Posted in billy graham, discernment, false teacher

Why does the world love Billy Graham?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Gallup: Billy Graham Among 10 Most Admired Men in World–for 58th Time

Ninety-six-year-old pastor Billy Graham, arguably the most influential Christian preacher of the last 60 years, was ranked No. 4 in Gallup’s Most Admired Man List for 2014, the survey group reported, adding that Billy Graham has been in its top ten list 58 times between 1946 and 2014, the most appearances of any man in the world since Gallup started the survey.

What comes to mind when I read this are several things.

1. He is not a Christian, that’s why the world loves him. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own;but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

2. The mark of popularity is a curse and a warning. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)

“Woe unto you; that is, it would be a bad sign that you were not faithful to your trust, and to the souls of men, if you preached so as that nobody would be disgusted; for your business is to tell people of their faults, and, if you do that as you ought, you will get that ill will which never speaks well.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume

3. Lauding a man as Christian who denies the exclusivity of Christ as sole entry to heaven, exalts Mary beyond her place, partners with Catholics, sends seekers to counselors of false religions, fails to preach the whole counsel of God, and gives credence to evolution, brings to mind Hosea 4:6, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.“

Though this isn’t in the bible, I thought of the old saying from poet Thomas Gray: “all that glitters is not gold”.

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Further Reading

Exposing the False Teachers: Galatians 5 exegesis & commentary

In his exposure of these false teachers, Paul gives us six identifying marks that can guide us to discern the presence of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” in our midst today

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Posted in Amanda Bible Williams, Ann Voskamp, discernment, IF:Gathering, liberal, Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth, social justice

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 4: Women teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is part three of a four-part series. I’m examining the website, teachings, and women of “She Reads Truth” in 2 parts (What They Say, and What They Do). Part 3 (this part) looks at the conference known as the “IF:Gathering” in which many of the She Reads Truth women are involved. In part 4 I will discuss women teachers in general from a biblical perspective, and provide a list of solid teachers (men and women) of the Word.

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 3, (the IF:Gathering)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 4 (Women Teachers)

I like being in a discernment ministry. How could I not? One of the Spiritual Gifts is Discerning of spirits. (1 Corinthians 12:10). If the Spirit sees fit to distribute gifts as He chooses and He chose this gift for me, to hate it would be rebellion. I do not want to suffer from gift envy and secretly covet another’s gift. I also do not want to suffer from the sin of gift projection, where just because discernment comes easily to me I think everybody should be discerning. There are people in my church with the gift of hospitality and I sure wouldn’t want them to project their gift onto me by secretly berating me because I am not hospitable enough. See this article by Tim Challies FMI on gift envy and gift projection.

What is discerning of spirits? GotQuestions answers that question. Here is an excerpt:

There are certain individuals, however, who have the God-given ability to distinguish between the truth of the Scriptures and erroneous and deceptive doctrines propagated by demons. Although we are all exhorted to be spiritually discerning (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1), some in the body of Christ have been given the unique ability to “spot” the forgeries in doctrine that have plagued the church since the first century. But this does not involve a mystical, extra-biblical revelation or a voice from God. Rather, the spiritually discerning among us are so familiar with the Word of God that they instantly recognize what is contrary to it. They do not receive special messages from God; they use the Word of God to “test the spirits” to see which line up with God and which are in opposition to Him. The spiritually discerning are those who “rightly divide” (2 Timothy 2:15) the Word of God in a thoughtful and diligent manner.

Discernment comes easily to me because the Spirit made it that way. It is HIS intelligence and enabling, not mine.

There is a current backlash against discernment ministries. Some of it it is warranted. Some of it is not. It’s de rigueur to pooh-pooh discernment people as negative cranks that the more spiritual folk have to put up with. (“We love you anyway.”) The clamor comes especially from the love-only emergent crowd but it also exists in the conservative crowd. (BTW, I am not speaking from experience in my current church. I am speaking in generalities of what I see in the wider picture.)

To be sure, I use the gift He has given me firstly in the body of Christ, in my local church, where I warn, admonish, encourage, and exhort. That is the point of gifts, to edify in the local body. (1 Corinthians 14:12). One of the warranted criticisms of discernment ministries comes where people become armchair Christian quarterbacks from home and are not in a local church.

An unwarranted criticism of discernment ministries is their openness, online. Some say that all that negativity should be kept quiet, to stay within the walls of a local church, and not name names so distastefully publicly. As mentioned in the series part 3, satan sure is using technology for HIS purposes. We should be using ours also wherever the battle is, given time and priorities. Because we live in such a technological age, in addition to using His gift at church among the people with whom I’ve covenanted, I also use the gift He has given me online.

If you want to see a manifestation of the Spirit, employ the gifts. (1 Corinthians 14:12). It’s as simple as that. No one gift is better than another. No gift is worse than another. We are all in a body.

However another warranted criticism of discernment ministries is that many of them cry wolf at every leaf blowing in the breeze, like an undiscerning puppy chasing after both the withered leaf blowing by and the burglar at the door. It takes maturity and patience to discern. It also takes a great deal of watching, observing, noticing trends and movements. It’s not easy.

Last, another warranted criticism of discernment ministries is that some only point out problems and do not offer solutions or encouragement. It is very easy having been given a jaundiced eye as it were, to sink into a ‘woe woe woe’ mentality. Easy. It takes work and prayer to stay balanced. Vigilance. We all have to stay vigilant for one thing or another, and in discernment ministries a balance should be given with some encouragement once in a while and some solution-offering more than once in a while.

That is what this essay is about. I’ve pointed out the theological problems in the movement the She Reads Truth ladies are fomenting, and the dangers in the IF:Gathering. The ladies involved in both those endeavors are not worth your time.

So who is? Where are the good teachers? If the She Reads Truth women are not profitable, who IS profitable? Where can a woman turn to be connected up with good female teachers? That’s what I’ll offer you in this essay. I do not want to leave you hanging!

In discussing this matter, dear Sisters, I want to suggest something…you don’t HAVE to have a woman teacher. I know, I know, many women say they enjoy being taught by a woman because they have the same outlook, needs, priorities. Moms like moms. But Christianity isn’t always segregated. Yes, there are Titus 2 older women teaching the younger, but not everyone is a mom. Not everyone is the same age or place in the life continuum.

We’re not learning the scriptures through our gender because the Word transcends gender. The man teaching you spiritual truths isn’t teaching the men different spiritual truths. Truth is truth.

I understand that the bible suggests that women teach women. I know that the bible forbids women teaching men, so if you’re more comfortable with a female teacher, then by the grace of Christian liberty, that is fine! But I wanted to let you know you can consider a male teacher, your teacher doesn’t have to be a woman.

One piece of advice, be very wary of any book study or blurb that touts the study or book is fresh. Fresh is usually just code for unbiblical. Why? An author who thinks they are seeing the bible’s doctrines in a fresh way just means that he thinks everyone else saw it wrong and he is just now discovering the true meaning. Not so. The bible is always fresh.

  • Be wary of books that promote social justice or authors who seek it.
  • Beware of books that use the word reconciliation, because that word is often used in a different way than the biblical way.
  • Be wary if the author or a blurb reviewer is proud that the book or study will appeal to all denominations– this often a code meaning “Catholics, too” or “Mormons, too.” It’s implicit that a Protestant book will appeal to all denominations, because we’re all on the same side. If it appeals to “all denominations” they’re saying it will contain doctrines or concepts appealing to people who are not Protestant and who aren’t really a denomination.
  • Beware of authors who use the word unity. As Dr. Ron Bigalke explains, The emphasis in Emerging Churches is upon mystical and sensual worship experiences that foster unity, as opposed to doctrinal truth that divides. It’s popular nowadays to seek ‘unity’ with the Roman Catholic Church, but this is a false unity that will result in the final unification of all peoples under the Antichrist and the False Prophet’s false religion during the Tribulation. The Reformation, which was a split off from the stranglehold the RCC had on the people, is in full force now swinging back the other way. Beware.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Book reviewers~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where can you find good information about the new book for women that all the moms are talking about? How can you get a glimpse or a clue as to whether a new devotional is any good, before spending money to purchase it? Bestseller lists? Reviews?

However even the bestseller lists and Book Reviews can be manipulated, skewed toward a positive review through money, deceit, and cunning, as we learned from Mark Driscoll and the debacle with ResultSource, which artificially propelled his book Real Marriage up the charts with good reviews. Here are two trustworthy Christian Book reviewer sites I recommend-

The Discerning Reader

About Us: Discerning Reader is a site dedicated to promoting good books–books that bring honor to God. At the same time, we hope to help Christians avoid being unduly influenced by books and teachers that are not honoring to God. We do not seek to be harsh or judgmental. Rather, we seek only to be discerning as we compare books to the written Word of God. We let the words of authors speak for themselves and simply hold the books up to the light of Scripture. In doing so, we are building a database of reviews which we feel cast a discerning light on the books that are found in Christians homes, churches and bookstores.

The people on the reviewing team are listed here

They have NOT recommended Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven, or Beth Moore’s Get Out of That Pit. They DO recommend John MacArthur and Susan Heck. They offer reading lists and author interviews. Bookmark the site!

Tim Challies

Another trustworthy Christian book reviewer is Tim Challies is pastor, book reviewer and husband. He is a prodigious blogger and reviewer, so there’s a lot he has covered over the last ten years. He has a section on women and here is his page on recommended reads for women.

He said,

Because I am a husband, I try to read at least the occasional book that is meant to encourage or equip my wife. Here are some of the best of the books I’ve read for women.

Challies said, “One popular book for women I do not recommend is Created To Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl.” You can find his review of that book on his site, too.

If you like the books or studies by any of the recommended women at Discerning Reader or at Challies’ site, then expand your search to look for more material from the same women.  Once you’ve found a trustworthy author, keep widening the circle to find more of her works. Search to see who she learns from or attaches to. We all know that the Victoria Osteen-Beth Moore-Joyce Meyer partnerships are not good, or that Moore mentoring Christine Caine and Caine mentoring the women at She Reads Truth/IF:Gathering are not good partnerships. Like attracts like. Bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 22:24-25). This works in reverse too. Good attracts good. While associations and partnerships alone are not an indicator of doctrinal trusworthiness, they do say a lot about a teacher.

Paul is telling us that in associating with false teachers, we will be adversely influenced by them. The truth is that false teachings do not lead to holiness. As such, it is critical that we are careful whom we form relationships with, especially those outside the church because unbelievers can cause even the strongest Christians to waver in their faith and adversely affect their walk with Christ and their witness to the world. This is why Paul tells us, “Do not be misled.”  (Source)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Women’s Ministries to trust~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


 Every Woman’s Grace

John MacArthur’s church and his Master’s Seminary are edifying many good men and women. At his Grace Community Church there is a huge women’s ministry called Every Woman’s Grace. The Sunday School lessons are broadcast and the curriculum outlines are online.

