Posted in theology

We are chosen by God

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

God chooses us. We do not choose Him.

He is not “a gentleman”. He is God and He does as He pleases. He chooses us as a graceful trophy for His glory whether we want Him to or not. In fact, none of us want Jesus before He chooses us. It is He who opens our heart and mind to His Good News. We are His enemies and we resist the confrontation of our sins in front of a Holy God every step of the way.

He slammed Saul/Paul to the ground and burst in on his day with a pointed question “Why are you persecuting Me?”. Then He struck Paul blind. Not so ‘gentlemanly’.

If Jesus came down from heaven, lived to preach endlessly in Judea, Samaria and environs, if He tirelessly taught, healed, and did miracles, if He went willingly to the cross naked and humiliated, beaten and tore apart, do you think Jesus would then leave the final piece of salvation to our sinful hearts? Hearts that are so desperately wicked and so at enmity with God that we would NEVER choose Him?

Of course not.

John 15:16, speaking to the twelve, You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Yes but that’s just the 12, you say. But think on this. Did Jesus preach and teach and then see who would come follow Him? No. He is sovereign, He chose them.

He also chooses us. Ephesians 1:4-5 says,

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; (Romans 8:29)

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

But God…

I am so grateful for His grace. Now I DO want him! I am thoroughly satisfied in His election of me and the knowledge that if He didn’t choose me for eternal life, my punishment would have been just and deserved. O what a sinner I was! What a sinner I still am.

If you are presently dwelling in the in-between of knwoing you are a sinner and have appealed to God, but do not feel saved, keep praying. John Bunyan prayed for five years before he was justified. It was agony for him but he persevered until the moment of God’s timing to justify Bunyan.

Spurgeon prayed and wrestled for an unspecified time before that moment in the showy primitive church in England where he was converted. Spurgeon later wrote,

There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the Precious Blood of Christ.”

If you feel the agony of your sin but haven’t crossed the finish line to the cross yet, take heart. The Lord gives you the agony of the bones. he gives the awareness of sin. He delivers the aroma of death to those who will smell it. If you were not named in His Book of Life, you would be at enmity with God, hating Him at all points and refusing to acknowledge your sin.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Keep praying that you are one of God’s elect.

Posted in theology

God’s will vs. Jesus’ will?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:38-40).

The word of God is so rich, isn’t it? Let’s focus on what Jesus said about His will and the Father’s will.

First, we see that Jesus has a will independent of the Father. He said ‘not my will.’ In no way are the members of the Trinity at odds with each other, Jesus is making the statement here that He is 100% submitted to the will and plan of the Father. But the other indication is that they are one Being in essence but three separate persons. And those persons, God, Jesus, Spirit, do have independent wills.

Gill’s Exposition on verse John 6:38 says,

It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to do any will of his own different from that of his Father’s; nor do these words imply a difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness of them. (Gill’s Exposition on verse John 6:38).

As interesting and mind-bending as that is, let’s take a look at what the will of Jesus IS. From The Will of Christ! at GraceGems, by William Nicholson, 1862:

The will of Christ refers,

1. To the place of happiness. “Where I am.” This, doubtless, refers to Heaven, the dwelling-place of the great King. There he sits at the right hand of God, angels, etc., being made subject unto him. It is there, that his divinity shines through the humanity with ineffable brightness, and there he is beheld in all the moral grandeur of the only begotten Son of God!

It is a Heaven of unspeakable grandeur. It is a house, in which there are many mansions. It is a building of God — it is a kingdom — it is an inheritance. The gates of the celestial city are pearls; its streets are pure gold; it has no need of the sun, Revelation 21:21, 23, 25. Of the glory and beauty of every other part of the universe, compared with the magnificence of Heaven, it may be truly said, that “even that which was made glorious, has no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.”

It is a Heaven of perfect purity. The “Holy One of God” dwells there, and no sin can exist where he resides. It is the “habitation of his holiness.” Revelation 21:27. O glorious Heaven, where sin will never enter to contaminate!

It is a Heaven of perfect happiness — of pure, boundless, and unmingled delight. Sin will be forever excluded; and as sin is the great source of every kind of misery, there will never be the least apprehension of the happiness of Heaven being interrupted.

