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discernment, encouragement, gossip, paul washer

Paul Washer on persecution in America, the bible is complete, salt makes a person thirsty, gossip

Posted on November 12, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

On Monday we had an 80-mile widespread internet outage here. A fiber had been cut on “some very important lines” the tech person told me. It lasted 14 hours. Otherwise known as an eternity. I’ve been playing catch-up ever since.

I love me some internet. I make no bones about it. I did enjoy the opportunity to read my new John Grisham book distraction free, but overall, I realized that I enjoy and depend on the internet for my theological studies quite a bit.

I have some commentaries, atlases, a book of biblical natural history, and several bibles as well as other books, but for overall fast access to all of the above and more, the internet cannot be beat. And what a grace-filled gift the Lord gave us when laying the path to the birth of the internet and now I can listen to so many sermons. That is what I missed the most- sermons.

Of course I enjoy using my laptop for all my entertainments, movies and tv shows and Youtube clips etc. I also play with my photos and sometimes use a photo editor to make digital collages or even photo gifts from Snapfish. I’m trying to make bookmarks out of some of my photos for stocking stuffers.

I’m not in any different of a boat than anyone else who has become dependent on technology and an online access point for work, entertainment, and communication. Perhaps I’m less stressed when it goes off because I don’t have a business that depends on active and reliable internet connections.

Anyway I am still catching up. I surely would not be a good pioneer woman. I hardly know how to do anything except light a candle when the power goes out, or read a book when the internet goes off, lol.

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free pics

I have a few different thoughts for this blog essay. Not one big point but a variety of different thoughts that I re-read in my spiritual journal. I re-read it because I wanted to use the journal for note-taking at school and I ripped out the written-in pages. I read them before I tore them out, and there were some pretty good thoughts in there. I think they’re good thoughts. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you agree.

You know how we are called to be salt and light?

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. . (Matthew 5:13-14a).

Being salt, to me, means adding seasoning to a bland world by sharing His word and doing His works. Of course there is more to it but this is just a quick notion here tonight.

Here is the thought about salt: salt promotes thirst. Salt makes people thirsty. Jesus is the Living Water. If we are truly salt, even if what we are saying or doing in the world causes aggravation or offense (Gospel offense, not rudeness) then the recipient will become thirsty, one hopes. And in their seeking to slake the thirst, they will turn to the bible, to Jesus, to God, to the Spirit…(one hopes).

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Pr. Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society

Paul Washer had a good word one year ago on truly knowing the Lord. As the synopsis states, “It was a sermon delivered to a body of students at the Master’s College, headed by Dr. John MacArthur. Brother Washer doesn’t allow these students to hide behind their school or association with Dr. MacArthur. Everyone must know the Lord for themselves, and be known of Him. Adam knew his wife and she bare him the fruit of the womb. Has Jesus so known you that you bear fruit? Included was a statement about persecution in America. His words are coming true. Here are just a few excerpts.”

“The church in America is going to suffer so terribly and you laugh now but they will come after us, they will come after our children, they will close the net around us while we are playing soccer mom and soccer dad, when we’re arguing over so many little things and mesmerized by so many trinkets. The net even now is closing around you and your children and your grandchildren and it does not cause you to fear. You will be isolated from society as has already happened, anyone who tries to run for office who actually believes the Bible will be considered a lunatic until finally we are silenced. We will be called things that we’re not and persecuted not for being followers of Christ, but for being radical fundamentalists who do not know the true way of Christ, which of course is love and tolerance. We’ll go down as the greatest bigots and haters of mankind in history.”

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Free pics

The holy Bible is perfect. It is finished! There is no more to add, nor should any be taken away. People who have allegedly been to heaven, and come back with “a message”, or who have heard God speak to them with a word and told to declare it, are wrong, deluded, and dangerous. The perfect, and complete bible says, via the Spirit:

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

“Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:6)

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

It is clear! The bible is finished and we are not to add new revelations to it. Besides, it is perfect. Why would a person want to add to it?

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Gossip. It does a body harm.

Free pics

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20)

The Greek word for gossip here is psithurismos, a word that means “a whispering, secret slandering.” Moreover, it is an “an onomatopoetic word for the sibilant murmur of a snake charmer.”

Think of that the next time you (or I) want to spread gossip about someone…our mouth making the sss of the snake as we gosssssssip.

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I am studying the glorified body. I’ll be writing on that soon. Just think of it, a body that has no aches and pains, eyes that can behold Jesus face to face without bursting apart, never getting old, a body that can transcend matter and perhaps…even fly. Won’t that be wonderful!

armistice, spiritual warfare, veterans day

Armistice Day, Veterans Day…the war is over for many valiant military men and women, but not for the Christian fighting on

Posted on November 11, 2014February 24, 2018 by elizabethprata

This is a slightly updated and refreshed post I published a few years ago. May it glorify the Lord.

