Posted in discernment, theology

To all the commenters who reply, “Judge not” and “Did you go to her?”

Posted on by elizabethprata

Discernment is important.

Let me rephrase that.

Discernment is important.

Discernment is:

Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong. ~Tim Challies

Charles Spurgeon drills down even further:

Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.

Some believers are given a heightened ability to discern by virtue of possessing a gift from the Spirit.

and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:10).

For spirit-gifted discerning believers AND all others, we must practice discernment in our walk. (Hebrews 5:14). That means both identifying it AND acting on it. It’s non-negotiable.

Sheep, or Wolf? A Call to Discern
by Dr. Colin Eakin
Discernment: The Neglected Imperative

Where does God command believers to exercise spiritual discernment? Perhaps a better question is, where doesn’t He? The answer is Philemon. Of all the books in the New Testament, this letter of twenty-five verses is the only one in which there is no instruction for the believer to be on guard against falsehood. All remaining twenty-six books of the New Testament (and many of the Old Testament) exhort the believer, to a greater or lesser degree, to discern truth from falsehood and to act upon it.

Satan downplays the importance of discernment. How? He twists scriptures such as the ones under discussion today, two of the most abused scriptures in the Bible, plus one more-

Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1)

And this one:

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. (Matthew 18:15).

And this one:

Be nice. Jesus ate with sinners, you know.

Sadly, when I write an essay discerning a false teacher, or speaking against a false doctrine, inevitably I receive a slew of comments from women who insist I perform one or the other of the verses above. This makes me sad, because I know from such comments these women are not operating at peak Christian condition. Their insistence that I employ one or both of these verses usually reveals two things about them:

— they hold to an errant understanding of the verses above
— they hypocritically have failed to follow their own advice and ‘come to me privately’, and to ‘judge not’.

Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. (Proverbs 10:14).

Here is my rebuttal to the commenters lobbing the most abused discernment verses:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1).

‘Do not judge’ cannot mean ‘do not discern.’ There are calls to discern in every book of the New Testament except Philemon, and many of the Old. (1 John 4:1, Philippians 1:9-10, Hebrews 5:14, Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Kings 3:9, & etc.)

Judge not can’t mean do not judge, because in John 7:24 we’re told to judge. Wisdom would suggest that rather than there being an inconsistency in the Bible, there is an inconsistency in our understanding.

So if Matthew 7:1 doesn’t mean not to discern and it doesn’t mean judge not, what does it actually mean? Well, first, read the verse in context. Here is Matthew 7:1-5,

Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

It means when we do have to judge something, as in test, discern, check, etc, do not do so hypocritically, harshly, or wrongly. More here: GotQuestions- What does the Bible mean that we are not to judge others?

If a commenter reads one of my discernment essays and ignores the scriptures, the facts, and/or the point, but gently or harshly or anywhere in between, urges me to “judge not”, I will delete the comment but reply by pointing her to this essay.

2. Have you gone to her privately?

In this one, commenters are referring to a section in Matthew 18, where the Bible outlines procedures for church discipline. Here is the passage:

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17 NASB)

This verse is about church discipline, when one member of a local body has sinned against another person in the local body. It is a local, internal procedure. It is not referring to our response to book reviews or other public statements false teachers have made.

Phil Johnson explained here, in a 2006 blog essay:

It would be a serious mistake to imagine that a private meeting is always a mandatory prerequisite before any Christian can legitimately express public criticism of another believer’s published work or public behavior. On the contrary, sometimes—especially when we’re dealing with a public and scandalous transgression—open rebuke may be warranted as a first response (cf. Galatians 2:11-14). Matthew 18:15-17 outlines instructions for dealing with private sins and personal offenses. These are not guidelines for dealing with false teaching or public behavior that might cloud the truth of the gospel or besmirch the reputation of the whole church.

Here is a link to a pdf “Editorial on Abusing Matthew 18” by Don Carson

Here is Tim Challies with an easy button version of Don Carson’s essay on Matthew 18 abuse.

If a commenter reads one of my discernment essays and ignores the scriptures, the facts, and/or the point, but gently or harshly or anywhere in between, urges me to “go to her privately”, I will delete the comment but reply by pointing her to this essay.

3. Jesus ate with Sinners

Strangely, in a third most abused verse in the discernment world, many of them say ‘Be nice. Don’t condemn. Jesus ate with sinners.’ What they are referring to is Mark 2:16.

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

If you think about it, you realize how massively ridiculous their statement that one should not cry out against false teachers or false doctrine is.