It is the Heaven of immortality. The inhabitant will never say I am sick. Death will never depopulate that kingdom. Revelation 21:4.

In this glorious place, Jesus designs his people to dwell. There he lives and reigns. “Father, I will those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory!”

“Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will also write on him my new name!” Revelation 3:12

“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne!” Revelation 3:21.

end William Nicholson

The Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States is coming up. There is much to be thankful for. When I ‘count my blessings’ I usually thank Jesus for the things He has given me; my car, apartment, job, friends… but He is so much more than the ‘thing-deliverer’. During this season of thanks, let us focus on who Jesus is, His attributes, and His person to cultivate a right perspective of the second Person of the God-head.

Posted in theology

By whom does Jesus cast out devils?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

It’s hard to describe the level of contempt the Scribes felt for Jesus. They were blasphemous, to their eventual doom. But until that day, the Scribes were a gang like no other gang, and they poured out their invective on their own Messiah!

Copyright The Cooper Gallery / Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

The Scribes were THE authority of the day when it came to scriptures. They were learned and revered and if they weren’t revered, they expected to be. Lots of ego investment in their job.

Being a scribe came with a high esteem, the people regarded them highly because of their literacy, their education, and their influence in the community

The scribes taught the Law, and did so since Ezra the Scribe (who was also a priest) through to the time of Jesus and beyond to today. The scribe’s job was to copy and recopy the scrolls, preserve them, and interpret them. But that was not all. They were the interpreters of the Law.

We always think of the Pharisees’ collusion against Jesus then second, the Sadducees for their hatred and collusion to get rid of Jesus. But probably the Scribes exceeded or at least equaled both of those groups in their hatred of Jesus.

They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22)

Here is a transcript from a sermon of a pastor I know describing how seriously the scribes hated Jesus. It’s based on Mark 1:21-22 verses above. Here is a transcript from a sermon describing how seriously the scribes hated Jesus. Once you see it all listed you can almost feel their hostility through the screen.

Begin sermon excerpt-

“The people contrasted Jesus’s teaching with that of the scribes. Now, when you hear the word scribe, you probably think of someone who copies manuscripts or writes documents. And that’s one way to use the word. And that was certainly true in the day of Jesus.“

“But in the Jewish religious system of those days, the scribes were considered experts in the Mosaic law and the traditions handed down by the rabbis. That was their chief role. They were part of the elite religious authority and were looked on as authoritative teachers.”

But Mark’s gospel exposes them for what they really were, corrupt teachers who denied Jesus’s power and authority. They’re never cast in a positive light throughout this book.

“In the pages ahead, Mark shows, for example,“

  • They accused Jesus of blasphemy. Chapter 2, verse 6.
  • They condemned him for eating with sinners and tax collectors. Chapter 2, verse 16.
  • They spread the rumor that he was possessed by the prince of demons and derived his power from Satan. Chapter 3, verse 22.
  • They demanded to know why he didn’t walk according to the tradition of the elders. Chapter 7, verse 5.
  • They rejected him. Chapter 8, verse 31.
  • And were responsible for plotting his death. Chapter 10, verse 33.
  • They feared him and wanted to find a way to destroy him. Chapter 11, verse 18.
  • They demanded to know by what authority he taught and performed signs. Chapter 11, verse 28.
  • They tried to trick him and entrap him. Chapter 12, verse 28.
  • They came with Judas to arrest him. Chapter 14, verse 43.
  • They tried him unfairly. Chapter 14, verse 53.
  • And sentenced him to death. Chapter 15, verse 1.
  • They even mocked him on the cross. Chapter 15, verse 31.

–end transcript of sermon

Now, that is not to say that the Pharisees also didn’t blaspheme and point their invective toward Christ, also.

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” (Matthew 12:24).

They could not deny a miracle had occurred, but they decided to cast aspersions on Jesus rather than glorify Him for casting out demons!

Barnes’ Notes on that verse says,

“Here was a manifest miracle, an exertion of power unquestionably superior to what people could put forth. The common people were fast drawing the proper inference from it, and coming into the belief that this was the Messiah. The authority and power of the Pharisees were declining. Unless, therefore, some way should be devised of accounting for these facts, their influence would be at an end.” Source Barnes’ Notes

Uh-oh! Can’t let that happen!

