(no title)

different gospel, salvation, this same Jesus

Open Letter to Rachel Held Evans

Posted on July 10, 2013April 29, 2019 by elizabethprata

Note: I posted this on Mrs Evans’s website, Facebook and Twitter stream, which were the methods she stated people can contact her.

Dear Mrs Evans,

I am the Elizabeth Prata of the blog “The End Time” who wrote about you this week and to whom you responded. I am writing in heartfelt concern and in Christian tender pleading.

I am a 53 year old woman, born and bred in New England and transplanted to Georgia later in life. My salvation in Jesus Christ came later in life also. By this short biography perhaps you can accept this missive as an elder woman teaching a younger as in Titus 2:4.

I can see that you are a bright, accomplished, intelligent woman yourself, as much as we can discern these things via the computer screen and internet.

The Holy Spirit has laid you on my heart and it is on that basis I write to you. If we were standing face to face, you would see that my hands are extended and my eyes are full of tears.

On Twitter you shared with me that you long for the truth. It is because of that longing which you expressed that I write to share the truth with you.

The truth is that there is “this same Jesus” (Acts 1:11) and there is “another Jesus”. (2 Cor 11:4). This same Jesus of the Old Testament and the New is going to return to judge the living and the dead. He will line up the sheep and the goats and He will tell them to account for their lives.

Some in the goats line will be shocked they are not in the sheep line. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “ (Matthew 7:21-23).

This is a serious passage of scripture and it behooves every person who claims Jesus to examine themselves frequently to ensure they are not among the ones who have claimed a different Jesus. (2 Corinthians 13:5).

“I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel:” (Galatians 1:6)

Do you claim a different Gospel? I think so, if I may say so tenderly. In your book, Evolving in Monkey Town you wrote,

“I’m an evolutionist because I believe that the best way to reclaim the gospel in times of change is not to cling more tightly to our convictions but to hold them with an open hand.”

To claim ‘this same Jesus” is to claim the same Jesus who was with God when the world was made. (Acts 17:24). To claim this same Jesus is to claim that He is the Word and He speaks truth. (John 1:1, John 14:6). To claim this same Jesus is to claim the Jesus who said ‘Let there be man, Adam, and it is good’. (Genesis 1:26, 27, 31).

If you believe in evolution you claim a different Jesus.

As for ‘changing our convictions to meld’ with the times, I ask you, how often? Did the Chinese of the year 200AD need to change what they believe, or the Icelanders of the year 1500, or the Bolivians of 1999 or the Rachel Held Evans’s of 2013? When does one change? How often? Every millennium? Every year? Every week? Change to which culture? Or do we claim this same Jesus who said to us via His Spirit, cling to what is Good! (Romans 12:9, 1 Thess 5:21). And we know that the only Good is the Father! (Matthew 19:17). And we know that the Father revealed Himself in the Word by His Son! (Hebrews 1:1-2)

We do not need to “reclaim the Gospel” because the Gospel never went anywhere. The Gospel are words unto life, and has the power of God behind it. This is the Gospel of Jesus you go away from when you say we need to loosen our convictions, despite the Word who is Jesus telling us to cling to them:

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

I want to ask you and then pray that the Spirit convicts you, to examine yourself to see that, if Jesus were to return in the next few moments, would you be in the group that says “Lord, Lord, did we not…?” I believe you are in that group. I mourn for you, in seeing the fruits from your different gospel, and beg you to come to Jesus, and believe the Bible as He has given it to us. For what a person thinks of the Bible reveals what they believe about Him. He IS the Word (John 1:1)

You said you seek the truth. The truth is that Jesus said via His word “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15).

Do you believe it is impossible for you to have fallen under the sway of a false notion of a different Gospel, and further, that there is no need to examine yourself? If so then THAT is arrogance. Do you believe that one must change and adapt their convictions in order to stay current with man’s culture on this world which is run by satan? If so then you believe in a different gospel that does not save!

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Please, Mrs Evans, for the sake of your eternal soul, heed these things. Fall to the cross and plead for forgiveness and ask for grace and mercy. The glory of the universe is that this same Jesus who will come one day to judge the living and the dead, this same Jesus, if you repent, will claim you for His daughter. He will send mercy-

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15.)

