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beth moore, chris hull, discernment, false teacher, shepherd

Lutheran pastor on Beth Moore: "She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing trying to destroy my flock"

Posted on May 11, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In 2012, thanks to Sola Sisters, some of us became aware that a pastor named Jim Murphy of First Baptist Church in Johnson City NY spoke to his congregation sternly about their lack of effort in applying biblical discernment. He said this after he repented in front of them himself, for not guarding them from false doctrines as he should. He led the people through a history of post-modernism and biblically showed how and why false teachers from ‘out there’ can and do get ‘in here’ to their church. If not through the pulpit, false doctrines can come in through Ladies Ministry studies, Sunday School Curricula, and/or the church library.

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Even if the pastor himself is solid and would never think to quote a Beth Moore or a Sarah Young, these false teachers enter the church by other means. Pastor Murphy said he was sorry for not having provided enough oversight in the aforementioned areas, and said the tentacles of satan had so far reached far and deep. He went on a mission to overhaul all the aforementioned areas. In addition, he promised to name names in warning his flock away from certain teachers who have shown by their fruit they are dangerous.

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-16a)

Many of us who listened to Pastor Murphy’s online sermon applauded it and were thrilled to see one faithful shepherd executing the biblical command to guard the sheep. (Acts 20:28-31)

Additionally, we know that there are other pastors out there doing the same, even when we can’t see or hear them. We trust the Lord who has raised up faithful shepherds to empower them with discernment, courage, and fortitude to withstand the tsunami of falsity attempting to sweep into the church and to speak against it. We can’t see them, but we know they’re there and doing it. We live by faith, not by sight, knowing that doctrinal protection by good under-shepherds is occurring. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

But it is still thrilling to see when it happens, it’s a visible demonstration of the Goodness of the Holy Spirit.

Well, here is another example. Also in 2012, a Lutheran named Chris Hull, who is Senior Pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Normal, Illinois, was interviewed on a Lutheran radio show called Issues Etc. He noticed several of the ladies of his flock were doing Beth Moore studies, so he set about researching what they were consuming. He was aghast at his findings.

To Beth Moore, Jesus is more sympathizer than Savior. ~Pastor Chris HullHis talk is linked here, and below is posted a lengthy excerpted transcript of his interview. There are a few things he speaks of through the lens of being Lutheran that I do not agree with, for example, the sacraments being more than representational, and of being their ‘father’, but despite these few things, his opposition to Moore is worth a read. He takes it from a theological point of view, speaking of the false things Moore teaches that I haven’t heard before, or at least, in my opinion speaks of them in such a way as to bring new light on why Moore is false. It’s a new perspective, even though this interview is surfacing now (thanks to an eagle eyed and thoughtful reader who sent it to me).

In this essay, I’m showing you three things. First, the different perspective that the pastor brings to the table regarding Moore’s theology. Second, if you read the excerpts below or better yet, listen to the half-hour interview linked above, you will see HOW the pastor went about assessing Moore’s theology and how he considered whether she was good for his flock. Third, once he came to his conclusions, note the kind of language he uses to definitively state them. He didn’t apologize, back-pedal, or waver when explaining exactly what the problem was. Too many teachers, pastors etc seem almost apologetic when saying that so-and-so is a false teacher. Many hesitate to say even that, claiming that gentleness, caution, and tolerance are called for.

I say no.

“Guilty Spirit” EPrata collage
w/digital overlay

If a person, by their fruit and/or lifestyle has demonstrated that they are false, we are beyond caution and tolerance. We are at war with the false teaching they bring! If they have proven themselves false (and Moore certainly has) it means they are against Jesus and operating for satan. It means they are out for your destruction. It means they are a liar, seeking filthy lucre. We don’t have to be mean, but we need to be clear! We do NOT need to say, “Well, gee, in some ways this teacher has helped me, and I don’t agree with everything they say, but…” No, sir. Paul was clear:

So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Cor 11:15)

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (2 John 1:11)

See the Apostle of Love calling false teachers wicked, as not having God in them, and for believers to refuse them hospitality! Therefore note the clarity and conciseness with which Pastor Hull expresses his findings. You definitely know where he stands. He stands with Jesus. He guards His flock.

Here are excerpts from Pastor Chris Hull’s interview on Issues, Etc. regarding Beth Moore.

Q. What role does Jesus play in Beth Moore’s Theology?

Pastor Hull

Pr. Hull: I’d say it’s mainly example. Christ is our example. Lutherans have fought that mindset for many years, this ‘what would Jesus DO mentality.’ Worse, and I hate to say this because it sounds silly, but to her, Jesus is more of a lover, even. He’s the man who understands me. He’s the man who gets me. No other man in my life gets me, but Jesus does. That’s a big problem. Yes, He does get us all, because He died for us. So I would agree with her there, yes He gets you. But He gets you because He takes your sin upon Himself and dies your death. But she never gets to that point. It’s more of a ‘He’s there for me in my need.’ It’s a very abstract ‘there’. He’s never there in concreteness in the means of grace, but rather, just there. Like a spiritual life coach giving me a pat on the back when I need it. And that’s Jesus in her book. Jesus is more sympathizer than savior. … It’s very, very shallow spirituality.

What you get with Beth Moore’s bible studies is emotionalism. You know, getting into how I feel and things of that nature. Her main appeal to women in her studies is getting into the mind-set of people in the bible. For example, in her study, “Jesus the one and only”, she gets into: How did Mary feel? or what was Joseph thinking? There is no actual theology here, it is all, what do I think they were feeling and does that relate to my feelings today. The best part is, she will quote like 20 bible verses, that have nothing to do with that actual passage in scripture in order to support your emotion, she is using the bible to tell you the feelings you have are natural and good and you should feel comforted in that, and therefore powerful. It’s all about God respects you, that is one of the main appeals to women is that God respects them in their feelings, in their stage in life.

Q. How would you summarize her message?

Beth Moore

Pr. Hull: A typical evangelical one of free will. She is a lazy Arminian, who says that our greatest gift God gives us is our free will to choose Him. How can that comfort people? If that’s the gift God gives us is free will, saying and you have to get into the bible to read more of the bible, and the more you read the bible the more you will know about God and the more you know about God, the more God will love you. And then, once God loves you He will respect you as a human being.

