Posted in elijah, enoch, paul, prophecy, rapture, two witnesses

All the raptures in the bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was listening to Tommy Ice on pre-Tribulation rapture on a youtube video last week. It was a long video, over an hour, and I only had time to listen to about ten minutes. I figured I’d get back to it.

But I lost it in the flow of the dozens of music videos I subsequently watched while on vacation. Viva vacation.

All this to say I’m sorry I can’t post a link to the video, but here is the part that interested me.

We Christians know about the rapture. We understand that at the moment the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (the full number, Romans 11:25), the rapture will occur and Jesus will descend from heaven. We will vanish from the earth in a moment, a twinkling of an eye. The dead will be no means be left behind, they will also be raised and we’ll all meet in the air. Jesus will lead us to heaven. Then, the final 7 years remaining to complete the Old Testament decree regarding the Jews will resume on earth. It will be a time of Godly wrath, unleashed full force.

It’s fascinating to think about going on our daily business, driving, washing, feeding the dog, and suddenly we will hear the trumpet of God, and the next moment we’ll be airborne! The next moment we’ll be in heaven, where no eye has seen nor any ear has heard the things prepared for us!! It is a singular, unique, momentous event!

However as I listened Dr Ice put something together in my mind. There have been several raptures already.

Enoch.

James Tissot, ~1900

Father of the longest lived man on earth, Methuselah. Enoch was the 7th from Adam. He was a prophet. (Jude 1:14). He lived 365 years, then God took him home. He was the only one in a long line of the genealogical record to not have died. “And then he died…And then he died…And then he was not, for God took him.” Raptured.

Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

Elijah.

Prophet, servant of God. Slew all the false prophets of Baal by the sword. (1 Kings 18). Mentored Elisha. Raptured.

And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:11)

Jesus.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11). Raptured.

Paul, Isaiah.

Paul wrote about “a man” who was caught up to the third heaven. Most scholarly consensus is that Paul is speaking of himself. Note that Paul says “caught up” in some translations it’s “snatched up”. In the Greek it’s the word harpazo. This means snatched up. It is the same word that describes the bride’s snatching up, or of being caught up.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. (2 Corinthians 12:2)

Isaiah- This one is more speculative, but in Isaiah 6:1 Isaiah wrote that he saw the throne room. Whether in the body or not…we can’t be sure. He described the altar, the train of the Lord, the pillars,the seraphim crying HOLY HOLY HOLY. However after Isaiah exclaimed he was undone, he was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, the seraphim took a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips. If Isaiah was not in the body then this is metaphorical, however the word for mouth in Hebrew is mouth, the word used here. My personal opinion is that Isaiah was bodily caught up to heaven as Paul was.

Two Witnesses.

In Revelation 11 we are told that there will be Two Witnesses sent by God to preach to the entire world. This will be during the Tribulation

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. (Revelation 11:11-12).

Many people think, and I include myself, that the Two Witnesses are Enoch and Elijah. Since it is appointed for man to die once then the judgment, and they never did, that this means the Two Witnesses are those two men and their death will occur during the Tribulation. Anyway, The Two Witnesses will be raptured.

Philip.

I wrote about his remarkable instant journey from point A to point B in Gaza: here. I have always been fascinated by the practical moments. After Philip was finished baptizing the Ethiopian Eunuch, he was snatched up and set down 20miles away. He wasn’t raptured to heaven but to two places on earth, but still, the notion of being bodily taken up by the scruff of the neck like a kitten and plunked down some there else with no warning is amazing. In the sense of a harpazo, a catching away, Philip’s experience fills the bill. His snatching up is the same word used on the Bride’s rapture: harpazo.

And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:39-40).

We’ve talked about various raptures in the past. They’ve all been one man or at most two. The most startling and eagerly anticipated event of all is no doubt

THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

This will occur at an unknown time in the future, and it will happen to a large number of dead and alive believers.

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.(1 Corinthians 15:52-53).

