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dallas, disease, ebola, God, hazmat, wrath

Daily Mail: Man without a hazmat suit helps second Ebola nurse board plane; "Who’s the idiot with the clipboard?"

Posted on October 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Disbelief and panic as mystery man WITHOUT a hazmat suit helps second Ebola nurse board her plane to Atlanta, disposes waste and then climbs aboard

As news helicopters swarmed over Dallas’ Love Field this evening to watch the second U.S. nurse to contract Ebola board a private plane bound for Atlanta, one lone mysterious man stood out from the pack. Holding a clipboard and directing the transfer, the unidentified man seemed to be the only person on the tarmac without protective clothing, wearing just a button down shirt and trousers.

While Ebola is not an airborne disease, his presence so close to patient Amber Vinson’s medical team sparked fears after he was seen grabbing a container and hazmat trash bag from one of the workers’ in full-protective gear and later boarding the flight. It is believed he flew with Vinson and the other hazmat-suited medical staff to Atlanta and local television crews spotted him with the stricken nurse as she disembarked at the airport in Georgia to be transferred to Emory University Hospital. When the plane landed in Atlanta, the man had still not donned any protective clothing and was seen openly interacting with Vinson and the other medical professionals caring for the nurse

Clipboard man appears to have flown on the same flight as infected Miss Vinson,
as he is seen in footage of her getting into an ambulance at an airport in Atlanta

Video at link.

CDC has been telling us that ‘extra margins of safety’ have been followed, yet we learn that the first patient in Dallas was turned away from the hospital, even after reporting he had just returned from Liberia.

We’re told that the CDC is on it, but then we learn that 2nd Dallas nurse Amber Vinson had a fever when she flew, but was allowed to fly by the CDC (whom she called) because the fever was 99.5 and not 100.4, putting her into the ‘low risk’ category.

We are told that an ‘abundance of caution’ is the watchword, yet our border and inbound air flights are wide open to all comers.

We are told that Ebola is not and can’t be caught through the air, yet this doctor says it can be

We can go on and on pointing out the inconsistencies the Government and other Authoritative Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) tell us, but one fact remains, we cannot control disease and it goes where God wills or allows.

God’s goal in pandemic diseases is always restoration and repentance. He did before and He still does display His wrath through disease to show His power and might and holiness. As Ebola has instilled fear in the world population, one would hope that the fear of the disease would turn to fear of God accompanied by repentance. A repentant person with God will live forever. An unrepentant person fearing only the disease will die and die forever, over and over and over throughout all eternity.

This ongoing Ebola fear also shows us another thing, the only One we can fully trust is God.

God showed His love through Jesus, and through illnesses such as devastating pandemics, (which Ebola is not yet) God also shows His wrath and His power. Please read the following essay.

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Lesbian mayor of Houston demands Houston pastors’ sermons

Posted on October 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In this piece of news,

61st Mayor of Houston,
Assumed office 1/2/2010. Wikipedia.

City of Houston demands pastors turn over sermons

The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.

The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over the Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance. The law, among other things, would allow men to use the ladies room and vice versa. The city council approved the law in June.

The Houston Chronicle reported opponents of the ordinance launched a petition drive that generated more than 50,000 signatures – far more than the 17,269 needed to put a referendum on the ballot.

However, the city threw out the petition in August over alleged irregularities. After opponents of the bathroom bill filed a lawsuit the city’s attorneys responded by issuing the subpoenas against the pastors. Mayor Parker will not explain why she wants to inspect the sermons. I contacted City Hall for a comment and received a terse reply from the mayor’s director of communications. “We don’t comment on litigation,” said Janice Evans.

Among those slapped with a subpoena is Steve Riggle, the senior pastor of Grace Community Church. He was ordered to produce all speeches and sermons related to Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality and gender identity. The mega-church pastor was also ordered to hand over “all communications with members of your congregation” regarding the non-discrimination law.

[Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said] This is the moment I wrote about in my book, “God Less America.” I predicted that the government would one day try to silence American pastors. I warned that under the guise of “tolerance and diversity” elected officials would attempt to deconstruct religious liberty. Sadly, that day arrived sooner than even I expected

We know that the way that society is going here in America that this day would arrive. I believe we have all seen a dramatic acceleration in soft hostility against Western Christianity in just the last few years. That the State would begin to bully Christians in a harder persecution would not be long in coming. I personally believe this act from the Houston Mayor is a kind of bridge step in going from soft pressure to hard persecution.

