Posted in beth moore, church, jesus, jesus calling, lifeway, prophecy

Then and now, compare Baptist publication list from 1870 and 2015

Posted on by elizabethprata

Baptist published book list from 1870

LifeWay is the Southern Baptist Convention’s Bookstore arm. To compare Baptist publications from 1870 to Baptist publications in 2015, here is a list of LifeWay’s 2015 best sellers. What a difference 145 years makes. Would a Baptist returning today from an extended Rip Van Winkle sleep even recognize his own denomination?

I listed the modern books in the order in which they appeared in the LifeWay list but also included a credible review of the book from a discerning person or organization next to it. Most of these books are complete nonsense. The one or two that aren’t are marginal (well, Chan’s is marginal, Platt’s is good).

LifeWay’s Best Selling NonFiction as of July 2015:

#1 Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (review of the book)

#2 Counter Culture by David Platt (review of the book)

#3 Jesus Calling Large Deluxe by Sarah Young (review of the devotional)

#4 The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst (review of TerKeurst and her overall ministry; review of the book)

#5 Before Amen by Max Lucado (review of Lucado’s overall fruit)

#6 The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (review of the book)

#7 The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren, Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman (review of the book)

#8 Waiting on God by Charles Stanley (general review of Stanley himself)

#9 Portraits of Devotion by Beth Moore (review of Moore herself, her statements, and her other teachings)

#10 Agents of the Apocalypse by David Jeremiah (review of D. Jeremiah and his use of the novel Agents of the Apocalypse)

#11 The Mystery of the Shemitah by Jonathan Cahn (review of the book)

#12 You and Me Forever by Francis & Lisa Chan (I could not find a review of this book from an organization or person I am familiar with, but Challies gave Chan generally favorable reviews on Chan’s other books, such as Multiply, Crazy Love, Forgotten God)

Godlessness in the Last Days

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

I think the 2015 publication list demonstrates a wide-spread love of self, and LifeWay’s love of money.

Ever since the world was created, we have been going downhill. Even after the Flood when humanity was re-set in Genesis 9, by Genesis 11 there was the the first polygamist, first dictator, and the first ode to false religion. The LORD confused the languages at Babel and dispersed them. It has been downhill ever since.

However, in a Google Hangout yesterday with Dr John MacArthur, Dr Stephen Nichols and Nathan Bingham hosted by Ligonier, titled “Convictions and Cultural Change: A Google Hangout with John MacArthur” MacArthur said in his nearly 50 years of ministry that despite it all being downhill since the beginning, in his years he has not seen an acceleration of cultural decline this rapid. The general consensus among the three men was that we are near to mirroring the fist century church in terms of idolatry, lack of discernment, disarray, and paganism.

And yet the Lord always keeps a remnant. His people are true, righteous, and working for His name. As for the non-Christians doing these things like writing books filled with doctrines of demons and with all the blasphemies occurring in His name, how He must be storing up his anger.

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS... (Romans 2:5-6).

And that is our comfort. When I read of a new heretical book coming out, my heart drops and I mourn the gullible and the lost who will be sucked into its world. But I temper that with the knowledge that Jesus is King. He will render to each person according to his deeds, and even reading that, never mind living it, makes my stomach cringe. He is in charge, He is All-Knowing, He is taking care.

If you love the sovereignty of God this will comfort you.

all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! (Psalm 34:3)

Posted in john Oliver, pagan, prosperity gospel, scam, sow a seed

John Oliver takes on prosperity televangelists: Why does it take a non-believer to say what Christians all know?

Posted on by elizabethprata
HBO’s John Oliver

Yesterday I wrote about a so-called conservative so-called pastor collecting a very large salary. No, it’s not Joel Osteen. No, it’s not Joyce Meyer, though those two are so-called and are definitely collecting a large salary. Who I wrote about was Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham, whose nearly a million dollar salary from combined corporations Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse was raising eyebrows even among secular CEOs.

Today then, it seems fitting to follow that up with a post about excessive money-grubbing from excessively greedy pastors. But it’s really a post about how a pagan is showing us up.

John Oliver is a comedian.You will know him from Jon Stewart’s Comedy Central show “The Daily Show” in past years. He’s British, he’s pagan, and he’s finally had enough of the in-your-face money grubbing televangelists begging for money from gullible people.

A few days ago, Oliver performed a sketch on his show “Last Week Tonight” regarding how some televangelists are blatant about seeking money for money’s sake from people who watch their show- AND call their organization a church. The following article is from Addicting Info. The sketch is still having its effect.

John Oliver May Have Just Forced The IRS To Consider Taxing Greedy Televangelists
AUTHOR: STEPHEN D FOSTER JR AUGUST 24, 2015 10:42 AM

It could be the end of the line for televangelists who fleece their own flocks to make themselves wealthy, and it’s all thanks to John Oliver.
Last Sunday, Oliver spent 20 minutes eviscerating prosperity gospel televangelists who advocate a sort of trickle-down policy when it comes to donations. According to preachers like Creflo Dollar, the more money people donate so that he can be wealthy and own mansions and private jets, the more likely it is that God will favor them and make them prosper in return.

“They preach something called the prosperity gospel which argues that wealth is a sign of God’s favor and donations will result in wealth coming back to you,” Oliver explained the scam. 

“That idea sometimes takes the form of seed faith – the notion that donations are seeds that you will one day get to harvest. The argument is ‘sow your money into the ground, you will reap returns multiple times over,’ except as an investment you’d be better off burying your money in the actual ground because at least that way there’s a chance your dog may dig it up and give it back to you one day.”

The scam has resulted in a transfer of millions upon millions of dollars from church-goers who are already struggling while their pastor gets to live a wealthy lifestyle completely funded by the congregation. For years, televangelists have gotten away with this by taking advantage of the tax system by declaring their operations as religious organizations. Current tax law allows churches to be tax-exempt and the IRS largely fails to investigate to make sure that churches are churches and not scams by so-called “pastors” designed to make themselves rich. But all of that could now change. According to a new report by CBS, the IRS is under a lot of pressure to tax televangelists in light of John Oliver’s exposure of the corrupt practice of prosperity gospel.

Someone was brave enough to call it what it is…what we all understand and know that it is: a scam.

Now, this behavior is certainly nothing new. Simon the Magician tried to buy the Holy Spirit for this very purpose.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. (Acts 8:17-21)

His heart was not right before God. Why?

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

The motivation of a false Christian is money. It is one way to tell if someone is false. Not the fact they have money, it’s their love of it that is the telling indicator. Many verse speak to this.

[ Qualifications for Overseers ] The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money... (1 Timothy 3:1-3)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless–not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. (Titus 1:7)

Paul prophesied that in the time of the end (the time between Jesus’ ascension and His return) some within the church will be false and godless and because of this, times will be difficult he said to avoid these people. Some few of the behaviors these godless ones will exhibit are listed, and ‘loving money’ is one of the traits.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (2 Timothy 3:2)

So if all this is laid out in the Bible for us to see clearly, and if it is even prophesied to Christians as a certainty, why is so much of the general Christian population either so undiscerning as not to notice or so cowardly so as not to stand up?