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,d that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

While being raptured is not a usual nor a frequent event, neither is it made-up as some like to claim. As we can see in the bible, it has happened before and will happen again. It isn’t far-fetched and it isn’t an “escape.” A catching up or a snatching away of persons or groups of people is an event that God uses in His plan to accomplish the things He wants to accomplish. Simple as that.

How wonderful He is so sovereign He is able to put us where He wants and to take us up when He wants. How majestic are His ways. What a blessed hope our rapture is.

Come soon Lord Jesus!

Posted in charles spurgeon movie, encouragement, polycarp

New Christian Biographical Documentary Movies: Through the Eyes of Spurgeon, Logic On Fire, and Polycarp

Posted on by elizabethprata

December 18, 2014: Through the Eyes of Spurgeon
Synopsis from  the website: “A unique and never before seen look at the life and ministry of Charles Haddon” Spurgeon”
2 hours. Watch online for free.
Link for the film on Facebook

Full Review here: “Stephen McCaskell has given the Church a documentary that is timeless and accurate. He has done it with panache and to the glory of God. You need to see this film.”

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

April, 2015: Logic on Fire: Life & Legacy of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Click on the film’s link to view the trailer. The website for the film is http://www.logiconfire.org
Link for the film on Facebook
Link for the film on Twitter

No reviews yet.

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

Polycarp: Destroyer of Gods

Synopsis from the website:

The Story

Have you ever wondered what happened to the early Christians after the Book of Acts? What trials did they face and overcome? POLYCARP is like a journey to the past, giving us a glimpse of that world.

A young slave girl, Anna, is rescued and adopted by Christians in the 2nd century Smyrna and befriended by their aged bishop, Polycarp. As Anna is taught by Polycarp and her new family, she struggles to reconcile her beliefs with those of the Christians. When the Roman proconsul demands that all citizens worship Caesar to show their allegiance to Rome, Polycarp and the Christians must find courage to stand for their faith against the growing threat of persecution. Anna is forced to come to grips with the truth and choose whom she is willing to live – and die – for.

What should audiences expect?

While not an epic action film, audiences should expect an authentic and heartfelt story that will inspire viewers of all ages. This character-driven period drama is inspired by the true story of Polycarp, and we’re excited to have a role in keeping an important historical character from being forgotten!

Our number one goal is to make this a God-honoring movie. We have sought to make decisions prayerfully, and with good counsel. We believe the story will communicate an important message about being willing to sacrifice all for the sake of Christ. Our prayer is that the Lord would use POLYCARP to touch many lives around the world!
Henline Productions

Unknown Release, sometime in 2015. Trailer available here. No reviews yet.

 Enjoy!

Posted in ant, busy, encouragement

Scripture photo: The Ant

Posted on by elizabethprata

Now that we’ve had our Christmas break, whether it was long (like mine), or just a day or two, the holiday season for many people can be a time of rest, slowing down, and contemplation of the year ahead.

Whether your slowing down was long or short this holiday season, no doubt tomorrow the busyness of life will resume. I go back to school Monday, and the kids come back Tuesday. Busy doesn’t even begin to cover it as we hit the ground running and won’t stop for several months. The next semester is a very busy one and contains a lot of meetings, deepening of the academic curriculum, as we sprint toward the Statewide and national testing in the spring. Phew. I’m tired just thinking about it.

Yet the scriptures say that we should make the most of every moment. We store up treasures now, on this side of heaven. We must be about our Father’s business. Is our busyness the right kind of busy, or the kind that distracts us from the Father’s kingdom?

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)

EPrata photo

A lazy, irresponsible person is challenged to learn from the ant (also mentioned in 30:25) and be wise. Ants, known for being industrious, are commended here for their initiative. Apparently ants have no leader—no commander to direct them, no overseer to inspect their work, no ruler to prod them on. Yet they work better than many people under a leader! Ants also work in anticipation of future needs, storing and gathering while it is warm, before winter comes. The virtue of wisdom is not in being busy but in having a proper view of forthcoming needs that motivate one to action (cf. 10:5).

Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures

Man is taught more than the beasts of the earth, and made wiser that the fowls of heaven, and yet is so degenerated that he may learn wisdom from the meanest insects and be shamed by them. 

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

Posted in fellowship, first century church, love, worship

Let’s stop idolizing the first century church and love our own churches a little more

Posted on by elizabethprata

It’s fashionable today to hate the church. People like to come across as wise sages, decrying the ecclesiology of the western church. Many people note that church is shallow, entertainment-driven, and lukewarm, with worthless shepherds leading clueless goats. Some even go so far as to say that most churches should be closed. They say they love Jesus but hate religion. They say that they love Christ but disparage the church.

You hear more and more that the First Century church is what we should get back to. Continue reading “Let’s stop idolizing the first century church and love our own churches a little more” →

Posted in annunciation, catholics, discernment, esther, immaculate

Comparing Mary’s "Yes" to Esther’s "Yes"

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is a doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church that has to do with Mary and the Annunciation. When the angel Gabriel came to announce the impending conception of Christ in Mary’s womb, Mary said yes. By the way, did you know that Catholics do not refer to this as the Immaculate Conception? The Immaculate Conception is Mary’s conception, they say she was conceived without sin. Catholics believe Mary was supernaturally preserved from all sin, and so was sinless throughout her life.

Back to the annunciation. Catholics believe that due to free-will, if Mary had said “No” then Jesus would not have been born and the entire Plan of God would have been thwarted. Mary is exalted and elevated to a position that is unscriptural, because really, the Catholics are all breathing a huge sigh of relief that she said ‘yes’. Here are quotes from various Catholic Doctrine sites:

Catholic.com

God permitted the Redemption of mankind to depend on the free-will decision of a human being. Whether or not we would have a mediator was dependent on Mary’s “yes.” Had there been no “yes” from Mary, there would have been no mediator.

EWTN, Global Catholic Network:

St. Irenaeus (late second century): “By obeying, she became a cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”

From the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia:

“Without Mary’s “yes”,” the Archbishop said, “without her “let it be done to me as God wills”, the Lord Jesus would not have been born and we would not now be preparing to celebrate his birth in just a few weeks’ time.”

In this way, the Catholic Church denies the sovereignty of God.

I’d like to bring your attention to a book of the Old Testament that has some parallels to the Annunciation scenes in Luke. In Esther, we have a young girl, put into a dramatic position with weighty consequences to herself personally and to her nation of people, the Israelites, just as Mary was. Esther is presented with a choice, to become engaged in God’s work in the saving of all Israel, or to decline. Would Esther say yes? Or would she say no?

ESTHER: Andrea Del Castagno (~1450).
Esther was actually a Queen

Esther is an interesting book because it is the only book that has no mention of God. Yet His providential works via His total sovereignty are saturated throughout the book. God’s plan did not depend on Esther. If she had said no…well read the scripture yourself.

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

Deliverance will come from another place. Will. Not “if.” Nothing was dependent on Esther, except her personal obedience and trust of the LORD in whom she had declared faith. She was providentially put into an important moment of time and her answer would say more about her faith than any disruption of God’s plan, which was going to come to pass anyway.

Besides, I don’t recall that the angel Gabriel asked Mary anything. He arrived to tell her what God said will happen.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

There are seven “wills” in those verses. Not seven “pleases.” If Mary had said no, would Gabriel have had to return to heaven and say, “Sorry God, what you said will happen…won’t happen after all?”

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10-11)

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)

Mary with the Child 1520-25,
Albrecht Altdorfer.
The biblical Mary is not a queen.

In the same way, nothing about God’s plan was dependent on Mary’s yes. Of course, God’s omniscience was such that He already knew her answer. In addition, His will is irresistible. (Romans 9:19a). His plans will come to pass. (Lamentations 3:37). God hadn’t spent a thousand years organizing the genealogies of each man and each woman and hadn’t providentially preserved each baby birthed in that line of Mary’s forefathers and foremothers from each tribe so Jesus would emerge as the Lion from the Tribe of Judah, just so it could boil down to one teenager’s answer. God wasn’t in the balcony of heaven wringing His hands and wondering if Plan B was going to have to be drafted.