I pray He says to you, Rachel, “I will have mercy.”

In His name,

Elizabeth Prata
July 10, 2013

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Why I get so upset at false teachers and false teaching, why I focus on the end time

Posted on July 10, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Someone asked me this week why I focus on the end time. I answered that the end time is the time between Jesus’ ascension and His return, the Age of Grace. I focus on encouragement, discernment and the end time. With Jesus’s return as backdrop, I employ Spiritual gifts to exhort for a higher standard of witness and adherence to doctrine.

The point is, He could return at any time, and those left behind will face Tribulation such as no man has ever seen, no nor will ever again. (Matthew 24:21). This haunts me.

Alternately, lost people could die at any moment, their end time coming instantly and unexpectedly, and the spiritual things they put off will be forever sealed off to them. Their lost state will be the state they remain in for all eternity. This haunts me. Why wouldn’t a person want to continually remind people that this Age will not last forever and the Day prophesied will arrive?

Worse, there are many people who believe they are Christians and are going to heaven. They professed Jesus. They worked in His name. They sang hymns and proclaimed Him and prophesied (preached) in His name. But they fooled themselves. They weren’t saved.

“I Never Knew You: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Mathew 7:21-23)

This haunts me greatly.

The Lord sends His Spirit to deliver gifts to believers as He sees fit. (1 Corinthians 12:4). For me, he saw fit to give faith, prophecy, teaching and discernment. I’m extra-sensitive to false doctrines and teaching. I have a super-sensitivity to those who come under its sway. It is like I can see them falling off the cliff as they apostatize. I can see it. It is like this picture, which I haven’t been able to get off my mind since I came across it.

Art by Borislav Sajtinac

I hate false doctrine. I hate with with a holy, righteous passion. False doctrine is from hell. It kills. It destroys. It is a blasphemy against the precious person of Jesus, Savior and King. I hate it every day. I hate it because it sends people to hell. I hate it worst of all when it is tolerated in a false church, making false converts who bring up second generation daughters of hell twice as worse as them. (Matthew 23:15, Revelation 2:22-23).

When we are glorified and the time comes for Jesus to line up the goats, and the dramatic scene from Matthew plays out, I will hear so many cry out, “Lord, Lord…” Many people will be shocked that they are in the goats line and not the narrow road to heaven following the sheep to eternal glory and rest. They’ll try to convince the Lord to let them in. But He will say “Depart from me, I never knew you…”.

If the moment when Jesus cried out to the “Father, Father, why have You forsaken me?” is the loneliest moment in the universe for all time…then the moment when the Lord tells those who cry and plead, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” has to be the most devastating.

I will be grateful that by then I’ll be glorified and completely in tune with the mind of Christ and understanding His holiness and justice, otherwise I would explode from grief. As it is at that moment I know I’ll praise Him.

For now on earth in the flesh, I feel grief. Exploding with grief that false teachers entice false converts to believe false doctrines, and they are all on the broad road. I want to cry out, shake them, “No, NO! Come back!” I feel their apostasy acutely. I feel it and I see it. It’s not just an intellectual exercise with me but a heart ministry.

Won’t it be great to be able to discuss true doctrine in the age of eternity.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14)

“They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)

For a prophetic-doctrine lady like me this will be heaven! And if anyone has any questions, they can walk up to Jesus and ask Him! Looking forward to being free from satan’s lies is right up there in my list of ‘things that will be great about heaven.’

“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ” (Revelation 20:10)

Good. Torment the bugger.

Back here on earth in this time of grace mixed with apostasy, so many are going away from us. John told us that would happen.

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19).

I praise the Lord for telling us ahead of time. It doesn’t make it any easier when I spot one who is going, though. It’s worse when they reject advances and sharing of truth. How devastating knowing that moment is fast approaching for millions who thought they were saved but were not, and will be rejected by Christ. They thought they had accepted Him but they had not! O, false doctrine, you deceiver! There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

“behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.” (Isaiah 65:14)

I know that the ones who will be rejected by Christ are not victims. It was because they chose to follow their lusts that they fell into the snare. (2 Timothy 4:3). Still, I feel for them, now and in their moment of shocking eternal condemnation.