“Whatever way of accounting for them was adopted, it was necessary that they should acknowledge that there was “superhuman power.” The people were fully persuaded of this, and no man could deny it. They therefore ascribed it to the prince of the devils – to Beelzebub. In this they had two objectives:” (Barnes)

–To concede to the people that here was a “miracle,” or a work above mere human power.
–To throw all possible contempt on Jesus. Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, as it is in the Greek, and correctly rendered in the margin, was an opprobrious name given to the leader of the devils as an expression of supreme contempt. (Barnes)

Unable to deny that a miracle occurred, there were only two options, its power came from heaven. or the power came from hell. They chose hell. Gill’s Exposition says of the Matthew 12 verse,

but to deprive him of the glory of the miracle, and even reproach him for it, and to bring him into contempt with the people they not only speak of him in a scornful manner, “this” sorry man, “this” vile fellow; but ascribe the miracle he wrought to familiarity with the devil, to diabolical influence and skill in magic art: they pretended he was in confederacy with Satan source Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

This shows that the Pharisees and Scribes knew that satan and his demons had supernatural (magical) power. That they could do miracles. In fact, let us remember the wizards at Pharaoh’s throne who performed miracles along with Moses…until the power of God through Moses outpaced the wizards and they could not keep up, as we see in these verses (Exodus 7:11, Exodus 8:18).

Imagine being so invested in your ego, your position, your title, that you’d rather deny the glory of Jesus standing in front of you and point to hell instead.

But the power of sin is so great. We love ourselves. We love ourselves almost more than anything. It’s why Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself” – that is a most powerful love but we are supposed to turn it outward instead of inward (like the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees did).

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Enjoy our God from heaven and praise Him that He saved us from declaring He operated from hell.

Further Reading

A Day in the Life of a Scribe

Who were the Scribes who argued with Jesus?

Posted in theology

God’s creativity is AMAZING!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I am a Literacy Interventionist (remedial reading teacher) at an elementary school. One of my tasks during the day is to do a supervising duty. I unlock the double doors in the morning so the kids can enter the school at first bell. I supervise the area between the gym where they congregate, and the cafeteria where they may go eat a breakfast if they wish until the final bell tells them to go to class.

My job is to greet the children warmly, make them feel welcome. Guide them to various where they need to go or show them where the rest room or the Lost & Found is. And so on, a bunch of little things to help their day begin on a smooth note. For my part, I am to be observant and vigilant for unusual people or events occurring out of the norm.

There are nearly 500 students in our school. They ALL pass by me EVERY day. I know a good many of their names and I say hello and welcome to them by name as they go about their beginning of day. I look at every face. As an observer, I notice the siblings coming down the hall. I have time to note their facial or behavioral similarities. If a gaggle of children are walking down the hall, I can tell who is a sibling and who is not.

I see this repeated over and over and over 180 days in a row. I marvel at God’s creative talent to subtly change a bone structure here or an eye shape there to make siblings look alike but not identical.

designed by Freepik

God forms each and every one of us. He said to Jeremiah,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:5)

Elsewhere we read repeatedly that He is in charge of making new humans.

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
(Psalm 139:13)

You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. (Job 10:11)

Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments. (Psalm 119:73)

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

When you think about the magnitude of this creative act that God repeats, for eons over billions of times, it is staggering to the brain. When He says He is higher than us, it is true to an extent we can never even imagine-

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9)

His ways are wondrous to behold, to contemplate, to rejoice over. One of those ways are to see the evidence in human siblings. Even generationally- I have the same chin as my grandmother and my aunts.

Then when you fold in the fact that God made the universe, planets, angels, earth, and all that is in it inside of 6 days, it is staggering. His ongoing creativity with humans since then is something to remember when we tend to diminish Him in our mind, or lower his exaltedness even an inch.

Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. (Psalm 47:6).

Further Resources

Answers in Genesis: Genetics

Ligonier: From Praise to Praise

Posted in false teachers, theology

The irreversible destruction of false teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. (Proverbs 29:1).