Why does it take a pagan to point this out?

Not that many Christians haven’t been doing their part to sound the alarm. Many have. Even many leaders with a platform almost as influential as Oliver’s have done tremendous works in the name of Jesus to combat the dangerous doctrines and those who bring them.

But too many others don’t wish to “name names”, “make waves”, or “play hardball.” Church discipline has gone by the wayside, or else turned into something the Pharisees would have approved of. (John 9:22)

So how is the Christian to do his or her part to combat creeping prosperity Gospel into their own church? Yes, you. It is up to each individual Christian to do their part with the amount of discernment they have cultivated in and by the Spirit. Though discernment is a spiritual gift given to some, all Christians can and should cultivate a red flag alert by studying the Bible and prayer and constant confession and obedience to Jesus and His commands. Here is John MacArthur in a 2-minute clip explaining “Every Believer’s Responsibility.” (Though the clip looks dead, it isn’t)

It isn’t easy. As MacArthur ended the clip, he said to go to the pastor or leader lovingly, privately, but to do it. Sometimes, often times, as a matter of fact in my experience, the reactions are not of love returned. You might get a “reputation”. You might be asked to leave the church a la Pharisee-style. you might be gossiped about. You might be ignored. You might be patronized like a little girl with a pat on the head and an admonition not to take it all so seriously. In rare, beautiful cases, you might be listened to and the pastor or leader might actually go back and check through his Bible and see that you’re right. The latter case is rare.

So why go through all that if there is a good chance your message won’t be listened to? For 4 reasons. This list is certainly not exhaustive.

First, your message might be listened to. You never know. The goal of correcting someone’s doctrine is restoration, love, and  drawing them back into the fold. The Spirit might graciously draw that person back through your conversation, especially if you stick to the Word.

Secondly, though we do it out of love and concern for the person teaching or preaching the error, ultimately we have an audience of One. Jesus is the Head of the church and has charged us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8)  and to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). We take witnessing seriously. We take discipling seriously. We don’t walk away when a disciple of Jesus Christ begins to wander, or who brings in false doctrine that makes others stumble.

Third, pointing these things out helps to uncover who is true and who is false. A true disciple of Jesus Christ will hear you out and maybe they will become angry. But afterward they will calm down and the message will begin to work in them and they will come back to you in humility to apologize, and to learn more. A false witness of Jesus Christ will perhaps ignore, become dismissive, be angry…but if there is no effect then or later it is a sign that the Spirit perhaps is not in them and it is their flesh doing the driving.

Last, we check against scripture then point out the error so a pagan doesn’t have to.

——————————-

Further Reading

Who Needs Church Discipline When You Can Have Church Growth Instead? — or  — Church growth without church purity

Posted in camel, false, franklin graham, jesus, mammon, rich

"Why Franklin Graham’s salary raises eyebrows among Christian nonprofits"

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Kansas City Star reported this week that…

Franklin Graham earns $622,000 as the head of Samaritan’s Purse and $258,000 as CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, a recent newspaper story revealed. … Franklin Graham’s annual compensation of $880,000, revealed in a Charlotte Observer story, has some worrying that too many top Christian nonprofit leaders as well as pastors are seeing themselves as CEOs instead of as God’s servants. Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, is head of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief agency based in Boone, N.C.

CEOs at the top 50 U.S. charities, including Samaritan’s Purse, earn in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, which makes Graham’s $622,000 salary from his aid organization alone about 40 percent to 50 percent higher than average, according to a Forbes story. He receives the rest of his $258,000 compensation as CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

By contrast, pastor salaries at the nation’s biggest Christian churches are much lower for all but a select number. Only 3 percent of churches with more than 1,600 people in attendance pay senior pastors more than $300,000, said Warren Bird, research director at Leadership Network. At the other extreme, a recent study by the National Association of Church Business Administration found that the average American pastor with a congregation of 300 people earns a salary of less than $28,000 a year.

In a 2011 comparison of megachurch pastors’ salaries, two senior pastors made $1 million and $1.1 million. Others were a fourth to less than half of that. Compensation in the mid- to high six figures “is on the generous side for anyone who is asking for other people’s money,” the professor emeritus [Grant Wacker] at Duke Divinity school said a bit wryly. “It’s eyebrow-raising.”

Mainstream evangelicals generally expect money they give to be used frugally, Wacker said. Big salaries come with questions.

Go to the link to read the full story.

First, let’s look at what the Bible says about rich people:

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24)

Why is it so hard for a rich person to enter heaven? What is the meaning of this verse? The short answer is that fleshly man tends to make Mammon his god. Here is Gill with a more lengthy answer.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And again I say unto you,…. After the apostles had discovered their astonishment at the above expression, about the difficulty of a rich man entering into the kingdom of heaven; when they expected that, in a short time, all the rich and great men of the nation would espouse the interest of the Messiah, and acknowledge him as a temporal king, and add to the grandeur of his state and kingdom; and after he had in a mild and gentle manner, calling them “children”, explained himself of such, that trusted in uncertain riches, served mammon, made these their gods, and placed their hope and happiness in them; in order to strengthen and confirm what he had before asserted, and to assure, in the strongest manner, the very great difficulty, and seeming impossibility, of rich men becoming followers of Christ here, or companions with him hereafter, he expresses himself in this proverbial way:

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God: thus, when the Jews would express anything that was rare and unusual, difficult and impossible, they used a like saying with this.

So, is it bad to be rich?

No, several standout people in the Bible were exceedingly wealthy, all at the grace and providential plan of God. God told Abram in Genesis 17:6 that He planned to make Abraham exceedingly fruitful and nations and kings would come from him. Solomon was the richest king that ever lived (2 Chronicles 1:11-12). Job was wealthy, twice. Joseph of Arimathea was rich. We can assume Lydia was rich, she was a seller of purple, a luxury item only the very wealthy traded in, and she had a large house and servants. So no, being rich isn’t the issue. The LOVE of wealth is. (1 Tim 6:10).

So what kind of salary should pastors receive?

Well Graham’s salary compared to other pastors is a bit of apples to oranges. He doesn’t serve one flock within 4 walls of a particular church. He is more of a CEO of two corporations, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Samaritan’s Purse. The BGEA puts on revival crusades (or Festivals, as Franklin prefers to call them) for the alleged purpose of gaining converts. Samaritan’s Purse is a missionary/aid organization. For example, when the terrible 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal and Mt Everest bounced and caused a landslide that killed many mountaineers, 9000 civilians, as well as terrible damage to Kathmandu, Samaritan’s Purse was on scene almost immediately.