The only sinless person who ever lived was Jesus. Of COURSE He ate with sinners. He ate with sinners every time He ate. Jesus eating with sinners verse was about the Pharisees complaining that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and prostitutes whom the Pharisees believed were “sinners”, outcasts unworthy to be in polite society, while at the same time believing that they themselves were NOT sinners and worthy to eat with Jesus.

Jesus ate with sinners, having compassion on them, because they were lost sheep. However He never expected them to remain in their sin. He told the adulteress to ‘go and sin no more,’ for example. He also was very harsh with many other sinners. He whipped up a fury against the merchant greed-mongers in the temple. He called the Pharisees blind guides, fools, wicked, and greedy.

Of course we (forgiven) sinners will eat with (unforgiven) sinners because we are to be in the world. But if we see a friend involved in a false doctrine, do we take their food but leave them with a poison in their soul? No.

Jesus, Friend of Sinners: But How?
By Kevin DeYoung

As precious as this truth is—that Jesus is a friend of sinners—it, like every other precious truth in the Bible, needs to be safeguarded against doctrinal and ethical error. It is all too easy, and amazingly common, for Christians (or non-Christians) to take the general truth that Jesus was a friend of sinners and twist it all out of biblical recognition.

Jesus was a friend of sinners not because he winked at sin, ignored sin, or enjoyed light-hearted revelry with those engaged in immorality. Jesus was a friend of sinners in that he came to save sinners and was very pleased to welcome sinners who were open to the gospel, sorry for their sins, and on their way to putting their faith in Him.

More:

Why is it significant that Jesus ate with sinners?

If a commenter reads one of my discernment essays and ignores the scriptures, the facts, and/or the point, but gently or harshly or anywhere in between, urges me to “judge not”, I will delete the comment but reply by pointing her to this essay – and urge her to read the beginning section about the importance of discernment.

It’s the biggest problem.

People ask me this all the time, “What is the greatest need in the church today? What is the most compelling need? What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity? The biggest problem in the church?

It’s simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It’s a lack of discernment. It’s the biggest problem with Christian people, they make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. The are prone to the wrong teaching. They’re unwise in who they follow, what they listen to and what they read. ~John MacArthur, 2002.

You can enhance your discernment through constant training, (Hebrews 5:14), prayers for wisdom, (James 1:5) and staying in the word (Psalm 119:11). Then perhaps at some point you can help advise a sister and encourage her in her discernment walk. 🙂

 

Posted in encouragement, theology

Throwback Thursday: Do You Pass The Smell Test?

Posted on by elizabethprata

This first appeared on The End Time in January 2010

By Elizabeth Prata

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)

This is a beautiful passage, with many layered and deep elements. First, Christ uses His believers to spread the fragrance of knowledge of Him. Christ as the ultimate fragrance. The word “fragrance” can have many nuances, each with their own evocation of meaning. ‘Odor’ evokes something unpleasant, and the word ‘smell’ is simply utilitarian. But fragrance is a perfume…that is a sweet and wonderful aroma, evoking lightness and sweetness, as Christ is, of course.

Second, the verse moves from Christ as the fragrance to the believers themselves as having fragrance. Any believer is in Christ and as such, has His aroma as well. To God, this is most pleasing.

Last, the one who is perishing smells the odor of death instead of the perfumed fragrance of Christ. Why? They are perishing.

To the perishing, the knowledge of Christ is an odor unto death. They writhe under it, flee from it. If trapped with it, they try to cover it with anything handy, air freshener, orange peels…(as a metaphor) but the smell of Christ can never be covered up. The aroma remains the same, only its effects differ upon the receiver.

In this passage, Paul was evoking a common sight, the triumphal procession. The order of the participants in the procession was standard, from the generals to the soldiers carrying the spoils, to the captives in chains. Behind them, the priests come swinging the incense bowls. The captives in chains knew they would be executed soon. What was the incense smell of victory to those lining the streets was the smell of death to those in chains.

How’s your aroma? Is it pleasing to God? Are you in the triumphal procession? His fragrance through us spreading everywhere the knowledge of Him? Do you pass the smell test?

botanical garden flowers

Posted in theology

The spiritual battle is real

Posted on by elizabethprata

We are in a battle. It is real, and it is constant.