Judy Lunenbrink is one of the GCC Sunday School teachers who I like. But any of them would be a good start. We are still Bereans and checking the scriptures, but you know if a teacher has come from the environment of GCC or The Master’s Seminary they bring with them a great deal of credibility because they have been educated on a solid foundation.

Here is the page for some of the current sermons by women to women in the teaching ministry at GCC.

The current teaching is “The Secret of Contentment.”

Below you will find all the text associated with the women’s ministry at GCC, a ministry titled Every Woman’s Grace. You’ll have to search a little to find the video sermons/teachings that match up with these curricula & outlines, but you can search by teacher so that makes it a bit easier. There really is a lot at GCC for women, by women.

All current files and documents available from Every Woman’s Grace.

GCC has a Recommended Reading page too. Some of these books are written by men, others are written by women.

At GCC you can go through a lesson each week by watching the video online. Most of the lessons are an hour long. For many moms or working singles/widows that is too long of a stretch of time to sit at one go. You can always watch for 15 minutes and then journal about it for a few minutes, and then resume the next day. In this way you have created a good devotional for yourself each day and then when the next Sunday rolls around you will be ready for the next lesson from the women at Grace Community Church.

At MacArthur’s website, gty.org, there are many studies, small group curricula, workbooks, that are either free or a nominal charge. Please do take a look at the educational materials available to you there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Individual Women to trust~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michelle Lesley: If you’d like to know more about me, personally, click on the “Bio” tab at the top of this page. If you’d like an in depth look at what I believe, doctrinally, click on the “Statement of Faith” tab.

Jen Wilkin:

Pastor Challies recommends Jen Wilkin. Her book, Women of the Word has a purpose to “teach you not merely a doctrine, concept, or story line, but a study method that will allow you to open up the Bible on your own. It intends to challenge you to think and to grow, using tools accessible to all of us, whether we hold a high school diploma or a seminary degree, whether we have minutes or hours to give to it each day.”

Wilkin’s book introduces a five-part method to bring about biblical literacy. Please read the review at the link above and consider Ms Wilkin’s book.

Elizabeth George: She writes bible studies for women with her husband Jim, and her intended audience is women who want to grow in feminine Godliness. The Discerning Reader reviewed her books positively. A notable series is her “A Woman After God’s Own Heart.”.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss. The Discerning Reader reviewed her book, “Choosing Gratitude” positively with a green light recommendation. Reviewer Leslie Wiggins wrote,

In Choosing Gratitude, DeMoss elevates gratitude to the status of spiritual discipline. She is convinced that Christians ought to be most the expressive people when it comes to gratitude.

After the panentheist-romantic unbiblical treacle that Ann Voskamp presented in her gratitude book, A Thousand Gifts, DeMoss’ book is a welcome alternative. Wiggins further wrote,

DeMoss does not want this to be another good book that we forget about as soon as we’re done reading it. Therefore, she provides a 30-Day Devotional Guide to help us begin practicing gratitude. Each reading includes a scripture passage, a meditation that further discusses the content of the book, and practical exercises to help us become more thankful people.

Elisabeth Elliot. I mentioned her in a previously unconnected blog essay. She was the wife of Jim Elliot. Her talk to women given some years ago, which is available on Youtube, “Under the Shadow of the Almighty, about Psalm 91:1, is one of the best talks I’ve ever heard aimed as missionary women.

Jim and Elisabeth Elliot were on mission in Ecuador in the 1950s and Jim was killed by the Auca Indians. Their mission and the men’s death (four others were killed that day also) was made into a movie, “The End of the Spear”. Elisabeth wrote about it from her perspective, in the autobiographical book “Through the Gates of Splendor, along with 20 other books she has written.

From the website linked on her name: “Good news on Elisabeth’s past radio programs! On April 14, 2014, BBN (Bible Broadcasting Network) began re-broadcasting Gateway to Joy, Monday through Friday at 11:15am on BBN radio. A listing of their stations across the US can be found on their website, and if you are out of range for that network, don’t fret – daily broadcasts are available on demand here, so you can choose your own hour.”

Kay Arthur Precepts for Life, programs, lessons, etc. are studies that teach you the bible but also teach you how to study the bible. Mrs Arthur has been around for years and decades, so that means she has a wealth of studies to enjoy! I’ve taken three of Kay Arthur’s studies myself. Yes I am aware that her ‘About Us’ page says her studies are appealing to ‘all denominations’. In her case that is not code for “Catholics too”. As a matter of fact I read on several forums that Catholics take umbrage at her sola scriptura approach. This is to Mrs Arthur’s credit. The ‘all denominations’ mantra is not a maxim but simply something to watch for, particularly when younger women say it.

UPDATE 8/2015: Naomi’s Table with Phil Johnson have assessed Mrs Arthur’s current studies and associations. I have taken Mrs Arthur’s studies in the past and I still believe her early studies are good. Pastor Phil Johnson said her early studies were based on a lot of John MacArthur’s material, so that is why. However her current associations and approaches to bible study are less than solid, hence my warning above to watch her carefully. I agree with this assessment from the women at Naomis’ Table, and it appears that her beginning slide has accelerated. This essay is therefore important to read. “The Question of Recommending Kay Arthur”

Martha Peace The page has free online resources such as Audio Teaching Sessions, Video Teaching Sessions, Counseling the Hard Cases, Downloadable Bible Studies, Salvation Worksheets, Sanctification Bible Study, Put Off/Put On Bible Study etc. Her book The Excellent Wife was recommended by The Discerning Reader.

Susan Heck With The Master. She is a biblical counselor, has resources available and studies (for purchase) and also is on the radio to listen for free. More at her page.

Erin Benziger writes at Do Not Be Surprised, which is a great resource in itself, and has begun a new endeavor called Equipping Eve. Benziger wrote, “Welcome to the website of Equipping Eve, a ministry for ladies who love the Lord. From the twice-monthly radio show, to the original articles that will be posted, to the resources that will be provided, Equipping Eve exists to equip women with “fruits of truth” from God’s Word so that they will be prepared to stand strong in an age that is ripe with deception.”

At Equipping Eve you will find articles addressing the topics of sola scriptura (God did NOT ‘tell’ you), doctrine, the role of women in the church, Roman Catholicism, and more. There are twice-monthly 30-minute radio programs archived, and other resources. Free.

Aimee Byrd is Housewife Theologian, blogger, author, book reviewer and part of a triumvirate along with Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt at the radio show Mortification of Spin. She wrote the book Housewife Theologian: How the Gospel Interrupts the Ordinary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Other~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible, and What He Wants to Do with You By John MacArthur

Readers will be challenged and motivated by the book Twelve Extraordinary Women, a poignant and personal look into the lives of some of the Bible’s most faithful women. Their struggles and temptations are the same trials faced by all believers at all ages

Twelve Extraordinary Women Workbook.
Perfect for group or individual study, this workbook includes:

  • Daily Bible readings
  • Engaging and thought-provoking questions and journaling
  • Fascinating and helpful applications for your daily life
  • “Adding to your Scriptural Vocabulary and Understanding” sections
  • Instructions for facilitating your own small group study

Ladies if you are looking for a solid, moving, and worthy devotional, I personally believe there is none better than Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening. As a bonus, during the month of January 2015, Christian Audio is offering a FREE recorded version this month, as their free audio of the month.

Other men to learn from!

Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Years of sermons here. They are breathtaking in deep understanding of the word and worthy of your attention. A new documentary coming out on his life, too, in April 2015. He was called “Logic on Fire” and so is the film.

S. Lewis Johnson. With his comforting twang and slow delivery saturated with love for his people and for Jesus, you can benefit greatly from his sermons. They are online, and also are transcribed so you can print them or follow along while you listen. Along with Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur, Johnson is a titan preacher of the faith. You cannot go wrong listening to these men but only grow in love for the word as it is patiently and correctly explained to you. Hearing the verses explained about women, motherhood and the women of the bible will only benefit you in your spiritual education, as well of course as the doctrines and theology of other topics in addition to these so many women are interested in. Sermons and transcriptions here.

J. Vernon McGee. Born in 1904, the Lord took this ordinary man and made an extraordinary ministry from it. McGee led a church as pastor for 21 years, then moved McGee to radio, where he taught the bible over the airwaves for another 23 years.  Through the Bible radio ministry is still ongoing. Archived McGee sermons can be found at OnePlace, here.

Alistair Begg. Truth for Life. Pr Begg is British and served as pastor in England then came to the US and pastors in Ohio now at Parkside Church. The teaching on Truth For Life stems from the week by week Bible teaching at Parkside Church. The website link on his name brings you to a page where you can-
–See Alistair Live at his church on Sundays
–Hear Most Recent Broadcasts (Now preaching part 1 of Introducing Esther)
–Browse Alistair’s Sermons from the archive
–See a list of Recommended Books

It goes without saying that any books, studies, or devotionals Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur, Johnson, McGee, or Begg wrote are also good food for you.

I hope this encourages you. Though Christianity is rife with false teachers, many of them women gunning for YOU dear Sister, there are good teachers out there of both genders whose life mission is to feed you good food. The Lord is good and kind. He raises up people for each generation and does not forget His sheep. He is mindful of you, sorting laundry, corralling kids in the grocery store, reading bedtime stories when you would like to be in bed yourself. He knows your life in all its mundanity and glory. He has women and men out there for you to learn from.

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks ford a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)

Jesus loves His daughters very much. If you ask Him for the good gift of wisdom and discernment He will give it to you. If you ask Him to lead you to good educational materials and good spiritual food, He will do it. He is a loving Father who protects us. Ask. Seek. Knock.

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Further Reading

What is Biblical Discernment and why is it Important?

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 3 (IF:Gathering) 

Posted in 2014, by the numbers

2014 by the numbers: top trends, charts, numbers, and more

Posted on by elizabethprata

2014 was a good year, a regular year. At the end, my father died. That wasn’t regular. We weren’t close. I hadn’t seen him in 8 years, and not for many years before that. But it’s still hard to know that he isn’t just distant, but forever gone.

Last January a third cat adopted me. I wasn’t looking for another cat. I was very happy with two older cats. But the kitten was gong to die out there in the frozen cold, so…He’s inside now and very loving and sweet. Murray.

Otherwise, it was a year that clicked along normally, albeit on the school calendar and not the calendar calendar. I love the school calendar year that goes from August to May. (As an expatriate New Englander, an Aug to May school year just wrong. The school year should be September to June. But I digress). I love my job. In 2014 I went to work, went to church, went out a (very) few times with friends. I read books and wrote my 3,024th blog essay and adjusted to the changing seasons, and all the normal things. It’s a normal life. A quiet life.

What happened in the world, though? A lot! Too much for me to cover, even if I wanted to. I like to pick and choose a few things to look at as signs of the end of the age, trendsetting biblically prophesied Christian events that we should perk up and take notice of. Earthquakes, Apostasy. Weather, Scientific advances. And other just plain stuff that shows where our heart as a society is.