However, in comparing even secular CEO salaries of Christian Graham’s, nearly a million dollars is exorbitant.  As a matter of fact, he was called out for his excessive BGEA salary in 2010, so he stopped drawing one. That lasted a year. In 2011 he began drawing a salary again.

Christians are to be wise stewards of the money and resources God gives us. So when you take it all in, it doesn’t look good. If Graham’s BGEA salary was an issue and he made a public display of renouncing it, why did he quietly begin drawing it again less than a year later? Why are both salaries combined so much higher than similar secular counterparts?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

There is one more thing to keep in mind regarding pastor salaries. As I said above, being wealthy is not in itself an indictment. It’s a person’s motivation for getting all this money. Do they shepherd their God-given finances wisely? Or do they simply accumulate for the sake of personal gain?

Finally, false teachers have a simple motivation: money. They “suppose that godliness” (1 Timothy 6:5, used sarcastically of their false piety) will bring them such gain. Unlike Paul, they cannot say, “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes” (Acts 20:33). Put simply, they are not “free from the love of money” (1 Timothy 3:3). ~MacArthur “The Pathology of False Teachers“.

Franklin Graham is a false teacher. He is not Christian. Read this and see of you still think he is after you’re done. In His crusades, most recently last year’s Pittsburgh Three Rivers Festival, Graham proposed a “new evangelization” that included Catholics, located his venue deliberately next to a Catholic church so that seekers could be counseled there, and invited the city’s Catholic Bishop to perform the opening prayer on the stage. If a person has the Holy Spirit in them, they understand that Catholics need evangelizing because they are lost, not partnering with them as if they were Christians.

Here is the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh on the July 2014 Three Rivers BGEA Festival–

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association doesn’t steer converts into or out of any particular Christian tradition, but reconnects them with one to which they have a tie. Those who identify themselves as Catholic will be referred to a Catholic parish for follow-up.

Sadly, when one puts together the fruit one sees from Graham, fruit that is actually thorns in the form of making no distinction between Christian and Catholic, brambles that include exorbitant salaries, and weeds that for a show make a renunciation of a salary only to take it up again a year later…one sees that falsity is the watchword. One can only hope that some one’s prayers for Franklin Graham will be part of God’s process of converting Franklin’s hard heart of stone into one of soft love for the true Jesus Christ.

Otherwise, Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24)

EPrata photo

Posted in destruction, jesus, jonathan edwards, salvation, sinners in the hands of an angry god

When you’re saved…and your friend is not

Posted on by elizabethprata

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. ~Walter Winchell

I’m not a social person. I am a loner who likes her own company. However the Lord blessed me with two very good friends in my life. One was while I was in grade school through High School. The other came into my life when I was 40 years old.

If you ever had a friend who loved you for who you were, accepted you quirks and all, and with whom you never had a fight or even a cross word, you were blessed. I know I was.

Imagine a person so caring, so selfless, so consistently nice, that there were even whispers from others that ‘she must be an angel’ and mean it literally.

Imagine a person whose house was always open, no matter the time of day or night, and who would make you tea if you were sick and bring issues if you were crying. Who always listened without interruption. Who had been married for over two decades to the same man, an astounding statistic among unsaved people. Who was a great mom and a great wife. Who would cook for you even if it was from her last can of beans in the cupboard, and serve it with a smile. Who was talented and artistic and always up for a road trip, whether it was mini or maxi.

Who was the one person in town everyone loved.

And all this without being a Christian. But then again, neither was I.

She made me a better person. She introduced me to concepts of unconditional love, consistent acceptance of people without criticism, staying married, putting the children first. Of having uncomplicated fun, and enjoying the small moments. Of even spiritual things, like there being a force in the universe managing events and people.

For 6 years it was a great relationship. When everything else in my life went crazy, this friend was there.

And then I got saved. You know what happens then. I moved 1200 miles away, You know what happens then. A double strike against a friendship continuing.

When two are together and one is in Christ and the other is in sin, it is called being unequally yoked. This refers back to two oxen who are yoked together for the purpose of plowing a straight row for planting. If you yoke together a large ox and a small ox, or an old ox and a young ox, or a strong ox and a weak ox, they will pull in different directions, make crooked rows, or plow in a circle. It does not work.

A mom doing dishes. EPrata photo.

It is the same with two people getting married if one is saved and the other isn’t. The Bible prohibits such unions. And as for friends, it is similar but not exactly the same. One friend is a new creation, yearning for the things of heaven. The other is an old sinner, yearning for the things of the world. The twain exist together, but their very purposes for life differ as much as the east is from the west.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Christians are not to be bound together with non-Christians in any spiritual relationship or enterprise that would be detrimental to the Christian’s testimony within the body of Christ. … [however] … this command does not mean believers should end all associations with unbelievers; that would defy the purpose for which God saved believers and left them on earth.” ~John MacArthur on 2 Cor 6:14

Still, the inevitable pull of Jesus away from unsaved friends is going to happen. But meanwhile, it was my chance to illustrate to her by word and deed what it means to be a Christian. How Jesus who gave me a new heart and a purpose for living (glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever), and how He brings meaning to life and that eternal.

Even though friends may be far apart in geographic distance, the wonders of the internet allow people to keep up. I prayed for her, I witnessed on my FB page, and I carefully watched what she put up on her page. Nine years went by. As sanctification increased, there was less to talk about. As the world infiltrated her more and more, she became more deeply entrenched within it. As the Spirit infiltrated me more and more, I became more deeply yearning for heaven and the things of heaven. I read her typical liberal stuff, but there was nothing overtly declarative for satan. It seemed that a seared conscience or a reprobate mind was not happening yet. (1 Timothy 4:2, Romans 1:28). A holding pattern continuing this long perhaps meant that the Lord in His grace would save her still. Hope remained.

And then the inevitable happened. As these Planned Parenthood videos keep coming out, demonstrating America’s culture of death and our deeply entrenched sin, she made a comment on her FB page exalting PP and minimizing sin and God. This time, I could not refrain and I gave the Gospel (again) in a short sentence.

As it is with the Word of God, it pierces. It settles like a burr on the conscience, to niggle and worm its way into the very soul. This is because–

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I knew the Spirit would work its way into the heart once again. As we all know, there comes a time when the person either submits to the pricks of the goad, crumbles, and repents; or closes the heart and it becomes hardened.

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (Romans 9:18; cf. Mark 8:17).

What will happen? Would this be the moment we’d see grace upon grace, and a converted heart? O, Lord, I yearn for all to be saved, as You do, but I yearn most for the people I love. My friend was wonderful how I wish I could share that Jesus is the best friend of all. How great if we could enjoy Him together.

Unfortunately it was not to be. This appeared soon after. My heart broke in two. It was titled “Declaration of Sinlessness.”