Gill’s Exposition explains the intriguing part about broken beyond remedy:

shall suddenly be destroyed; or “broken” (e); as a potter’s vessel is broken to pieces with an iron rod, and can never he put together again; so such persons shall be punished with everlasting destruction, which shall come upon them suddenly, when they are crying Peace to themselves notwithstanding the reproofs of God and men;

I understand that when Christians are developing and practicing discernment, it’s sometimes difficult to detect a false teacher, especially in the early days of the false teacher’s ministry or the early days of the Christian. Other people, though they suspect, find it hard to admit that their favorite teacher is false. “But they teach about Jesus!” they say. I know, it’s interesting to listen to some of the more crafty (Genesis 3:1) teachers who have such eloquence of tongue and then believe they are insincere. But remember that the antichrist is prophesied to gain the world by a smooth tongue and flattery. (Daniel 11:21). These present mini-antichrists (1 John 2:22) are almost as smooth as the prophesied Antichrist will be in the future, so it is no wonder that they are so slick in their speeches.

The main way to detect a false teacher of course is to compare what they say to the Bible (Acts 17:11).

But even then, some are so disguised as an angel of light that they never put a word wrong. Think of Demas who traveled with Paul, Simon Magus who was baptized by Philip, and of course Judas who lived WITH the disciples.

So here is another way to detect a false teacher: how they react when they are corrected or challenged. Doctrine is utmost, but behavior is important. How does the true or the false teacher respond when posed a question, challenged in their interpretation, or rebuked for their teaching?

It’s the behavior when corrected that also indicates the true vs false teacher. If the teacher is God-honoring s/he cares about the word as primary importance. How crushing it is when we say or teach something in error or contrary to proper exposition! We hasten to correct, humbling ourselves to Him and the truth of His word.

The false teacher who rebels when teaching the word will continue to rebel when corrected in the word. As the Proverb says, he will harden his neck. Stiff necked is a synonym for stubborn. Instead of being teachable and gentle, the false teacher will entrench him or herself into stubbornness and double down on their position. This is because they are full of pride, and care not for the truth of God’s word. They SAY they care, but their behavior SHOWS they do not.

The second half of the Proverb is encouraging. I know it’s all the rage to claim love and kindness to and for false teachers, but I do not. If a teacher has abused the name of Christ, twisted His words, and persistently shown that they care only for themselves, money or fame, harming His sheep in the process, the second half of the Proverb is rallying to my soul. It motivates me to leave the judgment of this scourge of fiery ants to the Lord, and to take comfort in His timing. They WILL be broken beyond remedy. Good.

When challenged over these issues the false teachers stiffen themselves, they entrench into their stubbornness. This is a God-ordained exposure. Let us not ignore these exposures seen through their behavior, but heed the wisdom in Proverbs.

It’s OK to take comfort in the knowledge of the coming permanent and irreversible destruction of these wolves. It means that the name of Jesus will eternally remain spotless with no dung thrown on Him or on His people, ever again. What a day that will be!

Posted in theology

Prata Potpourri: Election reflections, Helpful new info on Steve Lawson, Owen Strachan’s great essay

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We are so undeserving of this reprieve. I am feeling extremely grateful. But let us make the most of it while we can. Below is what I posted on my social media today-

I am still mulling over the Steve Lawson situation. He is the man who was world renowned for expository preaching, a traveling teacher at Trinity Baptist Church, Ligonier, The Master’s Seminary, and Grace Community Church, in addition to his own ministry he founded, OnePassion. He engaged in a 5-year adulterous affair with a woman almost 50 years younger than himself, was outed by Trinity Church, fired, and subsequently Lawson hasn’t been seen or heard from since. The other ministries such as Ligonier and TMS etc fired him and OnePassion’s Expositor Magazine folded.

It was a shock.

There were a lot of hot takes, a lot of discussion, and there is even now, two months later, lingering chats about the fall of a once-seemingly solid Christian. Of the media I consumed about this issue, this one from With All Wisdom (WaW) was the most measured, informative, and gracious I have heard or read. They waited over 5 weeks to comment, and did much first-hand investigation and interviews to learn more.