Her bible studies are mostly prose, not much doctrine, a lot of fill-in-the blanks type of questions. Here’s a question, read this one bible verse, and fill in the blank. It’s like reading a Dan Brown novel the Da Vinci Code, you feel smart after because it’s short chapters.

Q. What view of man in his fallen state does Beth Moore promote in her popular books and bible studies?

Pr. Hull: Her view of man is that man has problems, man is sinful but only because of what he does. You’re born in a state of neutrality, like Adam (she doesn’t knock Eve as much) and will I take the forbidden fruit or will I do good? This is the Christian life a neutral state and which one will I choose. It’s Arminian theology. If I choose good, God will be pleased. You see this especially in her books. There is this one book about getting out of the ditches, how do I get out of despair, and you don’t see things like “From depths of woe I cried to Thee“, you see ‘What can I do to get out of this problem in life.’

Expulsion of Adam and Eve
from the Garden, Masaccio, 1426-7

My wife went to one of the bible studies and she walked out saying ‘I had no comfort in the Gospel. It was all about what I need to do.’ She made the comment that if someone with clinical depression came in they’d probably want to go home and do something to themselves. Because it is just depressing to read, it gives no hope in Christ Jesus. Whatsoever.

[A clip is played with Moore emphasizing self-improvement, using the phrase “we are God’s masterpiece” and emphasizing change in terms of self-improvement].

Pr. Hull: Self-improvement is contrary to scripture. Romans 6 talks about that. We died with Christ so we shall also rise with Christ. You must die in this world. How can you progress in self-improvement if the point of the faith is to actually die to self? Beth Moore takes scripture out of the equation and replaces it with emotion and human reason.

Q.: Beth Moore had a little foothold on the congregation you currently serve when you arrived as its new pastor, how deep did it drive you into researching what Beth Moore believes and teaches?

Don’t believe the propaganda!

Pr. Hull: They did 2 Beth Moore studies the first year I was here, so I read both of those. I read 4 of her books, I watched a bunch of her Youtube videos…I spent way too much time with Beth Moore. But the problem is, and I guess I can say this on the radio: she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing trying to destroy my flock. The only way I could get her out was knowing her. Knowing her abilities, knowing how she gets in and twists. And I learned it.

But getting rid of it was the problem. Because Beth Moore becomes a friend with the church, she becomes good friends with people. How do you get rid of a friend? You have to say this ‘friend’ is no good for you. This friend wants to hurt you. This friend desires your death. She wants to give you this poisonous loaf of bread covered in sugar and tell you it’s good for you. And all it’s going to do is kill you over time and you won’t even recognize it…the problem is to compassionately say to your blessed flock that not only will this harm you, but it will be your end if you continue to place trust in this propaganda.

All Beth Moore Critiques Here in One Place

Beth Moore Confronts Young Pastor’s Wife for Criticizing Her Direct, Divine Revelation

Adrian Rogers, counterfeit christians, discernment

Adrian Rogers on the difference between false religion and true religion

Posted on May 10, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The difference between counterfeit faith and true faith is the FOCUS. Satan’s focus was on himself. It’s pride and selfishness. All false religions come from satan and he capitalizes on our sinful nature to focus on ourselves. He tempted Eve with “You will be like God”. (Genesis 3:5). He told Eve that if she ate the fruit (disobeyed) God she would get something good out of it for herself. Selfishness and pride.

This is what satan said in his heart:

‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’(Isaiah 14:13-14)

I will, I will, I will, I will, I will; five times satan is recorded as mulling over what he will do and what he will get. He has been on a tear ever since, telling us through false religion what we can do and what we can get (if we disobey God).

I will, I will, I will, I will, I will…

Yet Jesus prayed:

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. (Luke 22:42b)

God’s will. The focus is on Him, His Son, and His Spirit. What we can do for Him, to Him, about Him, through Him, and by Him- so He can get the glory.

Do not be fooled by satan’s tricks. As the late Adrian Rogers said in his sermon “Counterfeit Christianity-“

One of Satan’s chief tools in his bag of tricks is religion. The very first temptation in the Garden of Eden was a religious temptation; it was a temptation not to be ungodly, but to be godly “and ye shall be as gods”. (Genesis 3:1-5)

It’s a very good sermon, please take a listen. The part when he describes people who have falsely depended on a spiritual experience for their faith and not the Person of Faith (Jesus), and they try to convince God to let them enter heaven, is devastating. “But, but I had a vision, I was engulfed in light, I saw heaven…” Satan standing aside saying, “You fool, that was me.”

Our focus should always be on precious Jesus, as it says in Hebrews 12:2

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

death, election, encouragement, grace, infant

What happens to babies who die?

Posted on May 9, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Sinclair Ferguson on a difficult doctrine: Total Depravity in Children

Elisha Raises the Shunammite woman’s Son: Frederic Leighton

Little Innocents?

The total depravity of our children is a faith-doctrine, a biblical insight. Our natural instinct is to think of new-born children as moral and spiritual tabulae rasae, clean sheets on which to write a successful life. Admittedly the page may soon be a little blotted (the occasional temper tantrum!), but the background is still basically white, surely? Not so, according to the Scriptures: the wicked go astray from the womb and speak lies from birth, insists the psalmist.

Here is a chart comparing Arminianism and Calvinism. I’ll excerpt the part about our sin-nature.

Arminianism Free Will or Human Ability says:

Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man’s freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man’s freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God’s Spirit and be regenerated or resist God’s grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit’s assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man’s act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner’s gift to God; it is man’s contribution to salvation.

Calvinism: Total Inability or Total Depravity says:

Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not — indeed he cannot — choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ — it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation— it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.

Jan Sluijters (1881-1957), Elisha and the son of the
Shunammite woman, 1904

Total depravity does not mean that all humans are all as bad as they could be. Not everyone is a Hitler, is he? There are people who are nice and compassionate and do kind things. Then there’s the Hitlers and Stalins and Pol Pots of the world. No, total depravity means that sin has touched every part of our being, totally, and we are totally unable to do anything good for God. We are all criminals in God’s eyes and in His capacity as Judge He would be righteous if He sent all humans to hell upon their death. Even children.