And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ (Luke 16:26)

A public and formal confession repudiating our sin, God, Jesus, and the atonement is a pretty devastating event in a person’s eternal life. A public confession of Jesus and His atonement and belief in His resurrection is an important public utterance, and so is the importance of rejecting Him just as forcefully.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:32)

Gill’s Exposition explains the unpardonable sin spoken of in Matthew 12:32.

It shall not be forgiven him: not because the Holy Ghost is greater than Christ; or for want of efficacy in the blood of Christ; or because God cannot pardon it; but because such persons wilfully, maliciously, and obstinately oppose the Spirit of God, without whom there can be no application of pardon made; and remain in hardness of heart, are given up to a reprobate mind, and die in impenitence and unbelief, and so there is no forgiveness for them.

Is this the unpardonable sin for her? Probably. Conclusively? I leave it in Jesus’ hands. He knows what is in a man, I do not. I only know what I see, and the fruit is thorns and brambles. The road seems to have finally diverged for good.

“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:43-45)

Therefore, publicly repudiating God and declaring one’s self sinless is a serious offense. If it’s not a sin leading to death at this moment, it’s a sin that will in all likelihood lead to a hardened heart and a seared mind. The prognosis is bad, if not terminal.

Of course God CAN change the heart of anyone. Whether a name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life or not I don’t know. I still pray so. But it is with my own heavy heart that I see the voice declaring evil, the heart hardening, the conscience searing, the chasm arriving.

The Christian life is hard. It involves constant battle of one’s flesh nature, to subdue the old man in us and glorify God by submitting to His Spirit. It involves rejection, hardship, trouble. All these things we know. But to watch loved ones, or any ones travel that broad road leading to death with the eternal chasm at the end of it is agony. Hearing or seeing their blasphemous words of evil against a Holy God is wrenching. One friend is traveling the road that ends where there is no weeping (Isaiah 65:19) while the other travels the road where it only ends in eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28)

There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God’s restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. ~Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

I’m no different than anyone else. I was a horrible sinner, now saved by grace, hoping and praying for the gift of redemption to be given to those I love, and those I don’t love, and those I don’t even know. When a soul goes striding past grace and insists on their own broad path to destruction, it’s hard to watch, let alone endure. Everyone has loved ones who are on the broad path, with a mother or a father or a friend praying for them with breath held and hands clasped.

Everyone has loved ones who died in their sin, unconverted and now in torment, with their friends on this side of the veil clinging to the knowledge of the Justice of Holy God and there but for the grace of God go I.

I’m no different. But … Lord, come quickly.

———————————————
Further Reading

Is it good to have close friendships with unbelievers?

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Pilgrim’s Progress online

How do I minister to an unsaved friend whose loved one died without a relationship with Christ?

Posted in death, glory, jesus, judgment, shoreham

Shoreham Air Crash, pics and video

Posted on by elizabethprata

News today is of a terrible crash of a plane participating in an air show…that crashed on the highway adjacent to the field, killing commuters.

Dramatic video has emerged showing a plane as it crashed during an airshow in southern England. The footage shows the aircraft hitting a road, striking a number of vehicles, as it explodes into flames. The number of casualties is still unclear.


Published on Aug 22, 2015. A Hawker Hunter plane has crashed at Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex.

It is now known that at least 7 people were killed in the crash.

Ian Fowler ‏@ian_wfc posted this on Twitter–

My heart goes to the families of the pilot and 7 unaware passersby who were killed. I cannot imagine worse news than the family at home receiving a call that a loved one has died tragically.

Wait, yes I can.

If they didn’t know Jesus. That is worse.

Our days are numbered, there are only so many of them that the Lord has ordained, (Psalm 39:4), and then we go to our eternal destination, heaven or hell.

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

That sudden tragedy tells us is that it can happen any time, in any manner, to anyone.

In the immediate aftermath of America’s most recent tragedy, 9/11, John MacArthur preached this:

I’m going to give you one last reason and this is the real reason we need to understand. Theological reason…why did it happen? Why did all those people die? I’ll tell you why, because the wages of sin is death. That’s why, because it’s appointed unto men once to…what?…die. I don’t know how else to say it. Nothing happened to those people on Tuesday that wasn’t going to happen anyway. They were all going to die, just not then, they thought. Nothing extraordinary about people dying. Are you ready for this? Since Tuesday 50 thousand Americans have died…since Tuesday. Have you been concerned? Fifty thousand. This year, 2.5 million will die. And eventually everybody will die, that’s reality. We feel much more comfortable when they die one by one.

We all have an eternal destination, please consider what it takes to not go to your default place forever: hell. Because we are sinners from birth and we sin against a holy God, He will not allow us into His heaven. We need to be declared righteous and that can only happen if we enter through the only Righteous One, Jesus Christ. If you repent of your sins and  submit to Jesus, you will please God and He will declare your sins forgotten and forgiven. Otherwise…

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Posted in church, worship

Is your worship exciting? I’m sorry

Posted on by elizabethprata
Source 

Before I was saved I’d attended many concerts and comedy shows. Before the main act appeared, there was always an opening act or as it is known, a “warm-up act”. The intent is to whip up the audience into an excitement. Wikipedia explains,

An opening act, warm-up act, or supporting act is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or “headliner”. … The opening act’s performance serves to “warm up” the audience, making it appropriately excited and enthusiastic for the headliner.

When we were at a taping of the Johnny Carson Show (Jay Leno had taken over when we were there) someone came out before the taping began and warmed up the audience. Wikipedia explains the comedy warm-up:

A warm-up comedian or crowd warmer is a stand-up comedian who performs at a comedy club or before the filming of a television comedy in front of studio audience to get the crowd into the mood ready for the show or main act. Their role is to make the audience feel integral to the show and encourage reactions during the show. They usually work alone and perform a comedy routine while also possibly explaining aspects of the show. They will also perform during commercial breaks.

This was the case with us. I don’t remember who the warm-up comedian was, but by the time Jay Leno came out through the curtains with the intro music blaring and asked, “Are you excited?” we could enthusiastically applaud and yell “YES!” The crowd went wild.

There are many praise bands whose intent is to do the same. By the time the main act arrives on stage (pastor climbing the pulpit) he often asks, “Are you warmed up excited?” Or if the congregation looks a little serious he might say “You all look so serious. We’re in church! Smile! Isn’t it exciting!?”

Is church exciting? Is that the only proper emotion one should express in church? Excitement? What is church worship and how should we express it?

John MacArthur’s series “True Worship” has a definition:

Worship Defined 

What is worship? Let me give you a definition: Worship is “honor paid to a superior being.” It means “to give homage, honor, reverence, respect, adoration, praise, or glory to a superior being.” In Scripture, the word is used indiscriminately to refer to the homage given to idols, material things, or to the true God. So the word in itself is not a holy word, it only describes honor given to a superior being. 

The common New Testament word for worship is proskuneo, which means “to kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate oneself.” The idea of worship is that one prostrates himself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. In a Christian context, we simply apply this to God and prostrate ourselves before Him in respect and honor, paying Him the glory due His superior character.