People, examine yourselves to make sure of your faith.

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Examine Yourselves Whether You Be in the Faith, Part 1
Examine Yourselves Whether You Be in the Faith, Part 2
Examine Yourself

How do we examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith?

What Kind of a Christian Are You?

God, holy, name, prophet

The power and comfort of the name of Jesus

Posted on July 9, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is about what the Lord does in times of apostasy and it is about why He does it.

There are false teachers out there, and they are not coming in singly anymore, but brazenly, in packs.

They are corrupting the precious faith, and with curling lips and sharp teeth, they are dragging off many an unwary person. For those of us who warn and cry out, seeing these captured ones fail to heed and become devoured prey is heartbreaking- and that word doesn’t even cover the spiritual sadness at knowing there are so many who fell, are falling and will fall to satan’s wiles.

However, despite there being so many false teachers we praise the Lord because He does not leave us without good teachers! He is always raising up someone to teach, preach, and exhort! God continues to call preachers and teachers and the Holy Spirit still empowers preachers and teachers to speak the Word to the sheep.

Look at the time of Isaiah. In 739 BC, King Uzziah died after having been King for 52 years. Isaiah was called to preach that same year. The LORD gave him a unique opportunity at the time of his call- a vision of Himself in the Holy Temple! Isaiah was devastated at this, seeing the glory of the LORD and his own sinfulness. But it’s an astoundingly tender moment, the angel cleansed Isaiah’s lips and he was pronounced clean, his sins atoned for. (Isaiah 6:6-7).

Tiepolo: The Prophet Isaiah

The LORD then gave Isaiah his commission; preach doom to the people. Preach their abandonment. Preach their judgment. Preach ruin.

Isaiah asked how long he was to do this. The LORD answered, “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste.” (Isaiah 6:11) In other words, until the end, until you die, for all your long life. Not so seeker friendly, is it?

However, the LORD left Isaiah with some hope, despite the difficulty of what He was called to do. God said a tenth would still remain in the Land.

God showed Isaiah what He was going to do amongst these people:

“Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)

Matthew Henry’s commentary says of verse 9, “Many hear the sound of God’s word, but do not feel the power of it. God sometimes, in righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind, because they will not receive the truth in the love of it.”

This is called the wrath of abandonment. John MacArthur preached on this same notion, (here, here, and most recently, here) as seen not only in Isaiah 6 but in the NT book of Romans 1. At a certain point, God gives a nation or a vast populace over to their blindness and stubbornness.

Art by Borislav Sajtinac

Though seasons come and go where it seems the great amount of people believe and live according to His Word, there are also seasons of time that come where it seems that the great amount of the people do not believe in Jesus nor live His word. Those times are now. It is my opinion, that it is the last cycle of apostasy directly before the time leading to the Great Apostasy. (2Thessalonians 2:3). It’s hard.

Matthew Henry’s commentary reassures us over the wrath of abandonment, “Christians need not fear this awful doom, which is a spiritual judgment on those who will still hold fast their sins.”

But it’s no harder for us than it was for the first century Christians who lived in a time where everyone was apostate, being the only Christians on earth!

During this time of apostasy it stands to reason that some apostates will be teachers. Yes, there are many bad teachers. But God has raised up good teachers, as shown in the example of Isaiah himself. Even in a time of wrath and abandonment, He sent an anointed one to preach to the people, and in today’s time He has done the same. He raises up good teachers to edify us or in some cases, remind us of the wrath of God. Either way, God is faithful.

There are many reasons for this, but here is one reason God raises up good teachers even in a time of abandonment.

I find it in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 2-3 God is raising up Ezekiel and calling him top prophesy. However the task would be hard, as it was for Isaiah. God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:7,

“But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.”

So why does God go through all that if He knows they will not listen, or even as in Isaiah, He has already turned them over to blindness and dullness?

“And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:5)

On the Day, no one will be able to say ‘But, but, You didn’t tell us!’ They will know that He sent a prophet to be among them.

Even more glorious,

HE DOES THIS FOR THE SAKE OF HIS NAME!