So what happens to children who die, if they are completely depraved but are unable to consciously and maturely respond to the Gospel?

One of the complaints I receive about the Doctrines of Grace is that God would be horribly mean to send babies to hell when they do not have the mind to even be able to contemplate the Gospel and formulate a response to it, the basis of faith and the key to entry into the Kingdom. I agree, that would be hard to swallow. But God does not send babies or children to hell. He is just, and He is sovereign, and He has a plan.

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, John MacArthur was invited to the Larry King talk/interview show to try and help people make sense of the spiritual questions the event raised. In a subsequent sermon titled What Happens to Babies Who Die?, Dr MacArthur said this:

Some of you who tuned in to the Larry King Show a week ago Saturday will remember that Larry fired a question to me on the air that came out of nowhere. The question that reveals a nagging, troubling issue in the human heart. He asked me, “What about a two-year-old baby crushed at the bottom of the World Trade Center?”
I answered, “Instant heaven.”
He replied with another question. “Wasn’t a sinner?”
I again answered, “Instant heaven.”
That’s a compelling question, what about a baby crushed at the bottom of the Trade Center? What about any baby that dies? It’s an agonizing question. It’s a question that plagues Christians and non-Christians alike…what happens to babies that die?

In the essay, MacArthur shows from scripture that they go to heaven. Though they are sinners from the womb and though they have not hard or responded to the Gospel, God made a provision.

The Doctrines of Grace make me love Jesus all the more. He made a provision for the children and adults otherwise unable to cognitively understand their sin or the Gospel. God is love and His provision is demonstrates no better than the very moment an apple cheeked youngster’s laugh is stilled by death, when He receives them instantly to His arms.

Of Children:
The seed of every known sin is planted in their hearts. Robert Murray McCheyne

Of Jesus:
Never forget that there is more grace in Christ than there is sin in your heart and your child’s heart combined. Sinclair Ferguson

————————

Chewing up the meat and spitting out the bones- is that biblical?

Posted on May 9, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In the Discernment department, I hear people frequently say they realize that so and so teaches some things that are bad, but some things they teach are good, so they will just take the good and throw out the bad. They call this method of learning the word of God “Chewing up the meat and spitting out the bones.” But is this how teachers should be followed or how scripture should be learned? No.

In Matthew 7:15 we read,

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

It’s a scripture we are familiar with, maybe too overly familiar. Let’s dig down into it again with a fresh eye.

Matthew 7 is the third of three chapters that comprise the Sermon on the Mount, arguably the most important sermon in the entire bible. Jesus is warning, exhorting, and teaching. By Chapter 7, He focuses on judgment/wrath, the broad and narrow road, and judging/discernment. Jesus spends a good deal of time teaching about judging wisely with good discernment. It is here in verse 7 He mentions false prophets.

He opens with the word “Beware.” When a command like this appears, we perk up to an even greater degree than usual. It’s like the word “woe”, indicating the need for special attention to what is being said.

The word “beware” refers to our Lord telling us specifically to be wary of a false prophet. He says they will be numerous and they will be hard to spot. But what is particularly dangerous about false prophets of which we should be aware?

So “Beware” it says – now, that word alone ought to let you know they’re dangerous. “Beware.” Literally, in the Greek it means, hold your mind back from. Don’t ever expose your mind to the influence of a false prophet. Don’t pay attention to, give heed to, follow, notice, devote yourself, don’t even put your mind in his vicinity. They’re dangerous, they pervert the mind, they poison the soul. (source)

People’s Temple cult leader Jim Jones

Beware means warning, danger! It tells us that extreme caution is to be employed. The action we
should be taking is not to give any quarter to any part of a false teacher’s teachings. To “hold your mind back from” … that is an interesting phrase. We know the scriptures transform us by the renewing of our mind. The mind is the first battlefield. Not the heart. See the scripture in Romans, it dovetails nicely with Matthew 7:15

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

It once again illustrates that there is a severe dichotomy. Either/or. You are either being conformed to the world, OR you are being transformed by the renewal of the mind. There is no chewing meat AND bones and then spitting out bones. Your mind will either be conformed or not. It will be transformed or not. False teaching will poison your mind or not.

And secondly, the verse says we should seek that which is good. We should seek that which is acceptable. We should seek that which is perfect.

The Matthew 7:15 warning and the Romans verse say nothing about ingesting poison just so we can get to some nugget we believe is good. It says nothing about allowing poison into our mind just so we can strain out what we deem as bad. We in our pride think we can chew meat and spit bones even though we are told to seek what is good and acceptable and perfect by the One who is Good and Acceptable and Perfect? We are not to seek what is imperfect and full of bones! We are then choosing not to be careful. This is setting ourselves to be smarter than Jesus! WE are too smart for Jesus? Let it not be so!

You see, we see the results of what they [false teachers] do in 2 Peter 2:2, “Many people follow their pernicious ways.” (source)

Many will follow the false prophets. Do we think we are so strong that we will not be one of the many? Do we think we are so strong that we will be able to ingest poison and spit it out before it affects us?
The subtly of that false prophet can even singe your garment. MacArthur

The second reason, after pride, not to follow false prophets altogether and avoid chewing on meat to spit on bones, is destruction.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

If we believe we can withstand all the warnings about false prophets, be able to detect to the smallest degree what is good and acceptable and perfect in their teachings, and to in effect be smarter than Jesus and ignore His warnings, then we are proud. And pride sets us up for falling into destruction.

In Maine where I lived for many years, there are sea urchins in the intertidal zone. These marine animals have spikes. If you step on them, they hurt. Some are poisonous. What people say who claim they can “chew the meat” of a false teacher’s teachings, and “spit out the bones” is that they have confidence in walking on kelp-covered, slick rocks in bare feet with tide and current pushing them off, and be able to perfectly balance and make progress without slipping and stepping on one of the spines. Or swallowing a bone. Pride. No, eventually they will slip in due time and they will step on a spike and they will be destroyed by the poison the urchin holds for them.