Essentially, then, worship is giving – giving honor and respect to God. That is why we, as Christians, gather together on Sunday. We don’t gather to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we gather to give honor to God. 

When some people attend church and they look serious it’s for a reason. We are there to pay homage to the supreme Being of the Universe, Yahweh. Did the Temple priests go dancing and prancing into the Temple hooting and hollering? Shouting “Come on, ya’all, bring on the sacrifices, it’s a great day to be in the Temple today!!!” Can’t picture it? That’s for a reason.

Here is Worship Matters on How Exciting Should Our Sunday Meetings Be?

Getting the Goal Right

But our lives aren’t an unending string of exclamation points. Our meetings shouldn’t be either. (Neither should our emails, but that’s another topic).

Strictly speaking, God never says the goal of the church gathering is excitement. It’s edification for God’s glory. We meet to stir up one another to love and good works, not simply to have an emotionally electrifying time. We meet to behold God’s glory in Christ through his Word, responding in ways appropriate to his self-revelation (Heb. 10:24; 2 Cor. 3:18).

That doesn’t mean gathering as the church isn’t meant to be a soul stirring event. We have every reason when we’re together to be excited about what God has done for us in Christ. But that’s not the same as aiming for adrenaline-pumping, professionally produced, high energy, exciting gatherings alone. That approach leaves little room to engage in expressions normal for elect exiles on our way to a new home (1 Pet. 1:1-2). Expressions like disorientation (Ps. 42:1-5). Sorrow for sin (Ps. 38:1-8). Grief (Rom. 12:15). A humble awareness of our creatureliness before our Creator (Ps. 95:6-7). Not to mention reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28).

Our greatest need when we gather is not simply to feel excited, but to encounter God: to engage with the certainty of his sovereignty, the reality of his authority, the comfort of his mercy in Christ, and the promise of his grace. We need to be strengthened for the battles against the world, our flesh, and the devil that will confront us the moment we wake up Monday morning, if not before. Mere emotional excitement, however it might be produced, won’t be sufficient. 

We need God’s Word clearly expounded, God’s gospel clearly presented, and God’s presence clearly experienced. We need well crafted, intentional liturgies that cultivate God-honoring, Christ-exalting thoughts and desires (See Rhythms of Grace and Christ-Centered Worship for more on that). Our efforts to make our meetings exciting can actually end up obscuring what our congregations need the most.

Some people when they go to church are excited in a way that’s more soberly mindful of the gravitas of the situation than the outward hyperactive excitement some churches seem to want or enjoy. Church is profound. We come before our Holy God to repent of sins, to call others to repent, and to praise and worship our eternal Savior. It is awe-inspiring, and yes, exciting, but not in the foot-stomping, hand waving, fervent excitement that some plea for and yes, even demand. Insistence on demonstrating our “excitement” at being present before God and the Assembly in one particular way is not at all liberating, in fact, it’s inhibiting.

The Bible on worship:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19–25:)

We should aim for a more profound excitement. Here is Worship Matters again:

Towards a More Profound Excitement

The alternative to making our meetings more “exciting” isn’t trying to bore people. But Sunday mornings aren’t New Year’s Eve celebrations. They aren’t rock concerts. They aren’t pep rallies. They aren’t World Cup finals. They’re something much more mundane, and at the same time something much more eternally and cosmically significant. Our plans, lights, smooth transitions, technology, videos, sound systems, visual effects, and creativity don’t make it so. Christ dwelling in the midst of his people through his Holy Spirit makes it so. That’s why if we understand what’s going on, sharing the bread and cup during communion can be one of the highlights of our week, transcending the greatest of world championship sports rivalries in its effect on us.

What a great word. Transcendent. Our worship emanates from a sinful but justified heart, upward through three heavens to arrive at the throne of God.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15).

This is the most exciting thing in the universe, our Holy Spirit in us, dwelling in our very body that is a Temple. I am hugely “excited” over this. Church leaders that insist on a enthusiasm exhibited a certain way, OR produce stage-effects designed to manipulate the congregation into exhibiting the desired enthusiastic exhibitions, should take heed of the 2 articles above.

Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. (Psalm 95:6-7)

—————————————

Further Reading

Dude, Where’s your Gravitas?

Posted in creation, encouragement, jesus, universe

The brightest light in the world

Posted on by elizabethprata

Long argued about, long wondered of, discussions ranging from “it was real” to “it’s a myth,” historical records mention it (In the second century AD the writer Lucian said Archimedes destroyed ships with fire. Anthemius of Tralles wrote of it also… Hmmm! Even the MythBusters attempted to replicate its power of reflected sunlight … eventually the class of 2009 at MIT sketched and constructed and tried it.

The Archimedes Sun Death Ray

Was it an ‘urban legend’? Or did Archimedes really build a death ray using the sun? The legend goes that Archimedes constructed a series of mirrors, that when pointed at an oncoming warship in unison under the Mediterranean sun, would ignite the ship into a fire that would subsequently sink it. And it would not take long to do, either. Above is a fresco at the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence depicting Archimedes’ Death Ray at work.

The class of 2009 at MIT wrote up a super witty essay of their experimental efforts, complete with lots of photos, here- The Archimedes Result

The experiment worked! Here is one shot of the fake ship they constructed, burning up!

We know that God created the sun. He did that in Genesis 1:16. But have you ever wondered why God put the sun on His creation schedule on Day 4 and that He said “Let there be Light” first thing on day 1? (Genesis 1:3). He IS the Light! He doesn’t need a secondary entity to illuminate His universe. His Light is first, strongest, brightest, and eventually will be the only Light filling the entire Universe. (Revelation 22:5).

It’s impressive that Archimedes used the sun’s light and power to shine a ray that could ignite a warship in under ten minutes. That is one strong light. But… how bright is God’s light? I am mindful of the verse in Matthew 24:27,

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Or Luke 17:24–

For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.

To compare, how bright is lightning? The average lightning strike peaks at 1 terawatt which is equal to one trillion (1012) watts. 10 to the 12th power means 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10. That’s bright!

The metaphor for Jesus’ return being as lightning evokes both the suddenness and visibility of it, and also the brightness. IMAGINE! His glory at more than full trillion wattage! No, it’s unimaginable.

If we as Christians reflect (or emit) one tiny fraction of all that glory He has given us no wonder the Apostles turned the world upside down! If mere mirrors reflecting the sun can burn a ship within 10 minutes, imagine the light of a God so big He exceeds the universe’s brightness of all its lightnings and suns! God’s glory-light is so much brighter than the sun, than lighting, than the sun and lightning combined! Our future dwelling place will be where there is no night, where the glory of the light of Jesus Christ illuminates every iota of every atom everywhere. That’s bright. And He is our Savior and friend. What a Savior He is, in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright

1 O splendor of God’s glory bright,
from light eternal bringing light;
O Light of light, the fountain spring,
O Day, all days illumining.

