Posted in theology

Unveiling the Truth: Understanding Purposeful Disingenuousness

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Beth Moore’s “aw shucks, li’l ole me, I’m here to serve you” demeanor is a lie. It’s actually purposeful disingenuousness. I remember that time she said she spent the weekend at “a beach house” but it was really her own $900,000 waterfront mansion. She couldn’t just say “my beach house” but instead she purposely crafted a statement that gave the opposite impression.

Today, she said her 2 million square feet of forested land is “some acres.” The post leaves one with the impression that they are lucky homeowners to be able to cling to a few trees on their lot, when the truth is her property is actually the largest land tract in the entire area, 2 million square feet equaling 45 forested acres with a spring running through it. This is a well-established pattern with Moore, and in fact, most false teachers. A contrived version that either exaggerates what is not there or hides what is there. It’s non-transparency.

I have no doubt that she loves it. That’s fine. But taking time to parse her words in order to give the reader an impression that is not true is less than holy.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines purposeful disingenuousness as “giving a false appearance of simple frankness: calculating“. And that is false teacher Beth Moore to a T.

Ladies, remember what Paul said about being transparent. He didn’t use the word transparent, but he described transparency in 2 Corinthians 1:12-14, saying “For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. 13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end; 14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus..“

Paul was saying he had been plain, open, clear, has a pure conscience, and does not rely on fleshly wisdom (which is actually no wisdom at all).

Transparency, or openness, or allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, is what makes us human. It’s what allows for human connection. Our bonds will be strong if we are real with one another.

Like Beth Moore, if we continually carefully craft an outer persona that does not match the inner woman, all she are left with is lies and a rotten core; and for us, an eventual feeling of betrayal when the truth is finally uncovered. And it always comes out. People can tell when we are being humbly honest and when we are equivocating. When we are vulnerable in real ways, and when we are serving up poop on a plate.

AN oft-cited verse when discussing transparency in our relationships is from 1 John 1:7, but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Walking in the light is walking in truth, sincerity, honesty… Barnes’ Notes makes this insight on the 1 John 1:7 verse,

We have fellowship one with another – As we all partake of his feelings and views, we shall resemble each other. Loving the same God, embracing the same views of religion, and living for the same ends, we shall of course have much that is common to us all, and thus shall have fellowship with each other.

How can we be resembling one another in our pursuit of Jesus’ likeness when we conceal our selves by presenting a dishonest persona to our fellows?

The false teacher HAS TO hide themselves because they are false. They have constructed a careful but artificial persona.

While true Christians live a natural life full of honesty and bonded meaning with one another:

False teachers have to present a parsed, curated, artificial version of themselves both in word and deed. But especially words. As a discerner, we need to hear the words but have an ear to understanding when their words do not match their behavior or lifestyle. Carefully crafted but artificial humility and hiding the truth, will do no one any good. A false teacher may survive her concealment for a while, but discerning folks will see the truth behind the words. And if not, anyway- in the end “nothing is concealed that will not become evident, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” (Luke 8:17)

Posted in theology

Advancing the Kingdom: Our True Calling

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We’re human beings. We’re living on this planet, in a city or town, in a neighborhood. We have jobs, many of us, where we engage daily with corporate politics, personalities, infrastructure. We have hobbies and groups and clubs. We are involved.

Sometimes we get so busy and so involved, we become unwisely invested in the systems around us. It’s good to be involved, but not to the point that we become so embedded that we forget about the kingdom.

We are on this earth to advance the kingdom. We are supposed to be ambassadors for Christ. We’re supposed to reflect His likeness through our holy living, our kindness, our faith, our witness.

If we become SO involved in world systems we incorrectly focus on that and shunt to the side our real job, which is involvement in church and in spiritual practices.

Here is what my pastor had to say about the advancement of the kingdom in a recent sermon:

Well finally, it should go without saying but it needs saying. That the Kingdom of God advances only by His Gospel. The Kingdom of God advances only by the Gospel. That truth should be so obvious, but it is so frequently cast aside. The Kingdom of God is not advanced by any other means.

It does not advance by political power. Or by turning nations into theocracies. Or by winning elections. It does not advance by military might. Or coercion. Or a legal mandate. It does not advance by entertainment. Or by acquiescing biblical truth in order to find common ground with sinners. He does not advance by having more children, or by educational practices, or by withdrawing from society.

When Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world, He meant just that. We cannot and must not use the world’s means to advance His kingdom. Many false teachers have come who exploit believers and pervert the mission of the church for selfish gain. Throughout the history of Christianity, wherever and whenever people have hijacked the church in order to advance their conception of the Kingdom of God by means of the world’s methods, it has not only failed, but it has soiled the name of Christ, produced an abundance of false converts, and wrecked the [local] church.

Where is the Christian nation today? Where are its holy leaders and humble people? It’s nowhere to be found because the kingdom of God will not be established as a government on this earth until the King returns. Jesus is the King, not us. It’s His kingdom, not ours. Therefore God’s people must use only God’s methods to spread God’s message in order to advance God’s kingdom while we wait for our King. And so let’s wait for our King. –end

When 12 year old Jesus stayed behind at the temple and his parents could not find Him, His reply to his mother as to why He had treated His parents that way, was,

And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). NASB

Or as the NKJV says more familiarly, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?“

We must prioritize our charge on earth that we have been given. Not that we neglect the daily things we must do. I mean, dishes must be done, salaries must be earned, children must be tended to… but the priority of our lives is Jesus, and being about our Father’s business. We advance the kingdom in only that way.

Posted in theology

The Danger of Drifting: A Faith Shipwreck Warning

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“Man without Christ is a shipwreck upon the rocks, rocked by every wave of temptation, with no anchor, with no hope. Death looms before him as a door to judgment, for the wages of sin is death,” says Dustin Benge in his Hearts Aflame episode of Puritan devotionals.

In the episode above, we meet Scottish late Puritan Thomas Boston. In Boston’s well-regarded classic, Human Nature in its Fourfold State, Benge explains that “Thomas Boston vividly portrays the fallen condition of humanity—alienated from God, enslaved to sin, and without hope apart from Christ. The depth of human ruin is sobering, yet it magnifies the glory of divine grace.”

Do you recognize the depth of your natural misery without Christ’s redemption?

The episode talked about man without Christ,

“Man without Christ is like a ship wrecked upon the rocks, tossed by every wave of temptation, with no anchor, no hope.”

This maritime metaphor is real to me. I have sailed about 15,000 nautical miles living in a sailboat upon the waters from Maine to Florida and across to the Bahamas and back, twice. I’ve sailed from Tampa Florida to the Dry Tortugas, and zoomed from Naples, Florida to Rhode Island in a 21 foot powerboat. I’ve crossed the Gulf Stream in calm, at night, and in a storm. Gone through the washing machine that is Hell’s Gate in New York City. I’ve been in the Storm of the Century 1993. I’ve been in Hurricane Bob. I know lighthouses, rocks, shoals, and shipwrecks (Charley’s Crab was lost in the storm of ’93, and another friend lost his boat in a different storm in the Caribbean). We came close to shipwreck ourselves, twice.

Shipwreck is a very bad thing.

Worse would be making a shipwreck of the faith.

Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) made a career out of painting maritime scenes, including shipwrecks. Like this one:

“A sinking ship” by Ivan Aivazovsky

Without Christ, we can do nothing. Oh, I know the skeptic will say, ‘Doody-head, of course we do things! We live and breathe and work and have kids and play baseball and drive cars and all the things!” Correct. But the pagan without Christ can do nothing that pleases Him. Without Christ we cannot bear fruit for the kingdom, worship Him rightly, live for holiness, reflect His image, or do anything at all.

Paul advised Timothy to ‘fight the good fight’, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:19).

Jude wrote that the ungodly pretenders are unreasoning animals and warned that they “are the ones who are hidden reefs in your love feasts…“(Jude 1:12a). Do you know what hidden reefs do? Wreck your ship.

“The Ninth Wave” by Ivan Aivazovsky

Hebrews 2:1 says For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. Do you know what happens when you don’t pay attention? Your mooring becomes loose and you drift away from the dock or the mothership, and untethered, you soon lose sight of land. Shipwreck.

“The Wrath of the Seas” Ivan Aivazosky

‘Drifting’ is the thing to be afraid of. Just as some boat, not made fast to the bank, certainly glides down stream so quietly and with so little friction that her passengers do not know that they are moving until they come up on deck, and see new fields around them, so the ‘things which we have heard,’ and to which we ought to be moored or anchored, we shall drift, drift, drift away from, and, in nine cases out of ten, shall not feel that we are moving, till we are roused by hearing the noise of the whirlpools and the falls close ahead of us; and look round and see a strange country. McLaren’s Expositions.

Now, if you are truly saved, you can never lose your salvation. Judas had the rejection inside of him all the while, he just pretended to be a disciple of Christ. He followed with his feet, but his heart could do nothing.