A third and most important consideration is this: if a teacher has shown themselves false by their fruit, and by God-given discernment you’ve realized this, then nothing they offer will be meat. It may look like meat, just as their garment may look like a sheep’s. But that “meat” the prideful ones claim they can chew happily will have worms, e coli, and ground glass in it. For nothing a false teacher has to say is healthy. Nothing. It might sound good…you might think it is helpful, but it is not.

A false prophet has neither a divine commission nor a divine message. He neither speaks for God or from God. He stands in his own authority speaking his own message, and it is utterly false. (source)

Utterly. False.

In the above linked source, the example is given about the horrific and tragic events in 1978 in Jonestown Guyana, where 908 people drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid and died in the jungle. These people had followed Jim Jones into his cult. Jones, that false teacher, brought them in a long slow descent from Christianity to Jones personally claiming to be Jesus, and when he said so, killed themselves.

There was a man named Tim Stoen. As John MacArthur described,

Here was this fellow attending the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley and at People’s Temple at the same time. Raised in a G.A.R.B. background – a Fundamentalist, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring people – but exposing his mind to that instead of holding back his mind.

Jonestown, Guyana, Nov. 1978.
This mass suicide (304 were children) resulted in the greatest single loss of American
civilian life in a deliberate act until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Tim Stoen was married with a son, and the Stoens followed Jones from California to Guyana to the compound Jones had created. Eventually Grace Stoen left the cult and her husband, she defected. She battled for her son from the States. Tim left the cult year later. They battled for their son, hard, but the suicides occurred before they could get him out of the cult. John’s 6-year-old body was discovered in Jones’ cabin when the story broke.

Tim Stoen started out well. He had a large ministry in his church, he was regarded as an elder, was seen as mature and solid. However when Jones came to popularity, Stoen divided his mind. He ingested some bones with his meat. The bones will get you every time.

Stoen sadly discovered the hard way what happens when you do not hold your mind back from false teachers. He lost his marriage, his wife, and his son- all destroyed. He lost many years of valuable time he could have been working for the Lord- destroyed. He’d aided and abetted this cult leader in deceiving many- they were destroyed. Aside from the children, when the adults woke up, they were in hell.

False teaching destroys. Do not be so prideful that you think you can detect meat from bones, or even more foolishly believe that any part of a false teacher’s food is healthy for the body. It isn’t. Beware.

discern, judgment, prophecy, signs

“Discerning the Signs of the Times” by Pastor Phil Andrukaitis

Posted on May 7, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

A pastor-friend from Maine recently wrote this below, what was on his heart. I agree with it. It’s on my heart too.

In Hosea 5:12, the LORD promised to bring moth-like judgment upon Israel.

But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

Gill’s Exposition explains this long-slow kind of judgment.

Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth,…. Which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, secretly, without any noise, and gradually and slowly consumes them; but at last utterly, that they are of no use and profit: this may signify the various things which befell the ten tribes in the reigns of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah, which secretly and gradually weakened them

It is not hard to imagine the Lord employing the same kind of judgment on America and other nations as we deepen our apostasy and turn from Him.

Pastor Andrukaitis

The author of the piece below, Pastor Phil Andrukaitis, is senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, South Portland Maine. Please read the below and see if you agree also.

——————————–

“Discerning the Signs of the Times”

When hostile, threatened, religious leaders questioned Jesus about His identity and ministry, Jesus responded, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;’ and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” (Matthew 16:1-3).

I’m reminded of an earlier time during the initial reign of King David [1011 BC – 971 BC], when the men of Issachar, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, were identified as those “who had an understanding of the times…” (1st Chronicles 12:32).

Question: I wonder how many Christians understand the present times in which we live.

In my devotional reading this morning, my heart was moved by King Josiah’s response when the Book of the Law [God’s Word] had been found in the house of the LORD, while it was being restored by faithful servants.

Evidently, during his grandfather’s 55-year reign as king [Manasseh] and his father’s 2-year reign [Amon], the Book of the Law was lost because these two kings, like many kings before them, had served idols, seduced the nation to follow after other gods, and shed much innocent blood throughout the nation. However, when Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law, he brought it to the attention of King Josiah.

As the Book of the Law was read to King Josiah, the Scriptures says that Josiah’s heart was tender. In addition, Josiah humbled himself before the LORD when he heard what lay ahead for the nation – judgment and desolation because the nation had turned away from God Almighty and had forsaken His Word. And Josiah wept before God and he tore his clothes (2nd Kings 22:1-20). Judgment was on the doorstep of the nation. Judgment was certain. God had set the date.

Questions: First, how do we respond when the Word of God is read? Think about it. Are our hearts tender towards the Word? Do we humble ourselves before God? Do we weep and grieve over the sins in our lives, in our families, in our churches, in our nation? Do we desire spiritual and numerical growth for the body of Christ?

Second, I wonder how oblivious God’s people are towards the events unfolding in our world today. I am not an alarmist who is crying, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Rather, my cry is, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!”

Consider the sins of our nation for just a moment.

ABORTION: We have slaughtered nearly 55 million innocent infants in their mother’s wombs in the past 42 years, all for the sake of “protecting a woman’s choice.” This is a most damnable grievance before God. God is not going to turn away from the innocent cries of these infants. I praise God that these little ones who have been forsaken are in the presence of Jesus.

GBLT: We have cut loose the mooring lines that held this nation firm to the biblical, moral foundation by forsaking the Bible. The LORD God identifies these lifestyles an abomination in His eyes.

SELF: As sinners, we are prone to demote God in our lives and promote ourselves as “gods,” choosing to follow our sinful passions with a heart full of pride. Consequently, every imaginable sin flows out from our hearts and through our lives.

Listen, America is under God’s judgment. The Lord warned ancient Israel that if His people turn away from Him and forsake His Word, God would bring upon them the following curses (Deuteronomy 28): A state of confusion, diseases, natural calamities, rampant domestic violence, economic collapse, and evil rulers.

While these curses were specifically given to ancient Israel, principally speaking, our nation is experiencing the same type of judgments. Consider the evil rulers throughout our nation, the state of confusion and corruption within government, the growing unrest in our country, and the increasing disrespect for authority in our land.