Russell Moore, speaking on behalf of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote yesterday,

Houston, We Have a Constitution

Reports coming out of Houston today indicate that city attorneys have issued subpoenas to pastors who have been vocal in opposition to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a measure which deals with gender identity and sexuality in public accommodations. The subpoenas, issued to several pastors, seek “all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession.”

I am simply stunned by the sheer audacity of this.

The preaching of sermons in the pulpits of churches is of no concern to any government bureaucrat at all. This country settled, a long time ago, with a First Amendment that the government would not supervise, license, or bully religious institutions. That right wasn’t handed out by the government, as a kind of temporary restraining order. It was recognition of a self-evident truth.

The churches, and pastors, of Houston ought to respond to this sort of government order with the same kind of defiance the Apostle Paul showed the magistrates in Philippi…

MORE AT LINK, please read. It is good and it’s not long.

Dr Steve Riggle

Dr. Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church of Houston was mentioned by name in the article. Here is Dr Riggle speaking two years ago of the need for pastors to be the moral, prophetic voice in their communities and about the reason pastors need to continue speaking of these cultural issues. The excerpt below is from the 6-minute clip below:

If I don’t speak up for the people at Grace, then who are they listening to? Because what other voice is out there? And the voices that they’re being inundated by all around them are not the voices of righteousness nor are of a stance that adheres to biblical fidelity. It’s imperative for me because I’m trying to to shape their worldview in a biblical sense. If I don’t speak out on issues like homosexuality – what the bible really says – in a way where why God said ‘no’ is seasoned with mercy and grace for the person, but not countenancing the sin, then how do they know that? Because who else is going to say it? … We raise up authentic followers of Christ who walk in righteousness and see themselves as salt in the culture. And to do that, they have to have a solid biblical foundation.

He speaks on the need for pastors to stand with each other. In seminary, regardless of the degree level a seminarian is at, the legal complexities are not taught, Riggle said. It can be overwhelming for a shepherd to be confronted with legal complexities and legal pressure from the worldly culture.

He also speaks of the difference between pastors who respond to their work as a calling and pastors who see their job as a vocation. Pastors who are in a calling will do anything to further the cause. The difference is that one is a leader and another is not. One will speak up and the other will not.

In an interesting turnabout, two years ago during an earlier contretemps with Dr Riggle, Mayor Parker said,

“…it’s her duty “to uphold the state Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. I swore an oath to that. I take that oath very seriously, but I have my First Amendment rights to free speech. We all have the right to do that and I’m sorry that they [Riggle and his supporters] don’t understand the Constitution. I’m going to continue to follow my oath of office, lead the city well but speak out on issues that I care about.”

It might be wise for Ms Parker to remember that freedom of speech to promote ‘issues that she cares about’ goes both ways in this Constitution she cited two years ago when it suited her.

Pastors need prayer. Even if the Houston Mayor backs down, this shot across the bow has opened the Pandora’s Box for all manner of evil to come flying out. Once the demand has been made, it cannot be unmade. Other towns and cities will follow suit in Houston’s precedent, and quickly too. One of those times, the demand will stick. Pastors, are you prepared to go to jail? THE QUESTION IS NOT RHETORICAL in the US any longer!

However, in the mythological Pandora’s Box, when all the other evil had flooded the world after being released, what remained behind? Hope. In real life, not myths, Jesus tells us that we always have His hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

He IS hope. He gives us His hope AND His power so that we may overflow in it. In John 16:32 Jesus said the hour was coming when all will scatter and He will be left alone. He concluded by saying,

“Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.“

The Father is with us all. Unite in prayer and like-mindedness so that the Houston pastors are emboldened, energized by the Spirit as they abound in hope. The Houston Mayor is not the enemy. We all have a common enemy and he is satan. But this enemy has already been defeated. Let’s pray for the Mayor, her cohorts, as we should be praying for our leaders. And always remember that against the Father, who can stand?