EARTH

If you’ve followed this blog for very long you know I have a fascination with earthquakes and sinkholes. I don’t live in a highly seismic area, though we had a house-shaker in here Georgia this year. It’s just the notion of the ground which seems so solid suddenly turning liquid. Or shaking and opening up in cracks. Nothing else in my opinion shows the sovereignty of the LORD as much as earthquakes do. On a daily, regular visible, basis that is.

Jesus said that the time of the end will contain more quakes and in diverse places. (Matthew 24:7).

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” (Hebrews 12:26)

Let’s look at a long-term trend of global quakes. I update this table every year. Click to enlarge

The average trend is still a heightened number of quakes. In 2003 we saw the beginning of meeting or exceeding the USGS number of average quakes, an average the USGS has settled on since beginning to track quakes in 1900. We saw the first year where all four of the major magnitudes’ averages were smashed in 2009. The number of quakes has stayed high every year since. 2012 showed a slight lessening, with “only” two of the four magnitudes averages falling below the USGS number of average quakes for that year. 2014 saw a smashing of the average in the 5.0-5.9 magnitude category. Time will tell what 2015 will bring.

Oklahoma continues to be shaken daily by quakes.

Chart below, as of FEBRUARY 2014. I wonder what the total would be if they carried through to December 31 instead of stop counting in Feb. These are quakes of magnitude 2.0 and greater. They say that the dramatic rise in quakes in Oklahoma is due to fracking. Sure. Sure it is.

Here is another view. This shows Oklahoma quakes 3.0 or greater, through Dec 22, 2014.

Source

Whoa. Is all I can say.

Getting numbers for volcanic eruptions is hard. Eruptions have a start date and some go on for months. I have to rely on scientific articles to report on the numbers, and there are fewer articles tracking volcanoes than there are tracking earthquakes. This article from the Florida State University is from 2011.

Frequency of Volcanic Eruptions on Rise
The ash-fall events impacting northern Europe are increasing, a USF study spanning the past 7,000 years concludes.

Among its findings, the team reported that Icelandic eruptions — like the 2010 eruption Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland which brought European air travel to a week-long standstill — have sent volcanic ash plumes drifting over Europe with increasing frequency in the past 1,500 years.

This article below is from February 2014

Science explains why volcanoes are erupting all over the place right now

The Earth seems to have been smoking a lot recently. Volcanoes are erupting in Iceland, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ecuador and Mexico right now. Others, in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, erupted recently but seem to have calmed down. Many of these have threatened homes and forced evacuations. But among their spectators, these eruptions raise question: Is there such a thing as a season for volcanic eruptions?

Don’t get too excited. The headline was much more definitive than the article was.

Why Are There So Many Sinkholes in Florida?

Yes, Florida has more sinkholes than any other state in the nation, according to the local agency that oversees insurance regulations and compliance. Sinkholes have been spotted at least three times in as many months—May in Winter Haven, June in Jonesville, and July in Spring Hill.

The article goes on to dispel the perception that there are more sinkholes now than there used to be (in FL). This, despite the fact that sinkhole claims have skyrocketed. How about sinkholes across the globe?

ABC News: ‘Gateway to Hell’: Sinkholes open across the earth
A look at some of the most astonishing sinkholes which have turned up around the world.

The above article doesn’t try to explain sinkholes or whether they are increasing or not. The point is the photos, astounding photos of the earth suddenly opening up and swallowing whatever was topside. [shudder]

And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. (Numbers 16:31-33)

APOSTASY

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1)

Apostasy will be a telling marker of the Lord’s return. Many scriptures speak to the numbers of people falling away from the faith, not just the verse above. In the last 9 years I have seen an incredible collapse of Christianity. Incredible. There has been wholesale abandonment of fundamental doctrines, such as the deity of Christ, what sin is, the need for repentance, abandonment of expositional preaching, unbelief in Jesus as the only way, the completeness of the atonement, who is in the faith and who is not, (according to Billy Graham, everyone’s in), absorption of pagan practices (prayer circles, labyrinths, enneagrams, contemplative mysticism), attacks on the sufficiency of scripture, and abandonment of the completion of the canon (direct revelation is de rigueur). When Southern Baptist Beth Moore began preaching personal visions without correction or rebuke, we all knew the last conservative bastion of Christianity had been penetrated.

EPrata photo

The article below is from 2013-

Christianity declining 50pc faster than thought – as one in 10 under-25s is a Muslim

 A new analysis of the 2011 census shows that a decade of mass immigration helped mask the scale of decline in Christian affiliation among the British-born population – while driving a dramatic increase in Islam, particularly among the young. It suggests that only a minority of people will describe themselves as Christians within the next decade, for first time.

The social collapse of Christianity as fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy

As a direct result of the atheistic triumph of the culture wars in the West, which took place during the decade of the 1960s, Gentile Christianity as the great social power it was for the last 20 centuries has become irrelevant and virtually dead to secular culture. Calling this “the death” of Christianity in a video interview about his book, “Suicide of a Superpower,” the American political commentator, Pat Buchanan, described our current social/cultural scene as follows…

I wrote about the collapse of Cultural Christianity in October. While true Christianity will never collapse (Matthew 16:18), the number of social pretenders in recent decades seemed to inflate the faith to large numbers. What we are seeing today, in my opinion, is the pretenders fleeing, and the truer, smaller, numbers of Christians being revealed, even as the society in which we find ourselves has become anti-Christian.

EPrata photo

That said, Christianity has become me-centered. Let’s take a look at what verses people searched for in 2014.

2014 year in Review: Biblegateway
Most-Popular Bible Verses in 2014

Here are the overall most-popular Bible verses in 2014 on Bible Gateway:
Rank Verse Text
1. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
2. Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
3. Phil 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
4. Rom 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
5. Ps 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The list goes to 100. Biblegateway also lists the top word searches. The list goes to 25. The word “Sin” was not searched for. Neither was “Repent.”

EPrata photo

 Speaking of me-centered:

Missing from those resolutions were the concepts of giving, philanthropy, sacrifice, saving money…

For generations, religious beliefs have influenced the way people think about and participate in philanthropy. For people who are not religiously motivated to give, the religious belief systems of other people help to define what is considered “good” or “moral” in society. For this reason, it is important to consider the impact of religion on philanthropy in the past and present (Bremner 1988). (Source)

Religion News Service article below is from yesterday.

Faith and values in 2014: 10 telling numbers

Scores of studies and surveys in 2014 revealed myriad, quirky ways we live out our faith and values. But the most intriguing findings were not always the headliners. Here are 10 telling numbers about religion and society that caught our eye.

Choral laments. Since 1998, there has been a 23 percentage point drop among white conservative evangelicals who heard a choir at worship and a 28 percentage point drop for members of liberal and moderate Protestant congregations.

Grads, leave religion off your resume. New grads hunting for jobs can be 24 to 30 percent less likely to hear back from potential employers if they included a mention of religious ties in college on their resume.

You skipped church and then fibbed about attending. Nearly 1 in 7 falsely claimed they attended a religious service.

WEATHER

Weather.com’s top 100 photos of 2014

As the winter months dragged on, they brought numerous snow storms, including Winter Storm Leon, which paralyzed the South, causing traffic backups on major highways. The 2.6 inches of snow that fell on Atlanta caused more than 1,460 accidents, including two fatal crashes.  April brought a deadly tornado outbreak in the South, and June brought another tornado outbreak in the Great Plains and the Midwest, where two tornadoes trekked directly through a 350-person town in a rare twin-tornado formation.

Looks like there were fewer tornadoes this year.

Hurricanes: Seems poor Bermuda was a bulls eye more statistically often than usual

NOAA: State of the Climate 2014

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for November 2014 tied with 2008 as seventh highest in the 135-year period of record, at 1.17°F above the 20th century average of 55.2°F.

The global land surface temperature was 1.48°F above the 20th century average of 42.6°F, the 13th highest for November on record. For the global oceans, the November average sea surface temperature was 1.06°F above the 20th century average of 60.4°F, record high for November.

Spain reported its wettest November since 1997, at 180 percent of average November precipitation.

Accuweather says, Speaking of 2014, the year has pulled into a 3-way tie with 1998 and 2010 for warmest on record through September despite a cooler start.

TERRORISM/ANTI-SEMITISM

Source Haaretz

British Anti-Semitism set to hit all time high

The number of anti-Semitic attacks in the UK in 2014 is set to be the highest recorded in the past three decades, figures for the year suggest. The record number of incidents includes everything from violent assaults to verbal abuse, hate-mail and attacks on social media.

Europe’s Anti-Semitism comes out of the shadows

SARCELLES, France — From the immigrant enclaves of the Parisian suburbs to the drizzly bureaucratic city of Brussels to the industrial heartland of Germany, Europe’s old demon returned this summer. “Death to the Jews!” shouted protesters at pro-Palestinian rallies in Belgium and France. “Gas the Jews!” yelled marchers at a similar protest in Germany.  The ugly threats were surpassed by uglier violence. Four people were fatally shot in May at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A Jewish-owned pharmacy in this Paris suburb was destroyed in July by youths protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, was attacked with firebombs. The list goes on.

MONEY

Source

Illinois leads nation in 2014 bank failures

Nearly a third of the nation’s bank failures so far this year — five out of a total of 16 — have occurred in Illinois. Illinois ranks 45th in the nation in job growth, report says BUSINESS Illinois ranks 45th in the nation in job growth, report says. The state also has another unwelcome distinction: The two biggest bank collapses so far in 2014 also have been Illinois institutions, according to SNL Financial.

Why the US will power the world economy in 2015

Six years after its financial system nearly sank and nearly that long since the recession ended, the United States is expected to grow in 2015 at its fastest pace in a decade. Its expansion from July through September — a 5 percent annual rate — was the swiftest for any quarter since 2003.

Sure, Associated Press, just keep thinking that. Keep on thinking that, honey.

The UK Telegraph has a slightly more pessimistic outlook.

How the world fell back into economic meltdown:
2014 in charts From Russia’s economic collapse, the threat of deflation, and another year of record low interest rates, here’s how crisis beset the world economy once again

The chart above, based on calculations from Piketty and his colleague Emmanuel Saez, has been described as the most important chart of the year. Produced by economist Pavlina Tcherneva, it shows that for most of the post-war period, the income gains from economic expansion went to the bottom 90pc of the population in the United States.

Hmmm. This headline says slightly differently
A recession may be looming in Russia, as the economy shrank for the first time in five years and the value of the ruble dropped another 5 percent Monday, but that’s not stopping wealthy Russians from eating expensive caviar – and posting images on Instagram with the hashtag #whatcrisis.
That wealth disparity will come into full flower during the Tribulation, when a fourth of the earth starves to death, while a healthy segment of the population still trades in luxuries like wine and oil. Of course, since love will have waxed cold, they won’t care. (Matthew 24:12, 2 Timothy 3:2-3)
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (Revelation 6:5-6)

SILLY

Top 2014 US trends in Google searches

Top trending searches

Top trending search for recipes

 Top trending searches for symptoms

Miracle in Fletcher? Rectors at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church claim icon is weeping myrrh

The leaders of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Fletcher are claiming that an oily liquid recently began seeping from a wooden church icon. The church’s rector is calling the event a miracle.