I believe our nation is on the verge of a global economic collapse. I believe government is waiting for the right opportunity to impose martial law in our country. And I believe the church is on the threshold of her glorious hour, especially when God visits our nation with judgment. May the church of Jesus Christ do away with its stupid, petty fights and truly demonstrate that they are Christians, known by their love for one another and others.

I believe it is too late for America. However, it is not too late for individuals to return to the Lord. Confess your sins and your role in the moral collapse of our nation. Believe that Jesus died for you, paying your sin debt by being crucified on the cross. The Bible says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). Believe that Jesus rose from His grave, as this is God the Father’s proof that Jesus’ sacrifice was acceptable and that Jesus has conquered death, sin, and the grave. Moreover, the Lord is willing to forgive the humble, repentant sinner who comes to Jesus in faith. Go on, surrender your life to Him and know the forgiveness and peace that comes with knowing God through a personal relationship with Jesus.

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By Pastor Phl Andrukaitis, Pastor First Baptist Church South Portland, ME. Phil enjoys fishing and target shooting. His passion is making disciples. As a former Marine, his motto is “Honor, courage and commitment are ‘corps’ values that build character. Phil has been married to Sally for over thirty years.

(UPDATED) Here come the female prophetesses! Thanks a lot Henry Blackaby, Beth Moore, and continuationists

Posted on May 6, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Update at bottom.
—————————————
Thanks Henry Blackaby.

Thanks Beth Moore.

Thanks, satan.

/sarcasm.
Lifetime television Network has ordered a docu-series about female preachers. This from TV Insider.

Lifetime is looking for an “Amen” with its new woman-preacher-focused docu-series. Preach follows four Ohio “Prophetesses” as they tend to their respective flocks, healing wounds both physical and psychic.

Prayers are about to be answered with Lifetime’s all-new docu-series Preach, premiering Friday, June 5th, at 10pm ET/PT. Produced by CORE Media Group, the show follows four powerful female leaders who believe God has given them the ability to heal the sick, see the future and rid people of their addictions. Known as “Prophetesses,” these women speak as interpreters through whom the will of God is expressed. In order for their legacy to continue, they must enlist protégés and teach them how to carry on their gift. These “Queens of the Church” each have different styles and their own special way of delivering God’s message, but all are united in their love of the Lord.

The Prophetesses and protégés featured are:

Belinda Scott (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) – Belinda considers herself a Major Prophetess who has given council to politicians and celebrities across the country. She has the ability to predict child birth and specializes in blessing the wombs of barren women. Belinda’s protégé, Hadassah Elder, grew up Muslim so adjusting to new life as a Christian protégé will have its challenges.

Taketa Williams (Columbus, Ohio) – Taketa has been called the “Beyonce of the Preaching World” and touts a global following. She trains her protégé with a strict hand and isn’t afraid to drop someone if they don’t come up to her standards. Her protégé, Rebecca Hairston, is a single mother with three children.

Linda Roark (Trenton, Ohio) – Linda’s specialty is delivering people from the street and bringing them to God. Known as the “Blue-Eyed Soul Sister,” she has been told that she “looks white but preaches black,” and is admired in African-American churches for her ability to roar and get the room standing on their feet. Linda’s protege, Angel Pound, had a rough start in life. A former drug addict who has now turned her life around, she is still haunted by a past that threatens her chances of becoming a Prophetess.

Kelly Crews (Cleveland, Ohio) – Kelly is Belinda’s former protégé who is now building a ministry of her own. The only single Prophetess in the group, she has trouble finding a man who can handle her gift. Kelly’s protégé, Stacey Williams, is newly married and pregnant and struggles with making her prophetic training a priority.

Back to Blackaby. In October 1990, Henry Blackaby and Claude T. King published a book called “Experiencing God.”

Here is the blurb:

“Revised and expanded, this classic study guides readers to experience a relationship with God through which they come to know and do His will by learning to recognize when He is speaking.”

Blackaby had opened the door to Mysticism and it swept the conservative churches like wildfire. His book, and Blackaby’s influence through it, cannot be underestimated. Lifeway published this in 2013:

Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, the best-selling LifeWay resource first released in 1990, was written by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. Experiencing God has touched and changed millions of lives and thousands of churches around the world. The workbook has sold more than 7 million copies, is available in more than 45 languages and has been used in almost every denomination.

They are even making a film about the impact this book has had.

Gary Gilley reviewed Blackaby’s book in three parts, examining Blackaby’s misuse of scripture, his neo-Orthodoxy, and his mysticism. Experiencing God cannot to be consumed safely, brethren. Here is Gilley-

The appeal of Blackaby’s ideas is that we can experience a deeper reality of the presence and voice of God. Unfortunately, Blackaby does not derive most of his thoughts from Scripture. … Experiencing God is a book that is full of errors, biblically unsupportable assertions, incredible statements and story-theology (views based upon anecdotal accounts rather than upon Scripture).

Here are a few quotes about the emphasis Blackaby puts on experience over the Bible-

“Knowing God only comes through experience as he reveals Himself to me through my experiences with Him”.
“If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience”.
“If anything is clear from a reading of the Bible, this fact is clear: God speaks to His people…God does speak to His people, and you can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also.”

However the impact of this door Blackaby cracked open led, for example, to Beth Moore’s widening it with her prophesying. Just as Experiencing God was gaining traction, Beth Moore’s rise to popularity began. Moore began to say “I believe” more and more often, rather than “scripture says.” As time went on and she was not corrected for her own misuse of scripture, her neo-Orthodoxy, and her mysticism, she got bolder. Now Moore is flat-out prophesying, and her actions on stage or in church do not differ one bit from the ladies who are going to be featured in the upcoming docu-series. Except … Moore is accepted by conservative circles (as areBlackaby’s lessons on how to “listen to God”).