As God said in Ezekiel 2, whether they hear or refuse to hear, they will know a prophet has been among them. You see, He not only sends prophets and teachers for our edification, but He does so on account of His OWN Holy name- so that they will be without excuse. He magnifies His holy name by being the living embodiment of faithfulness, holiness, and justice.

Read Acts and be stunned and overwhelmed by the number of times they mention THE NAME. Why? Because the overwhelming theme running through the entire book becomes clear when reading, it is all about THE NAME. Thirty times I read a verse where it was all about His name- the name, in His name, for the name; in verse 19:13 they even tried to co-opt His name. The acts of the apostles were to spread the good news that salvation is now here under the name of Jesus. Everything they said, did, and accomplished was for that purpose and empowered by that name.

In Acts 4:17 the aggravated Sanhedrin asked Peter and John about a man they’d healed. They asked, “By what power or what name did you do this?”

No matter that we are in apostate times and growing worse each day. Take heart! He raises up men to preach His word! Even in the Tribulation when He has removed the Holy Spirit from His restraining ministry, He will send 144,000 to preach the word, (Revelation 7:1-4, Revelation 14:1-5) and He will send His angels to preach the Gospel to the whole world (Revelation 14:6). This is for the sake of His name.

What a comfort to know that He magnifies His own name. He is faithful to Himself and therefore will never falter. He will never fail.

Look at the fruit He bears for His name:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)

The LORD is mighty and He raises up men to speak His truths, He sends His spirit to regenerate new believers, He magnifies His holy name from heaven and throughout the earth. And we are a part of that. (Ephesians 1:4). We have His name, being adopted into the family of God.

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Peter 4:16)

Did you know that on the television show on cable channel A&E called Duck Dynasty, the family prays at the end of each episode over the family supper table. They also mention God in some in the middle of some of the shows, too. When it comes time for the prayer at the end, they begin the prayer to Heavenly Father of Good Father or just Father. They pray in Jesus name at the end, or they mention Jesus. Father and God are rarely edited out. Jesus is always edited out. Only two times did you hear the name of Jesus on the show. God is a powerful name and so is Father but it is the name of JESUS that sends the non-believer into a frenzy. Friends, mention the name of Jesus whenever you can.

So never fear. He raises up good men to preach, This magnifies His name. If we are in His name, we can magnify Him. “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”

He will not abandon us because He will not abandon His name. Magnify Him, trust Him, honor Him. His name, Jesus. THE NAME. There is no other.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12)

Source

doctrine, post-modernism, rachel held evans

Can we ever know doctrine for certain?

Posted on July 8, 2013 by elizabethprata

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20)

I’ve often written about this passage, showing the process of recognition via the example Jesus gave. In other words, emphasizing the fruit. In this essay I want to focus on one simple thing.

The word will.

In today’s mushy, emergent, false humility-filled, intolerant of certainty world, people say you cannot know doctrine for certain, and to attempt to do so is arrogance. It’s popular to say that “Truth for me means…but I can’t be sure…I’m open to other interpretations…”

It is extremely unpopular to be dogmatic today. Yet if we cannot know good doctrine with any certainty, then that means we can’t know bad doctrine for certain, either. What they are basically saying is that it is never possible to know if a doctrine is false. This is very convenient for the false teachers out there because this would mean that they can never be identified.

But this is not what the bible says.

The verses above tell us that false prophets will come. False prophets (false teachers) bring false teachings. We know that. The word in the verse for false prophet is “pseudoprophētōn” and you notice the ‘pseudo’ right away. The definition of the word is “a false prophet; one who in God’s name teaches what is false.”

So watch out, they will come.

But have no fear, because … and here is the good news … you WILL recognize them. The verse states that plainly. It then sums up with its re-statement that you will recognize them. Jesus is assuring us that we will recognize the ones who come bringing false teachings and if they bring a false teaching then they are false themselves.

It doesn’t say, “You may recognize them.” It doesn’t say “Sometimes, in the right light, you could recognize them.” It doesn’t say “On a good day, it’s possible to recognize them.” It says, “You will recognize them.”

How do we recognize them? By their fruits- their teachings.