One thing they discussed was Lawson’s preference for expensive things- ties, suits, hotels, food etc. They mentioned his salary and honoraria, and the tax returns. I took a look after the podcast ended to see myself and saw that according to the IRS 990 form for OnePassion, Anne Lawson, Steve’s wife, states that she worked for the ministry 1 hour per week and earned a $30,000 salary.

Interestingly, the With All Wisdom guys learned that Lawson was not listed as nor described as a pastor at Trinity Baptist, not an elder, and not even a member. He was listed in their leadership page as “Lead Preacher”. When Trinity Bible Church was asked by With All Wisdom if the church would go forward with church discipline, the church said no. They can’t. Lawson wasn’t a pastor nor a church member. Lawson was accountable to no one, and as the guys on the podcast said, this is errant ecclesiology and in all likelihood even led to the circumstances that allowed the scandal to erupt.

Interestingly though, the OnePassion IRS tax return lists Lawson as “a teaching pastor”. In my opinion, he and/or the church are playing with semantics. Because Lawson was not a pastor in any sense of the word. He was an itinerant teacher, trotting the globe (while living a shameful double life).

Based on the With All Wisdom podcast’s information, I now know why Trinity Bible Church isn’t issuing any further information. I will also stop looking for it.

Tune into With All Wisdom’s chat to hear wisdom and grace over the situation. For me, their teaching on lessons learned was invaluable. For example, the difference between ‘wrong information’ and ‘wrong impressions’ was a lesson I took to heart.

Episode #98: Updates on the Steve Lawson Situation

I like Owen Strachan’s writing. Strachan (pronounced Strachan, rhymes with ran) published an essay yesterday titled Morning in America Again: 7 Reflections from Trump’s Election. If you are of an age like I am, you remember the highly evocative and effective re-election campaign by Ronald Reagan called Morning in America.

“The Spirit of the Abyss” by Wilhelm Kotarbinski

Strachan’s thoughts essentially mirrored mine above but of course fleshed out and better. I think a lot of people are thinking along these lines:

We have all lived through a long and almost unbroken nightmare. We have been forced to contemplate not only our present darkness, but the possibility of still greater unleashing of darkness through the presidency of Kamala Harris. We have trembled at that reality; we have wept; we have felt great surging waves of fear, anxiety, doubt, discouragement, and hopelessness at times.

“We have all lived through a long and almost unbroken nightmare. We have been forced to contemplate not only our present darkness, but the possibility of still greater unleashing of darkness through the presidency of Kamala Harris. We have trembled at that reality; we have wept; we have felt great surging waves of fear, anxiety, doubt, discouragement, and hopelessness at times. But for now, we have been granted a reprieve, a temporary stalling of evil as driven by the modern political left.”

Strachan is Senior Director of the Dobson Culture Center and Host of Grace & Truth podcast. His essay was poignant about the election but also a call to arms, with a warning not to rest. But so encouraging to think, as he postulated, that woke ideology is waning, that the near future might actually have a positive effect on gender wars, that legacy reporting institutions are mostly dead… do read his wonderful essay!

And now we return to a world absent of glossy political fliers in the mail, our phones will calm down from incessant political ads, and hopefully our Bibles will be opened more frequently as we have stared into a world where fascism and oligarchy, not to mention Banana Republic, was looming over us like the Great Wave at Kanagawa. May we give proper glory to God for His kindness.

Posted in theology

Walsch, Young, and Beth Moore: ungodly channelers producing ungodly books. Part 3: Beth Moore’s “When Godly People do Ungodly Things”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A post on Instagram by the ever-solid Doreen Virtue about channeling (it’s here) reminded me that in 2011 I had written a series of essay examining what channeling (or ‘automatic writing’) is, and had examined three highly popular books that these seemingly Christian authors had published. I’ve revived and updated those essays here, I also shortened them, and split them up to examine each author in turn.

Neale Donald Walsch wrote “Conversations with God” (1995), William P. Young wrote “The Shack” (2007), and Beth Moore wrote “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things” (2002). All three were Christian bestsellers. All three are unholy.

Automatic writing is when a writer clears his mind, gives his will over to another entity from the supernatural realms, and allows his hand to be used as a transcriber, thereby allowing the entity to produce the work, and not himself through his own mind or consciousness. Not even the scriptures were generated in this manner. The Bible’s authors received inspiration but were mentally and emotionally present and the Holy Spirit used their mind and personality to write. The authors didn’t zone out and become robots as another entity produced the works.