Why do I say thanks Blackaby, thanks Moore? Because they opened the door to this continuationism that even the most conservative, evangelical corners of the faith are now accepting. Because two credible teachers with bona-fide credentials and the Southern Baptist Convention behind them, prophesied, taught prophesying, and continue to demonstrate prophesying. They normalized it. They were early mystics infiltrating the most conservative quarters. Were they the only people prophesying in the 1990s? No, but they were the most credible. The thought was, ‘If it is OK for them to prophesy, receive direct revelation, if it’s a normal Christian thing, then it must be all right, notwithstanding the nutcases flopping around on the floor over there in Charismania-land.”

There are/were/will be three sets of spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit to the believers. One set are works kinds of gifts, the gifts of mercy and helps and administration, for example. Another set given are those involving words, such as preaching, teaching, and exhorting, for example. A third set were tongues, interpreting tongues, miracles, and prophesying. It is this third set that is under contention by continuationists vs. cessationists.

The group of people who say the SIGN gifts have ceased (and sign gifts only have ceased) do so based on the authority of scripture, explaining that these particular gifts were given to lay a foundation of the church through the apostles. Those gifts given were not in and of themselves for the body of believers for all time, but to authenticate the apostles’ authority in having been sent by God. Even as the apostles were dying out, and the New Testament progressed, the “sign” gifts were ending. This was all explained in detail in the Strange Fire Conference held at Grace Community Church in fall of 2013.

Continuationists believe that the sign gifts have continued unabated since the first century church. They believe they are the same in quality and quantity as occurred when Peter raised his mother-in-law to life or when Paul healed the sick. And that they are going on now.

One of the charges that continuationists make is that the kind of prophesying Moore does is in line with the Bible, but that the kind of prophesying (and healing and tongues) that a Benny Hinn type does is not. That when a statement is made like Blackaby offers (“God told me”), it’s simply one of a long line of continuing statements Jesus is continuing to make personally to those whom He chooses, but when a prophetess from Ohio lays hands and ‘heals’ a barren womb, it’s not.

The only problem is, the barn door is either open or closed. Once you open the door to the notion that God is continuing to speak, you open the door to ALL of it. As Phil Johnson said, there is no safe zone regarding extra-biblical activity. All those who accepted Blackaby and Moore’ sign giftings must now look in the mirror and see these 4 prophetesses and all their kind…and answer to scripture for “providing cover for aberrant people and movements in some of the most problematic districts of the charismatic community”.

The continuationist- cessationist discussion aside, one would think it wold be obvious that the 4 prophetesses documented in the upcoming series are easily seen to be false. I used to think that it’d be obvious that a devotional claiming to be written in 1st person Jesus is false too, but Jesus Calling has been on the best seller list for ten years, so I take nothing for granted anymore in the discernment department.

So here it is: the women featured on the Preach docu-series ARE FALSE and in no way represent CHRISTIANITY. They are wolves come to get your money and destroy your faith. A side benefit for satan is that they tarnish the Christian faith altogether.

How can I say that? The Bible says women are not to preach.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12)

In listening to Alistair Begg last weekend he mentioned about the false teachers and prophets. This verse,

Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. (Titus 1:11)

The phrase their mouths must be stopped is actually referring to a muzzle, like one puts on a dog, because false teachers are dogs and worse.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

mouths … stopped—literally, “muzzled,” “bridled” as an unruly beast (compare Ps 32:9).
subvert … houses—”overthrowing” their “faith” (2Ti 2:18). “They are the devil’s levers by which he subverts the houses of God”

This is where unchecked mysticism gets us. The rampant Charismania won’t stop with these four women, it didn’t stop with Blackaby and Moore, after all. It will go on and get worse and worse.

Lord, please stop Belinda Scott’s, Taketa Williams’, Linda Roark’s, and Kelly Crews’ mouths.

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UPDATE

Between prayer and civic activism, it seems that Lifetime has canceled the show.

Controversial Lifetime Show ‘Preach’ Canceled After 15,000 People Sign Petition; Prophetess Reacts

Tachina Carter posted a petition on change.org. She said:

“The IMAGERY on this show is a TRAVESTY to the Christian Community. The women aka prophetesses are making a MOCKERY of the church and promoting foolish behavior that is not necessarily a true representation of the REAL power of God,” noted Carter’s petition. “Cameras do NOT belong in the church filming the ‘spiritual’ things that society as a whole does not understand. By airing this show it will cause more harm than good to the Christian community who already has a difficult time in sharing ‘The Good News’ of Jesus Christ to the masses.”

“Prophetess” Belinda Scott reacts:

“… I watch hateful people who say they love the Lord, type like that FROG typing at that machine. …TURN UP ON ‪#‎PREACHTV‬! A show that is not mocking the church, but exploring the lives of believers in the Church and hear me out first,” Scott wrote. “The word reality is this: the state of being real, a real event or state of affairs, One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual. Now, do I hear from God? YES, did He call me to be a PROPHETESS. YES, have I and Do I hear God’s voice concerning events, people and issues? YES! Did I see these attacks against us coming? YES! Is there a harvest on the way? YES!!!”

Yes there is a harvest. It will be very dire, bloody, and heartbreaking for the false prophets. And false prophetesses. Titus 1:10-11,

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.

go in and com out, I am the door, threshing floor, winepress

Jesus is the Door, part 2: they will go in and come out

Posted on May 5, 2015May 17, 2026 by elizabethprata

I am still meditating on Jesus as the Door. It is a beautiful statement.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary says:

Many who hear the word of Christ, do not understand it, because they will not. But we shall find one scripture expounding another, and the blessed Spirit making known the blessed Jesus. Christ is the Door. And what greater security has the church of God than that the Lord Jesus is between it and all its enemies? He is a door open for passage and communication. Here are plain directions how to come into the fold; we must come in by Jesus Christ as the Door. By faith in him as the great Mediator between God and man.

What does ‘go in and come out’ mean? Is it that we will go in and come out of salvation? Not so! Our salvation is eternally secure.

Romans 8:28-30- We find in those verses that everyone who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ, without exception, will be glorified. (MacArthur: Is Your Salvation Secure?)

So what can coming and going mean?

Pulpit Commentary:

“Go in and out” is a phrase frequently used “to denote the free use of an abode by one who is at home in the house” (Deuteronomy 28:6; Deuteronomy 31:2; Acts 1:21). The believer who enters into fellowship with God, and is “saved,” does not “go in and out” of that state, but can as a child share by turns the Divine repose of the home.