No wonder the emergent crowd so longs to bring disrepute to the certainty of understanding what is false and who is false! If all doctrine is potentially valid, then the ones bringing them are also valid, and should be listened to. This gives satan a toehold in your mind to widen that crack of doubt, plant false seeds, and confuse you. When Satan asked Eve, “Hath God said?” in Genesis 3:1, instead of being dogmatic and responding, “Yes, God hath said…” she answered with a confused doctrine that she had added to. Satan ran with that and persuaded her to bite the fruit. The rest is our sad history.

By saying we will recognize them, I don’t think it means that every believer will recognize every false teacher instantly at all times. We are a body. That means we are organic and mutually working together for the glory of God within the scope of each of our gifts the Spirit dispensed.

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)

Some were given discerning of spirits, others the gift of helps. Where those with discernment cry out that a wolf has infiltrated, others busy helping perk up and take heed. Where those with the gift of helps can earlier identify one who needs support, those who are watching for wolves may be slower to spot the need. We work together for His good and glory through the dispensing of the gifts.

Being dogmatic can be good and it can be bad. By dogmatic, I mean having studied, prayed, and come to a certain knowledge of a certain doctrine. We can never be casually dogmatic, or unintelligently dogmatic. Ever. But a person can be certain of right doctrine and can know when a doctrine is false for sure, too.

I’ll use the doctrine of hell. I mentioned in an earlier post that very early on in my walk I studied all the different interpretations of hell. Some people who teach from the bible, say that we go to hell for a period of time and after a length of punishment, are annihilated, never to exist again and released from their torment. Others who teach from the bible say that unbelievers go to hell and remain there forever enduring the wrath of God. Both use the bible but both cannot be right. One of these stances is contrary to the other.

The bible does not offer confusion nor does it contradict itself. In this way, I know that one of those doctrinal stances is wrong. I prayed for wisdom and studied further and it was a short while after that where I understood that hell is eternal conscious punishment. (Revelation 14:11). Therefore I no longer need to entertain the thought that annihilation is a possibility. I don’t need to be “open.” I know it to be false, because eternal punishment is true. I’m closed on the topic. The bible is black and white like that.

However being dogmatic about your uncertainty is dishonoring to Jesus, because you have entertained a false doctrine and haven’t sought to reconcile them via the Spirit, prayer, and study. Mrs Rachel Held Evans wrote of her ‘evolution’ away from the traditional doctrines of the bible in her book, “Evolving in Monkey Town.” The book describes that she learned “in order for her faith to survive in a postmodern context, it must adapt to change and evolve.” Her evolution was unfortunately away from the traditional biblical doctrines of young earth, eternal hell, and so on. Mrs Evans said to me today that “My point is that Christians disagree on the clarity of the issues you bring up. I think Fudge makes a good case…” She was referring to a well-known theologian Dr. Edward Fudge who teaches an annihilation view on hell.

Of course they make a good case. If they made a bad case we wouldn’t have any discord, but be of one mind and on the same page. Additionally, just the fact that disagreement exists does not mean that all viewpoints are valid nor are they true. It also doesn’t mean we stop seeking clarity, thinking, well, if so many disagree, then there must not be one truth about this.” No, never let it be so!

When teachers use the bible to make a good case but that case is at odds with another good case, stop, study, and pray. It is up to us to recognize that pre-tribulation rapture, mid-tribulation rapture and post-tribulation rapture cannot ALL be true. Traditional view of the Trinity and Modalism both cannot be true. If one refutes the other, it is up to us to seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit. He will guide me into truth. That I don’t seek clarity isn’t even under contention, though some fail at that first step. Once the Spirit delivers the answer, I am grateful and can then ponder the doctrine, think of all the verses that go with it, and better get to know Who my Savior is.

If you allow yourself to exist in a perpetual state of doctrinal confusion, then you will always be confused about who Christ is.

John 8:44 says that satan is the author of lies. As God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) then satan IS the author of confusion and discord. Just because there are lies does not mean we cannot know the truth. Being careful to handle the word rightly, (2 Timothy 2:15) asking for wisdom (James 1:5) and discernment, and through the Holy Spirit, we can have comfort in knowing His truth.

You will recognize them. You will.