Matthew Henry says of 1 Timothy 1:19’s shipwreck,

As for those who had made shipwreck of the faith, he specifies two, Hymeneus and Alexander, who had made a profession of the Christian religion, but had quitted that profession; and Paul had delivered them to Satan. Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2352).

Warren Wiersbe said, “Paul changed the illustration from army to navy (1 Tim. 1:19). He warned Timothy that the only way to succeed was to hold fast to “faith and a good conscience.” It is not enough to proclaim the faith with our lips; we must practice the faith in our daily lives“. Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 213). Victor Books.

A good conscience is key to the verse. Shipwreck comes when one ignores the conscience, suppresses what is good, and eventually sears it so that he or she drifts, winds up on the rocks, and wrecks their faith.

As is said in the Hearts Aflame article, The depth of human ruin is sobering, yet it magnifies the glory of divine grace.” The wondrous mystery is that Jesus relieves us of our sin burden, erases it from the record books when we repent. Those who recognize the depth of our natural misery are deeply grateful for having this burden and misery removed. The Lord’s divine grace shines so brightly that the Christian never looks away but only grows in love and attachment to Him, and as a result, we are “keeping a pure conscience.”

Further Rescources

John MacArthur: The Vanishing Conscience (book)

The Conscience, by Richard Greenham (essay)

The Puritan Conscience by J. I. Packer (essay)

Posted in theology

Curate your soul

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I have always been a museum-goer. My parents did a good job of introducing me to cultural things and museums were one of those cultural things. A museum is where I first heard the word “curate” or “curator”.

According to AI, “A curator’s role involves overseeing and managing collections, including historical items, artwork, and other artifacts, ensuring their preservation, proper presentation, and accessibility for exhibits and displays within institutions like museums, libraries, and historical sites.“

The curator selects the art pieces and decides which goes where in order to make a cohesive experience for the viewer in the museum, or gallery, wherever the pieces are that have been curated.

And that setting is where the word “curate” remained for most of my adult life.

Until the internet. Until the internet really got going with social media exploding everywhere.

Now I hear the word curate all the time. According to AI again, in terms of social media,

“In the context of social media, “curate” means selecting and sharing valuable, relevant content created by others to engage your audience and build your brand’s reputation as a credible source of information.”

Everyone is a curator. People curate their Facebook wall. They curate their Twitter stream. They curate their Instagram photos. They curate their TikToks. Everybody is a curator.

I got to thinking… do we curate our souls?

The world’s most precious commodity is the soul. Everybody has one. Someone somewhere might not have a social media to curate, but everyone has a soul.

“The sinful body is the sepulchre in which it is entombed, until Christ
giveth it life.” ~The Greatness of the Soul, John Bunyan.

The New Testament is FULL of wise advice, admonitions, and exhortations on how to curate this precious item, this invisible, ephemeral, but real and actual thing. A soul dwells inside all who are unborn and who are born. It emerges wrapped in flesh and lurks in the heart to do only evil against God.

Upon Adam’s sampling the fruit, Boston wrote, “Death also seized his soul; he lost his original righteousness, and the favor of God; witness the pangs of conscience which made him hide himself from God. And he became liable to eternal death…“

But God’s mercy is such that He did not leave us in that hopeless state. He sent His own Son to live the perfectly holy life that we could not ever live. He was killed for this, dying on the cross, and buried. But He rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father. His feet are upon the footstool of all enemies, including death.

“Turn your eyes, O prisoners of hope, towards the Lord Jesus Christ; and embrace him, as he offers himself in the gospel. “There is no salvation in any other,” Acts 4:12.” Thomas Boston, “Human Nature in its Fourfold State“.

If you have been redeemed, dear reader, how do you curate your soul? The very soul wrested from death’s grip at bloody expense? Have you committed your interests to the Glorious Savior?

Boston again, “Be frequently reflecting upon your conduct, and considering what course of life you wish to be found in, when death arrests you; and act accordingly. When you do the duties of your station in life, or are employed in acts of worship, think with yourselves, that, it may be, this is the last opportunity; and therefore do it as if you were never to do more of that kind. When you lie down at night, compose your spirits, as if you were not to awake until the heavens be no more. And when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last; and live accordingly.”

Further Resources

Human Nature in its Fourfold State by Thomas Boston at Monergism, read online for free

The Greatness of the Soul, John Bunyan at Chapel Library, download for free

Posted in theology

Tragic Trends: Sexual Predators seem to be everywhere

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

I’m on Twitter a lot (now called X). I get the headlines and weather in just a few lines. I commune with Christian friends, both virtual and in real life that I know personally. I see nice photos of different areas of the country. It’s a good social media for me.