One thing these automatic writers I’m looking at who channel these supernatural entities have in common is they all had a Christian-ish background. The second thing they all had in common was abuse, parents who were distant either physically or emotionally, and/or trauma of severe kinds that usually resulted in a deep depression throughout adulthood. It was in the depths of their depressions at the bottom of their turmoil that they began to experience the “call” from the other side. Here are their stories. Today, we look at Beth Moore.

Beth Moore was raised a Christian in Arkansas, attending church and Sunday School regularly. She earned a political science degree from college and after a few years “took a Bible doctrine class” taught at her church. Moore has been very open about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. In her recent memoir she finally revealed that it was her father who abused her. In her speeches she often mentioned the abuse (though not who the perp was).

She is also well known for having shared her personal thoughts on her low self-esteem, feeling of worthlessness, insecurity, etc. and in fact has memorialized those feelings in most of her books. For all that, she is closely guarded about her personal life but it is my opinion that the frequency with which she raises her personal traumas is an indicator that they are not slain and are in fact indicative of a deep depression, despite all her perkiness.

Beth Moore wrote in her book Believing God: “What God began to say to me about five years ago, and I’m telling you it sent me on such a trek with Him, that my head is still whirling over it. He began to say to me, ‘I’m gonna tell you something right now, Beth, and boy you write this one down, and you say it as often as I give you utterance to say it: My Bride is paralyzed by unbelief. My Bride is paralyzed by unbelief.’ And He said, ‘Startin’ with you.’” God says, “and boy you write this one down”.

She states in the Believing God DVD: “You know what He told me not too long ago? I told you when I first began this whole concept, He first started teaching it to me about five years ago, and He said these words to me: ‘Baby, you have not even begun to believe Me. You haven’t even begun!’ You know what He said just a few days ago? ‘Honey, I just want you to know we’re just beginning.’ Oh, glory! That meant I had begun. Hallelujah! But He was telling me, ‘When this ends, we ain’t done with this. Honey, this is what we do for the rest of your life.’ And He said those words to me over and over again: ‘Believe Me. Believe Me. And I hope it’s starting to ring in your ears, over and over again, Believe Me.’”

Beth actually believes God speaks to her, speaks in such familiar language, and uses endearments such as babe and honey.

No.

In Moore’s “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, in the preface she states,

Transcription from the screen shot reads: “This book represents one of the most unique writing experiences I’ve ever had with God. Unbeknownst to me, He’s been writing each chapter on my heart for several years. When the message for this book was complete (in His estimation—not mine!), God compelled me to ink it on paper with a force of the Holy Spirit unparalleled in my experience. He whisked me to the mountains of Wyoming where I entered solitary confinement with Him, and in only a few short weeks, I wrote the last line.

Now here is the question. Beth Moore says that she holed up in a cabin by herself, and a written work poured out, emerging complete and not by her own hand. Moore said, “When the message of the book was complete, in His estimation, not my own”? So, a disembodied spirit via a force or a voice was telling her what to write and when to stop! Moore was not in control of the editing process, a force was. Her physical body was used by a disembodied spirit to write things down and she felt like she could not resist the force (‘compelled’). This is channeling, sisters.

Transcription of screen shot: “I am being as honest as I know how to be when I say that I did not write these pages by simple preference. I wrote them because had I not, the rocks in my yard would have cried out. What God does with what He’s required is His business. I entrust this message entirely to the One who delivered it while I sat bug-eyed.” (Source When Godly People Do Ungodly Things). 

Moore is saying that she sat passively like a robot or an automaton while God delivered a message. No. Moore is saying that her book is so important that all of creation would cry out if she didn’t write it. No.

Furthermore, she is putting herself as an equal to the Apostles who were praising JESUS at that time. Moore’s pride in elevating her book to the level of importance akin to joy expressed at the arrival of the Messiah illustrates a prideful heart. 