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The signs of the end are unmistakable. Though the signs Jesus warned us about (wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, apostasy, false messiahs…) have always plagued man, the rush of prophetic activity the Lord has been doing the last 50 years is unlike any other in history. The headlines we are reading today were unthinkable even 10 years ago. The Lord could come at any time. And yet, that has always been true. The Lord could come at any time, therefore He told us to be ready always.

It is not time to get ready, it is time to be ready. The schoolbus is not in the next neighborhood, it is not down the block, it is not even at the next house. It’s downstairs honking, and the time is now to be ready to get on board. We need to be already packed and ready to go.

Sometimes I read in the news, or see in a novel, a particularly tragic event that happens in a war. I am thinking particularly of WWI, where a famous armistice was the prelude to the final peace treaty. An armistice is a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations. The armistice in WWI was signed on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. The commemoration of WW1 Armistice Day is now known to Americans as Veterans Day. It is different from a truce and it is not a treaty, but it is effectively the beginning stages of the end of the war. Did you know that though the 11-11-11th 1918, is held to be the official end of the First World War, final peace with Germany was not ratified until 1919, and peace was not finally ratified on all other fronts until January 1920?

Anyway, the when the news of Armistice got around, soldiers started to relax because they knew they were going home soon. The war is almost over. Almost.

It is such a tragedy when a soldier dies after the armistice is signed. In France, 3,500 casualties occurred between the armistice signing and the official end of hostilities.

Here is an article about the aftermath of those deaths. It is a good article that explains the thinking of the commanders and generals and what happened to cause so many to die when the end was so near. Were those soldiers’ lives wasted?

Wasted Lives on Armistice Day
“On November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front in France suffered more than thirty-five hundred casualties, although it had been known unofficially for two days that the fighting would end that day and known with absolute certainty as of 5 o’clock that morning that it would end at 11 a.m.”

General John J. Pershing, in a Congressional hearing a year after the armistice period, said, “When the subject of the armistice was under discussion we did not know what the purpose of it was definitely, whether it was something proposed by the German High Command to gain time or whether they were sincere in their desire to have an armistice; and the mere discussion of an armistice would not be sufficient grounds for any judicious commander to relax his military activities….”

You see, although the soldiers and commanders knew that the end was near, they were not sure what the enemy was going to do, whether it was a feint or not. They remained vigilant because they knew that the enemy was likely still out to kill and destroy.

Besides, the thinking went, the word had not gotten to all the soldiers that the end was near. They could not relax because some of their compatriots were not relaxing their guard. They were all in this together, one unit, even though strewn on different battlefields. The article continues with Pershing’s testimony:

“No one could possibly know when the armistice was to be signed, or what hour be fixed for the cessation of hostilities, so that the only thing for us to do, and which I did as commander in chief of the American forces, and which Marshal Foch did as commander in chief of the Allied armies was to continue the military activities.”

My grandfather, serving in WW1, British Army, Royal Leicestershire Regiment

It makes sense, doesn’t it, if the soldiers didn’t know the day or hour, then they were duty bound to continue the good fight.

“Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander in chief of Allied forces in France, issued on November 9, to keep up the pressure against the retreating enemy until the cease-fire went into effect. …Foch had described to his staff his intention ‘to pursue the Feldgrauen [field grays, or German soldiers] with a sword at their backs’ to the last minute until an armistice went into effect.”

Keeping up the pressure on the enemy, pouring ourselves out as a drink offering… As Paul said in the bible, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24).

Pershing continued, on the notion that the very idea of an armistice was repugnant, because the enemy was still fighting. The enemy was still the enemy, after all:

‘Their request is an acknowledgment of weakness and clearly means that the Allies are winning the war,’ he maintained. ‘Germany’s desire is only to regain time to restore order among her forces, but she must be given no opportunity to recuperate and we must strike harder than ever.’ As for terms, Pershing had one response: ‘There can be no conclusion to this war until Germany is brought to her knees.’ “

Pershing is right to say that the war is not over until every knee bows and all acknowledge the victor.

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”(Philippians 2:10.)

“Pershing saw his army akin to a fighter ready to deliver the knockout punch who is told to quit with his opponent reeling but still standing. Conciliation now, he claimed, would lead only to future war. He wanted Germany’s unconditional surrender.”

That’s right. Unless the job is done thoroughly, the enemy comes back stronger than before.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” (Mt 12:43-45).