I’ve also seen a lot of headlines lately about public education teachers arrested for lewd or sexual acts with their minor students. Enough to make me investigate whether there has been a noticeable uptick in reported incidents over the past few months. It seems to me there has been, which could suggest increased media coverage—or simply more incidents coming to light. From CA to CT to Delaware to NYC, and sadly, many in Texas, have been in the news just this past month.

Even worse, there has been momentous and tragic news of this sort in Christian circles, too. The news that Steve Lawson had been engaged for five years in an adulterous affair with a young woman in her twenties and thirty+ years his junior came to light a few months ago and was a severe shock to many.

But even this week, Robert Preston Morris, formerly pastor at mega-Gateway Church in Texas, was indicted on charges he had engaged in sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. In March 2025, he was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. A warrant has been issued for Morris’ arrest. What happened was, Morris was a pastor invited to a friend’s home and over repeated visits, molested their host’s 12 year old child. This is an unconscionable evil and betrayal of the worst kind.

This same week, International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOP KC) founder pastor Mike Bickle is found in a released report which alleges 17 cases of abuse. The report states “The allegations range from spiritual abuse to rape.” Two of the women at the time of the alleged molestation/rape were minors. Another unconscionable evil.

Can you think of anything worse than USING the name of Jesus as a cover and His church hunting ground in order to prey on children?

We know that Jesus was tender about children and toward children. He considers children, and widows, a most vulnerable demographic. Always at risk, children have been misused in every culture and period in history. In ancient Rome a father could kill his child without penalty. They were seen as property. In Hawaii, China, and Japan, many female and disabled children were killed to maintain a strong race without overpopulation. Girl children were not as preferred as male children. Child sacrifice was rampant. (Molech, among other cultures). Child labor was routine.

Sexual predators have always been around. But even lately it seems to be growing worse in every level of society. We read about abductions of children who are trafficked and put up for sale to sexual predator and porn rings.

God puts a high value in children. Almost the first command God gave to the man and the woman was to be fruitful and multiply. “The Bible emphasizes the significance of children from the opening chapters of Genesis, where God makes the earth and every living thing on it to be fruitful—including the man and woman (Gen 1:27–28). Humanity can only fulfill God’s mandate of fruitfulness by bearing and raising children…” The Lexham Bible Dictionary.

EPrata photo

Children were to honor their parents, and were expected to work with the family, especially in that agrarian culture. In return, children, especially boys, were educated in the scriptures, liturgies, and expected to attend the festivals. They were full participants in daily life of the family and the community.

In the New Testament, “Thompson notes that 50 percent of children in the ancient Roman world died before age 10, and Graeco-Roman society valued girls less than boys. Infants born with disabilities or unwanted female infants were commonly left exposed to the elements. As Christianity grew more influential in the Roman Empire, the Jewish and Christian value for human life increasingly pervaded Roman society. Christian emperors of Rome outlawed infant exposure in AD 374“. The Lexham Bible Dictionary.

Jesus valued children.

We are perhaps most familiar with the verse from Matthew 19:13-15, “Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.”

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10).

The Gospels record that Jesus healed several children and even brought at least one child back from the dead. For example:

• He raised Jairus’ daughter from death (Matt 9:18–26; Mark 5:22–43; Luke 8:41–56).
• He healed the Gentile Syrophoenician woman’s daughter of a demon (Matt 15:21–28; Mark 7:24–30).
• He healed the demon-possessed son of a common man (Matt 17:14–19; Mark 9:14–28; Luke 9:37–42).
• He healed a royal official’s son (John 4:46–54).

By healing such a variety of children—both boys and girls, Jews and Gentiles, poor and wealthy—Jesus showed that He valued all children, for their own sake as well as for their families and communities.
The Gospels further portray Jesus ascribing value to children by welcoming them and inviting them to come near to Him even over the objections of His disciples (Matt 19:13–15; Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17). Jesus also identifies qualities in children that He wants His disciples to emulate. For example, He uses the humility of a child as a leadership model for His disciples (Matt 18:1–5; Mark 9:35–37; Luke 9:46–48). In Mark 10, Jesus states, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary.

As sin increases, we know that the warnings from Paul to Timothy are true: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” The last days have been since Jesus ascended, but with sin, it always gets worse. As time goes on, our sin-soaked world will eventually reach the state where it’s Genesis 6:5 again, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”

Child abuse, molestation, neglect etc. are heinous crimes against little ones who are defenseless and rely upon their adults to nurture and protect them. I will be glad for the day when there is no more sin, no more predation, and no more evil against our precious little ones.

