus, for help will only propel us to double down on our sin and selfishness.

I liked the use of the phrase “double down”. It’s apt. The natural man wants his own desires and will seek them in any way he can. We are to rely on the Spirit to slay that old man and kill those desires. Allowing these materials to come into your heart and mind will only double the propensity to turn from Jesus and begin a downward spiral…it’s what the false teachers are there for, to help you do this.

How does it double down? That’s the trap. When the first book doesn’t “work” to help solve the problem of the hour, you’ve tried this or that from the bulleted list the author has earnestly told you will help, you’ll go back and make a second trip to the bookstore, looking for what will help. As one becomes more involved in the journey back to self, the possibility of making meaningful relationships diminishes because we’re ever more focused on self rather than Jesus, who is the source and flow of all meaningful relationships- because He is the primary relationship.

2 Peter 1:16 says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

What false teachers have to peddle are myths. They’re cleverly devised, which makes them dangerously hard to spot. They purposely exploit the unwary for gain, with these stories that “they have made up”. (2 Peter 2:3).

When we have been witnesses to His majesty, not eyewitnesses like the Apostles, but witnesses in seeing Him through His revealed word, why turn to myths and stories, and allow ourselves to be exploited? Some books are written by true teachers and may be helpful, but the genre is riddled with the false. Be careful, sister, and watch out that the natural man’s flesh isn’t creeping to the unhelpful. If we double-down on anything, it should be His word made alive in our heart and mind.

self

theology

South Afrikaaner swallowed by a whale

Posted on March 11, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The video program Snapped in the Wild by Barcroft TV is a show that presents exciting wild animal-human interactions or animal-animal interactions snapped on camera.

In this latest episode, as the Youtube blurb states,

Rainer Schimpf, 51, has worked as a dive tour operator in South Africa for over 15 years. But in February, he experienced something very rare – the inside of a whale’s mouth. In perfect sea conditions, Rainer and his team set off to document a sardine run – a natural event where gannets, penguins, seals, dolphins, whales and sharks work together to gather the fish into bait balls. Rainer and his colleagues film the expedition for educational and environmental purposes.Split into two groups, Rainer led his team into the ocean, about 25 nautical miles from shore.But it was when the sea suddenly churned up that the team knew something strange was happening.

The whale apparently accidentally gathered Ranier into his mouth while scooping up fish and suddenly the photographer was inside the whale. As the Bryde’s whale closed his mouth he began to dive, but then the photographer felt the whale turning. Soon Ranier was popped out of the whale’s mouth again safely back onto the surface of the sea.

Ranier finished his description of the event by saying “I now have some knowledge of the inside of a whale that no one else has.”

I’m glad that the event turned out harmless for the man, the whale and the onlookers and other photographers. Ranier and the crew attribute the event to a total accident, with no malice on the whale’s part and none of the animals were apparently harmed.

However, lol, I could not let the concluding statement by the animal photographer go unreplied to.

I am a Christian who believes the Bible is inerrant. I believe that all the things that happened in the Bible’s recordings happened as they are presented. That means I believe that God who is three-in-one, created the heavens and the earth in 6 literal days. That decomposing Lazarus was resurrected from the dead after 4 days in the tomb. I believe that the minuscule amount of oil lasted 8 days, enough for the prophet’s wife to pay her creditors. I believe that the blind were healed and the lame walked. All of it.

So when I read Jonah and the great fish in Jonah 1-2, I believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Moreover, I believe Jonah dwelled inside the whale for 3 days, was conscious and in his right mind, prayed to the Lord, and was popped out of the great fish’s mouth onto dry land alive.

Wildlife photographer Ranier Schimpf may have had the surprise ride of his lifetime, but there was one before him who has knowledge of the inside of a great fish, Jonah.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17)

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 2:10)

The Lord God is great, holy is He in His habitation and sovereign over all that happens in the universe!

iron decorative fish

theology, worship

Songs of praise, looking up

Posted on March 10, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

jerusalem from scopus

Jerusalem from Scopus

‎We have no means of knowing whether Joseph and Mary entered Jerusalem on their way to Bethlehem. They certainly passed in sight of the Holy City. Scopus, from which our view is taken, is to the north on the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We will assume that they saw Jerusalem from this point. It was not the same Jerusalem we saw for the last time, as we made our way to the north on May 2d, 1894, but Josephus has left on record a description of the city as it existed in the time of Herod, and it is possible for us to construct in imagination the city of that time.

The framework is the same to-day as it was in the year 5 B. C. The same hills are there: Zion, Moriah and Acra. The same valleys are there: Hinnom, Tyropeon and Jehoshphat. The Temple of Herod, which was eighty-three years in building, had been in course of erection for fourteen years. From Scopus where we are standing they could have seen the ground plan of the temple, within the same enclosure of thirty-five acres, where we now see in the distance the Mosque of Omar.