I hope by now you have caught the metaphor. Though we old prophecy soldiers can see the signs that the end of our war in the spiritual realms is near, we cannot relax. “And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

It feels so close, doesn’t it! But the enemy is still on the field and actively engaged. We won’t go home until the Commander in Chief calls for us, and until then, we continue to fight the good fight with all due vigor and attention. Until we hear the Trump of God, carry on, soldiers! (1 Thess 4:6).

discernment, false teachers

Discernment: Faked out by fake leaves

Posted on November 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

It’s fall and the leaves are turning. Fall comes late to Georgia, and gently. The daytime temperatures decrease slowly by one degree or two, lower and lower until you notice that you need a sweater if you’re going to be outside for any length of time. You barely need the heat turned on inside, and if so, only to take out a chill. I love this about Georgia.

The one thing that is different than in the northern climates where I’m from, is that the leaves do not turn as vividly red, orange, or yellow here as they do up north. They turn, but it’s a duller kind of foliage. It brightens when the strong sunlight streams through, but overall, foliage down here is ho-hum.

That’s why I was surprised when I walked out of the church doors Wednesday night after prayer meeting, and spotted on the ground a twig with several very red leaves attached. I love leaves, especially if they are large (fig leaves) or unusually shaped, (maple!) or a great color (bright red!). I take photos of them, look at them, put them in art collages, press them, enjoy them. The ones I saw on the ground were a great color red, deep and bright. I stooped down and picked them up immediately.

I had a few things in my hands as I entered my front door, including the twig with leaves, so I dumped them all on the table and then went to the other room to finish unpacking. Excited, I returned to the kitchen and looked at the twig with red leaves in the better light than I had seen them in the gloaming when I first picked them up.

They were fake.

I’d been totally taken in by the extreme resemblance they had to real leaves. Fake!

I thought about this for a long time. It’s like false teachers. I was faked out because I’d made two mistakes.

The first was the obvious one: I hadn’t looked at the item carefully enough. I only made a quick glance, and picked up the twig with leaves and brought it home because it looked close enough to the real thing. A surface glance, though, won’t do when sitting under a teacher of the bible.

In Acts 17:11 we learn that the Bereans were called ‘noble’ because after listening to Paul, they “searched the scriptures” to see if what Paul said was so. They did not skim the scriptures. They did not glance at the scriptures. The word ‘searched’ indicates they spent some time comparing the words of God to the words of Paul. After a period of time doing this, one would know that the words of God were indeed emanating from Paul. But it takes time to search and compare and make a determination.

It also takes effort. Admittedly it was easier for me to simply stumble over the item and pick it up. If I really wanted cool leaves to play with, I’d have to walk, and go, and look, and maybe climb. But no, I walked up to a spot on the ground and with minimal effort on my part, I stooped down and thought I’d gotten myself a prize. In the end what I had was a pale imitation of the real thing, and I was disappointed. Minimal effort usually means maximum disappointment.

The second mistake I’d made was more subtle. It is about context and expectation. If it had been summertime, I would not have expected a twig with several leaves attached to be on the ground. Fall winds make this a common sight. Summer’s gentle air doesn’t. If it had been summer, the red leaves would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Leaves aren’t red in summer. They’re green. They’re red in fall. The context I had for seeing these leaves was appropriate and the expectation I had matched what I thought was the reality. Fall leaves on the ground in fall. This expectation formed a preconceived notion in my mind and I didn’t stop to investigate. I just went with it. I had not expected them to be fake.

In church, one expects a pastor or teacher or deacon to be many things. Because of the context of the place in which they appear, one would expect them to be saved. One would expect them to be qualified. One would expect them to behave in the way the bible says they must. One would expect them to handle the word rightly. One has a preconceived expectation of all these things due to the context in which the teacher labors: church. This expectation means we tend to extend trust to the teacher in great amounts and almost immediately.

Trust is different from respect. I respect my elders as the bible says we should. And I do extend more trust to a guest speaker or a teacher that the pastor brings in, because I trust him to make good decisions on behalf of his sheep. But it isn’t a blind trust. It isn’t a mindless trust. I listen respectfully, but alertly. I go back and compare what has been said to the bible.

If the situation is that a teacher of the bible hasn’t been introduced by my pastor and is a television or celebrity personality without a church (and it seems there are more and more of those lately) then the context is a bit different and thus my expectation is different. My immediate trust level is lower. It doesn’t border on skeptical, that would be rude I think, but I do listen with all discernment cylinders firing. I put a higher guard on my heart and mind while listening to this itinerant teacher or celebrity pastor etc., and then I go back and check it out. All of this of course is bathed in prayer.