Further Reading

Challies: Why my family doesn’t do sleepovers

GTY: Providing Shade for our Children

Posted in theology

Diligence in Hearing: A Path to Spiritual Growth

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

John Owen

When we receive the word of God, we have a responsibility to it. Before we are saved, our responsibility is to repent and believe the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15).

After we are saved, we still have a responsibility regarding our response to the word. Here is my pastor:

“What you receive from it will be directly related to how you receive it. Look at the verse in Mark 4:24. With the measure you use, it  will be measured to you and still more will be added to you. Now that’s a very simple principle. What you get out of or from God’s word will depend on how well you pay attention to it. In other words, there’s a reward  for diligent understanding of God’s word, diligent effort. If you apply yourself to carefully  understanding and heeding God’s word, you’re going to be richly rewarded for your efforts.”

The pastor continues with other verses along the same principles, earnestly devoting yourself to the Word as you receive it will yield wisdom, discernment, joy, and more. Pastor again:

“In Proverbs 19, verse 27; Cease to hear instruction, my  son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. But if you take heed of what  you’ve been taught, then the truth will become a guard over  you. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:16, keep a close watch on yourself  and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing  so, you will save both yourself and your hearers. And so don’t be careless in how  you receive God’s Word. Pay attention to what you hear.  And like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. Have you been careful in how you hear? In our scripture reading today  in Hebrews 5, the author criticizes the audience. He says, you have  become dull of hearing, Hebrews 5, verse 11; “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk  is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid  food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment  trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” In other words, this is a classic description of someone who has not taken heed of the truth. They have not received it, thought  carefully about it, and applied it to their lives.”

On the next day’s devotional, I heard Dustin Benge’s reading of the Puritan John Owen from his classic “Communion with God.” The principle of hearing well was brought up again. These ‘spiritual coincidences’ delight me.

The father’s love “was fixed on us before the foundation of the world. Before we were, or had done the least good, then were his thoughts upon us, — then was his delight in us; — then did the Son rejoice in the thoughts of fulfilling his Father’s delight in him, Prov. 8:30, says Owen. Why did the father love us? There was “nothing in us for which we
should be beloved” and “though we change every day, yet his love changeth not. Could any kind of provocation turn it away, it had long since ceased. Its unchangeableness is that which carries out the Father unto that infiniteness of patience and forbearance…”

Seeking the special closeness with God through our prayers and receiving of His word is a special privilege of the saints. “Men are generally esteemed according to the company they keep. It is an honour to stand in the presence of princes, though but as servants.
What honour, then, have all the saints, to stand with boldness in the presence of the Father, and there to enjoy his bosom love!” says Owen. “What a safe and sweet retreat is here for the saints, in all the scorns, reproaches, scandals, misrepresentations, which they undergo in the world.”

“His love is not ours in the sweetness of it until it be so received. Continually, then, act thoughts of faith on God, as love to thee, — as embracing thee with the eternal free love before described. When the Lord is, by his word, presented as such unto thee, let thy mind know it, and assent that it is so; and thy will embrace it, in its being so; and all thy affections be filled with it. Set thy whole heart to it; let it be
bound with the cords of this love.” ~John Owen

Receive His word faithfully, earnestly, knowing His love is immense and directed toward His children. Receive it, do diligence with it, and return this love in worship and in all our strength, mind, and heart.

Fly to the fountain, once filled with blood, now gushing love to all who are in Him. Receive His word with joy, implant it in your heart, do not delay, for within is a bountiful mercy. Owen concludes,

“Indeed, the great sin of believers is, that they make not use of Christ’s bounty as they ought to do; that we do not every day take of him mercy in abundance. The oil never ceaseth till the vessels cease;
supplies from Christ fail not, but only when our faith fails in receiving them.”

Further Resources

Hearts Aflame: John Owen Communion with Christ

CCEL, Communion With God by John Owen, online

Embrace the Challenge of Reading ‘Communion with God’ by John Owen, by Mike McKinley: summary of key points in Owen’s work

Posted in theology

Don’t be a pig’s snout- Lessons from Proverbs for Women

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

As a ring of gold in a pig’s snout, So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. (Proverbs 11:22).

It’s obvious what this means. But…is it obvious?

That’s the beauty and the wonder of God’s word, especially Proverbs. On the surface, it’s easy to understand what it’s saying. But the word of God is living and active, so digging into it yields further depths of understanding.