Sisters, one may wonder how these authors dare to write these blasphemous words, AND believe them. But pride is incremental. it speaks to the lust we have for ourselves in our hearts, and slowly insinuated its tentacles around that prideful heart to darken its view of Jesus and brighten our view of ourselves. Watch out for pride, or someday you may find yourself (or myself) saying that we are so important the rocks would cry out if we didn’t do such and such!

Further Resources

Grace to You: Hearing from Heaven

Doreen Virtue: Say NO to Jesus Calling New Age Channeled Books

The End Time: How do Christian authors end up channeling spirits and producing books from them? Pride

Posted in theology

Walsch, Young, and Beth Moore: ungodly channelers producing ungodly books. Part 2: William P. Young’s “The Shack”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A post on Instagram by the ever-solid Doreen Virtue about channeling (it’s here) reminded me that in 2011 I had written a series of essay examining what channeling (or ‘automatic writing’) is, and had examined three highly popular books that these seemingly Christian authors had published. I’ve revived and updated those essays here, I also shortened them, and split them up to examine each author in turn.

Neale Donald Walsch wrote “Conversations with God” (1995), William P. Young wrote “The Shack” (2007), and Beth Moore wrote “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things” (2002). All three were Christian bestsellers. All three are unholy.

Automatic writing is when a writer clears his mind, gives his will over to another entity from the supernatural realms, and allows his hand to be used as a transcriber, thereby allowing the entity to produce the work, and not himself through his own mind or consciousness. Not even the scriptures were generated in this manner. The Bible’s authors received inspiration but were mentally and emotionally present and the Holy Spirit used their mind and personality to write. The authors didn’t zone out and become robots as another entity produced the works.

One thing these automatic writers who channel these supernatural entities people all have in common is they all had a Christian-ish background. The second thing they all had in common was abuse, parents who were distant either physically or emotionally, and/or trauma of severe kinds that usually resulted in a deep depression throughout adulthood. It was in the depths of their depressions at the bottom of their turmoil that they began to experience the “call” from the other side. Here are their stories. Today, we look at William P. Young of “The Shack” fame.

William Paul Young, source

William P. Young was born to missionary parents and within a stone age cannibalistic tribe that his parents were evangelizing in New Guinea. At age six he returned to Canada and attended 13 different schools before graduating and then attending Bible College. He earned his religion undergraduate degree and then went on to seminary. 

In his case, Young says “sexual abuse was probably the most fundamental building block of my shack.” When he was a young child, he said, tribal people near his parents’ missionary station abused him, and he experienced more abuse by older students at the boarding school he was sent to at age 6.

At age 38 he had an affair with his wife’s best friend that nearly cost him his marriage. He became homeless after trying to keep up and working three jobs. Financially insolvent due to bad decisions, Young says the book “The Shack” was born from the pain he was feeling inside while at the same time recognizing he was a religious performer. During that time (in 2004) Young became a Universalist.

Universalists believe everyone will be saved whether they have repented or not.

In this essay titled Paul Young and Universal Reconciliation, the author states, “Paul Young told me he is a “hopeful universalist.” He believes that our loving God sent His Son to die for every single sinner without exception. One day God will effectually reconcile every sinner to Himself. Paul uses the term “hopeful” universalism because he understands that the Scriptures speak of judgment, but Paul is “hopeful” that even in judgment, the love of God will eventually bring the sinner being judged to love for Jesus Christ.”

No.

Young’s early trauma informed his personality, decisions, and eventually, his religion. He said he became a perfectionist performer in order to survive. “Young says he became ‘a perfectionist performer with a persona that you present to the world covering up an ocean of shame. I’m the oldest. “I took the brunt of some of the negative dynamics in our family at the time. A lot of those things fed into becoming a perfectionist performer. I held it together until I was thirty-eight years old, and then it all blew apart thanks to the grace of God, and I started an eleven year process of dismantling everything and putting it all back together.“

So, he deconstructed. Or apostatized.

Even though Young had earned an undergraduate degree in religion (or because of it) and had started seminary, Young emerged from his education and his introspection with a false view of God.

Like Walsch in the previous essay, with no born-again faith underpinning his worldview, Young sought relief for his messy life of trauma and heartbreak in all the wrong places.