I’m crying, and it ain’t oil

Any year that has this in it has to go.

Hey, we’re one year closer to the rapture! THAT is Happy New Year news!

Shalom and peace to you all

Posted in Amanda Bible Williams, Ann Voskamp, discernment, IF:Gathering, liberal, Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth, social justice

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 3, the IF:Gathering

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is part three of a four-part series. I’m examining the website, teachings, and women of “She Reads Truth” in 2 parts (What They Say, and What They Do). Part 3 (this part) looks at the conference known as the “IF:Gathering” in which many of the She Reads Truth women are involved. In part 4 I will discuss women teachers in general from a biblical perspective, and provide a list of solid teachers (men and women) of the Word.

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 3, (the IF:Gathering)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 4 (Women Teachers)

Have you ever heard of the IF:Gathering? No? I hadn’t either. But after reading this today, you will.

I’m 54 years old. I was born before the internet, before cell phones, CD’s, DVD’s, laptops, personal/desktop computers, cable television, wireless, GPS, robots, and almost before satellites. I remember what it was like to roam around the neighborhood for hours, unsupervised. To ride my bike to the creamery to get an ice cream. To be dropped off at the mall and picked up 8 hours later. I listened to Sgt. Pepper on 8-track. My telephone was hooked into the wall, tv was black and white, and there was a test pattern that came on when broadcasting ended at 11:00 (or 1:00) and the National Anthem was played.

We watched a man walk on the moon and thought we had reached the heights of technology, marveling that just a few decades prior, the Wright Brothers had first flown a very few feet. Now we were in space. When the astronauts landed, they were given ticker tape parades in the streets. I read that the computer in the Apollo manned rockets processed 4,000 times slower than the ones we use today for space. They were no more powerful than a pocket calculator.

Even though I was born before all that, I am no fuddy-duddy when it comes to technology. My father bought Pong, the first mainstream video game. (1972). I was hooked from the start. I grabbed a computer when they became affordable in the mid-1990s, and got online at 360 baud.

Today’s crop of young women are known as Millennials. They were born approximately from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. These kids were born entirely in the digital age. They have a natural proclivity toward accepting the digital. If you ever saw a toddler pop a CD into the computer or use joysticks on a video game you know what I mean. On Wikipedia regarding the Millennials and technology, a large-sample (7,705) research study of college students was conducted.

They found that Next Generation college students, born between 1983–1992, were frequently in touch with their parents and they used technology at higher rates than people from other generations. In their survey, they found that 97% of these students owned a computer, 94% owned a cell phone, and 56% owned an MP3 player.

As each new invention comes along, they are in themselves neutral. Each new invention has the potential for good or for bad. Laptops have no doubt made life easier, from grad students to executives. But they also revolutionized the porn industry, which is a #1 problem in America today. I remember when the Swedish X-rated, commercially aimed porn movie I Am Curious Yellow came out (1967). It created a huge stir in our town in RI. It was banned in Massachusetts. I remember certain older women who wanted to see it, but didn’t dare, because they would be seen going into the public movie theatre. Nowadays you can watch anything, anything, on your on computer in the dark secrecy of your LCD-lit bedroom.

IF:Gathering combined a unique scriptural message with viral marketing through online networks. ~Christianity TodaySo technology is neutral, it’s how we use it that matters. What does this have to do with the IF:Gathering? Becuase the technology these women use to promote their unbiblical agenda is almost entirely digital. That’s why you never heard of the IF:Gathering- it is a viral, digital movement.

We exist to gather, equip, and unleash the next generation of women to live out their purpose.

Sounds … interesting. On the one hand it is good to find a place where women can be equipped. It is good to live out our purpose, as long as we have a solid understanding of the biblical purpose of our lives, first as children of God, then as our gender. The part that makes me unsettled is the “unleashing” part. Am I leashed? Have I been leashed all my life? These young women are going to take off the collar of leashing and let me go? Who leashed me in the first place? To live out my purpose? I haven’t been living my purpose all this time? Have I missed the boat for 54 years? Good thing these women exist.

I try to alert you to buzzwords. Here we are concerned with the word ‘unleashed.’ In 2006 John MacArthur explained the emergent’s language, particularly the use of “unleashed.” (Even though in the last 9 years we have gone from emergent to post-modernist to post-Christian to anti-Christian). His reference to the ‘facts’ is to the emergent’s notion that nothing can be known to be absolutely true in scripture anyway. Uncertainty is king.

What is more important than truth is ennobling the heretofore disenfranchised masses who have been subsumed under the dominant European white male culture. And so in order to “release” these oppressed women and minorities, we have to reinvent truth because the liberation of these…of these abused people is more important than facts, since we might not have any reality about what facts are anyway. So history gets twisted, everything gets twisted. … This mentality of post-modernism is being applied to the Scriptures and to the church.

As a woman feminist Jewish professor I know says, “Surviving the patriarchy.” In other words, a Millennial woman who calls for unleashing is saying that women have been wrongly oppressed by misinterpreted scriptures and they are here to unchain us from patriarchal bondage.

Hopefully you can see the hubris and foolishness
in the IF:Gathering mission statement

Do you know that the IF:Gathering title means?

“If God is real, then what?”

IF God is real? (Genesis 3:1). Hath God said? The title of their movement starts with questioning the existence of God. This is not a good start. There is nowhere to go but down.

#IFGathering trended on Twitter throughout the weekend, ranking among the top hashtags used around the world. ~Christianity Today
It is even worse than Genesis 3, because in the scene in the Garden of Eden with Eve, satan acknowledged God’s existence. He went on to questioning what He actually said.

Under the “Equipping” pages on their website, for example, they will put up a verse. Then they will explain it. Today’s is Genesis 46:30-47:12 with an emphasis on Genesis 47:5-6,

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 You can choose any place in Egypt for them to live. Give your father and your brothers the best land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if they are skilled shepherds, they can also care for my cattle.”

Below the verse, which is artfully pasted into a softly blurred mountainscape photo-scripture, is their explanation of the verse.

Below that, a journaling question. Here is the question:

IF you believe this is true, what does this mean about God? You? The world?

If I believe? If Joseph really existed, you mean? If Pharaoh existed? If Joseph and Pharaoh talked together? If Egypt existed? If Goshen existed? If cattle existed? What would not be true about that verse?

The postmodern person rejects the biblical absolutes that there is an immutable God, that God is sovereign, and that the only way to salvation is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus.
~Matt Slick.
The ‘equipping’ of the women of “IF:Gathering” is the same ‘equipping’ satan helpfully treated Eve to in the garden. You must understand that the emergent church post-modernist person questions everything about the bible, they absolutely believe that nothing can be known for absolutely true.

Jen Hatmaker is one of the women of  IF:Gathering along with founder Jennie Allen and including Ann Voskamp and Angie Smith and some others. Hatmaker explains IF’s inception as ‘a movement for our generation.’ Unlike all the other movements every other generation has experienced?Read Ecclesiastes 1:4. Hatmaker wrote,

We’re building a tribe, in my bravest moment I’ll call it a movement. With humility and thankfulness, we are mentored by Christine Caine, Debbie Eaton, and Shelley Giglio.

Yes, the Tribe of Doubters in the Slough of Despond.

But wait, it gets worse.

We’ve talked about the IF part. There is the gathering part, also.

The women don’t just promote their doubts online in digital fashion. They gather in real life. They say,

Our desire for you to be brave and to dream about what it would look like to gather, equip, and unleash women in your city. This is not going to happen because of us, this is going to happen because of you. Period.

Maybe they are forgetting Someone? The Holy Spirit?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

So I don’t know about the brave part, but the bible does talk about weakness an awful lot.

Their graphics always show blurred or softened farm tables artfully filled with flowers and seated around them are young, trendy, (slim) women in cool glasses and artfully arranged scarves “wrestling with questions.” Like, Hath God said? They describe the IF:Local Gatherings this way-

IF:LOCAL

IF GOD IS REAL… THEN WHAT? This 2-day gathering will bring women together from around the world to wrestle with belief that God is real, the places in our lives where we are struggling with unbelief, how can we overcome unbelief and then what God can do with our belief.

If you don’t believe then you need something different than a table full of biblically unknowledgeable women sipping refreshing drinks on lawns. If you do believe then edify and equip takes on a different meaning. If they invite unbelievers to a table for Gospel sharing purposes, then that is one thing, because it is the Word that saves. (Romans 10:14). That’s mission. (Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 14:23). If they’re believers, then they trust the Word, believe it, and are being trained by it. (2 Timothy 3:16). The path these women are taking is the middle ground, But there is no middle ground. (Revelation 3:16).

I wish people wouldn’t complicate things. It really is black and white. Belief and unbelief. Saved and sinner. Narrow road and broad road. Hot or cold. In or out.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

IF:Gatherings are ongoing in living rooms and lawns by the thousands. See?

Are you astounded? I was. White pins represent private gatherings. This means that they are invisible to you and me in daily Real Life. But they are not invisible to the Millennial (Digital) Generation. They are going on, all over and all the time. Each one of those pins represents a place where impressionable women will gather to plant or nurture seeds of doubt. Do you see this as the monstrous ecclesiastical tragedy that it is? Do you mourn these women?

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Christianity Today wrote on the IF:Gathering and its viral and volcanic impact, in February 2014.

The first-time event had a vague premise—If God is real, then what?—and no speaker lineup when announced this fall, but sold out in 42 minutes, forcing organizers to coordinate local watch parties across the U.S. and 22 other countries to accommodate interest. teachings from women like Christine Caine, international speaker from Hillsong Church; Jen Hatmaker, Christian blogger and author of 7; Ann Voskamp, author of A Thousand Gifts; and Shelley Giglio, a leader alongside her husband Louie Giglio at Passion City Church.

Allen brought together 60-some influential bloggers and leaders from across churches, denominations, and theological positions, convinced that God was calling her to rally for unity among the splintering factions of the church. IF focused distinctly on spiritual formation, with both inspirational and practical takeaways. Based on the directive in Hebrews 12 to “throw off everything that hinders” and “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” dozens of speakers encouraged women to chase their calling. Since the event details were kept secret, IF attendees were drawn to the overall concept, rather than popular speakers “from their camp” or sessions on hot topics, said Amy Brown, IF communications director.

“”We’ve been slow to step into our giftedness or strengths. For a long time, that wasn’t an option,” said Allen.”

Just think about that last statement for a moment. For 2000 years, the Holy Spirit has been distributing Gifts, all that He determines (1 Corinthians 12:11)  but it hasn’t been an option to step into them … until now?

This new wave of evangelical women is fueled by an ever-growing online culture of high-profile women bloggers and savvy social media types who have laid the groundwork for the new focus. … “We’ve grown up in a different context,” Allen said. “The technology is unprecedented.” ~HuffPo

Would you pay to attend a conference that had a vague premise and a secret lineup of speakers? Doing so is just foolish.