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United with Christ

Posted on October 16, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5)

The theme here is agricultural. We have been united, planted together, grown together, in the various translations. Jesus is the root and trunk. We, the branches, are united in Him.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

In the Romans verse where it speaks of united with Christ, it means ‘to grow together’. Though Christ is the first and the last, and we were grafted in, we are now growing together. I find this mind-staggering.

S. Lewis Johnson preached on this section of Romans, and he said in this sermon,

So he says that we should not “henceforth serve sin.” Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield who was one of the greatest of the theologians of the 20th Century has said with reference to Romans 6 in one of his writings, “He cures our sinning precisely by curing our sinful nature. He makes the tree good that the fruit may be good. He eradicates our sinfulness.”

Romans 6:7 KJV: For he that is dead is freed from sin. In Charles Spurgeon’s verse expositions of the bible, Spurgeon explained:

The man is dead. The law cannot ask more of a criminal than to yield his life. If, therefore, he should live again after death, he would not be one who could suffer for his past offences. They were committed in another life, and “he that is dead is freed from sin.”

Jesus Christ is the most magnificent person in the Universe.

allah, idols, ISIS, jesus, pope, vatican

ISIS threatens to conquer Rome and break the Vatican’s crosses

Posted on October 14, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

ISIS, also known as Islamic State, publishes a glossy, slick magazine each month called Dabiq. It is propaganda, of course, but it is a nice production. In this month’s issue, the Islamic State threatened to conquer Rome and break the Vatican’s crosses.

The Clarion Project explains the magazine’s name:

Dabiq is a place in Syria that is supposed to be the location for one of the final battles according to certain Muslim myths about a final apocalypse. Choosing such a name for the magazine highlights the Caliphate’s goals.

In their eschatology, Sunni Muslims believe they must ignite a holy war to prove to Muhammad that they are serious about worshiping Allah and serious in seeking for Muhammad to return in ‘the last hour.’

The magazine is full of exhortations from “Allah”. They call westerners who are opposed to them “Crusaders”, whether they are military or Christian. Here is one example of their latest rhetoric:

From magazine Dabiq, page 37, Issue 4, The Final Crusade

This certainty was echoed by Shaykh Abū Muham – mad al-’Adnānī (hafidhahullāh) in his last speech when he said, “And so we promise you [O crusaders] by Allah’s permission that this campaign will be your final campaign. It will be broken and defeated, just as all your previous campaigns were broken and defeated, except that this time we will raid you thereafter, and you will never raid us. We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. This is His promise to us; He is glorified and He does not fail in His promise. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market” [Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful].

In other sections, the authors of the magazine reiterate that after conquering the Vatican they will sell all the women they capture into slavery. The magazine is full of articles with titles like “The Revival of Slavery: Before the Hour”, and “In the Words of the Enemy” (US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel) and gruesome pictures of beheaded people and the slain ‘Crusaders’.

The cover photo of the current issue (October 2014) is of an image of the Vatican with a photoshopped ISIS flag atop the Vatican obelisk.

In May 2014, Pope Francis met with Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hussein, and pointed to the fraternal dialogue and exchange between Christians and Muslims, this quote is from Vatican Radio Archives:

Dear brothers, dear friends, from this holy place I make a heartfelt plea to all people and to all communities who look to Abraham: may we respect and love one another as brothers and sisters! May we learn to understand the sufferings of others! May no one abuse the name of God through violence! May we work together for justice and peace! Salaam!

In September 2014, “Pope Francis Slams Extremists Who ‘Pervert Religion‘” saying,

“May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman, above all to the right to life and the right of everyone to religious freedom,” he said. … Islamic State has declared a “caliphate” in the territories they control and have killed or driven out large numbers of Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and others who do not subscribe to their hardline version of Sunni Islam.

The acts of ISIL ARE Islam. They are the religious center, the non-violent Muslims are the extremists. Needless to say, the Pope’s entreaties are going ignored.

Islam is not a religion of peace. But God is using it to bring about His final peace, the Prince of Peace who will rule with a rod of iron, and minister justice to all the nations. He warned the ancient Ninevites (present day ISIL) against their unceasing evil, saying through Prophet Nahum,

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. God’s Wrath Against Nineveh 2The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. (Nahum 1:1-3)

As long as a Muslim is praying to Allah, he has forsaken the only steadfast love there is. (Jonah 2:8). But as long as a Muslim draws breath, even one involved in an unholy war as the ISIS men are, he will receive mercy if he repents. (1 John 1:19).