Bibleref explains the overall sense of the proverb: “The comparison made here is meant to be slightly shocking, as pigs were considered unclean animals. Beauty is represented by something small and insignificant, as compared to the disgusting, filthy, and enormous problem of indiscretion.“

I find that if I ask questions of the text, it will yield answers. I wondered after reading this proverb as part of my daily Bible reading yesterday, I asked myself, what exactly does the proverb mean by ‘discretion’?

I like Biblehub.com because it has the Bible in every translation, commentaries, original languages, lexicon, word dictionaries and much more, all in one spot. I looked up the word discretion in Strong’s Hebrew:

Usage: The Hebrew word “taam” primarily refers to the sense of taste, but it extends metaphorically to denote discernment, judgment, or understanding. It is used to describe the ability to perceive or evaluate situations, often in a moral or spiritual context.

Cultural and Historical Background: In ancient Hebrew culture, the concept of “taste” was not limited to the physical act of eating but was also a metaphor for experiencing and evaluating life. Just as taste helps one discern the quality of food, discernment helps one evaluate moral and spiritual matters. This metaphorical use reflects the holistic view of human experience in the Hebrew mindset, where physical senses often parallel spiritual insights.

“Just as a gold nose ring in a pig’s snout is incongruous, even so indiscretion in a beautiful woman is incongruous. Outward beauty should be accompanied by inward virtue. The negative illustration is Jezebel while the positive is Abigail.” Gingrich, R. E. (2005). The Book of Proverbs (Volume I) (p. 29). Riverside Printing.

Discernment is important. Yes, the proverb is alluding to a woman’s virtue, taste, and beauty, but a key point is her ability to evaluate spiritual and moral situations.

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14).

Discretion, or discernment, or using proper evaluative methods, are important for the biblical woman. Far from the improperly used ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’ verse (out of context) a Proverbs woman or wife who lacks discernment is as ugly as a pig’s snout. We can dress her up with jewelry and fine clothes, but her inability to cling to hat is good will make her ugly as a pig, which is offensive to the Bible people because as stated, pigs are highly unclean.

Peter makes this same point in the New Testament:

1 Peter 3:3-4
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, / but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

A women attains unfading beauty by communing with God and training her senses to distinguish between good and evil so as to better obey and love what God loves and hate what God hates. This is discernment.

And Jesus made the same point in Matthew 23:27-28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. / In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Prettying up the external does a man or woman no good if the internal is devoid of discretion.

1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

Posted in theology

The Truth Behind Heaven Tourism: Biblical Perspectives

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There is a social media story going around that alleges a man died in a hospital and spent 11 hours in heaven. It’s an older story, 6 or 7 years old, but getting traction now. The man said he got a full tour, complete with glowing-eyed monsters, demons climbing out of the pit to claw his back, fires, green grass so beautiful and symmetrical, feathered angels hugging him, and Jesus face to face.

“Jim was never a religious man. When it came to matters of God and faith, he was ambivalent. But as he lay in the hospital bed, clinically dead for more than 11 hours, his consciousness was transported to the wonders of Heaven and the horrors of hell. When he returned to this world, he brought back the missing peace his soul had been longing for.“

He told his story on Youtube, saying he was never particularly religious, if anything, he was agnostic. He said, “I hoped that someone was in charge of the chaos but I never sought it out.”

Stop and think, if the people who Jesus has chosen from the foundation of the world to be one of His, and this man was a Jesus-rejecting sinner, why would Jesus give him, and not others the opportunity to preview what he would be missing if he continued in his unsaved state?

The man has traveled around North and South America, having spoken to about 20,000 people so far.

“James, my son, this is not yet your time. Go back and tell your brothers and sisters of the wonders we have shown you. While he now attends church, Woodford doesn’t affiliate with any denomination, eschewing labels. ‘Labels do not matter to God. He knows your heart better than you do,’ he states. For Woodford, it boils down to living a life of kindness and service. “That’s how simple the love of God is. It requires nothing more of you other than a dedication to doing good for others.” source.

Didn’t the Rich Man in Hades beg Abraham to send his servant Lazarus to his brothers to warn them of their impending doom? And didn’t Abraham say,

‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.‘” (Luke 16:19-31).

some heaven tourism books, still popular

Was Abraham wrong? This man’s friends will listen to him since he rose from the dead? You see how the contradictions mount up.

It is not your time? Doesn’t the precision of God dictate perfection in birth and death? Was his entrance to heaven a mistake?