In listening to Steve Lawson preach on the verse, going in and out also means being able to freely conduct activities in the wider sphere of the community. People can go to the marketplace and do business (1 Corinthians 10:25, Acts 16:19), travel, thresh, and plant, to name a few examples. We remember how Gideon was so afraid of the constantly marauding Midianites that he threshed inside the winepress.

A threshing floor at a high place

The threshing-floors—open circular places in the fields where the corn was trodden out by oxen—would naturally be the first places where an invading enemy would come to forage, as in 1 Samuel 23:1, says Ellicott’s Commentary.

When threshing, the wheat is thrown high in the air and the wind blows away the chaff and the kernels fall to the ground. This would have been a wonderful sign, akin to a smoke signal, to the armies coming to forage.

Threshing activity in the fields would have been a dead giveaway to the
advance party of any enemy army

Gideon was fearful of going in and out, so he chose to thresh in the winepress. Winepresses were sunk into the ground and walled by stone. There would have been no wind to blow the chaff and the confined space would have made threshing very difficult. This is one example of the hardship of those who cannot go in and come out.

winepresses were not suitable for threshing, but Gideon felt so afraid
he could not go in and come out safely.

Mr Lawson preached this verse just a few days after the Boston Marathon bombings. He said that the entire city was on lockdown. People were simply not allowed on the streets. Not a car, not a person could be found. Police presence was everywhere. The citizens could not go in and come out. It as the same during the recent Baltimore City riots. There was a city-wide curfew and after that hour no one was allowed on thee streets.

who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:17)

Imagine when the promise in John 10 is fulfilled! For both Israel and the Church, we will be in perfect safety. No persecution, no attacks, no armies. Just peace in green pastures and rest! We will go in and come out, and all because JESUS made it secure, forever.

discernment

"It Matters Who We Share, Pin, and Re-Tweet"

Posted on May 5, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Please check out Michelle Lesley! What I have read so far is sterling stupendous. Here is a taste.

When I see friends posting and re-posting quotes from false teachers, I go into fits of agony. In this essay, she writes about how important it is to be mindful and careful of who we re-post, re-tweet, and otherwise promote on social media. It matters, for five reasons.

It Matters Who We Share, Pin, and Re-Tweet

Scroll…scroll…wince…

Scroll…scroll…wince…

I find myself wincing a bit when I see people –who I know genuinely love Jesus—sharing, pinning, and re-tweeting quotes from false teachers such as Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, and Christine Caine, just to name a few. Why? What’s wrong with the encouraging, even biblical, at times, things these people say? … But, still, the quotes we share and the people who said them matter. Why?

In this post, we learn 7 Godly Responses When Someone Says You’re Following a False Teacher

Or this-

Five Reasons It’s Time to Start Exercising “Moore” Discernment

I’m a sucker for lists.

Jeff Maples at Psalm 12 Outreach posted an excellent essay titled The rise of the feminine Church of Eden. I’ve written about the “Christian Feminists” before, notably in a three-part essay. I’d compared what these women say to what they do, and to scripture and despite their protestations and Christianese language, they are living a very feminist life. However, Mr Maples takes it from a different perspective, a man’s. He urges husbands to step up and provide the obviously missing oversight to their wives so they would not be taken in by false doctrines these feminist teachers and preachers promote. It is a very good article.

The End Time: How the Christian secret feminists are reforming the definition of biblical womanhood. Part 1

No Compromise Radio: Where is Beth Moore’s Husband?

good shepherd, I am the door, sheep, shepherd, the worthless shepherd

Jesus as Shepherd, and I AM the Door

Posted on May 4, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Shed door, inside are sheep! EPrata photo

To plumb the Bible’s depths is such a treasure and a pleasure. It never ends. I’ve been studying about the Shepherd and one of His I AM statements, “I AM the door”.

The Bible mentions shepherds and shepherding over 200 times. Jesus uses the metaphor of the Shepherd often, and said here in arguably the most famous statement,

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

Did you ever notice there were a lot of shepherds in the bible? There were even the unnamed shepherds watching their flocks by night, the first recipients of the Good News.

Numerous biblical characters are associated with the occupation of shepherding: Abel (Gen. 4:2), Abraham (Gen. 13:7), Isaac (Gen. 26:20), Jacob and his sons (especially Joseph, Gen. 30:36; 46:32), Laban (and his daughter Rachel, Gen. 29:9), Moses (Exod 3:1), and David (1 Sam. 16:11). Source Holman treasury of key Bible words, Carpenter, E. E.

Shepherds’ work was never ending, lonely, and dangerous. They had few tools, the rod as a crook to extracting sheep from difficulty and the staff or club for fending off wild animals; (1Samuel 17:34-37). We know David also had a slingshot. Shepherds also had pouch for food and used their wrap as a cloak and also a blanket.

There was not a lot of grass so shepherds had to move the flock often. Sheep are followers. If one sheep walks over a cliff the rest will follow. They don’t defend themselves against prey, they simply huddle up and then there’s a slaughter. They are scared of moving water and will only drink from still water, (“He maketh me lie down near still waters”) but if they fall into moving water they will drown.

EPrata photo

When night-time came the shepherd had two options. Using one of his tools, the rod, he could lead the sheep (never drive them) into a sheepfold in the field. (Luke 2:8) This was simply a crudely made rock enclosure, usually a circle, so-high and topped with thorns to prevent prey or robbers scaling it to get in (John 10:1).

The shepherd brought the sheep to the fold one by one. He’d let down his rod to bar it from coming in, and he would inspect the sheep from head to toe. He was looking for injuries, disease, or anything that might need attention. The lanolin, a waxy substance the sheep excrete to keep their wool dry, often hid cysts or cuts, so he had to closely inspect each sheep before lifting up his rod to allow them entry.

Just as the lost are closely examined at the Great White Throne Judgment as seen in Revelation 20:11-15. The saved are allowed in but we are still inspected. (Romans 14:10-12, 2 Corinthians 5:10)

The shepherd also counted the sheep as they went in, to see if any were still out there, or for tithing purposes. (Matthew 18:12; Jer. 33:13).