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Song, "The Last Blood" by Victorious Valley Girls

Posted on October 13, 2014 by elizabethprata

A friend at work let me know of this song that is fairly new. It is sung by a group of girls from the Victorious Valley Homes in Sunset SC. They are called the Victorious Valley Girls. I hope it’s a blessing to you.

grace, jesus, youth

Grace upon grace

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

Our church had ‘Homecoming’ today. Answers.com explains the tradition-

Church ‘Homecomings’ are special services usually set on the anniversary date of the founding of the church. Services are normally themed to acknowledge those saints who not only founded the church but over the years have contributed to the well being of the church and the body of believers. The services can also be a great aid in drawing the body of believers closer to God, one another and the church.

Our pastor preached about the older generation and the next generation, from 2 Chronicles where David was handing the reins over to his son Solomon.

After services, we had a pot luck lunch in the Fellowship hall, and also outside under tents, for the overflow. The buffet line is long and the table is laden with green bean casseroles, pork, fried chicken, and jello salads of all kinds, as well as many plates of deviled eggs. In other words, lots of cuisine representative of the South and it’s all delicious.

I stood in the slow-moving buffet line next to a young man who is a member of our church. He teaches the college and career class and he is of college and career age himself. I like talking with him because he likes talking of Jesus. So do I. He said that he was reading John 1:16,

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

He said he was pondering that. All the examples of grace the Lord has given us. I started pondering that too, while he was saying it. It’s a good thing to ponder. Then he said he read a passage in Mark,

And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. (Mark 13:20)

He said, that’s grace. Jesus did not have to shorten the days. He didn’t have to give that grace, in order that some survive. He would be justified to slay all flesh on earth. Grace upon grace.

David with the head of Goliath. Caravaggio.

I thought about it on the drive home. I thought that definitely was a good example of the John verse. And I thought of another example of Jesus’ grace. Though we bemoan the liberal and often unfocused nature of the youth’s worship, and we know that many of that age are leaving the fold, and we also sadly know that many aren’t saved at all but are only looking for the next high (and it just happens to be Jesus for a moment), in His grace, He does send us the next generation of men. He raises up youths with a hunger for the word, with intent and focus and joy. He graces us with the knowledge that though today’s Christianity is being revealed to be false, the core is strong. The root is there bearing graceful fruit. Jesus is always going to raise up a generation for His holy name.

We know God raised up older men like Noah and Abraham and Moses, but he also raised up youths. He anointed David king as a youth, used Daniel for His name, gave us young Timothy, established young Jeremiah as His prophet. (Jeremiah 1:6-7). He is still raising up young men.

Find them, nurture them, encourage them. They’re there. The gates of hell will not prevail against His church, and so, there is always a strong generation coming up.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:11-16).

Grace.

Source

contending, encouragement, jesus

Encouragement for the battle-weary Christian soldiers

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

Oh well, I’m tired and so weary but I must go along
Till the Lord comes and calls, calls me away, oh yes

Weary. CC

We’re all familiar with the opening lines of that beautiful song, Peace in the Valley. It is a song of comfort and promise, based on verses of comfort and promise. (Psalm 23, John 14:27, Isaiah 11:6…).

I believe all true Christians are also familiar with that feeling itself from time to time, perhaps more than time to time. It seems sometimes that a permanent weariness has settled in and we all feel it. The weight of our sin and the world’s sin presses down on us so heavily that ‘going along’ gets harder with each passing day. We’re climbing a mountain with a heavy load that gets heavier with each passing step.

Burdened. EPrata photo

The wolves come and snarl and claw at us. The lions prowl closer and closer, ready to devour. The enemy combatants lob word-grenades at us when we stand up for the truth. In some places, they lob real grenades.

It is a wild and unforgiving world out there, sometimes worst of all in the church! People definitely don’t want to hear about Jesus, sin, wrath, truth, vs. false doctrines today, do they?

The verse about tickled ears is coming alive before our eyes. (2 Timothy 4:3). I think wolves is a good and apt metaphor for those who reject the truth. When they surround us on social media or at home or in church or at work, they snarl and claw and do everything they can, including dirty tricks, to protect their false notions.