The man said that the experience apprised him of how wasteful his life had been, accumulating wealth, being unkind, unhelpful. These are normal things a convert says when truly converted, we recognize that. But the method of his alleged conversion is distinctly false. Jesus is not giving guided tours of heaven, personal messages or warnings, and then sending the person back to their body. In normal life, a near-death experience often changes people, but the change is not sourced from the blood of the Lamb to His elect. It’s a moral decision from inside the person.

And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27)

Tim Challies said of one particular book during the height of the heaven tourism era 12 years ago, “I am not going to review To Heaven and Back. It’s pure junk, fiction in the guise of biography, paganism in the guise of Christianity.”

In fact, there came to be such an outcry against the spate of these books being pumped out, that in 2014, “LifeWay Christian Resources has stopped selling all “experiential testimonies about heaven” following consideration of a 2014 Southern Baptist Convention resolution on “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife.”

Paul reluctantly, very reluctantly described some of his experience in heaven, not for titillating or self-serving purposes, his trip to third heaven. He refused even to name himself as the ‘traveler’, and he said specifically there were some things man was not even permitted to say.

And yet all these people allegedly return from ‘heaven’ and gush about their experience. And make money off them…

Did Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus write a parchment and travel around telling his story of being dead for 4 days and his experience of the afterlife? No.

One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable. Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die

Our eternity should be taken seriously. It is a weighty matter, and not one for merchandising, flippantly joking about, or bearing tales about. Lutzer again,

And so while relatives and friends plan your funeral- deciding on a casket, a burial plot, and who the pallbearers shall be— you will be more alive than you have ever been. You will either see God on His throne surrounded by angels and redeemed humanity, or you will feel an indescribable weight of guilt and abandonment. There is no destination midway between these two extremes; just gladness or gloom.

The scriptures are sufficient to tell us how to prepare for the moments after our bodies cease, and our souls go to its place, awaiting judgment and a fitted body for heaven. Failing to prepare, which means failing to repent and believe in the resurrected and ascended Jesus, a person will be fitted with a body for hell.

A way to determine that these stories are false, aside from the time that one author came out and said he had been lying all along, is that the people who claim to have gone to heaven claim to have spoken with grandma or seen family or been hugged by friends, and had been shown green grass and beauty…fail to mention the ONE THING that will capture our attention: Jesus on his throne.

Here is Todd Friel with a one minute comment on that: Auto-start at 5:07- ends at 6:29

https://youtu.be/o_pmjd0Zggg?si=yxLroACZO5_2GKP1&t=307

For a longer treatment on the issue, here is a biblical talk by Justin Peters, Mysticism: The Deadly Dangers of Trusting Personal Experience Over Biblical Authority

Anytime somebody tells you they’ve been to heaven, do not believe it. This is mysticism. This is trying to get in touch with the divine, with deity through subjective experience and disengaging the mind

Source

Just as visions are not happening today, just as God isn’t directly speaking/whispering to anybody today, trips to heaven are not happening. They either come from a lying tongue or a deceived mind.

Posted in theology

The Masters University’s New Movie, Review of “The Descent”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“The Descent” follows the story of a small, tranquil community suddenly grappling with a series of horrifying attacks from mysterious creatures that have emerged from the depths of darkness.

The Great Tribulation of Revelation is one of the next prophetic events on God’s timeline. Many Christian filmmakers have made movies about this period in Earth’s life. Some were fairly successful, others not. The main issue people usually have with these kind of movies is the poor production values make some of these films nearly unwatchable. The Descent’s production values are excellent, stunning in fact.

The main issue with movies based on events in Revelation is that the prophesied events are so horrific, the worst of the horror genre movies cannot capture them realistically. Nor would we want to. Even Jesus said in Matthew 24:21,

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.

The Descent is a film made by the Department of Cinema and Digital Arts from The Masters University, a Christian University. Its premise is that the Tribulation had begun three years ago, and now the Great Tribulation is beginning with the opening of the abyss to let out the demon horde. Here is the passage, which is read to several characters in a pivotal scene in the movie:

Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will flee from them!

Movie Recap (skip down to avoid spoilers)

The movie opens in stunning scenes of a spacewalk, displaying the Milky Way, the universe, and the Earth, the blue marble that sustains the only life. The character says in communication with ground control at Houston he is looking forward to returning to earth in a few days. As he is speaking, static enters the communication lines and soon all communication is lost. On Earth we see with numerous bombs going off that global war has erupted. The movie later calls this ‘Red Friday.’