2 Come, very Sun of heaven’s love,
in lasting radiance from above,
and pour the Holy Spirit’s ray
on all we think or do today.

Posted in charismatic, discernment, grace community church, intruder, strange fire

John MacArthur confronted by intruder mounting the stage during Sunday Service

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

On Sunday, August 16, an intruder wearing a backpack mounted the pulpit at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church while Dr MacArthur was preaching the Sunday morning service, put his fingers in his lips and emitted a piercing whistle, pointed his finger at the pastor and began shouting that he had a message from the Lord to deliver to him.

The man, a Scottish “evangelist,” was angry that Dr MacArthur had preached in the past that the charismatic gifts have ceased, an interpretation termed “cessationism.” This biblical teaching was most recently delivered at the Strange Fire conference at Grace Community Church two years ago. That conference was a much-needed response and rebuke to the Charismatic movement which claims that Jesus delivers personal revelation to individuals today in the form of the temporary sign gifts of prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues, and also that people can and do perform miracles like raising people from the dead and healings, as the first century apostles performed.

Charismatics believe these temporary gifts intended as a temporary sign were not temporary at all and have never ceased. They believe the gifts continue. They are continuationists. Continuationism and its heresies and false notions of Christianity are rapidly overtaking the faith all around the world. If you have ever seen a “church service” where people are shouting, jerking, fainting or otherwise gyrating, this is a Charismatic church. If you have ever seen people lined up for healing by “an anointed preacher” at a healing crusade, this is charismania. If you ever have seen claims from ‘pastors’ who shout for the Holy Spirit “to show up” and He supposedly does by showering the congregation with gold dust from the ceiling, you’ve seen a charismatic congregation.

Not all Charismatic churches are so wild, but the ones that seem quieter are just as dangerous. They speak in tongues which are gibberish. They claim that the canon of scripture is not closed and have a word delivered by the Lord to share. Beth Moore makes claims all the time that Jesus speaks to her and commands her to teach what He tells her. Disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll claimed to have had many visions and audible revelations from God. So you see it is not just the Benny Hinns and Kenneth Copelands of the world engaged in dangerous twisting of God’s word in regard to the temporary sign gifts, but even conservative segments of the faith have now accepted personal revelation and mystical practices associated with Charismania.

The Strange Fire conference of 2013 sparked angry outbursts and heated reactions from certain segments, mainly from the people who claim to possess these gifts and are going around performing them. Apparently this intruder was one who feels he is a prophet from God, as he said while on the podium at GCC last Sunday. The reaction to the Strange Fire conference is continuing and satan is still inspiring people to anger over the biblical rebuke the preachers and teachers at that conference delivered. The warfare is real and ongoing. (Ephesians 6:12)

Here is video of the intruder at Grace Community Church. You can see he mounted the pulpit rapidly and got within 20 feet of MacArthur before anyone noticed or stopped him. Even though two men in the front row immediately rose and approached the intruder, I was shocked at how fast it happened. When the intruder points his finger at the esteemed pastor, it could as easily have been a gun. GCC fellow pastor Phil Johnson said the intruder got “way too close” to MacArthur.

Here is a video of Dr MacArthur’s gracious reaction afterward. It is a 3-minute video from SO4J, but it’s “exclusive” to SO4J.com so I can’t embed.

VIDEO OF MACARTHUR’S RESPONSE: JOHN MACARTHUR IS VERBALLY ATTACKED BY A FALSE PROPHET

This brings to mind safety concerns, of course. The congregants at Charleston’s Emmanuel African Methodist Church last June certainly didn’t expect to be shot while praying and singing inside the church, but that shooting shocked America and the world. Nine people were killed.

Even though Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church is not a church and Osteen is not a pastor, many people think it’s a church, and some had no compunction about mounting an orchestrated rebellion while services were going on this past June. These hecklers were outraged at Osteen’s brazen falsity and began calling him a liar as Osteen prepared to ‘preach’. There were six individuals ushered out from the Lakewood arena by security that day.

Unfortunately we are seeing these scenes of bouncers or security men ushering away some intruders more and more often. Here is GCC Pastor Phil Johnson with comments on the incident:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PHIL JOHNSON:

Here are some comments about church security and the performance of the GCC security team in particular. These are compiled mainly from my own replies in a couple of recent comment threads. The one comment below that I have put in quotation marks was made by one of my FaceBook friends. All the other comments from which I compiled this are mine:
__________

I agree that it’s both irritating and scary to see someone with mischief on his mind get that close to John MacArthur, but we are not going to erect a barrier between the pastor and the people in our church. I imagine the security team will henceforth put their most young and spry guys on the front row. But it’s a simple fact of life that if someone bent on doing harm is determined enough, it’s not possible to guarantee that every possible threat can be thwarted. On the other hand, all of us who preach Christ at GCC are willing to die for Him–but not willing to permit miscreants to force a barrier between the people and the elders. John MacArthur isn’t going to move around among his own congregation in a plexiglas bubble like the Popemobile.

I know for a fact that the security team is carefully examining Sunday morning’s incident with an eye to improving or beefing up the measures they take. But they DID handle this situation without injury to anyone involved, and the entire interruption lasted less than sixty seconds.

Bear in mind that over the years, the vast majority of criticisms aimed at our security team have come from people who seem to think ANYTHING they do is too hasty, too heavy-handed, or otherwise unChristlike. In fact, Martha Mac’s front-row video of Sunday’s incident (posted on her FB page) drew dozens of comments from charismatic critics and postmodern bleeding hearts who complained that the treatment our Scottish “prophet” friend received was overly harsh. So people should appreciate and have some empathy for the difficult position the security staff are in.

Finally, here’s a comment someone else posted elsewhere regarding security’s handling of this incident:
__________

“As a former LEO and member of my church’s security team, who knows a few of the GCC security team members, well done fellas. I agree with Phil that it was a measured and gentle approach, and they took care of business without incident. Praise the Lord! It will be good for them to do a review this incident to see how a response could be improved or tweaked next time, but there will always be lag time in any response, and there is always the risk that someone can get to your pastor first. Also, there is a delicate balance between what is the desired level of response by security, both from the pastor’s perspective and the congregation’s perspective. Go too hard, and there is criticism; go too soft, and likewise. John and his security team have an understanding on what is expected of them in their response, of this I am sure, and this appears to have played out. If you notice, John points at the disorderly subject, and the men react immediately and start to approach the stage. The subject stops away from John, and is merely pointing and yelling, with no visible weapon, which calls for a less dynamic response from the security team. Professional job, gentlemen. In under a minute, the situation is resolved, and it’s back to business as usual. Thank you for posting this, Phil, as a good reminder to those who protect our faithful pastors each and every week.”
_________

In short, I think people who don’t actually have hands-on responsibility for church security at this level should probably keep their Monday-morning quarterbacking to themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are not guaranteed safety in this world. Though we believe church should be a safe place, and we strive to make it so, it is actually ground zero in the warfare in which we engage. Sometimes that warfare shows up in the form of an angry person…sometimes the angry person has a gun. We are not guaranteed safe passage from this world to the next, what we are guaranteed is trouble.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (Acts 14:22)

Ultimately the take-away is… PRAY FOR PASTORS. The pastors who unflinchingly preach the truth of God are most at risk. Pray for them for God to keep them spiritually safe, and physically safe. And He will. Until it is the day ordained from the foundation of the world for them to be called home.