Paul experienced these things, constantly, from people he had nurtured and considered friends. He was betrayed over and over again by false converts who left him, (Demas), by true converts who went away (Mark), others who simply got drawn away into false teachings for a while or who became unruly (Corinthian church). In 2 Tim 4:16 Paul wrote that ‘all left him’ at his first defense. Ouch.

Of course, our highest example is Jesus, who was betrayed by an inner circle friend, by the Israelite people He had promised to deliver, and by the world. But He is full of grace and love and left his disciples (and us) with encouragement-

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

Source

In reading the verse, the phrase ‘take heart’ jumped out at me. I looked it up in the Lexicon. The Lexicon for the word ‘take heart’ is defined this way- and I hope all of you who are contending for the truth take heart from these words,

Take heart: tharséō (derived from /thársos, “emboldened from within”) –
–properly, bolstered within which supports unflinching courage
–literally, to radiate warm confidence (exude “social boldness”)
–because warm-hearted.

tharséō (“emboldened to show courage”) refers to God bolstering the believer, empowering them with a bold inner-attitude (to be “of good courage”). For the believer, 2293 /tharséō (“showing boldness”) is the result of the Lord infusing His strength by His inworking of faith (“inbirthed persuasion,” 4102 /pístis). Showing this unflinching, bold courage means living out the inner confidence (inner bolstering) that is Spirit-produced.

Do we have social boldness? If we do, the world tries to beat it out of us. That is the weariness many western Christians are feeling now. We crave that peaceful valley.

Digital art, CC

Contending for the faith is a process. We have faith in Jesus, He delivers the Spirit into us, the Spirit infuses us with Jesus’ strength to endure trials, and the knowledge that He does this gives us our confidence, because it is His confidence. He empowers us with a bold inner attitude and in that way we are His lights. The light shines and encourages others. Yes, the light draws the moths but it also shines truth to eyes that are blind and hearts that are dark.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

I am sure that though you’re being buffeted, Jesus looks down and says to His holy angels, ‘see that little light of mine? She is doing a good work for Truth in My name’.

We take the example of David, who lived a turbulent life. As I listened to the Phil Johnson sermon this morning called Sanctuary, Pastor Johnson said that the only peaceful time in David’s entire life was when he was a boy and youth. One day he was called from the fields and anointed King, and his life was never peaceful or calm after that.

Yet from that turbulence, we have the Psalms, songs from David where he poured out his anguish onto the Lord and from which we receive our comfort. As Pastor Johnson said,

As he pours out his heart to the Lord, He naturally begins to focus his thoughts on the Lord, and there he finds hope in the midst of every trial, because he knows the Lord is faithful. And Psalm after psalm that begins on a note of fear or crushing sorrow closes with a profound expression of hope and faith.

Turning your attention to Jesus helps loosen our burden as we lay it down before Him, and naturally then we ponder the greatness, tenderness, and faithfulness of our Shepherd. Focusing on Him, as Pastor Johnson said, helped David time and again

“…makes him look at his troubles from the perspective of eternity, and he realizes that even though it sometimes feels like he is on the precipice of hell, the trials of this life are as close to hell as he will ever come, but this is also is as close to heaven as his wicked adversaries will ever get.

When you are surrounded by wolves because you’ve contended for the faith, whether online or in real life, turn to the Lord as your sanctuary. As you pour out your griefs to Him, you will find peace there as David did. Our Lord is faithful.

So, how can I go along when my strength fails? When I am so weary? I can do it

BECAUSE HE LIVES.

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"Is Your Church Worship More Pagan than Christian?"

Posted on October 10, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Todd Pruitt wrote a great article titled, Is Your Church Worship More Pagan than Christian? It begins this way,

There is a great misunderstanding in churches of the purpose of music in Christian worship. Churches routinely advertise their “life-changing” or “dynamic” worship that will “bring you closer to God” or “change your life.” Certain worship CD’s promise that the music will “enable you to enter the presence of God.” … The problem with the flyer and with many church ads is that these kinds of promises reveal a significant theological error. Music is viewed as a means to facilitate an encounter with God; it will move us closer to God. In this schema, music becomes a means of mediation between God and man. But this idea is closer to ecstatic pagan practices than to Christian worship.