But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

But foolishly, they bought into it…in 42 minutes.

How can a woman test the spirits, if the premise is vague and the lineup a secret? (1 John 4:1)

What this is about is, encouraging women to be Christian feminists, and be teachers, pastors, and leaders. THAT is what this is about. And of course you must disbelieve the Word to do so because the word is clear on what women’s roles are. To be what the IF women propose, one must abandon truth. “Hath God said?” IF God is real, then what? IF God isn’t real, then what?

for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. (Isaiah 9:16)

Where are the men holding on to these women as they hang precariously over the Pit!?

Stallone, in Cliffhanger

He, therefore, that went before, (Vain-confidence by name), not seeing the way before him, fell into a deep pit [Isa. 9:16], which was on purpose there made, by the Prince of those grounds, to catch vain-glorious fools withal, and was dashed in pieces with his fall. ~John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

The worse tragedy is that these women do not know the danger they are in.

Source

IF God is real? Doubt is not noble. The bible says doubt is a destroyer of life. (James 1:5-8). There is no such thing as a bible “study” that has as its premise, “IF you believe this, then…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Conclusion~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How can we help these young women? They are or will be mothers, and mothers are the architects of the next generation. Young doubters are leaving the church in droves, and this is where they are going, to home gatherings led by the LCD display on their monitors, not by the bells of church.

First, pray. Pray for the youngsters in your midst, in church and those who have left church. Prayer is a magnificent and primary way to change things.

Second, disciple. Disciple. Disciple. Titus 2:3-5.

What does it mean to be a Titus 2 woman, exactly? It begins and ends with discipling. I listed some good articles below that are theological AND practical. Please refer to ‘Further Reading.’

Pray, disciple, and third, be a good example yourself. A Titus 2 woman is to be reverent. Young women leave the church (and young men too) because they can’t stand the hypocrisy in church people and can’t stand to see sin tolerated. Hypocrisy is always there, but try not to add fuel to the fire with what you say and what you do.

Fourth, always strive to be biblically knowledgeable. The word washes us, bathes us in holiness, trains us. If you are not a student of it how can we expect the young women to be? How can we be in a spirit of readiness to share, encourage, and instruct, if we don’t know what the Bible says? (2 Timothy 4:2).

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 4

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

Further Reading

Six months after the conclusion of this series, Lighthouse Trails researched the IF:Gathering also. Please read their extensive research here

What does the bible say about doubt?

Study Guide: Making Disciples

Woman to Woman: Answering the call of Titus 2
This article has excellent practical advice for both older women and younger women.

Being a Titus 2 Woman
Also practical advice

‘IF:Gathering’ Of Evangelical Women Focuses On Social Justice In Austin, Texas

If a Brand-New Christian Women’s Conference Goes Viral, Then What?

Posted in bible, encouragement

A few ideas for the last day of 2014, from Mark Dever

Posted on by elizabethprata

Mark Dever of 9Marks Ministry wrote these on Twitter this morning.

A few ideas for the last day of 2014:

#1 Read God’s Word and thank Him for what He’s done this year.
#2 Write a few notes thanking those whom God has blessed you through this year.
#3 Check with your local church, and a ministry you appreciate (like 9Marks) to see how their budget is doing.
#4 Read Spurgeon’s Dec 31 entry from “Morning and Evening”
     Morning December 31
     Evening December 31

What are your plans to send the old year out and see the New Year in?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Posted in Amanda Bible Williams, Ann Voskamp, discernment, IF:Gathering, liberal, Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth, social justice

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 2

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is part two of a four-part series. I’m examining the website, teachings, and women of “She Reads Truth” in 2 parts (What They Say, and What They Do). Part 3 will take a look at the conference known as the “IF:Gathering” in which many of the She Reads Truth women are involved. In part 4 I will discuss women teachers in general from a biblical perspective, and provide a list of solid teachers (men and women) of the Word.

This is part 2, looking at the teachers at She Reads Truth and their lifestyles, “What They Do,” to see if how they live lines up with scripture. In Part 1 I looked at “What They Say”, meaning, their teachings.

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 3, (the IF:Gathering)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 4 (Women Teachers)

 

In being a Berean, (Acts 17:11) which means examining the scriptures to see if what we are being taught is so, there is a second part to that examination to determine if a teacher is credible. If examining the scriptures is the “What They Say” part, then the second part is just as important to look at. It’s looking at their lives, or, “What They Do.”

In the verses speaking to qualifications for pastors, teachers and elders, there is only one that is of the gifts. “Able to teach.” (2 Timothy 2:24). The rest are character qualifications, which speak to how the potential pastor, elder, or teacher lives his or her life. In addition, teachers should not be young, but be tested first. (1 Timothy 3:10-11).

In 1 Timothy 3:6 it is said that overseers (pastors) must not be new converts, lest they become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. This is practical advice and I would hold that it also applies to teachers, male and female.

So looking at the lives our teachers lead makes sense and is biblical. Do they live what they preach? Please excuse me for making this long. There are 6 women who write for the She Reads Truth (SRT) site. That’s a lot of lives to examine. Please bear with me.

The women of She Reads Truth, “What They Do”

Raechel Myers is CEO and founder of She Reads Truth. She is 32 and married to Ryan, with whom she has 2 children. Myers states She Reads Truth’s purpose, that Myers along “with an amazing team of writers, write in response to the scriptures we’re reading to create daily devotionals for the community to enjoy and discuss together.”

So please bear in mind that these ladies are not writing what the scriptures mean, but are writing emotional and personal responses to them. What you are ‘devoting’ yourself to when you read their reading plans are their thoughts and emotions, not necessarily biblical truth. FYI.

Myers’ bio is a fresh, American cornucopia of motherly mundanity. “Raechel is learning what a daily diet of the Bread of Life looks like in the “in between” – on laundry day, grocery day and Tuesday.”

Sounds normal and mundane…except … it’s not. Raechel is “Crazy busy and super happy” as a sewist, writer, photographer, designer, author, CEO of a Limited Liability Company, Conference Fundraiser, Conference speaker, and world traveling Justice Activist. Oh, And mom. And wife.

From her website.

As for her project regarding “Style for Justice” travel to Rwanda in July 2014, “We journeyed with an influential group of storytellers and introduced them to Rwandan women who have overcome injustice and have been empowered through economic opportunity.”

Myers high-fiving over successful fabric selection
with Rwandan women to overcome injustice in Sub-Sahara Africa

She stated up front that the Rwanda journey wasn’t a mission trip, but a social justice trip. I wrote at length of the biblical and the unbiblical notions of social justice, here. Myers’ is the unbiblical interpretation. Her trip, she said, had nothing to do with planting churches or handing out bibles, she wrote. It had everything to do with helping women in Africa sell jewelry. (Myers: The second half of this trip is taking a very “Project Runway” turn and I think it’s sort of awesome and redemptive and exciting!) That’s why she was leaving her children and her husband to travel halfway around the world? Let me find that in my bible.

If you ask God for justice, you are asking for hell. Ask for mercy. ~Steven J. Lawson

In an Instagram photo Raechel Myers published of her two young children perched on a chair and on a table watching a laptop playing a video of their mother being interviewed at If:Gathering, with this caption, My husband just texted me this photo of the kids watching our @shereadstruth interview at the @ifgathering. Seeing my baby girl perched on the table watching her mommy talk about her Jesus- so blessed!!!!

She has a choice, let her children watch her talk about Jesus through a laptop, or let her children watch her at home living the obedient life Jesus called her to live.

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

Amanda Bible Williams is 36-year-old Editorial Director for She Reads Truth. She lives in TN in a farmhouse near Nashville and is married to husband David. I believe Mr Williams runs a Chick-Fil-A. Williams says she is a work-at-home mom to three small children. In addition, she is a blogger, writer, magazine contributor, Editorial Director, Co-CEO of a Limited Liability Company, and Graduate Student (Religious Studies). Oh, and a mom, And a wife.

She considers herself an Enneagram #9, which tells us she does not have discernment. Enneagram is an occultic practice stemming from Hinduism, and is another of the pagan practices Christianity has syncretistically adopted from pagan religions. Nancy Leigh DeMoss of Reviving Our Hearts explains the occult background of Enneagram.

Mrs Williams also is a Grad Student at Vanderbilt University, working toward attaining a MS in Religion. Most colleges, certainly, and many seminaries, have become anything ranging from liberal-to-secular. Women need to take care when submitting to religious instructors because of our proclivity toward being seduced away from the solid doctrines of Jesus. (2 Tim 3:6, 2 Cor 11:3, 1 Tim 2:14). Mrs Williams has already demonstrated an undiscerning interest in the practice of Enneagram, and whatever discernment she may still retain will no doubt soon be lost under the secular, Christ-hating agenda that Vanderbilt pushes. According to Al Mohler, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President,

Just a few decades after its founding, Vanderbilt had transformed itself into a secular university, embarrassed by its Christian founding. … In more recent months, Vanderbilt’s administration decided to push secularism to the extreme — launching a virtual vendetta against religious organizations on campus.

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

Diana Stone (age 30), is married with a child. Her husband is in the United States Army. In addition to her writing on She Reads Truth, you can also find her work on her own blog Diana Wrote, and at Babble.com, Babble Parenting, Still Standing Magazine, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post. Smaller glimpses into her day are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Pinterest. Mrs Stone is busy. Nevertheless, we read that “You can find her in the mornings with a cup of coffee and her Bible flung open, preparing for the day ahead.” Awww, admirable! “With a sweet daughter in tow, Diana clings to God’s Word daily.” Wow, inspiring.

Is that the truth? Really? Er, only partly.

Mrs Stone relaxes with the bible “flung open” … after she drops her daughter to daycare.

For the past two and a half years, the couple employed a part time nanny care for their daughter in their home so Mrs Stone could work as a freelance writer. After bumping along with several nannies, they eventually decided to put their child in daycare so Mrs Stone could continue to write at home.

And countless are the mothers who ignore, neglect, or abandon their children in pursuit of self-centered “fulfillment”–motherhood is an inconvenient interruption to their lifestyle.~JMacArthur
As a mother and a working mom, Mrs Stone is not sure where her priority should be. In her own words, at the journal Liberating Working Moms, Stone wrote about making the switch from nanny to daycare.

“There’s a constant tug on me to be in both worlds 100%. Work should come first. Life should come first. What is a priority? Who gets my time that day – and is choosing one over the other wrong? When I’ve committed to being a mama and being paid to write, both need my top priority.”

First of all, there should be no distinction between “life” and “work.” Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”

Secondly, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:3)

Mrs Stone’s mothering gets in the way of writing about being a mom, so the mothering is outsourced. Let me find that in my bible.