My point is that one should look deeply and carefully at a teacher you’re going to sit under, and look hard. Do your research beforehand. Don’t relax your guard just because they are a teacher of the bible. We know from scripture that the church isn’t safe from predators. Wolves will come in and they have come in, not sparing the sheep. What a false teacher brings is death, so the stakes are high.

As for our expectations in the context, I am sure that the Bereans had an expectation that Paul would teach rightly. He was famous, had studied under famous teachers, and was known to be brilliant. However, they still searched. Their searching did not mean they didn’t respect him, they likely did. However, they respected God more. They wanted to be sure what they were hearing was not contradictory to His word.

One last piece of discernment advice: just because you searched out a teacher and found them to be sound 20 years ago, doesn’t mean you stop comparing what they say to the word. Over time, teachers fall prey to false doctrines or twisted interpretations, or fads. Over time, the teachers (being human like us!) stop being vigilant, and they teach wrongly instead of rightly. Just because they were great three years ago doesn’t mean they are great now. Keep searching the scriptures to see if the things they say are so. There is no rest for the weary soldier, not yet anyway. Not yet. But soon? Dearest Lord, I hope soon. Won’t it be wonderful to sit under the greatest Teacher of all? We will never have to check what He is saying against the Word, because He IS THE WORD!!

encouragement, truth

Jesus declared: "I am the Way because I Am the truth"

Posted on November 9, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We know John 14:6 as one of the tremendous I AM statements Jesus made.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

alí̱theia, the Greek word for Truth

In focusing on the Way, the Truth, and the Life statement from John 14:6, we learn from Greg Matte in his book, I AM Changes Who i Am:

More than any other I AM statement, John 14:6 stops us in our tracks. Jesus claims without exception to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In the original language of the New Testament, this statement has more going on than in English. The countless times I read the verse, I thought it was just a 1, 2, 3 listing. However, the Greek language’s richness is shown in the cyclical statement in which the previous word is the foundation of the next.

Matte goes on to quote Pastor RC Sproul, who taught in his book “John” that

I am the Way BECAUSE I am the Truth and Life. The structure of this statement is such that Jesus was not giving a string of descriptive terms. He was not saying I am (A) the way, (B) the truth, and (C) the life. Rather, this statement is in an elliptical form, so Jesus was saying, “I am the way because I am the truth and because I am the life. I am the way to the Father because I am the true manifestation or revelation of the Father. I am the way to the Father because I alone have the power of eternal life.”

The ‘because’ makes such a difference, don’t you think? 🙂

What a balm and the solace to ponder our Savior as the first cause of everything good.

Fairest Lord Jesus

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son:
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

encouragement, king saul, repentance, sin

A sin-sick mind: King Saul’s journey into darkness

Posted on November 9, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We read many times in the bible that sin corrupts the mind. A mind without Christ will not work right, it will be blind, deluded, corrupt, twisted.

The perversion of a sin-sick mind varies from person to person. Not all people are as totally evil as they could be. But sin piling upon sin will corrupt the mind in increasingly evil ways. Here is one example: King Saul.

I wrote recently about Saul and David. Saul was king, the people’s choice and God allowed it. Yet when David had earned victories and the people sang of them, Saul became jealous. In jealousy, Saul cast a wary eye against David. What happened then? The next day an evil spirit came to Saul. (1 Samuel 18:7-10).

The point of that essay was to show how quickly sin will rise and seize the opportunity to magnify itself in a man’s heart and mind. Sin does not wait for a second invitation. Sin does not lollygag. Sin pounces at any opportunity, with all haste.

The point of this essay, in still viewing King Saul through the biblical lens, is to see how sin that’s unaddressed degrades a man’s mind.

David plays the harp for Saul, Rembrandt

Some time has gone by, and Saul is by now deeply tormented by David. He has no cause to be. David is Saul’s servant, gaining the king victories. David never gave reason or cause to Saul for any lack in his duties as servant and subject. David played the lyre to soothe Saul. David has made no move against Saul and has only supported Him. Yet Saul is jealous. Saul threw a javelin against David while David played music for Saul. David escaped the piercing. It must have been the hand of God, for Saul was large and tall, skilled in battle, and one would surmise Saul’s javelin did not miss his target in close quarters. Yet it did.

David ran. His wife, Michal, told Saul’s messengers who appeared as his house that David was in bed, sick.

And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” (1 Samuel 19:14-15).

Saul’s fear, envy, jealousy, insecurity … all negative values that show us Saul was not standing in the hand of the LORD. His negativity had grown to monstrous proportions. Monstrous, because Saul purposed to kill his servant. His servant was said to be sick, in bed, and Saul decided to kill him in bed. Saul said he will kill his servant David while David was at his most vulnerable and could not even fight back.