Source: Earthly Footsteps of The Man of Galilee, being three hundred and eighty-four… views and descriptions of the places connected with the earthly life of Our Lord and His Apostles … By Bishop J.H. Vincent, etc. – 1894. This striking photographic journey throughout the Holy Land illustrated with no less than 384 b/w photographs taken in 1894 by R. E. M. Bain in order to document the expedition to Palestine headed by clergyman James Wideman Lee.

You can see that Jerusalem sits atop the mount, and the road leading up to it ascends. That is likely why the Psalms between Psalm 120-134 are named Psalms of Ascents. Though no one is quite positive about this, it is believed that these particular Psalms are gathered into a little hymnbook inside the larger body of Psalms because they were meant to be sung as the Israelites ascended the road to Jerusalem in advance of the several feasts and celebrations they were required to attend under the Law. The previous bunch of Psalms are called the Hallel Psalms, hallel meaning songs of praise, you can see we get the word hallelujah from hallel.

Phil Johnson explains it all here, in The Song of a Truly Blessed Man:

The position in the canon is significant, I think. They are grouped with Psalm 119 and the hallel Psalms. Most commentators nowadays believe these 15 psalms were sung by groups of pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem for those three pilgrim festivals—the same holy convocations where the Hallel psalms were sung.

So it’s my conviction that the “Psalm[s] of Ascents” were songs for the journey. These are songs for pilgrims as they ascend to a higher place. You know that Jerusalem is situated on a high elevation. The Temple was built at the very top of Mount Zion, and the city itself was the highest populated place in Israel. So no matter where you were coming from, it was always up to Jerusalem. Every journey to Jerusalem was a pilgrimage to a higher place—and those annual pilgrimages therefore made a perfect metaphor for spiritual growth.

Whether your church is up a mount or down a valley or on even ground, sing praises as you look UP today to the highest of the High, the exalted and lifted up Jesus.

By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

May your Lord’s Day be blessed.

theology

The devastating consequences of jealousy

Posted on March 9, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Bible is replete with examples of real people living real lives. Since the Bible people are real people, AKA sinners, they sin. The Bible doesn’t shy away from showing that.

In thinking over some of the more famous cases of bad acts, the brotherly jealousy/sibling rivalry issue formed in my mind. It happened a lot.

Cain, jealous over God favoring his brother Abel’s sacrifice more than his own, he slew Abel. (Genesis 4:4, 8).

Happy little Joseph awoke one day and told his brothers an amazing dream he’d had. (Genesis 37:4-5). The brothers hated Joseph because their father favored Joseph. When Joseph told the brothers his dream, one that showed how he’d rule over them one day, the brothers were jealous of him all the more. (Genesis 37:11, Acts 7:9). Then they plotted to kill him. (But God intervened and providentially saved Joseph).

David and his brothers. We read of that whole process where prophet Samuel comes to David’s father asking him to assemble all the sons. (1 Samuel 16). He is going to anoint a new king. The sons must have felt great excitement! One by one, though, they were rejected. Only after little David was brought in from the fields, too young and small to even be considered in the original lineup, were the halted proceedings resumed. In front of the father and brothers, Saul, on behalf of God, anointed David.

After that, the brothers were in the encampment awaiting the day when someone, anyone, would come forward to slay Goliath the Philistine. Errand-boy David arrived with provisions for the brothers, but was angrily mocked and scorned instead. What had David done to merit such treatment? He’d spoken up against Goliath.

And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17:26)

His brother Eliab heard and became angry. Presumably he was embarrassed. I mean, it had been 40 days of listening to Goliath taunt them and not one Israelite had stood up to fight. Not one. Certainly not Eliab. Then comes little David and he makes a bold statement immediately.

Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” (1 Samuel 17:28).

The jealousy between Jacob and Esau is well documented. Esau was favored by the father, Jacob by the mother. Instead of enjoying this unique relationship, mother and son plotted to get an upper hand. Esau helped by throwing away his birthright for a bowl of soup. Then Jacob tricks father and brother into gaining the blessing. Thus began a decades-long separation due to anger and rivalry.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 4:4)

Being jealous of another is a sin. And please don’t cite “God is jealous so I can be, too”. God’s jealousy is for us, not against us. His perfection makes His jealousy righteous.

God’s jealousy is always a product of his perfect, self-sufficient love (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 50:9–15; Isaiah 40:28), which provides the opportunity for him to feel deeply jealous about the people with which he has freely covenanted. Source

How to overcome this sinful emotion?

Here is an article from Desiring God about jealousy (also quoted above). Hey, Jealousy

Here is a one-minute audio from Grace To You’s ‘Portrait of Grace’ series, Overcoming Jealousy

What Does the Bible Say about Jealousy?