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

Hayley Morgan, is approximately 28, married, with 4 kids. I haven’t found a name for her husband, nor a job description. Mother to 4 boys. Mrs Morgan co-founded The Influence Network and organizes the annual Influence Conference (complete with the blatantly unChristian classes in, “there’s no such thing as Holy Yoga“) held in Indianapolis every fall. She is author of a book to help you with the daily question of “What do I wear?!” “The wisdom in the book has helped hundreds of women get dressed with more confidence and less fuss.” She blogs, writes at SRT, speaks at Influence Conference and is Editor-In-Chief of the Influence Magazine. Oh, and a mom. And a wife.

The Influence Network and its attendant magazine have nebulous mission statements, other than for women to “make their online life mean something”. The Magazine’s mission statement reads,

“This Magazine is the physical embodiment of what I’d imagine a woman of influence being. It’s bright and vibrant, it’s stylish and smart, it has a lot to say about a lot of things. It has a lot of white space and margin. It’s also going to grow in front of you, equal parts wobbly and beautiful. We’re going to try new things and we’re going to push a lot of doors wide open…”

Turning biblical womanhood in its head
in pursuit of barely cloaked self-fulfillment

For a woman who communicates for a living Mrs Morgan is very good at hiding the meaning in her intent and mission. That was about as clear as, “Let’s leverage our core competencies so we can think out of the box while the paradigm shifts during our journey.”

As for the mission statement, her declaration of the magazine’s purpose contained lots of buzz words that mean nothing and isn’t clear. Except for the overall tone … that was very clear. It was unbiblical. I invite you to read the session topic synopses at the Influence Network (and a biblical definition of influence is never given, though it purports to be a Christian conference). At this “Christian” conference you will learn to throw out the “shoulds” and “not live by the rules”, to be “intentionally leaning in to what might feel imperfect”, to “use God’s gift of work to transform the lives of the poor,” and “how to use life’s valleys to build momentum for your journey.” Because, it’s all about us. Being disobedient.

Yet the woman lauded in the bible are humble mothers, wives, widows, honest and submissive, not having a lot to say and not being pushy with doors. (1 Timothy 2:11)

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Rebecca Faires, married, four children, lives in TN. Sister of SRT CEO Raechel Myers. “Loves the idea of international justice” and for that reason tries “not to be an oppressor at home.”

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

 Debbie Eaton, wife for 27 years, mom to teenage son. Worked at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church as woman ministry leader, which should say all there is to say about her discernment level. On Twitter Mrs Eaton describes herself as “Christ Follower, Wife, Mom, Women’s Ministry Leader, grateful for life and the influence we have to one another.”

With these women it is all about influence. Yet Jesus calls us to service in humility. He who has the most influence of any person ever born or who will be born, humbled Himself to the point of the cross, and commands us to be the same. (Philippians 2:3)

The overall tone of these women’s lives is to be influential in the world, leading corporations, being the generation to solve injustice and poverty, living strong and bold (and stylish and trendy).

Do the women of She Reads Truth and the Influence Conferences seem like a Titus kind of woman to you? Titus 2:3-5 says,

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3-5)

Sisters, the women of She Reads Truth and their friends (Shauna Niequist, daughter of Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church), Ann Voskamp, Christine Caine and etc, are not living a life submitted to the word. In Part 1 I mentioned a good article at The Gospel Coalition titled “Is Your Church Functionally Liberal?” in which the author says there are doctrinal statements, and then there is how the church lives it out. Many churches have a conservative doctrinal statement but are in fact “functionally liberal.” I apply the same concept to individual lives. Anyone can set up a blog, publish a faith statement, but is what they DO matching with what they say? Or are they doctrinally conservative but functionally liberal?

This matters, because the bible consistently curses the succeeding generations of idolaters. God does so many times in the OT and in the NT. Jesus tells the Pharisees they were making sons of hell twice as bad as they were. He curses the church at Thyatira, saying that their tolerance of the false prophetess ‘Jezebel’ made spiritual daughters who needed either to repent or He was going to kill them. Sin always gets worse from one generation to the next unless it is corrected through repentance.

Comparing the Titus verses with today’s spiritual mentors to these young women, the older women failed to teach the younger to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, because they weren’t. Beth Moore (age 57) began this erm, “journey”, into Christian feminism with her lifestyle. She speaks a good doctrine, but she does not live it. Other spiritual daughters coming up quickly noted the tolerance evangelical Christianity had for Moore’s calling-all-the-shots, CEO leadership, wide-traveling, park the kids with hubby, look at me celebrity, bring in the bacon kind of lifestyle. Tolerated … as long she gave a wink and a nod to the party line of certain doctrines and cloaked the lifestyle feminism in words like giftings for corporate talent and ministry rather than work or career.

The next generation of these Christian feminists were such as Christine Caine (age 48) who leapt onto the liberation mantra of ‘stepping into giftings‘ and went global with boldness and joy. The third generation is this crop of twenty and early thirty something women mentioned here on this blog, are even more bold about their feminist lifestyle, actually thinking they are unleashing it all and pushing open closed doors for the benefit of the world, and have learned how to use technology to their severe advantage. More on this technological savvy in part 3, where I also explain further why I am being so hard on women who promote this lifestyle

The women at She Reads Truth do not have discernment enough to teach, do not know what it is to live out lives as Christian women. They do not have the wherewithal to teach you anything close to what Jesus would have for His women to know.

And yes if you detect a tone in which I am upset, I am. I am offended by Christian feminists who re-define the biblical word for “gifts” and “ministry” just so they can live lives as usurpers, who promote a different Gospel, (“our story is the Good News“), commercially trade on their motherhood while stowing the kids at daycare or leaving them and husband behind while they travel for unbiblical but worldly reasons, yes I am offended. I’m offended by Christian feminists presenting a disingenuous bio while teaching wrongly interpreted doctrines and disobeying the doctrines that are there, and who are poor role models for younger generations. When those two toddlers grow up watching Raechel Myers be a mom through the laptop, what will they have been taught by their mother’s and their father’s lifestyle?

One of the women wrote that she was reading Charles Spurgeon, Myers I think it was. These women who thirst for influence and boldness and a place in the world, fail to see the greatest gift of all. Spurgeon had a mother. She bore 17 children. Nine of them died. Phil Johnson wrote in his essay “How Childhood influences shaped a great preacher“,

Spurgeon’s mother was the one whose influence first awakened him to the claims of Christ on his life. Her exhortations to her children, as well as her prayers on their behalf, made an indelible impact on Charles as a young boy.

Does Mrs Myers think for one moment that she would even be reading works by Spurgeon if his mom had been consumed with personal glory influence and trotted off to Africa to help natives pick out scarves instead of grieving her nine lost children and raising the eight others? Praying, living, worshiping, doing laundry, and gasp, submitting to the womanly life Jesus commands? Mrs Eliza Spurgeon’s influence lasts to this day and Myers is a beneficiary of it. What will Myers’ influence and legacy be for her children? Will they have a biblical worldview?

Do any of these women live a life that is starkly different from any other woman of the world? (1 Peter 2:9).

Feminist Gloria Steinem & activist
Dorothy Pitman Hughes on civil rights and social justice.
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9

I am offended by women who say all the previous generations got it wrong and now, finally now that WE are here, we will unleash proper womanhood onto the world. I am offended by all of that. None of it honors Jesus.

It’s up to you, my young Sisters, to decide what kind of mother/woman you want to be. Influential according to the world, unleashed, living out loud? Or Godly. Because you cannot be both. (Luke 16:13)

For better or worse, mothers are the makers of men; they are the architects of the next generation. That’s why the goal of becoming a godly mother is the highest and most noble pursuit of womanhood. ~John MacArthur

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 1

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 3

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 4

—————————-

Further reading

Six months after the conclusion of this series, Lighthouse Trails researched the IF:Gathering also. Please read their extensive research here

Interview with JD Greear about new 7-week study: Jesus-centered Parenting in a Child-centered World

LifeWay resource: Ready to Launch: Jesus-Centered Parenting in a Child-Centered World

Profile of a Godly Mother

What does the Bible say about Christian Mothers?

The Secret Christian Feminists

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

A Biblical Theology of Motherhood

Posted in Amanda Bible Williams, Ann Voskamp, discernment, IF:Gathering, liberal, Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth, social justice

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 1

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a four-part series. I’ll examine the website, teachings, and women of “She Reads Truth” in 2 parts (What They Say, and What They Do). Part 3 will take a look at the conference known as the “IF:Gathering” which many of the She Reads Truth women are involved in. In part 4 I will discuss women teachers in general from a biblical perspective, and provide a list of solid teachers (men and women) of the Word.

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 3, (the IF:Gathering)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 4 (Women Teachers)

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She Reads Truth

A younger sister asked me about this website, in which six women write devotional bible reading plans and encourage women to gather to read the bible via their (free) plans. The women are Raechel Myers, Amanda Bible Williams, Diana Stone, Hayley Morgan, Rebecca Faires, and Debbie Eaton. The website is beautifully designed. It is good looking AND easy to use. The women’s bios are located in the easy-to-find “About Us” section. By the look of the photos and the words used to describe them they come across as healthy, wholesome farm women, apple-cheeked and devoted mothers to happy, wholesome, apple-cheeked farm children with smiling husbands on the side. Simple lives, just struggling wives doin’ laundry (like us, just like us!) trying to know Jesus in the best way possible.

LinkedIn photo

The women assure the reader that they have husbands who look over their theological work and pastors who do the same. They write that they are humble, submissive wives, creating bible reading plans for like-minded women almost by accident, and gee, needing to morph their growing-popular website into a Limited Liability Company before they knew it.

But are they?

Not so much.

When you look into a teacher to determine whether he or she is credible, there are two things to look at.

–What they say (the doctrine they teach)
–What they do (how they live out their doctrine)

The bible warns us that many will come in His name (claiming to be one of His children) but many will not actually be, according to what they say.

Amanda Bible Williams, Editorial Director
of SRT. Twitter profile photo

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. (Romans 16:17)

The division comes when teachers try to pry you away from Jesus’ side, dividing you from His once for all faith and separating you from His doctrine, not by what they say, but by what they do.

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. (Hebrews 13:9)

Therefore it’s important to look at what they do, not just what they say on their statement of faith page. How do they act? What is their life? Many, many church or Christian websites put up a statement of faith, and many, many of them don’t live what they say.

The Gospel Coalition published an interesting article on this exact topic the other day titled “Is Your Church Functionally Liberal?”

The liberal churches I’ve known are not openly hostile to the Bible. They like the Bible. They want their preacher to use the Bible. They have home Bible studies. What makes them “liberal” is that the Bible alone is not what rules them. They allow into their doctrine, their ethos, their decisions, other complicating factors. The Bible is revered, in a way. But it is not the decisive factor. It is only one voice among others.

Doctrinally conservative, but functionally liberal. What they say, vs. what they do. Both matter, when it comes to examining a teacher for credibility.

So in She Reads Truth (SRT) you have an attractive website, run by attractive ladies, with a statement of faith that is as sterling as it gets.