You learn about predators during shark week and when the week is over, turn it off and think of other things. You learn about raptors watching Jurassic Park and when the movie’s over think of other things. But our enemy is just as fierce, relentless, and powerful as sharks and raptors, more so, because the devil and his minions don’t need to sleep. Ans, they have a mindful, pointed, specific hate for all God’s people because they hate God Himself. They are always watching, prowling, and waiting for a more opportune time. Then, they POUNCE. (1 Peter 5:8, Job 1:7, Luke 4:13).

Don’t be pounced.

In a scene from Pilgrim’s Progress, Apollyon confronts Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian’s sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now: and with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of life.

But, as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, Mic. 7:8; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound.

Christian perceiving that, made at him again, saying, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. Rom. 8:37. And with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon wings, and sped him away, that Christian saw him no more. James 4:7.

Here is that uplifting Micah verse once again,

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me.
Micah 7:8

When we fall, by God’s grace and strength, we shall rise. Again. And again. And again.We cannot run from the enemy, our armor has no back. It’s only forward looking and thus, we must always be forward moving. When we confront the enemy, we do so head-on.

Until that glorious day when we shall rest once for all, to war no more, to find permanent peace.

collage
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Do you know the word well enough to nimbly wield it in the heat of battle?
Posted in theology

The Truest Poverty Social Justice Can Never Cure

Posted on by elizabethprata

They had it all, “social justice” had been performed nearly, and Jesus told them that they were still suffering from wretchedness, nakedness, blindness, and poverty. Here is the verse:

Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Revelation 3:17).

The verse context is Jesus speaking through Apostle John in His revelation to the 7 churches. Jesus is harshest to the church at Laodicea. Laodicea at that time was a thriving metropolis in the Lycus valley. It had merchants selling and producing goods. The guild system (a trade association promoting unity among craftsmen) in this area was strong, most strongly in Thyatira but guilds existed also in Laodicea. Guilds are like the Labor Unions of old, when unions were at their strongest, to help each other in maintaining standards adn for mutual aid, and influence. There was a famous medical center to which students and patients arrived from all around. Laodicea was a banking center, finance was the anchor of its commercial center.

Laodicea had it all. It had “social justice” in its nearly perfect sense.

And according to Jesus, it failed.

Social Justice will always fail.

They [Laodiceans] really had not what was necessary to meet the actual needs of their nature, and, therefore, they were poor. Their worldly property could not meet the needs of their souls; and, with all their pretensions to piety, they had not religion enough to meet the necessities of their nature when calamities should come, or when death should approach; and they were, therefore, in the strictest sense of the term, poor. Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jesus said the Laodiceans were rich but still poor. The only cure for poverty, despair, inequality, and injustice is the Gospel. The more that Social Justice Warriors take their eyes off the Gospel and onto temporal problems and fixes, the more they will fail. The more they argue that this is what the world needs, the more they will fail. What we are here on earth to speak for first and foremost, is the soul problem, not the social problem.

PS: Of course we help the poor, of course we establish orphanages and hospitals and of course we have concerns for the disadvantaged. But you get the point of the essay, I hope. If legitimately not, ask me in the comments and I’ll happily clarify.

copper
Alexander the coppersmith and Demetrius the silversmith were in guilds.  (Acts 19:25–27)
Posted in encouragement, theology

Staying afloat from all the negativity

Posted on by elizabethprata

I publish a scripture picture every day on my personal Facebook, my The End Time Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter. Also Pinterest if I think of it. I usually tie the daily pictures to a theme for the week. Recently, I’ve been writing a Sunday Biblical Literacy essay (“Word of the Week”) explaining one of the foundational words of the faith. I’ve written essays on Justification, Transcendence, Immanence, Propitiation, Sanctification, Glorification, Orthodoxy, Heresy, Omniscience, Perspicuity, and Aseity. All the Scripture Pictures for that week with verses match each Word of the Week.

You likely don’t know the themes and thought that I put into each picture of the week. You might not even notice that I have a theme for the scripture pictures. You don’t have to, it’s not expected.

On another topic, I’ve been reading a lot about social justice recently. I read the race baiting and anger and accusations from Social Justice Warriors (SJW). I anticipated then read MacArthur’s sermons and blogs on the topic. I read the massive Statement that came out. I read tweeted garbage against the originators of the statement, particularly against Justin Peters this week. Disheartening for sure. I thought through whether I’m going to sign or not, and answered several emails and messages asking me just that.

I am proud of the men who met and prayed and researched and edited and ultimately stood for Jesus and His Gospel by issuing the Social Justice Statement. It was needed, and they did it. Good job.