Yet in the years since then I have learned some valuable lessons. Chief among them is the realization than an emotional high is no substitute for true spirituality. paperthinhymn
Pruitt continues by explaining the theological errors of churches that use music as a mediator between the people and Jesus. Of course there are further explanations in the article. I recommend it highly. Here are a few more excerpts,

1. God’s Word is marginalized.
In many Churches and Christian gatherings it is not unusual for God’s Word to be shortchanged. Music gives people the elusive “liver quiver” while the Bible is more mundane. Pulpits have shrunk and even disappeared while bands and lighting have grown. But faith does not come from music, dynamic experiences, or supposed encounters with God. Faith is birthed through the proclamation of God’s Word (Rom 10:17).

2. Our assurance is threatened.
If we associate God’s presence with a particular experience or emotion, what happens when we no longer feel it? We search for churches whose praise band, orchestra, or pipe organ produce in us the feelings we are chasing. But the reality of God in our lives depends on the mediation of Christ not on subjective experiences.

3. Musicians are given priestly status.
When music is seen as a means to encounter God, worship leaders and musicians are vested with a priestly role. They become the ones who bring us into the presence of God rather than Jesus Christ who alone has already fulfilled that role. Understandably, when a worship leader or band doesn’t help me experience God they have failed and must be replaced. On the other hand, when we believe that they have successfully moved us into God’s presence they will attain in our minds a status that is far too high for their own good.

4. Division is increased.
If we identify a feeling as an encounter with God, and only a particular kind of music produces that feeling, then we will insist that same music be played regularly in our church or gatherings. As long as everyone else shares our taste then there is no problem. But if others depend upon a different kind of music to produce the feeling that is important to them then division is cultivated. And because we routinely classify particular feelings as encounters with God our demands for what produce those feelings become very rigid. This is why so many churches succumb to offering multiple styles of worship services. By doing so, they unwittingly sanction division and self-centeredness among the people of God.

Source

The pagan music practices to which Mr Pruitt was referring were described in several different ancient writings and modern commentaries.

The cult of Dionysus coming from the northland spread in a great wave of religious enthusiasm over Greece proper, over the island states of the Aegean, and across to the mainland of Asia Minor. At first it met with violent opposition, as the legends of Lycurgus and Pentheus prove. In those early days rarely was the god graciously received as he was, for example, by Icarus in Attica. In spite of opposition, however, the contagious enthusiasm of the wine-god spread with unusual rapidity throughout Greece. In order to restrain Bacchic excesses the city-states of Greece had no other alternative than to adopt the Cult, bring it under state patronage, and by official regulation temper its enthusiasm somewhat. At Delphi Dionysus was associated with Apollo, and there the sacred maidens went mad in the service of the two gods. In Athens he entered into civic partnership with Athena and yearly wedded the Basilinna. At Eleusis he was brought into relation with Demeter and led the march of the candidates along the Sacred Way from Athens. In Teos and Naxos he even became the paramount state deity, the “god of the city” and “protector of the most holy state.”

It was as a private cult, rather than as a state religion, however, that the worship of Dionysus made its deepest impression on both Hellenic and Hellenistic life. In the private brotherhoods, the natural emotions aroused by the cult practices were allowed free play and the guaranties offered to initiates were of a very realistic order; hence the appeal of the cult was strong, particularly to the masses and to women generally. At the beginning of Aristophanes’ comedy, Lysistrate, impatient with waiting, complains that if the women had been invited to the shrine of Bacchus “there would be no getting along for the crowd of timbrels.” Indeed, the prominence of women in the worship of Dionysus is one of the most striking features of the cult. Pagan Regeneration, A Study of Mystery Initiations in the Graeco Roman World by Harold R. Willoughby, [1929]

Timbrels are an ancient kind of tambourine. The quote meant that if all the women were invited there would be so many clogging the streets with their tambourines, no one would be able to pass by.

The result of pagan cultic worship, especially Dionysian worship, was a frenzied scene at the temple, and a cacophony that permeated the city from on high to down low.

Menander demonstrates women’s role in pagan worship:

‘We were offering sacrifice five times a day, and seven serving women were beating cymbals around us while the rest of the women pitched high the chant (olulugia)’ (Fragment 326).