The tension building in the cold open is excellent, as are the visual effects. Next we see a slick advertisement for the Unity program, “working toward the greater good” in a push for a rebuilding earth’s damage.

We see a montage of chaos and war and death in quick-flashing fashion. All the things you’d expect to see if the earth was at war with itself. It’s explained that though the world’s social and civic infrastructures were crumbling, there were small pockets of relative normalcy, and we soon join the characters in the US Northeast in one of those pockets.

The characters are meeting with an older man who is a leader in this global party called Unity. He is singing its virtues, and there is one character, Wyatt, who is hesitant to join, though his girlfriend Mia is all-in.

As they conclude the meeting the couple go outside to dispose of trash and they see a man sitting on his porch, whom they get a weird feeling about and try to avoid. This is Markus, a Tribulation saint (played by Jubilant Sykes). He later explains that his wife tried her best to evangelize him but he rejected her push to convert and didn’t listen. “The she was gone” he said, in a moment the earth’s remaining unsaved call “The Abductions.”

As characters in the neighborhood go about their business this night, they hear strange chattering sounds and the music builds the tension. One by one, ‘something’ takes them, and there are some scenes of screaming, and some blood, though the rating is (if I remember correctly) TV-14. Nothing gory is shown. Only parts of the creatures are shown, leaving the rest to the imagination. The tension builds as the creatures stalk and drag away characters, and this is effective. I did slide forward a bit, myself, to relieve the tension.

Jubilant Sykes is ‘Markus’, the tribulation saint who later explains to the curious (and wounded) characters what is happening and what will happen. The leader of Unity slowly descends into madness, the unsaved entrench further into their deception, and the fence-sitter Wyatt eventually parts with his stubborn girlfriend, and walks over to Markus’ house, presumably to learn more about Jesus.

The movie ends with ‘Wyatt’ deciding to join with Markus, not with Unity.

My Review

A critic who reviewed the movie was perplexed as to why the producers chose to call this movie The Descent. I was quizzical about that myself. He said that there is another, more famous horror movie with the same title, and people no doubt would get the two mixed up. Additionally, he said he didn’t see what the title had to do with the movie. Me either. Unless, since I know about the events in Revelation, that the world descends into chaos and sin?

Anyway, I am not a cinephile but I thought it was pretty well acted, and also the shot composition, camera placement, and pacing were good. Some complaints I have read say it has a lot of talking in rooms, and it does, but the conversations are interspersed with outside scenes of the creatures and other goings on.

My Conclusion

Rating: Cinematically: B+. Good job on the first feature length movie!

Rating theologically: F. There was a glaring error, omission, and flaw in this film. It is Gospel-less. None of the scenes where Markus is talking about his conversion or what was happening to the world contained the words sin, repent, wrath, grace, nothing.

Markus’ first conversation with seeker Wyatt was that Markus’ wife tried her best and she read the Bible and prayed every day, but Markus would not listen. After the ‘Abductions’, AKA the rapture, Markus read the Bible “and it all made sense.” WHAT made sense?

In another conversation Markus had with Wyatt and his girlfriend, he said the Bible is the “very word of God” and that these events are ripped straight from the Bible, “I heard the truth. I hadn’t listened to it. The Bible changed my life, man.” The Bible doesn’t change your life, it changes your position in front of Jesus the King from wrath-bound sinner to saved penitent rightly worshiping the Savior. It changes your eternity, your soul, and then, yes, your life.

“It’s all real, it’s all foretold,” Markus said. He said he’s “a Christ follower” but he never says what it takes to become one, nor WHY these events were happening (wrath for sin).

When Wyatt seemed ready to convert, that would have been the moment, but Markus simply gives Wyatt a Bible to read. It wasn’t even open to the Gospels, but to Revelation.

I didn’t hear the Gospel and this is a heinous omission. Even the self-identifying atheist reviewer I listened to gave the movie props for acting and a good job on a limited budget for its production values, but he said the the movie “doesn’t really give you a lot of context about what’s happening.” I agree. And who better than an atheist to hear the Gospel in context?

The movie is here at Tubi (it’s hard to find there if you search, but here’s the direct link: https://tubitv.com/movies/100034175/the-descent. It will also be on Amazon later, they say.

I recommend it as a watchable movie in itself, and as a well done thriller. The movie does a good job of showing the unsaved’s reactions to the events unfolding in front of them, and giving very plausible reasons, too. But theologically there is no excuse for the lack of gospel. For all the ‘talking in rooms’ in the film, just once I’d liked to have heard the gospel and the biblical explanation for the events happening. Shame on TMU for leaving this out.