Please have compassion for Catholic believers. If their entire salvation throughout all the ages depended on one girl’s yes then they must not have very much peace of mind, or security. If their god can be thwarted by one moment of time, by one girl, by one answer, then what kind of god do they have faith in? A god that perhaps cannot hold them to His plan, either. Or hold the earth. Or be sovereign over anything.

Do they believe Job when Job says I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

Do they believe Isaiah’s words speaking for God, when it was written, Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ (Isaiah 46:9-10)

I’ve read several of the Catholic Apologetics sites. The Catholic apologists do a good job of using scripture to support their unscriptural stances. They make reasonable answers to these very questions and are well written enough to confuse a weak Protestant or strengthen a weak Catholic. So what is the key to evangelizing Catholics?

Mike Gendron was a Catholic for many years before the grace of God opened his eyes to the truth. His apologetics site is aimed at Catholics and discussing in Catholic issues & doctrines. Under the heading on this “Articles” page, is the essay Evangelizing Catholics.

We have the faith in a sovereign God who providentially makes His will come to pass. There is enormous security and comfort in knowing this God. The Catholic god is not one who completely saves, not one who is strong enough to withstand a girl’s no, and is not strong enough to bring His will to earth. Share our Mighty God with them, in the ways advised at the site above. Show them this God-

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. (Proverbs 18:10)

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

Further Reading

The Counterfeit Mary of Catholicism

Posted in billy graham, discernment, false teacher

Why does the world love Billy Graham?

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further Reading

Exposing the False Teachers: Galatians 5 exegesis & commentary

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

.

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

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Discerning Reader

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

The people on the reviewing team are listed here

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

Tim Challies

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

He said,

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

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

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

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

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


 Every Woman’s Grace

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

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

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

The current teaching is “The Secret of Contentment.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jen Wilkin:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other men to learn from!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further Reading

What is Biblical Discernment and why is it Important?

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

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

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

Posted in 2014, by the numbers

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

EARTH

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

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

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

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

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

Oklahoma continues to be shaken daily by quakes.

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

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

Source

Whoa. Is all I can say.

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

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

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

This article below is from February 2014

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

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

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

Why Are There So Many Sinkholes in Florida?

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

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

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

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

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

APOSTASY

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

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

EPrata photo

The article below is from 2013-

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

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

The social collapse of Christianity as fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy

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

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

EPrata photo

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

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

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

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

EPrata photo

 Speaking of me-centered:

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

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

Religion News Service article below is from yesterday.

Faith and values in 2014: 10 telling numbers

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

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

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

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

WEATHER

Weather.com’s top 100 photos of 2014

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

Looks like there were fewer tornadoes this year.

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

NOAA: State of the Climate 2014

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

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

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

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

TERRORISM/ANTI-SEMITISM

Source Haaretz

British Anti-Semitism set to hit all time high

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

Europe’s Anti-Semitism comes out of the shadows

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

MONEY

Source

Illinois leads nation in 2014 bank failures

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

Why the US will power the world economy in 2015

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

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

The UK Telegraph has a slightly more pessimistic outlook.

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

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

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

SILLY

Top 2014 US trends in Google searches

Top trending searches

Top trending search for recipes

 Top trending searches for symptoms

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

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

I’m crying, and it ain’t oil

Any year that has this in it has to go.

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

Shalom and peace to you all

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

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you know that the IF:Gathering title means?

“If God is real, then what?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But wait, it gets worse.

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

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

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

Maybe they are forgetting Someone? The Holy Spirit?

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

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

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

IF:LOCAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stallone, in Cliffhanger

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

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

Source

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further Reading

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

What does the bible say about doubt?

Study Guide: Making Disciples

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

Being a Titus 2 Woman
Also practical advice

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

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

Posted in bible, encouragement

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

Posted on by elizabethprata

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

A few ideas for the last day of 2014:

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

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

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

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