This is a perverted mind and a blackened heart. Of course, David was not actually sick, his wife was trying to gain her husband time for David to flee. However, Saul’s act here was a watershed.

You’ve heard the phrase, “he drifted in and out of consciousness”? Saul had been drifting in and out of God. He was in God’s hand at his anointing. Samuel the prophet tells this to Saul:

Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. (1 Samuel 10:6-7)

Saul threatening David, by José Leonardo.

Here Saul learned the Spirit would be:

with him
equipping him
giving success to him

Initially all was well. But then Saul disobeyed and gave an unlawful sacrifice, and he lied to Samuel the Prophet about it. Events in Saul’s life and kingship lost their luster and eventually “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.” (1 Samuel 16:14)

Verse 23 of that same chapter shows us that the harmful/evil spirit came to Saul and at times departed from Saul, usually when David was playing the lyre. Saul drifted in and out.

In 1 Samuel 18:10 when the harmful spirit tormented Saul, this time Saul began raving. Here is the key:

Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. … And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. (1 Samuel 18:12, 15)

Saul was looking at man, and not at God.

Saul knew the reason for his troubles and the reason for David’s success. Does not Saul believe God is a mighty God and a loving God and a listening God? If Saul had humbled himself before the LORD and asked for forgiveness of his jealousies and violence against a man of GOD, does Saul believe the LORD would not have forgiven? Saul knew he was out of the LORD’S will and pleasure but Saul remained in awe of David, not in awe of God. Saul refused the antidote that was poisoning his mind and polluting his heart.

Repentance.

What a joy we have in our Savior, Jesus Christ. He shed the last blood the Father will ever need. He stands with the Father, interceding for us in our sins.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The truly gracious gift to us from the Father is Jesus, who atoned for our sins. When we do sin after conversion, He listens and accepts and forgives. We need not fear the departure of the Spirit as the Spirit departed Saul, and we have the bible as our holy writ to guide us into all truth. It is on this foundation we stand, and looking to Him, our Savior and our Friend, when we repent.

We live in a truly gracious age! We should celebrate our opportunity to repent, be forgiven, and grow in renewing our minds with pure truth of holy scripture. Once converted and justified by grace, our minds are no longer degraded and polluted, but it is still our responsibility to read the bible so as to renew it in truth. It is our responsibility to wash ourself daily with it. It is our responsibility to pray mightily to God for forgiveness of our daily sins, and appeal to our High Priest who stands at the ready to bring our cares and sins and woes to the Father. David washed himself often in prayer to God in repentance and in heartfelt plea for forgiveness.

Saul and the witch of Endor, Gustave Dore

More than that, what a joy it is to do so! Saul did not, and ended up in 1 Samuel 28 where all people with unaddressed sin end up: at the devil’s door. In this case, the Witch of Endor’s house. In his sin-sick mind, when Saul finally sought to address his problem, it was too late. His mind was too far gone to think right.

And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. (1 Samuel 28:6).

And so Saul went to the devil ‘to inquire’ of the devil instead of to God. Worse, Saul swore to her ‘by the LORD.’ Oh, Saul wretch of a man, swearing to the devil by the precious LORD! What has Light to do with darkness?

David did pray and repent often and seek to live in God’s will, and ended even his most tearful prayer in hope and joy and peace at pouring out his woes to God. David was called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), not because he never sinned. Why did David’s mind not become sin-sick as Saul’s did? Because when David sinned (unlike Saul) he repented and in so doing saw God ever more clearly as the savior, protector, gracious and revered Eternal Hope.

apologetics, doctrine, prophecy, rapture

Rapture is biblical

Posted on November 7, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here is an article by Joel C Rosenberg about the biblical fact of the rapture and why it will be before the Tribulation. It is the best one-stop shop defense of the doctrine I’ve seen.

I was shocked/not shocked to see that the new Left Behind movie released recently has sparked lots of rapture haters, from Christians no less, who fervently denounce this as a biblical doctrine at all! I am surmising from Mr Rosenberg’s title that this is one reason he wrote the essay in defense. It is a good, fast apologetics course in itself and I thought this piece was one of the best Joel has done in a long time.

The essay explores the following subjects

What exactly is “The Rapture”?
Is “The Rapture” a Biblical concept, or merely a fictional plot device?
What does the term mean?
What are the implications of “The Rapture”?

“Hollywood tackles the End Times with “Left Behind” film. But is “The Rapture” a Biblical concept, or a fictional plot device?“

heresy, jesus, prophecy

Apostasy: the church’s carbon monoxide

Posted on November 7, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO). Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect.

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is deadly! Now that the heating season is here, we should be careful with woodstoves, gas stoves, and other heaters that incorrectly set or maintained, can emit this deadly gas. So what is carbon monoxide (CO) and how is it produced?