In just one of their statements, with which I agree, because it is from James 1:22, they write that they believe we should be doers of the Word, not just hearers. So for them it is not just about reading the bible together, it is about what we do after we read it, our response. So far, so good.

However, thinking it through, don’t leave it there. Exactly what response do the administrators and writers of SRT believe are we being called TO? What do they say we should do in living out the Word that we receive?

Social Justice. They are believers in a response to God’s word that includes “social justice“. Back up for a moment…social justice?! What is social justice exactly? Isn’t that were we help poor or oppressed people? That’s biblical, right?

Well, there are two kinds of movements that address poverty and injustice in the world. The biblical one, and all the others, including the SRT women. Here is what the modern-day notion of what “social justice” is.

According to the National Association of Social Workers,

“Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Social workers aim to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.”

There is much more to it and more that is behind the modern movement (not the biblical movement). GotQuestions discusses the modern-day notion of social justice and its politically charged activists.

Social justice is often used as a rallying cry for many on the left side of the political spectrum. “Social justice is also a concept that some use to describe the movement towards a socially just world. In this context, social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. These policies aim to achieve what developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity than may currently exist in some societies, and to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear in a procedurally just system.” (Source)

Woman carrying leeks to market in the Andes. EPrata photo

It’s based on a false premise that in all cases the rich have oppressed the poor in order to become rich, an injustice that needs to be rectified through income redistribution and other government programs and activist political means. So what is the biblical call to address the poverty problems and the oppressed? Because the bible does speak to it.

The Christian notion of social justice is different from the contemporary notion of social justice. The biblical exhortations to care for the poor are more individual than societal. In other words, each Christian is encouraged to do what he can to help the “least of these.” The basis for such biblical commands is found in the second of the greatest commandments—love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Today’s notion of social justice replaces the individual with the government, which, through taxation and other means, redistributes wealth. This policy doesn’t encourage giving out of love, but resentment from those who see their hard-earned wealth being taken away. (Source)

The true Christian response to stewardship is an individual one, not an activist one. So which does SRT promote? The latter. More of the activist social justice, less of the biblical, individual call to personal stewardship. Therefore, their ‘what we believe’ is an unbiblical call to an incorrectly interpreted response to the bible’s demands regarding the poor.

Basically, there is a tension between a God-centered approach to social justice and a man-centered approach to social justice. The man-centered approach sees the government in the role of savior, bringing in a utopia through government policies. The God-centered approach sees Christ as Savior, bringing heaven to earth when He returns. At His return, Christ will restore all things and execute perfect justice. Until then, Christians express God’s love and justice by showing kindness and mercy to those less fortunate.(Source)

Does the SRT website say all that? No. It only mentions social justice once in the What We Believe section. So how do I know the women promote the unbiblical view of social justice and not a correct notion of stewardship? From what they do. That will be part 2.

But first, one other mention of ‘what they say’. I read many of their reading plans. Some are good. Many of the books they promote are good too. Many are reformed. Many are solid. Nancy Guthrie is promoted, as well as Reformed classics like the Valley Of Vision and Matthew Henry’s commentary. On the down side, Billy Graham is promoted, as well as panentheist Ann Voskamp, and pragmatist Rick Warren, which are negatives. One of the editorial staff, Debbie Eaton, used to be a woman ministry leader at Warren’s Saddleback church, so the Warren book isn’t surprising. The SRT ladies promote several books by Gary Haugen, who is also a writer for She Reads Truth. Haugen is CEO of International Justice Mission. There’s that personal agenda again.

Under the “What We’re Reading”, they promote one of Lysa TerKeurst’s books. Last February, Lysa preached an entire Sunday at Perry Noble’s church. Perry Noble is a false teacher. Women are not to be preaching the church service. (1 Timothy 2:11–14). Lysa attends Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church, which is not a church and Furtick is not a true preacher. Lysa is an undiscerning usurper and She Reads Truth has no business promoting Lysa’s books.

As for the specifics of the reading plans, in looking at just a few of them I saw the usual mistakes many women make when they interpret the bible. Here are two issues as just a sample. In their Day 25: “The Shepherds go To the Manger” Christmas devotional, author Raechel Myers stated that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. She wrote that Jesus came to make wars cease. She wrote that Jesus came for peace on earth.

Um. No.

Connecting the Prince of Peace with making wars cease is incorrect. We are at war with God because we are sinners. His peace is reconciliation through justification. She did mention reconciliation a bit further on, but her approach is not the best because she connects peace and war wrongly in this devotional. In Mt 10:34 Jesus says “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword!” In His first incarnation, Jesus came to bring a sword that will divide even families. Wars and rumors of wars will characterize the age of his post-Incarnation. Wars will not end until after the church age ends, after the Millennium Kingdom ends (Revelation 20:7-8) and it is only after eternity begins that wars cease.

Later in the devotional Myers says that God asks us (asks? not commands?) to be still and know that He is God.

Um. No.

“Asking” us to be still and know he is God is a total misrepresentation of the verse from Ps 46:10, which is commonly misused by women, especially young women. He does not ask us to be still. He commands us to believe in the Son, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (1 John 3:23).

The ‘be still’ verse is from Psalm 46:10, and what it means is this–

“Let his enemies be still, and threaten no more, but know it, to their terror, that he is God, one infinitely above them, and that will certainly be too hard for them; let them rage no more, for it is all in vain: he that sits in heaven, laughs at them; and, in spite of all their impotent malice against his name and honour, (Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible.)

The overall approach of taking snippets of verses on a topic or theme from the NT and the OT and building reading plans from that is not the best. It’s common, but it is not the best. First, mixing OT and NT is a dangerous hermeneutic. Often, OT verses are for Israel only (Jeremiah 29:11, for example, is often misused (I know the plans I have for you… so is Psalm 46:10, Be still)… Expositional teaching is best.

Gary Haugen
of International Justice Mission (IJM)

What happens with plans like these developed by liberal women like these is that verses get misused because they are stripped from context. It is actually the Beth Moore hermeneutic approach. Strip out-of-context verses and use them to make your point, like the Psalm 46:10 verse or Isaiah 55:1 I mention below. Mix in between the verses some personal stories and with them, personal agendas (i.e the social justice devotional written by Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice organization). It is best to offer a passage, and explain what it means in context and according to the culture at the time. Sometimes they do this well. Other times they don’t.

Here is a second example of “What They Say.”

At SheReadsTruth, in the Reading Plan for Day 28 of the “O Come Let Us Adore Him” devotional, writer Amanda B. Williams mentioned (but didn’t paste) Isaiah 55:1a. The verse reads,

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;”

Williams equates the verse’s ‘being thirsty’ with women who are needy, have longings, are broken, need to be accepted, have a blessed ache, need to be loved, and driven into His arms. Those are direct phrases from the devotional. These phrases appeal to women. They are phrases that include such language as “sweet reminders” or “whisperings” crafted subtly to be a catalytic connector to our sensitive, emotional side. In this way, their devotionals do not appeal to the mind. They strive to appeal to the heart, the emotions. The devotional’s language creates a sense of romantic intimacy with the Lord through a female emotional yearning that sets Jesus up to be lover and filler of needs.

Except, that’s not what studying the Word is all about. (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).

Except, that’s not what Isaiah 55:1 means.

Gill’s Exposition says of Isaiah 55:1, the sense is not an emotional one but

a spiritual one; thirsting after forgiveness of sin by the blood of Christ; after justification by his righteousness; after salvation by him; after more knowledge of him, more communion with him, and more conformity to him;

The thirst in the verse is not having “longings” – another example of feminine vagueness these types of blogs promote. The ‘thirst’ is not to “be accepted” (whatever that means or meant in junior high), the thirst is a desperation for forgiveness of sins. It is the universal invitation to Gentiles for salvation, not satisfying “needy women”. In this way the SRT women trivialize majestic verses. These verses are spiritual truths, not emotional satisfactions. They’re definitely not romantic longings.

SRT plans are not really study. At SRT, it isn’t really ‘digging into’ God’s word. They are more like breathless romantic reactions to out-of-context verses written by liberal women who have an unbiblical approach to the Word.

I hope I was clear.

Part 2 here.

Part 3 here.

Part 4 here.

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Further Reading

Six months after the conclusion of this series, Lighthouse Trails researched the IF:Gathering also. Please read their extensive research here

Posted in bible, boat, galilee, truth

Jesus taught from the boat

Posted on by elizabethprata
EPrata photo

Jesus taught from the boat…

Water carries sound and it amplifies it. The crowds were so crushing that in order to even have space, Jesus launched into one of the sailboats (not a dinghy as depicted above, lol) and He spoke to the crowds. Note, He was sitting, they were standing, indicting His important presence.

Were they thirsting for the truth from the Living Waters? Or were they rubberneckers hoping for a personal miracle? Both. We know the end of the story, most people turned out to be rubberneckers only out to see the latest thing in Galilee. Most of these same people eventually rejected Him. (Mark 6:4-5).

What a momentous occasion on that shore! To be present and taught directly by God Himself. We are blessed, we believers in this present Church Age. We have the Holy Spirit in us to teach us these things. This Spirit will never leave us.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)

The blessings from our Lord are manifold, beginning with our indwelled Spirit, and His word which was later written down at the inspiration of His Spirit. Study His word today, worship Him by praising Him for those words, and bless Him by being obedient to them. He is a gracious and magnificent God, who taught His sheep from the boat.

Posted in bible, clarity, eschatology, last things, macarthur, mohler, perspicuity, prophecy

Why prophecy is important (The world is unraveling)

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love prophecy. To me, it is the clearest identifier of God as sovereign over the universe, the earth, humans, and time. He writes history in advance, because He is king of all, and what He says will come to pass.

I also love studying the bible. I believe it is the highest and best use of time, to get to know the attributes of the LORD, to seek His face through what He has told us. If you want ‘direct revelation’, the bible cannot be beat for informing us of our Lord and King, Jesus.

The bible is knowable and understandable to the Christian. We have the Holy Spirit in us to illuminate His word to us. (Ephesians 1:17-18). The Holy Spirit teaches us spiritual things. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). Of course there are some things in the bible we cannot understand, such as the Trinity, One God in three Persons. We cannot understand the Spirit’s overcoming Mary and producing a child. We do not understand all the ways in which God thinks. However, for the most part, the doctrines upon which He has given to us, are understandable.

One such doctrine is the doctrine of eschatology. This is the doctrine of ‘last things’, or end times. Just because there are many people who won’t or can’t understand the various threads of prophecy does not mean there exists confusion about what He plans to do. The pre-tribulation rapture is one of these understandable doctrines, clearly outlined in the bible to those who care to learn. Some people say Revelation is difficult, I find it easy to understand. I do find Daniel difficult, but that does not stop me from studying it, nor from turning to other scripture to help me interpret Daniel’s book. It can be done, and it has been done. Oliver B. Greene’s commentary on Daniel is wonderful. John MacArthur’s book “Because the Time is Near” is a clear explanation of Revelation.