In Daniel 3:4-6, the passage is talking about King Nebuchadnezzar and his command that all peoples worship him. To that end, he had made a statue and commanded all to worship before it. In the commentary on the verses, James Burton Coffman Commentary (1992) expounds,

the Temple of Aphrodite Pan Demos, located atop the Acro Corinthus, encouraged the patronage of their one thousand sacred prostitutes by a cacophonous blast of instrumental music five times a day, signaling that, the prostitutes had changed their clothes and that another feast on the sacrifices had been made ready. In our own times, with the continued degeneration of the whole science of instrumental music into the vulgar rhythms and noisy cacophony of the current era, such later styles of instrumental music are impossible of reconciliation with any conception whatever of holy worship.

Hear hear. We have come full circle from the days of the AccroCorinth temple worshipers’ ululations and frenzied dancing, to the same today in many Charismatic and other ‘churches’. It wasn’t acceptable then and it isn’t acceptable now. In 1 Corinthians 14:33-34, Paul said,

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. GotQuestions explains,

The concern of 1 Corinthians 14, and much of the epistle, is order and structure in the church. The Corinthian church was noted for the chaos and lack of order rampant in that assembly (verse 33). It is interesting that no elders or pastors are mentioned in the book, and the prophets who were there were not exercising control (see verses 29, 32, 37). Everyone in the church service was participating with whatever expression they desired, whenever they desired. As a result, those with the gift of tongues were speaking simultaneously, those with a revelation from God were shouting out randomly, and no one was concerned with interpreting what was being said, even if what was said could be heard above the din. The meetings quickly descended into chaos.

The Temple at Corinth and other places in the realm were already hotbeds of female chaos, musical cacophony, and wild dance. Women in the pagan temple were temple prostitutes. Part of their worship used music not only as a call to prostitution but as a method of working themselves up (to madness in many cases) and in a fever pitch, unite with the divine. If music did not have that capability the cult of Dionysius would not have spread so quickly and have been so well-known at Corinth as a synonym for debauchery. Christians must be vigilant about music being used to promote feelings and subjective experiences rather than to explain doctrine and praise the Savior. It all too quickly leads to chaos and worse, as Paul warned and as we see in the pagan cultic worship sessions.

Temple of Athena

Paul urged order in the church and the women to remain submissive. This would be an incredible contrast to what was happening in the immediate culture at the pagan temples, and further give Christianity its distinctive stamp.

So that was a short course in pagan worship and the influence music had on it back in the ancient days. When you read a title like Is Your Church Worship More Pagan than Christian? we can easily see that many of the chaotic, music-inflamed services at many churches, youth conferences, and revivals are indeed exactly like the pagan worship at Corinth, and are exactly what Paul railed against.

The point of the article is that when music is used ‘to bring us closer to God’, it actually separates us from God by instilling a false worship, the worship of emotional highs and subjective feelings. It often is used as an intermediary, or a vehicle, to foment a feeling of closeness with the divine,when all it is really doing is exhausting us with its constant undulations from high to low and high again.

From a youth who has lived the pagan worship and come out alive- barely:

That instead of developing depth it breeds shallowness, immaturity, and confusion. I’ve learned that worship can become the biggest draw for the church, and that worship nights will steamroll over bible studies and adult Sunday school. That a church oftentimes will pour much more resources, energy, thought and time into making a killer worship service than they will into developing deep, thoughtful, meaty, mature, theologically precise and provoking bible studies.

Don’t let that be your church. Music is not worship and it should not substitute for true spiritual depth and relationship with the real intermediary- Jesus Christ.

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Christian missionary doctors fighting Ebola irritate Brian Palmer and other liberals

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

I read an interesting opinion piece in the liberal online magazine Slate, by atheist Brian Palmer, who also writes for the National Resources Defense Council. He noticed that many of the people working in West Africa with the Ebola patients are Christians. Worse, they are Christian missionaries, Christian missionary nurses, and Christian missionary doctors. He is at once amazed that people would volunteer for such a task, and at no pay (which blows his mind!) yet at the same time he is irritated.

Caduceus, Wiki CC

Why? They talk of Jesus too much.