However, with all the negativity surrounding it, and all the back and forth about theological nuances and philosophies of man and heated debates, it’s gotten really negative. By necessity, contending does that. Satan never sleeps. I felt I needed simply Jesus. I decided that my scripture picture the theme for this week will be “Jesus.”

Let’s get back to Him. Who He is, His work, His character. Whenever I feel the ‘garbage’ mounting up against me, swirling, and ready to turn my attention and heart away from the simple things, I go back to Jesus.

So the theme for my Scripture Pictures this week will be Jesus. The verses will flow from who He is to my favorite aspects about Him-

Only begotten Son of God, John 3:16

A Man of Sorrows, Isaiah 53:3

The Lamb of God, John 1:29

Jesus Christ the Righteous, 1 John 2:1

The Shepherd of the Sheep, Hebrews 13:20

The Lily of the Valley, Songs 2:1

So that is my little insight. It’s important to stay current with the theological news and debates, of course. I might be a simple person, but I think it’s also more important when things start to get heated and complicated to always go back and focus on just Jesus. He is the ultimate recalibration.

grace grace grace

Posted in jesus, theology

Remembering our earliest grace

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

New Christians are so full of zeal and fervor! They run hither and yon, proclaiming and exclaiming the glories and perfections of Christ. Those early days of their grace-filled life are sweet to witness. Do you remember your early days?

As sanctification grows, so does the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

As a bundle of one fruit, the fruit in growing saints sweeps in as a rushing tide, later to settle as a gentle march of steady growth.

But as time passes for the mature saint, does the early zeal grow slight? Does it wane? Does the steady growth sadly slow to a state of frozen molasses, inching along only imperceptibly? Let it not be so! Let not the grace filled days of zeal sputter into a distant memory.

Spurgeon said of Christian zeal aimed rightly-

We do little or nothing, the most of us; we fritter away our time. O that we could live while we live; but our existence—that is all we can call it—our existence, what a poor thing it is! … O that we may become inexhaustible and permanent rivers of usefulness, through the abundant springs from whence our supply cometh, even the Spirit of the living God. … We cannot advance so far as the Saviour’s bloody sweat, but to something like it the Christian ought to attain when he sees the tremendous clouds of sin and the tempest of God’s gathering wrath. …

How can I see souls damned, without emotion? How can I hear Christ’s name blasphemed, without a shudder? How can I think of the multitudes who prefer ruin to salvation, without a pang?

I have to close by commending zeal. Let my words be few, but let them be weighty here. In commending zeal, let me say, I think it should commend itself to every Christian man without a word of mine, but if you must have it, remember that God Himself is zealous.

Charles H. Spurgeon, “Zealots” sermon No. 639

If we constantly hark back to our beginning days, we can fan the flame of zeal when we remember our former state. We remember His work to deliver grace. We remember our joy in the relief of the terrible burden of sin and judgment. John Bunyan wrote:

It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls. … It was Paul’s accustomed manner (Acts 22), and that when tried for his life (Acts 24), even to open, before his judges, the manner of his conversion: he would think of that day, and that hour, in the which he first did meet with grace; for he found it support unto him. When God had brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, far into the wilderness, yet they must turn quite about thither again, to remember the drowning of their enemies there (Num 14:25). For though they sang his praise before, yet “they soon forgat his works” (Psa 106:11-13).

My dear children, call to mind the former days, “and the years of ancient times: remember also your songs in the night; and commune with your own heart” (Psa 73:5-12). Yea, look diligently, and leave no corner therein unsearched, for there is treasure hid, even the treasure of your first and second experience of the grace of God toward you. Remember, I say, the word that first laid hold upon you; remember your terrors of conscience, and fear of death and hell; remember also your tears and prayers to God; yea, how you sighed under every hedge for mercy.

John Bunyan, Grace Abounding

Saint, remember the early days. Remember all that Jesus has done. Extol His virtues and perfections, His willingness to endure the cross with all its loneliness and wrath. His death and burial, and glorious resurrection. Remember all that, so the grace that He delivered to us in forgiveness of our sins will revive the quieting heart, renew the callousing heart, resound the forgetting heart. Jesus was zealous for His Father’s house. We can gather and be zealous for His house also. Zealous in love and submission and awe and worship.

Have a wonderful Lord’s Day!

fruit of the light

 

Posted in prophecy, theology

The only glory they’ll ever see…

Posted on by elizabethprata

…is when they are standing at the Great White Throne. It will be the ultimate flashbulb moment.