Even this is a doctrine! It is called the Perspicuity of Scripture. According to the Theopedia, the perspicuity of scripture means,

The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (often called the “perspicuity of Scripture”) teaches that “the meanings of the text can be clear to the ordinary reader, that God uses the text of the Bible to communicate His person and will.”  

“The witness of the Church throughout the ages is that ordinary people, who approach it in faith and humility, will be able to understand what the Bible is getting at, even if they meet with particular points of difficulty here and there.”

Yet there are some people who refuse to believe the doctrines of last things, because so many other people are mixed up over them. ‘They can’t be understood, so why try?’ I was told by one man in church. “I’m a pan-tribber, it’ll all work out in the end,” he said.

Illustrator, Chris Koelle, The Book of Revelation

That is a highly offensive statement, and I said so to his face. It is a blight on Jesus, the Spirit, and God who inspired it, and all the Apostles who wrote the inspired word, and all the martyrs who protected it, to be so blatantly dismissive of 30% of God’s holy doctrines. Jesus did not reveal last things to John, nor the angel to Daniel, so God’s people could mock them.

Did you know that every NT book except Philemon mentions last things?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)

So I was so pleased when John MacArthur was asked about eschatology in his latest Q & A session at Grace Community Church. In Q&A session #62 it was stated by the interviewer that they had received more than a dozen questions regarding eschatology.

First, MacArthur noted that a church without a solid understanding of eschatology has got a huge loose end. Here are MacArthur’s words on the importance of the church understanding and teaching last things:

a church without a solid biblical eschatology, meaning understanding of the end of history has got a huge loose end. It’s huge. I said something about that this morning when I was kind of wrapping up. I said, the Jews wanted to force all the prophesies regarding the Messiah into His first coming. We have Christians who want to take all the prophesies concerning Christ and push them back into His first coming. They’re called pretrerists, amillenialists. So they have this theology with this totally open end. It just has no closure. They don’t seem to care particularly. It’s almost like a badge of Reformed loyalty to be unsure about how everything ends.

I am running into this attitude more frequently, the badge of loyalty to uncertainty. “I’m super-spiritually humble because I refuse to state how things will end.” Or, “I’m super tolerant of all the different interpretations, because who am I to say dogmatically? It’s all just beyond little ole me.” Uncertainty is the new loyalty. But is that right? Is that honoring to Jesus? Here’s more from MacArthur.

I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t work well with me. First of all, I don’t think God gave a clear beginning and just kind of lost Himself at the end. I don’t think if Genesis 1 says that God created in six days and there’s no question about it, and He lays out exactly how He did it; and you get to the book of Revelation and you hear about periods of certain weeks and certain months and certain years and a thousand year millennium, and then an eternal state. I don’t think God lost His way at the end. I don’t think He was confused at the end. I think the end is as precise as the beginning. To be honest with you, I am far more concerned about the end than I am the beginning. The beginning is over. I’m glad it was what it was, and it explains why things are the way they are.

This is an important point. God did not state it clearly in the beginning and then back away from clarity for the end. He is just as clear in Revelation as He was in Genesis.

Source

As for the people who say, ‘There are so many interpretations, it’s just best to let go and let God. It’ll all work out in the end, anyhow,’ I say that’s just a bunch of lazy hooey. There are not many views of last things. There is only one view, God’s view, and He has shared it with us.

But I don’t think you can over estimate the value of a church with a clear ecclesiology and a clear eschatology. Clear understanding of the church, and a clear understanding of what the Bible says about how things are going to end. It does say something. It doesn’t say everything, and it doesn’t say whatever you want it to say. It doesn’t have ten views or five views or four views. There’s just one view.

MacArthur went on to describe a wonderful moment in Kazakhstan some years ago. Kazakhstan is east of Mongolia and north of Turkey. It is around the world. He was asked to teach 1600 men at a pastor’s conference. MacArthur taught 8 hours a day for 6 days a week. The men were hungry for the word, to be taught. They had been behind the Iron Curtain and now were released into more freedoms, including the freedom to practice religion, and to gather. They’d been denied a congregation, education, commentaries, access to internet or anything resembling study aids. They had each other, and the bible…and the Holy Spirit. So they wanted to know about all the doctrines, including eschatology.

MacArthur said,

I laid out; I went through the book of Revelation systematically and showed them the end. They said to me after that – I took a day to do that. The end of that day they said, “You believe what we believe.” I said, “I believe what you believe?” Same Bible. Guess what? It’s so clear that people with no training, no seminary, and no commentaries could understand what the book of Revelation said.

The reason I gave you the illustration about Kazakhstan is because that is as alien a place as you could ever be. Thirty-five hours to get there. You step off the plane. I’ve never been there. I don’t know what’s going on. I teach them a whole day on the end times, and they tell me that’s exactly what they believe. How did they come to that? They don’t have seminaries. They don’t have books. They don’t have anything. That’s what the Bible says. You have to go to school and listen to somebody who deceives you to undo that because that’s what’s there.

MacArthur has said before that any believer who landed on a desert island with nothing else except his bible can and would understand eschatology. The 1,600 Kazakhstan men were as close to desert island as you can get in this modern world, and eschatology was made understandable to them- because they studied it.

Source

As a note, what a glory it is that we believers have this unifying thread! What a moment of recognition between a Scottish-descended pastor from Sun Valley CA and Kazakhstani men isolated behind the iron curtain, to know each other as brothers! This unifying thread is the holy word, the Bible.

For men to say, ‘Ack, it’s all too much for me, it’ll all work out in the end, anyway,’ is a direct rejection of the wonder of being able to recognize and commune with brothers via a common and eternal understanding of God’s word, wherever you are on earth.

Rejecting eschatology is also a rejection of the work that the Spirit has done in men that He has raised up. Many resources are out there, as I mentioned, commentaries, sermons, books, timelines…it is all there for us.

To continue what MacArthur said about eschatology,

I think it matters how it all ends. I think God is glorified when we acknowledge Him as the Creator, the beginning; and I think He is glorified when we acknowledge Him as the consummator, the end. I think that’s a huge benefit for Christians looking at the world and wondering where is this going? Where is this going?

In talking to Al Mohler when I was back there a few weeks ago, he said he’s more eschatological than he’s ever been. He’s almost apocalyptic because he sees a world that just there is no way to reverse this. This thing is in a massive free fall, and there is no way to stop this. He’s pretty well-attuned to the way things are, and he says, “I’ve never felt so eschatological, so apocalyptic about the way the world is going.” Well, if you want to understand where the world is going, you can as a believer. That gives us such a powerful confidence that all that is coming is laid out for us on the pages of Scripture. I think that’s a treasure that a church can’t underestimate.

Do not reject the treasure of eschatology. It is just as much a treasure as the Psalms and the Gospels. Do not reject the work we are to do through eschatology. We have the answer to how it will all end. Lost people are confused and frightened about where this world is headed. We know it. Do not be afraid to study, and then to share.

What message does it send when a mature man of the faith in church makes a public statement dismissing eschatology? It tells the next generation that it is not worth studying, and bible illiteracy increases, just at the time when the next generation may be the very generation to see these things come to pass and could have been more fervent and diligent about sharing the truth with lost and confused people.

John MacArthur is a unique individual and is in a unique position. It was common in the old days for a pastor to stay for decades. Not so any more, where the average pastoral stay is 5 years or less. MacArthur has been at Grace Church for 46 years. He is 75 years old. He has seen history unfold, prophecy fulfilled and apostasy rise. He said,

I’m seeing this world unravel. There doesn’t seem to be any way back. I mean this is totally out of control. This is a free fall down a black hole. So, you can’t just say, “Well, eschatology doesn’t matter.” That is not helpful. People want answers. Where is this thing going? It’s not fair to God, it’s a dishonor to God to say, “Well, the Bible is not clear.” It is clear. It is absolutely clear.

Yes, it is sad and offensive that there are so many people who refuse to study last things. Those who dismiss the Spirit’s work in inspiring that portion of the bible are simply missing out on so much glory. It is also sad that so many brethren have unfortunately come to different understandings of what God clearly laid out. But does that mean we reject it all? Does that mean that is is useless for us individually to study it? No.

I just wish that the church was unified on what the Bible says. I don’t like it that there are Christians who don’t believe in Creation, but believe in some form of evolution. I think that dishonors God and confuses people. I don’t like it that there are Christians who don’t accept what the Bible says about the end either. But I think it’s wonderful that we do, and the answers are there.

God’s word has all the answers, including last things. Please do not be afraid to jump in and read, learn, pray, and receive illumination from the Spirit. Do not be afraid to seek credible, quality study aids. Always remember the perspicuity of scripture. The bible is clear.

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Further Reading

Academic Paper – The Master’s Seminary: The Perspicuity of Scripture

Essay – Oliver B. Greene on the Pre-Tribulation rapture

Essay – Thirty-Six Pre-Trib Rapture texts

Sermon – Christmas Future: Last Things of Jesus Christ in Revelation

Sermon – The Clarity of Scripture, Part 1

Posted in millennial kingdom, prophecy, zechariah

Even the pots will be holy

Posted on by elizabethprata
And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar.
EPrata photo

And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

~Zechariah 14:20-21

EPrata photo

Pastor Steve Hadley once said while preaching through Zechariah, that pound for pound, Zechariah contains more prophecy than any other book of the bible, including Revelation. It is an astounding book, magnificent in its history, prophecy, and terrible beauty.

Here, we see the very end of Zechariah’s book, the last verse. Zechariah is speaking of the Day when Jesus (the coming Messiah, the Lord) will rule on earth during the Millennial kingdom. John Walvoord explains the verse in his commentary:

In that day holiness will characterize millennial life (cf. 8:3) whether it be in public life (the bells of the horses), religious life (the cooking pots in the LORD‘s house, the millennial temple, Ezek. 40–43), or private life (every pot in Jerusalem and Judah). Perhaps the general thought is the removal of a dichotomy between secular and sacred. In the Old Testament a Canaanite had become symbolic of anything ceremonially unclean and ungodly (the dishonest “merchant” in Hosea 12:7 is lit., “the Canaanite”). In the millennial temple no such defilement will occur. Thus Zechariah’s prophetic book which began with a call to repentance (Zech. 1:2–6) concludes with an affirmation that all will be holy to the LORD (14:20–21). Because He is the LORD Almighty and the Holy One, He will establish holiness throughout the glorious Millennium!

Lindsey, F. D. (1985). Zechariah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1571–1572). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

I like even better Gill’s Exposition. What a joyous time it will be, when ALL is holy!

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts,…. Such will be the number of sacrifices and sacrificers, that the pots in the Lord’s house will not be sufficient; wherefore every pot, in city or country, shall be sanctified and devoted to holy uses:

and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein; this denotes, as before, the general holiness of the professors of religion in those times; and that there will be no difference in the vessels of the Lord’s house, or any distinction of Jew and Gentile; but they will be all spiritual worshippers, and offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise to the Lord