His attitude was, ‘if they want to be do-gooders, at least shut up about Jesus and keep the medical science free from all that … religion‘. He also notices that governments and corporations are not rushing in there to help, and that’s just too irksome to deal with. The Christians are showing up the organizations that are supposed to help.

You can read his original piece here. His title is telling, don’t you think?

In Medicine We Trust
Should we worry that so many of the doctors treating Ebola in Africa are missionaries?

This piece at NewsBusters responding to Palmer’s opinion about the Ebola missionaries is interesting. NewsBusters nailed Palmer’s tone. They put Palmer’s quotes in bold.

‘Mingling of Religion and Health Care’ in Ebola Crisis Stirs ‘Visceral Discomfort’ at Slate

Brian Palmer revealed what many secularists feel about Christian missionaries in Africa in a Thursday piece on Slate, especially the role on the front lines of the ongoing fight against Ebola. Palmer acknowledged how “missionary doctors and nurses…have undertaken long-term commitments to address the health problems of poor Africans,” but added that “for secular Americans…it may be difficult to shake a bit of discomfort with the situation….It’s great that these people are doing God’s work, but do they have to talk about Him so much?”

The writer later hyped that “some missionaries are incapable of separating their religious work from their medical work. Whether implicitly or explicitly, some missionaries pressure their patients, at moments of maximum vulnerability and desperation, to convert.” He admitted, “That troubles me. I suspect that many others have the same visceral discomfort with the mingling of religion and health care.“

Mr Palmer’s attitude is nothing new. It is as old as the hills. In 250 AD in northern Turkey, there was a terrible pandemic. Bodies piled up. Terrified healthy people fled. Some cities were decimated. Afterward, they found battlefields littered with dead soldiers but without wounds. They had simply dropped dead from the pandemic.

Camp Fuston, KS, Spanish Influenza

Christian pastors Dionysius and Cyprian, along with many deacons and laypeople, stayed behind to help. It’s not that they were immune, they weren’t. It’s that the Christians had the hope of Jesus in them, knowing He had come to earth to reconcile men to Himself. His loving sacrificial act spurred the Christians to do likewise of the pagans dying in droves. They laid down their lives for them. Dionysius later wrote about the nursing efforts of the Christians

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead … The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”

Dionysus noted next how the Christians even prepared the pagans for burial. He also described how the pagans reacted:

The heathen [pagans] behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”

Screen shot, Monty Python & Holy Grail, “Bring Out Your Dead” scene

Human nature is no different then as it is now. When the Ebola deaths spiked this summer, The Liberian Observer reported,

Guarded by heavily armed platoons of officers from the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the Police Support Unit (PSU) several weeks ago, two mini trucks conveyed the corpses of Ebola victims to be buried in Johnsonville. This dumping of about 45 bodies on the bank of the Kpan-wein River under the heavy guard of police and soldiers immediately created a stampede, with people running in all directions, for fear of being contaminated or afflicted with the Ebola disease.

One hundred years after the plague Dionysius wrote about had abated, Roman Emperor Julian (the last Emperor) tried to get the pagan priests to perform such heroic acts of charity and care. They wouldn’t. It is perplexing to the unsanctified mind that people would lay down their lives for a stranger, would give and provide for them. It further perplexes them, as it does Mr Palmer now, that the government won’t step up neither will the pagan religions, but the Christians always do. Julian wrote,

“The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.”

Source

The bible tells us:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Gill’s Commentary explains,

His sense is this; that the light of the Gospel, which he had communicated to them, the spiritual knowledge of the mysteries of grace, which he had favoured them with, were to be openly declared, and made manifest before men. Light was not given merely for their own private use, but for the public good of mankind; and therefore, as they were placed as lights in the world, they were to hold forth, in the most open and conspicuous manner, the word of light and life:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, (Ephesians 2:10)

In 1 Peter 2:12 we read,

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

We are called to live a good life before the pagans. This glorifies Jesus. In some cases, we are called to live a good death. This glorifies Jesus.

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You will be swallowed up

Posted on October 9, 2014 by elizabethprata

It’s one or the other. There is no need to make it more complex than it is.

Swallowed by death,

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. (Isaiah 5:14 KJV)

Swallowed by life,

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:4 ESV)

The difference between being swallowed by death or life is repentance of sins and falling onto Jesus. He is mighty to save. Be saved today.