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a deadly, colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. It is produced by the incomplete burning of various fuels, including coal, wood, charcoal, oil, kerosene, propane, and natural gas. Products and equipment powered by internal combustion engines such as portable generators, cars, lawn mowers, and power washers also produce CO.

What are the symptoms of CO poisoning?

Headache
Fatigue
Shortness of breath
Nausea
Dizziness

High level CO poisoning results in progressively more severe symptoms, including:

Mental confusion
Vomiting
Loss of muscular coordination
Loss of consciousness
Ultimately death

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Heresy monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of heretical monoxide (HO). Heresy monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect. Now that Perilous Times are here, (2 Timothy 3:1) we must carefully shepherd our faith, which incorrectly maintained, can succumb this deadly gas.

What is heresy (HO) and how is it produced?

Heresy (HO) is a deadly, colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. It is produced by the incomplete burning of various sins, including greed, envy, adultery, gossip, fornication, idolatry, and thievery. Products and equipment powered by internal combustion of false teachers, unsaved pastors, unqualified deacons, vision casters, and power mongers also produce HO. It infiltrates silently on the backs of words containing ideas contrary to what is written in the bible and entertained in the mind for any length of time. What makes it deadly is that it is difficult to detect and initially non-irritating and non-threatening.

What are the symptoms of HO poisoning?

Headache from listening to emergent sermons
Fatigue from battling false doctrines
Shortness of breath from gasping at the loudness of rock and roll “worship”
Nausea from platitudes from the pulpit
Dizziness from being tossed back and forth over the waves (Eph 4:14)

High level HO poisoning results in progressively more severe symptoms, including:

Mental confusion
Vomiting
Loss of muscular prayer life
Loss of conscience
Ultimately death

To avoid Heresy Poisoning, breathe the pure air of biblical doctrine, congregate with fellow believers, pray constantly, remain vigilant about burning off sins completely, by casting them to the feet of Jesus and repenting of them.

beth moore, blind, guide, pharisees, truth

Blind leading the blind, having eyesight problems and finding the Good Guide

Posted on November 5, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The bible says we will be guided. We all need a guide. When we go to places where we have never been, we need a guide to help us get there. Do they know the trail? Will they take the correct fork in the river? Do they have experience with the terrain?

In the bible there are blind guides. They lead their followers into a pit.

Janet Fong. Share alike

Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14)

Both teachers and taught are alike ignorant of the truth. The people had no spiritual light, and, applying to their appointed pastors, they learned nothing profitable from them; for these were as much in the dark as themselves. (Pulpit Commentary)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says

“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch—Striking expression of the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching!”

Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray. And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. (Isaiah 9:16)

But God sends His Spirit to guide us into all truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)

Gills Exposition again,

He is as a guide, he goes before, leads the way, removes obstructions, opens the understanding, makes things plain and clear, teaches to profit, and leads in the way men should go, without turning to the right hand or left, which, without such a guide, they would be apt to do.

Yes, we do go astray, don’t we. It is grace abounding that we have a guide. Though we are no longer blind, we do have eyesight problems. Though we are saved by grace we still dwell in our flesh. The flesh obscures the full vision of truth. Our desires, our sins, our temptations all cloud our vision. The Spirit is there to guide us into all truth. He sees perfectly and He knows the way. He illuminates the bible for us, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:5)

Praise the Lord we have a guide who will draw us along the path, until finally, FINALLY, at the glorification, we can fully see. Our guide will be Jesus in the flesh, with us and never leaving us.

Until then, follow the bright, holy, pure Guide: The Spirit of Truth. His path leads upward. The paths of the blind guides only lead downward, into a pit.

The blind leading the blind. The pit awaits them and their followers

lion, resist, sin, victory

Spiritual warfare is real: the lion prowls seeking whom he may devour

Posted on November 5, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

public domain

In the Old Testament bible days, there were active demons on earth, possessing people. It wasn’t a frequently mentioned activity in the bible, but it happened. Further, the people living at the time knew what it was when it was happening.

I hear unsaved folks and even Christians say that in the bible times of 1000, 2000, 3000 years ago, people were ignorant of medical things. They were just dumb sheepherders who attributed everything to demons and not to science or medicine. Well all I’ve go to say is, go build a Sphinx, a Pyramid, Solomon’s Temple, Aqueduct, or a Babylon Hanging Garden, Lighthouse at Alexandra, and then we’ll talk.

Though a visible presence of demons as bodily possessors was an occurrence in the OT days, they weren’t frequent. Demonic events seemed to ramp up immediately prior, during, and just after Jesus’ incarnation. The heightened activity of satan on earth was evidence of the battle in the heavenlies, by then having come to earth in a fierceness unseen since that time.