For the 11 years Young worked through his understanding of “the nature and character of God.” By the end of 2004 he had come to “peace with myself and peace with my sense of who I believe God to be”—a process he condensed to a weekend in the book. His writing process is l described in his own words here:

“I had this interaction with Divine Love, however you wanna do it. I have a very conversational relationship with God, and on, on my dad’s 80th birthday, he stepped on one of my [emotional] mines, you know, that I didn’t know were my mines – he just didn’t live up to one of my expectations and blew stuff up. And so I’m pissed off and I go for a walk, and I can sense the presence of God next to me.” (Source)

“And I, I feel an arm around my shoulder, you know, and it’s, we have this little conversation and, and I hear Love say, “you know, you know Paul, your dad hasn’t known how to be a father for 60 years. He’s not suddenly gonna figure it out. And I went, “yeah, I know that. I know that.” And then I hear in the inside voice, I hear, “if it’s okay with you, would you let me be all that and more?” (Source).

On his creative process-

“I had this experience — and this was early when The Shack had just begun to take off — and I woke up in the middle of the night — and it’s never happened to me before and it’s never happened since — and I was literally caught in a waterfall. It’s like I was sitting up in bed in a waterfall of creative ideas. And about an hour into this I thought to myself, ‘I need to get up and write this down,’ and it all stopped. And I really felt “the voice.” You know, to me it’s the Holy Spirit, who just said, ‘Isn’t that what you always do? You don’t trust that creativity is a river,’ and I said you’re right, I don’t trust, and I said I’m not going to live like that anymore. And immediately the waterfall started again for an hour until I fell asleep. (Source)

Did the Holy Spirit speak directly to Young? No.

The people I’m looking at here, Young, Walsch, and Moore, all had severe and long-term trauma in their lives. They were horrifically abused, and/or were abandoned, fell into depressions, were attempting to claw their way out of some kind of traumatizing pain and a broken-down life.

In the cases I read about, and they are anecdotal to be sure, none of the people said, “I was having a tremendously satisfying career, a strong marriage, and I felt joyful and grateful to God, when I suddenly felt the call from the other side…” Nope. In all the cases, the automatic writers were at their most vulnerable, and at their lowest point of life, had wavering faith.

When we are at our most vulnerable is when we are at our most vulnerable. It sounds redundant but it is a truism that when we are wrestling with why bad things happen to us we mix our sorrow with anger against God, that is when the spirits come. And of course by that I mean if one is not a born-again believer, it’s the demons, satan’s crew who comes.

Picture the wounded young gazelle on the African savannah, and lions approaching.

In the cases of our writers, many of them felt a sense of restoration after being contacted from the other side. When we’re down, we all want comfort. Young and Walsch have said that they felt restored through the process of writing these things about God. I believe Moore uses her writings and her talks on tv and at conferences as a therapy session, as I have stated before. What person suffering from trauma, pain, and depression wouldn’t want to respond to a whisper in their ear that ‘god’ can and will take the pain away? That they are a special person and the ‘voice’ will give personal, secret, new thoughts and ideas to you, you special person?

But we must guard our heart.

Pride is the root of these automatic writings, with the person willingly participating in the notion that they are special enough to have been contacted by ‘the other side’ directly. Like Apostle Paul was, or Elijah.

We live in a world that is actually satan’s. (2 Cor 4:4). We need strength to deal with the crafty cunning schemes of the satanic system that is all around us. God gave us armor but the armor does not do any good if it is in the closet. (Eph 6:10-19).

Here is an example of the craftiness of the devil’s schemes. William Young is talking about his writing process. He said “In the first draft there was more religious language. God was actually quoting Scripture, which kinda didn’t work. In the re-write I was actually able to embed Scripture in the conversation almost in a way that people don’t pick it up.” So Young actually watered down the scripture, which we know is the only language that penetrates hearts and reveals God. But for Young, ‘It didn’t work.’

Do you think that God would send words to a person about Himself and then inspire the author to hide them so they are ‘not picked up’? Once you divorce the scripture from its source you can then change the wording subtly.

Guard your heart, stay close to God, and if you hear a ‘voice’ reject it as satan’s and seek God’s through His word.

Further Resources

Tim Challies’ review of The Shack or here

How do Christian authors end up channeling spirits and producing books from them? Pride

What does the Bible say about channeling?