I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. (Ezekiel 20:37)

And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. (Leviticus 27:32)

The sheepfold had no door. The shepherd placed his rod and staff across the opening and bedded down at the threshold, becoming the door.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)

I’ll discuss the going in and out in another blog essay. The other option was to lead the sheep to a community sheepfold or a privately owned sheepfold in town. (Zephaniah 2:6). Sometimes the shepherd would make use of his lean-to or another enclosure in town, going through the same process with the rod as each sheep entered. This time, the shepherd would have hired a hireling to watch the sheep at night, and he’d go to his own bed until morning. Sometimes hirelings were not worthy and ran away. (John 10:13)

EPrata photo. Actual sheepfold door, with wheelbarrow

In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord (Jeremiah 33:13)

He is the Good Shepherd. He is the door, where inside the sheep are counted, examined, protected, loved, and cared for.

earthquakes, michigan earthquake, prophecy, volcanoes

Rare quake shakes Michigan, "strongest ever". Other earth updates

Posted on May 2, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

What Was That Rumble? Officials Confirm 4.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Michigan
May 2, 2015 12:42 PM

Source

KALAMAZOO (WWJ) – If you thought you felt an earthquake on Saturday — you did. And It was one of the strongest quakes ever experienced in Michigan. Officials with the United States Geological Survey said an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 and a depth of focus of 5.9 km was measured around 12:23 p.m. about nine miles southeast of Kalamazoo. Multiple residents in several different regions beyond Kalamazoo — from Mount Pleasant and Sterling Heights to Lansing and even as far as Cleveland, Ohio — reported feeling a rumble and the ground shake for between five and 10 seconds. No damage or injuries have been reported. The strongest earthquake in Michigan history was a 4.6 magnitude in nearly the exact same location in August 1947.

History of earthquakes in Michigan
The U.S. Geological Survey says the earliest record of earthquake tremors in Michigan came from a series of shocks in Missouri about 1811.

In 2010 a large earth crack appeared in Upper Michigan.
One day the land was flat and filled with trees shooting straight into the air. Twenty-four hours later there’s a 600-foot-long crack, 4-feet deep twisting its way through the woods – and those vertical trees are now pointed 30 degrees left and right where the earth has mounded 15 feet high. No, it’s not a disaster movie; it’s what happened Monday at the home of Eileen Heider on Bay de Noc Road in Birch Creek. Heider was sitting in her recliner watching TV at about 8:30 that morning. “The chair shook for a few seconds and I thought the spring in the chair went,” she said. … The next day Heider’s friend, Doug Salewski, found a hole in the ground and a 200-yard crevasse a short ways away which wasn’t there before. Heider went to investigate and said the crack was three-feet wide and about five-feet deep in spots.

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Steve Herman, reporter for Voice of America, Asia, reports, USGS: M6.1 #quake SE of #Japan (Too small to trigger significant tsunami).

LONDON: An earth tremor of magnitude 5.7 struck 185km south-southeast of Japan’s Izu islands on Saturday (May 2), the United States Geological Survey said. The USGS at first put the quake at 6.1, but later revised it to a weaker reading. The tremor was at a shallow depth of 10km.

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Underwater Volcano May Be Erupting Off Oregon
An underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon has risen from its slumber and may be spewing out lava about a mile beneath the sea. Researchers were alerted to the possible submarine eruption of the Axial Seamount, located about 300 miles (480 kilometers) off the West Coast, by large changes in the seafloor elevation and an increase in the number of tiny earthquakes on April 24. Geologists Bill Chadwick, of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University, and Scott Nooner, of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, successfully forecast the eruption in a blog post in September 2014.

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You might remember the Japan 9.0 Quake of 2011 shifted the earth off its axis, shortened the day and moved the island 8 feet. Is anything too hard for the LORD? (Jeremiah 32:27).

Nepal Earthquake Shrank Mount Everest, Lifted Areas Near Kathmandu 3 Feet
Nepal’s massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake transformed the land the was shaken by the natural disaster, pushing areas near the city of Kathmandu higher in elevation and making Mount Everest slightly shorter. It won’t be enough to unseat Everest as the world’s tallest peak, but according to studies performed after last weekend’s temblor, the mountain is now an inch shorter than before the quake. On the other hand, some locations just outside Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu were lifted 3 feet higher than before the tragic event, the study also found.

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Lava lake on Hawaii’s volcano overflows in spectacular show
HONOLULU (AP) — A lake of lava on Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been rising over the past week and, at times, overflowing in a spectacular show. Video posted online by visitors shows lava splashing over the side of the vent rim. Janet Babb, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said Thursday that this is the first time lava from this vent has come into view from a public platform within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii’s Big Island. “It’s always been out of view for visitors who were in the park public viewing areas,” she said. But this past week, because of lava is rising inside the volcano, the lava lake rose high enough that it was visible, she said. The last time molten lava was visible in the crater was in 1982 when a fissure erupted. The last time there was a lake was in 1974.

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Chile’s Calbuco Volcano erupts for third time in 8 days

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Bulusan volcano erupts
Mount Bulusan in the province of Sorsogon erupted on Friday morning, causing an explosion of steam and ash that lasted five minutes followed by 40 volcanic quakes, government seismologists said. While the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) did not raise the alert level at the volcano, it warned the public against venturing into Mount Bulusan’s four-kilometer permanent danger zone because of possibility of sudden explosion. Ed Laguerta, Phivolcs resident volcanologist, told The Manila Times that the explosion scattered ash in Puting Sapa and Sangayon villages of Juban town and in Cogon, Gulang-Gulang and Tinampo villages of Irosin town. “This is just a minor explosion [that] coincided with Labor Day celebrations. We’re closely monitoring the [volcanic] activity if it will escalate in the coming days,” he said.

Around 10:30 a.m., when the crater became visible, dirty-white steam was seen coming out of it. Phivolcs seismologists said Mount Bulusan, one of the most active volcanoes in the country, exploded at 8:09 a.m. The volcano has erupted 15 times since 1885 and is considered as the 4th most active volcano in the Philippines after Mayon, Taal and Kanlaon. Bulusan last erupted in 2011.