The presence of demons will again become visible and palpable immediately prior to Jesus’ Second Coming. As Revelation 9:2 tells us, the pit where many demons are being held will be opened for them to pour out like locusts and perform God’s wrathful will upon the people of earth. Sin will be unrestrained (2 Thessalonians 2:6) so demonic activity will have a heyday unlike any other, except perhaps immediately before the Flood. (Genesis 6:5)

Aside from the dramatic events of the Flood and the Tribulation, and the few years of Jesus’ incarnation, for the most part, demonic activity is invisible. Make no mistake, just because it’s invisible doesn’t mean it is not happening.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:11-12)

public domain

Here is an example of how demonic activity is present on earth but invisible. It is fairly early days in the kingship of Saul. The Israelites wanted a king they could see, “like the other nations.” They rejected God as their king and wanted a man. God did as they asked, and Saul initially had some success. However, God’s choice, David who had been anointed but not set up as king yet, was having more success.

“And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” And Saul eyed David from that day on. The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. (1 Samuel 18:7-10)

Here is what struck me about this. Saul was jealous of David. Saul cast a wary, jealous eye upon David from that day on. This is Saul’s right. He can choose to sin. It is God’s right to do something about it.

How long was it before the evil spirit came upon Saul? The next day.

Do we suppose sin waits? Lolls around, just to see how it’ll go? No chance. Sin is always crouching at the door.
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7)

Sin desires you! (And me!)

Here is an example of how sin crouches. “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13)

The ‘him’ referred to here is Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus, got nowhere and departed to get Him another time (or so the devil thought).

So sin crouches. Guess what? Sin also prowls.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Sin desires us, crouches at our door, prowls, and once sin appears in our heart or mind (like Saul) it comes in immediately.

We must master sin, as commanded in Genesis 4:7. Of course we cannot do that ourselves. The beauty of the universe and every atom in it, is that Jesus delivers us this grace, this power. Through this power that ever believer has, we can live victoriously before Christ! Saul did not rely on the LORD. David did. It wasn’t that neither sinned, but it was that David actively and constantly sought the LORD’S power to help him resist sin, and when David failed to resist, he repented sincerely.

“Against you alone I have sinned.” (Psalm 51:4)

It might surprise some to know that satan isn’t behind every sin. Our own fleshly desires are part of the battle, too. When satan isn’t directly tempting, our own desires fill in the gap. Adding to that are the world’s desires, pressure from without. We cannot master the world, and we can’t master satan, but through Christ, we can rule over our fleshly desires, and when we do that regularly, satan withdraws “until an opportune time.”

The key is to give him the opportunity less and less frequently.

Licensed for reuse

It seems that the odds are stacked against us, with satan on the prowl, his demons crouching at the
door, the world pressing its desires onto us, our own desires clamoring to get out, but Jesus IS THE VICTORY. He has won it! He gave His victory to us! His Spirit in us is the all in all, able to conquer any and all sin. As ugly as sin is, how beautiful, wonderful astounding, that He sent His Spirit to enable us to resist satan. In so doing satan will flee! Otherwise, ‘the next day’ sin will come bursting through your door.

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What Does the Bible Say about Demons?

Why did God send an evil spirit to torment King Saul?

jesus, moth, one world religion, pope benedict, pope francis, schism

Too Many Popes Spoil the Vatican: Is there a Catholic Schism Looming?

Posted on November 3, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Left, Pope Benedict (Emeritus) and Right, Pope Francis (Current)

On February 11, 2013, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning his position as Pope. No pope had resigned in 600 years and only 5 of the 266 popes, including Benedict, have ever resigned. I wrote about it here, quoting a news article:

Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world and left the Catholic church reeling when he said on Monday that he would resign – the first pope to do so since the middle ages. The move, announced without warning, will take place on 28 February and leave the papacy vacant until a successor is chosen

That successor is Pope Francis. He ascended the papal monarchy on March 13, 2013.

Since then, Francis has garnered worldwide praise for his personal touch, his winning smile, his emphasis on the poor, and … his liberal views.

The Vatican & Cardinals are less impressed. The Daily Beast published an interesting article today. It’s titled,

Is the Pope Catholic? Critics Rally Around Benedict As Talk of Schism Looms

Almost from the beginning, there have been rumblings of discontent about Pope Francis. While the world’s media fell in love with him, there were more conservative bishops who felt that Francis’s popular appeal came at the expense of carefully worked-out Church rituals and teachings. They saw Francis as chipping away at established Church teachings on sexuality, kowtowing to the liberal media, and acting aggressively towards conservative church leaders. Criticism of Francis has come to a head with the publication of the final report of the Synod on the Family. Despite changing absolutely nothing doctrinally, the Synod’s recommendations for a more understanding attitude to those in unconventional family arrangements have ignited a firestorm of controversy among conservative commentators. The possibility that Catholics who had divorced and remarried without receiving an annulment might be readmitted into full communion with the Church has made many apoplectic.