Psychologists have a thing called ‘Flashbulb memory”. It’s that moment when a piece of extremely emotional or traumatic news was heard. Cognition Magazine explains,

“Almost everyone can remember, with an almost perceptual clarity, where he was when he heard, what he was doing at the time, who told him, what was the immediate aftermath, how he felt about it, and also one or more totally idiosyncratic and often trivial concomitants.”

The prototypical event in past cognition studies was the moment President Kennedy was shot. More recent studies use the moment the news broke about the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.

When I was a teenager, my father gave me a 1940s Argus camera, similar to the one above. It had the kind of flash you mounted on top of the camera. It was extremely bright, and you had to pop the bulb out after, which was extremely hot. The photo subject always involuntarily blinked in the microsecond after the flash went off, due to the brightness. You know when they closed their eyes, the reverse negative of the image is emblazoned on the inside of their eyelids. That’s a real flashbulb moment.

When the unsaved are exhumed and gathered to the Great White Throne, they will see Jesus in His glory. They will account for their lives, and try to explain their sin. However, they will be found without excuse. When the judgment is done, they will be sent to outer darkness.

They will see the Ancient of Days, hair white as wool, glorious in light and power. They will see. Their eyes having been blind on earth to Him, will now see Him AND His glory. It will be bright.

Then they will be cast into outer darkness, fire, and torment forever. The darkness will be complete, palpable, utter. It will contain no hope, no glimmer, no crack at all. Even when waving one’s hand in front of one’s face, the sinner will find no relief from the ink. The only light they will ever see will be the glory light of God emblazoned on the inside of their eyelids forever. The actual glory will be unreachable, its chasm unbridgeable. It is the ultimate flashbulb moment.

Sister, we have been forgiven of our sins, the sins that would have sent us to that throne to plead our case, only to be finally rejected and sent to the Hopeless Dark. Our flashbulb moment will last for eternity. We will see Him and not be consumed by wrath. We will enjoy the brightness of His glory through glorified eyes. Let’s take a moment to be grateful for His grace today, and to remember the destiny of others. Be a witness to His name.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15).

Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30).

By Elizabeth Prata

Posted in theology

Cappadocia fairy chimneys

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Well, this is quite an interesting landform I’ve just learned about. It’s in Cappadocia.

Cappadocia is mentioned in the Bible in several places. When Peter was preaching the first sermon in Acts 2, people from around the region who had gathered for the Jewish Passover, heard Peter preaching in their own language. Cappadocians were among the people groups listed.

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (Acts 2:9)

Peter opened his letter with greeting fellow Christians in various areas to which they had been scattered in the persecutions. Cappadocia was one area he intended brethren to read his letter.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen…(1 Peter 1:1)

Cappadocia was a large Roman province in the central eastern part of Asia Minor, in what is now eastern Turkey.

What makes this area unique are the unusual land formations. The site is in fact now a World Heritage site. The nearby but extinct volcano Mount Erciyes emitted ash during its eruptions, of course. The layers of ash built up over subsequent eruptions. Strong wind and water eroded the ash into pillar-like formations out of the tuff. These chimney-like pillars were used as hiding places for persecuted Christians. The tuff is strong but can be carved. Archaeologists have found old dwellings and even churches inside the pillars.

Some have called the area a fairy landscape, and it is definitely bizarre and eerie, but beautiful in its sculptural aspect.

National Geographic explains: (please excuse their mention of ‘mother nature’, they know not what they do…)

Erosion shaped the incredible landscape of Turkey’s Göreme valley, but thousands of years ago humans took a cue from Mother Nature and began carving an incredible chamber and tunnel complex into the soft rock. Beginning in the fourth century A.D., an urbanized—but underground—cultural landscape was created here.

It wasn’t just Christians who needed to flee and hide from persecution. The area has been used for several thousand years as a hiding place as political regimes changed and empires came and went. You might remember the tribe Hittites from the Old Testament, ancient enemies of God. NatGeo again: (NatGeo calls the area Göreme).

Göreme was inhabited as early as the Hittite era, circa 1800 to 1200 B.C. and later sat uncomfortably on the boundary between rival empires; first the Greeks and Persians and later the Byzantine Greeks and a host of rivals. This precarious political position meant that residents needed hiding places—and found them by tunneling into the rock itself.