Posted in discernment, Eve, heresy, Jesus bible, the shack, william p. young

Eve, an upcoming book by William P. Young of The Shack; The heresy continues

Posted on by elizabethprata

William P. Young is an author of religious stories. You might know him as the author of the runaway bestseller a few years ago, The Shack. (2008). He also wrote Cross Roads in 2012. Young said The Shack was fiction, nonetheless he used biblical theology to twist God’s word and manipulated the “fictional narrative” to present a different Jesus, a different Holy Spirit, a different God, a different view of sin and a totally different view of the atonement. Young’s book harmed Christians by insinuating Young’s aberrant theology into their minds, all under the sensitively emotional flow of ‘fiction.’ You can read a substantive Christian review of The Shack here at Tim Challies’ site.

In addition, I did some digging and discovered that Young channeled some of The Shack. Channeling is when an author turns off his mind, gives it over to a supernatural entity, and allows that entity to write the book for him. The writer is then simply a vessel used by an entity on the other side (a demon) speaking what the demon wants said. It is an occult practice that is surprisingly prevalent. One example is Beth Moore channeling “When Godly People do Ungodly Things.” An ironic title when a supposedly godly person channels demons to teach about God.

Stay away from The Shack.

Unfortunately, Young is not finished with writing, and he has another book of religious fiction coming out. It’s called “Eve“. Read some of the promotional material describing the upcoming book Eve below-

Eve is a bold, unprecedented exploration of the Creation narrative, true to the original texts and centuries of scholarship—yet with breathtaking discoveries that challenge traditional misconceptions about who we are and how we’re made. As The Shack awakened readers to a personal, non-religious understanding of God, Eve will free us from faulty interpretations that have corrupted human relationships since the Garden of Eden.

I want you to double down and really think about what is being said here. This is a discernment lesson on how to resist language that is designed to get you to succumb to curiosity and read a heretical book. I am going to re-paste the same blurb from above with some words highlighted and then explain why they are highlighted.

Eve is a bold, unprecedented exploration of the Creation narrative, true to the original texts and centuries of scholarship—yet with breathtaking discoveries that challenge traditional misconceptions about who we are and how we’re made. As The Shack awakened readers to a personal, non-religious understanding of God, Eve will free us from faulty interpretations that have corrupted human relationships since the Garden of Eden.

Any time you read that someone has discovered a new way to interpret the biblical narrative, RUN. Key words are “unprecedented” and “breathtaking discoveries.” How can a text be ‘true to centuries of scholarship’ yet yield discoveries no one else has ever noticed? Has the Holy Spirit hidden these new interpretations until now? From everyone except Young? No. Just think of the pride and hubris here. Everyone, just everyone has gotten it wrong about Eve, and Wm. Paul Young as he likes to sign himself, is the one man to find out the real interpretation.

“Challenge traditional misconceptions.” ‘Tradition’ is a loaded word, used by bible twisters to paint Christianity, or the Bible, as irrelevant. It’s another way to say what Young said in The Shack, subtly undermining Christianity, with using the word ‘old’, such as “the old seminary training wasn’t helping” and “he half expected him to pull out a huge old King James Bible…”. When a word is used like that enough times within the story, slowly the reader comes to accept the undermining. And again, the hubris and pride here is evident. We have all been shackled to misconceptions and “faulty interpretations”, and William P. Young is going to “free” us. With a book. Of fiction.

You can have a pretty good idea what these so-called interpretations are that “have corrupted human relationships since the Garden of Eden.” All this hyperbole makes it sound like it is another Bible, the book Eve is going to be that startling and powerful. But secondly, given the age of feminism, I am surmising that Young is going to throw out there an egalitarian view under cover of supposed scholarship coated in narrative and then when the blow-back comes coyly say, “It’s just fiction…”

Here is more of the blurb seeming to affirm that indeed, feminism is on the table:

Eve opens a refreshing conversation about the equality of men and women within the context of our beginnings, helping us see each other as our Creator does—complete, unique, and not constrained to cultural rules or limitations.

In an interview, Young said of his new book,

Having said that, most of the existing assumptions we have of the Genesis story have been told from an either/or, and dominantly male, viewpoint rather than holistic and human, and I believe that has had a devastating impact on our view of God and our relationships, one with the other. This novel is not intended to add to the existing adversarial divisions but look for something deeper and truer about us as human beings that will bring freedom to us all.

The Genesis story has been told in God’s point of view. If the Word is absent a response or perspective from Eve, that is because God arranged it that way. And yet it isn’t absent. Both their answers to God’s questioning were recorded. Both were – ahem – equally cursed for disobeying. It is not up to Young to re-frame it.

Secondly, there’s that coyness again, dis ingenuousness, or outright lie. The book Eve IS intended to add to the existing adversarial divisions, because in another interview Young said he fully expects his ‘evangelical friends’ to be upset.

Thirdly, there is that hubris and pride again. Young is saying here that his interpretation of the Garden story of sin has found something truer (than the Bible?!) and will “free us all.” Jesus freed us, not Young. His Word frees us, not Young’s new interpretation of it. Wm. Paul Young is going to free us with his new interpretation? RUN.

Young says that for 40 years he has had questions regarding those moments in the Garden. Quite often the false teachers will seek to affirm their piety by placing a lengthy time frame on something. I’ve been studying for 10 years…I prayed for several hours…Beth Moore told a long story about her 21 days of fasting before coming to some sort of epiphany, which she then taught to the audience. Here, Young seeks to buttress his faulty scholarship by placing it within a long time frame because he seeks to give it substance.

I understand his fascination with that moment in the Garden that changed everything. I have read and re-read Genesis 1-3 many times. My favorite places to go in the Bible are the early part of Genesis and all of Revelation, tremendous bookends. There are many questions, some that can be illuminated by the Spirit with proper scholarship and consistent with traditional interpretations for the last 4000 years, and other questions that will not be answered this side of the veil, if ever. God put in His word what He knew would benefit us and what He wanted to put in there. So we wait, and if it still matters to us in heaven, we an ask there. It’s part of submitting to the authority of God and of trusting Him

However, Young’s questions are sad. He said he has for 40 years asked:

–What happened?
–Where did we all go wrong?
–What is it about us as human beings that can produce such great wonder and do such catastrophic damage?