In his short 18-month tenure, Pope Francis has seemed to have softened the traditional Catholic stance on homosexuals, has signaled a review of the traditional Catholic stance on female clerics and priests, noted that the traditional position of celibacy of priests can change, shifted a long-held stance on evolution and Big Bang, and now this week’s seeming change of stance on divorce. The Cardinals have had enough, and looking around, they notice that there’s another pope in town. One who was very conservative and is looking pretty good to them right now.

Pope Emeritus Benedict.

But there’s a reason to pay attention to this particular breed of shrill complaint: there’s more than one Pope in town. Much like an ex-partner you keep running into in the street, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s continued presence in the church serves as a constant reminder of the way things used to be.
…
Benedict is hanging back for now, but there’s no doubt that he could easily become a figurehead for traditionalists harkening back to the good old days. In some ways, he already has. In somewhat ominous tones that have rightly been called threatening, Douthat exclaims to his “true Catholic” audience, “Remember there is another pope still living!” Having warned that Pope Francis and the Synod are leading us towards schism, does Douthat mean to imply that “true Catholics” will or should stage a coup?

The longest continuous monarchy in the world is generally accepted to be Japan’s, founded around 600BC. The Vatican records the first pope as Apostle Peter (which we know is false) but their chronological list of popes extends from Peter’s time to now with Francis, 266 in all. By that standard they are considered the second oldest monarchy in the world, and Denmark is third, founded in 935 AD.

A schism in the Vatican between liberal Francis and conservative emeritus Benedict could be very interesting. To fracture the long held power and remove the stranglehold the Vatican has on billions of false Christians known as Catholics would indeed be earth-shattering.

One does not know what the Lord is doing or will do, apart from what is recorded in the bible, but the mind reels with possibilities of how the final one-world religion predicted in Revelation 12-13 could come about.

I am reminded of a prophecy made in Hosea 5:12. The LORD promised this:

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

Pulpit Commentary explains, “The meaning of the prophet is by no means obscure, and that is, that the Lord would by a slow corrosion consume both the people; and that, though he would not by one onset destroy them, yet they would pine away until they became wholly rotten.” The two agents of destruction here named – the moth which eats away clothes, and the woodworm which gnaws away wood – figuratively represent slow but sure destruction.”

Moths work secretly, unknowingly to the clothes owner. All one knows is that when the garment is needed, it will be full of holes and unwearable. The woodworm has been secretly gnawing out the wood and suddenly one day the ship sinks, or the building topples.

Has the Lord been working as a moth, secretly eating away at the foundations of this false religion?

We do know for sure that one day the evil false religion of harlot Babylon will fall! (Revelation 17) During the Tribulation, all peoples will worship the Beast (Rev 13:15-16) except for Christians, who will be killed for refusing.

These are exciting times to be living in, and we are grateful to the Lord for placing us here, now, to observe His mighty works and the end of all things. I believe the end is at hand, for many reasons, but one major indicator in my opinion is the collapse of Cultural Christianity and the wide apostasy infecting the church.

We watch in awe of the Lord at work in these tumultuous times. As Timothy Larsen said in his excellent essay Cheerful Confidence after Christendom,

THANK GOD FOR GRANTING US NOW

God has granted me the privilege to live now—in my own times. To wish otherwise is not only pointless, it is ungrateful. It is also self-defeating. Every season of life has its own joys. Foolishness is to want to have the joys of adulthood when still a teenager or the joys of adolescence when middle aged and so on. Likewise, there are unique joys, privileges, and opportunities for serving God in each generation. We are called not to hanker after a different age, but rather to jump in with relish to following Christ at this moment.

And if the Lord sees fit to hugely shake Catholics to their core by creating a schism, perhaps making room in unconverted hearts for true Christianity to enter, is that not cause for celebration? Oh, to see hearts aligned with an antichrist in the form of a pope, minds blinded to the simplicity and beauty of the Gospel, tongues praying to Mary, spirits convulsed with doubt as their seeming foundation is revealed moth-eaten and worm-gobbled, converted to Jesus. A cause for celebration indeed. Peter is not the rock upon which the faith is built. The Rock is Jesus.

No matter what, the Lord is mighty, and He is always at work. Praise Him for His perfection in all He does.

This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
(Psalm 18:30-31)

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