Called ‘fairy chimneys’, the landscape does indeed look magical.  Though the landform and their uses is incredible enough, it seems that the enterprising ancients built massive underground cities and tunnels to connect them. Smithsonian has the story:

In ancient Cappadocia, now part of modern day Turkey, the people who lived there dug incredible, honeycomb-esque cities into the soft rock—underground complexes that could go stories deep. Today, remnants of these underground hives are scattered through the region, and the most recently discovered of these ruins are also some of the most impressive. In 2012, a crew of demolition workers inadvertently uncovered a network of tunnels near Neveshir, Turkey, and now that archeologists have given this find a deeper look, they think it could turn out to be the most extensive underground city ever known.

Wow.

Whenever someone replies to me about the Bible being God’s truth, saying, ‘Aw it’s just a bunch of hooey written by know-nothing ancient desert shepherds,’ I laugh to myself and think of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Machu Picchu, and now the fairy chimneys and underground cities of Cappadocia. And what a blessing the fleeing Christians had places to flee to and live in during the persecutions. God’s foreordination saw to it that they had a place to run to.

Thanks for coming on a virtual trip with me to eastern Turkey. All those cities and locations mentioned in the Bible are so interesting. Now, where will I “visit” next”?… 😛

The site became a religious refuge during the early days of Christianity. Monks excavated extensive dwellings and monasteries and created Byzantine fresco paintings in cave chapels beginning in the seventh century. The paintings endure in well-preserved isolation to this day. Source NatGeo
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID SUTHERLAND, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

 

Posted in theology

I Surrender All (Or Do I?)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I do hope your faith is growing and your trust in Jesus is too. He is so magnificent. Daily I’m awed by His sweetness, perfection, and power. I wrote on this blog a while ago about how the Spirit sometimes leads me through listening to hymns, and one example blessed me. I like the traditional hymns because they either directly quote scripture, or closely paraphrase Bible verses. This morning I awoke humming “I Surrender All.”

So that got me thinking on the word surrender. I was wondering, what IS surrender, exactly. How does one surrender? What does one surrender? I know we “surrender” because it’s a war between the flesh and the Holy Spirit who draws us. Even after conversion with the Spirit in us, we still struggle against the flesh. Our carnal nature still seeks to gain territory within us, making us less effective for Christ.

Self-surrender is defined in Galatians 2:20: Paul saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Curious, I looked up the word surrender in the biblical encyclopedia. It’s defined as “the struggle between the natural human impulses of self-seeking, self-defence and the like, on the one hand, and the struggle toward self-denial, self-surrender, on the other. The Scriptures represent self-surrender as among the noblest of human virtues.” The following is an excerpt on surrender. Go to this link to read the short paragraph.

Some examples given in the Old Testament are Adam and Eve, In the Old Testament self-surrender is taught in the early account of the first pair. Each was to be given to the other (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 3:16) and both were to be surrendered to God in perfect obedience (Genesis 3:1-15).”

Also the faithful ones like Abraham are characterized by self-surrender. Abraham abandons friends and native country to go to a land unknown to him, because God called him to do so (Genesis 12:1). He would give up all his cherished hopes in his only son Isaac, at the voice of God (Genesis 22:1-18). Moses, at the call of Yahweh, surrenders self, and undertakes the deliverance of his fellow-Hebrews (Exodus 3:1-4:13). The prophets are good examples of self-surrender.

The International Bible Encyclopedia defines self-surrender as,

In the New Testament self-surrender is still more clearly set forth. Christ above all men was the prime example of self-surrender to the Father’s will. Christ’s teachings and example as presented in the Gospels, give to it special emphasis. It is a prime requisite for becoming His disciple (Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24 Luke 9:23, 24, 59; Luke 14:27, 33). When certain of the disciples were called they left all and followed (Matthew 4:20; Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27 f). His followers must so completely surrender self, as that father, mother, kindred, and one’s own life must be, as it were, hated for His sake (Luke 14:26).

Do we surrender? As saved sheep of the Shepherd, we have been called to surrender our ego, our desires, our souls to Him, and we continue striving to do so. But how much territory does Satan gain back? He cannot take all of it because we are sealed for Christ and we’re His for certain. But satan can tempt us. I read recently that all one needs to do to conform to a secular world view, is nothing. We must work against the current and continue to swim upstream, every day. Part of that struggle involves surrendering ourselves to the cross every day. (Luke 9:23).

Meanwhile, I sing “I Surrender All” and consider it a privilege to ask the Spirit to guide me into ever deeper submission to His will. It is a good Will, working for the good of all those who love Him.

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