Answers: “What happened” is contained in Genesis 1-3. Period. It is clear and beautiful and enough.
We “all went wrong” when we absorbed Adam’s sin-nature. Biologically, generations subsequent to Adam and Eve changed when disobedience (sin) entered their heart and mind. Witness son of Adam, Cain, who killed his brother, failed to properly worship God, and backtalked Him. At the Fall of Man, God cursed the earth and prophesied about the pain and anguish Adam’s rebellion will bring to all future generations. This is information that is presented clearly in Genesis 3. Anyone having trouble with it means they repudiate the corrupt nature of our biology and the fact that we are all born sinners. (Psalm 51:5, Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:12, Romans 5:12).

The reason some “humans produce great wonder” is that they are energized by the Holy Spirit to do such wonders. And remember, what seems a wonder to us is not a wonder if it is not done in Christ and for Christ. Anything done in the flesh is a filthy rag to God, even what seems a wonder to our innocent or ignorant eyes. (Isaiah 64:6). Others who remain in sin do “catastrophic” damage to each other and to our Holy God, as did Eve and Adam, because satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. That’s what sin does. It is always a catastrophe. These are not difficult concepts.

Questions answered.

Now, I am not totally being flip when I say that. Young is a perfect example of the verse which warns that some are “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7). For 40 years Young has been seeking answers to questions that are already answered in the Bible. He continues to ask them because he does not like the answers.

Some, like Young, “… devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” (1 Timothy 1:4).

CONCLUSION

At some point, a Christian must come to a settled conviction about what they believe. It might seem pious to wonder about why it all went wrong for 40 years, but it actually betrays the heart of an unregenerate person. When one engages in endless speculations, one cannot witness to truth. If Young wondered for 40 years about the origin of sin and its effects, then he does not understand our need for a Savior from that sin. A person who doesn’t understand why we need a Savior is not a Christian.

When I say we must come to a “settled conviction,” I’m not talking about uninformed dogmatism. The Spirit’s ministry is to make scripture clear. Ask Him to help you come to an informed, grace-filled conviction. Once you know what you believe and why, you can witness with power.

I am being tough on Young and advising you my dear sisters and brothers strongly about the language that Book Publishers are using to arouse curiosity regarding this book. Young himself said in an interview that he understands that many of his evangelical friends will be alarmed at the concepts in the book. Therefore Young said to “read first and ask questions later.” That is exactly what the serpent got Eve to do! Eat first, ask questions later. Don’t fall for it. Book promoters are good at whipping up curiosity. If you read “Eve“, you will become frustrated and upset at the twisting going on, or you will succumb to the confusion that endless questions bring and begin to say “yes, maybe he has a point…”

You will also be shocked to see some of your favorite, previously solid bible teachers, friends, pastors, celebrities you admire, extol this book. Apostasy is growing. Like a magnet sweeping up iron filings, the attraction to apostasy is proving irresistible to many. Books like these naturally draw out the serpent’s poison that is already in them. However it is still saddening and discomfiting when we hear and see comments from teachers and leaders we once thought of as discerning suddenly swerve and extol the left path, and not the right one.

It is all for the glory of God however. Whom He allows to be drawn to these false notions about Him and engage in unedifying things (Philippians 4:8) it is for the purpose of showing who the genuine Christians are. Bear fruit, stay the course, pray always, and exalt Jesus with your heart, mind, strength, tongue and heart. These things please our Sovereign. And that is what we are put on earth for.

Shorter Catechism-
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, [a] and to enjoy him for ever. [b]

[a]. Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; I Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11
[b]. Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Isa. 12:2; Luke 2:10; Phil. 4:4; Rev. 21:3-4

Posted in encouragement, Michelle Lesley, no greater love

Movie Review: No Greater Love (re-blog from Michelle Lesley)

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love movies, documentaries, and television shows. However as a Christian, I’m offended at much of the fare offered these days. We are told to redeem the time, and to involve ourselves in edifying things. (Ephesians 5:16, Philippians 4:8-9). So then, it’s a struggle to find entertainment that fulfills the necessities of Christian living and honors God.

Here is Michelle Lesley with a good movie find. She reviewed this movie at her blog and I was so pleased to find another good movie via her review. I watched it last night and I agree with her assessment that it is God-honoring and biblically sound. Here is Michelle Lesley’s review:

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Throwback Thursday ~ “No Greater Love”– Movie Review

I stumbled across this movie at my local library a few days ago, and, boy am I glad I did.

Jeff and Heather were the “lucky ones”. Best friends from childhood, high school sweethearts, and married by 22, they were inseperable soul mates.

After the birth of her first and only child, Heather Baker (Danielle Bisutti) fell into a deep depression. Hopelessly lost, she did the unthinkable– she abandoned her husband and her infant son –and vanished. Jeff Baker (Anthony Tyler Quinn) was forced to raise their son Ethan as a single father.

Ten years after his wife’s disapperance, Jeff is finally ready to move on and is on the verge of marrying his new girlfriend. His world, however, is dramatically rocked when Heather shockingly reappears in the most unusual place.
(From the “No Greater Love” web site.)

If you liked the movie Fireproof, you’ll almost certainly like No Greater Love. The acting is much better, and so is the production quality. Of course, that’s to be expected when a movie is made by a professional studio hiring professional actors rather than by a church using mostly church members as actors. (That’s certainly not a dig at Sherwood Baptist Church. They did a fantastic and admirable job with both Fireproof and Facing the Giants –both of which you should see, if you haven’t already –it’s just that professional studios and production companies have the resources and budget to put together a more polished product.)

The storyline of No Greater Love is unique and endearing, but believable. The only thing I found to be a bit of a stretch was, well, how do I say this without giving too much away? Let’s just put it like this: It can take a long time and a lot of difficult, painful emotional work for the most Godly among Christians to forgive someone who has wounded them unfathomably. Generally speaking, one would expect that, for a similarly wounded unsaved person, forgiveness would probably come much more slowly and with even greater difficulty. But I suppose there are exceptions to the rule.

Theologically, this movie is right on target. Director, Brad Silverman, says in his commentary on the movie that his goal was to be as theologically correct as possible, and I think he nailed it. To be honest, one of the reasons I picked up this movie was to see if there were any false doctrine or theology in it, so I was on the lookout for Biblical error. None to be found as far as I could tell.

Does No Greater Love overtly share the Gospel, spelling it out step by step? No. That’s your job and mine, not the job of a movie. I think, primarily, this is an entertaining movie which reinforces Biblical truth that Christian viewers (should) already know. But it would also be a great movie to share with unsaved friends as a conversation starter for sharing the Gospel in detail.

For more information on No Greater Love, visit the web site and “like” the Facebook page.

No Greater Love is available for purchase at:
Lionsgate Studios
ChristianBook.com
Amazon.com

No Greater Love can be viewed for free here