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17 NASB).

james whitmore, nancy davis, the next voice you hear

Movie review: "The Next Voice You Hear…"

Posted on July 8, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I came across a mention of a movie a couple of weeks ago. It is called “The Next Voice You Hear…”. Always looking for wholesome movies or tv to watch (an increasingly difficult task) I googled the movie and found this from Wikipedia:

“The Next Voice You Hear… (1950) is a drama film in which a voice claiming to be that of God preempts all radio programs for days all over the world. It stars James Whitmore and Nancy Davis as Joe and Mary Smith, a typical American couple. It was based on a short story of the same name by George Sumner Albee. The voice is never heard by the (film) audience.”

Nancy Davis later became the better known Mrs Nancy Reagan.

The movie was interesting. The portrayal of a family during the time of the 1950s. Mrs Smith is pregnant, and they also have a son who looks to be about ten years old. Mr Smith works in an airplane factory, and Mrs Smith is a very pregnant stay at home mom. Their son has a paper route. They do not own a tv, because after all it is 1950, but they have a radio, in front of which Mr Smith sits each evening after family supper to have a beer and listen to his program. Mrs Smith helps her son Johnny with his homework. Occasionally Mr Smith goes bowling. Mary Smith has an aunt who sometimes visits, whom Joe Smith doesn’t care for and mocks behind her back.

Joe Smith is a loving husband and father, sometimes impatient and angry with his car or his boss. Finances are a concern, the parents are sad they cannot afford a bike for the son, or a new starter for the car and they need a new fridge. The father of the family feels this financial pressure acutely. In addition, he doesn’t like his boss, believing him to be cruel and uncaring, and thinks he can do a better job himself. Joe’s anger is displayed early on, where Joe is running late for work and hurtles his car down the driveway and into the street. A policeman stops Joe and Joe is issued a ticket for reckless driving. Joe receives the ticket, rolls up his window and hurtled off again, screaming rubber. The policeman catches up to Joe and issues him another ticket. Joe’s latent anger boils and he continues to mutter all day long at work, grousing to the pals over lunch.

He comes home that night and has a relaxing family dinner and laughs with his son, and settles into his chair with the beer. In other words, a typical American family and really human people, living lives- never giving heed to the fact that there is a God who watches and is the standard by which human behavior is judged.

Until one night, at 8:30 PM, instead of the familiar radio show coming on, there is a voice who says He is God. The message is, “This is God. I’ll be with you for the next few days.” We do not hear the voice, the scene immediately prior to the voice having set us in the kitchen with Mary and Johnny. We only see Joe’s shaken face as he wanders into the kitchen to tell his wife about it. They discuss whether it really was God, or another of Mr Welles’s hoaxes (referring to the “War of the Worlds where Orson Welles pretended to interrupt a radio program to announce earth was being invaded.) They decide it was a hoax and try to shake off the feeling of confusion, dread, and fear.

The next day is typical, in that life went on but this time the lunch conversation is about the voice. It is revealed that the voice was heard on every radio station at the same time. The FCC is looking into it, as investigating whether there was a hacker.

The second night, the family is going about the business pretending all is normal but they are on tenterhooks as to whether this mystery will be solved or whether the mysterious voice will come on again.

‘God’ said He would send a rainstorm, and He did

And so it goes, for 6 nights, each time with a short message from God. Some people react with fear, and others with scorn, but Joe is struck by the intrusion of the supernatural into his life, and begins to examine himself.

One movie reviewer wrote of this B-movie, “Decidedly understated, and more concerned with inner growth than outer conflict, the story unfolds gradually and gracefully…”

Even though the movie is solidly set in a time over 60 years ago, it seems timeless. After all, who can’t relate to living live as you do, and suddenly being confronted with the fact that there is a holy God watching you, which forces an inner conflict and a good tussle with the conscience.

The one part I especially liked was Joe’s descent into confusion before emerging out the other side, and done with a charming 1950s flair. Joe decided to drink with a buddy after bowling one night, and got stinking drunk, and flirted with a less than wholesome lady at the bar, too. When he arrived home, stumbling and raving, his son was shocked, and later ran away. Joe was humiliated to have let his son down and ashamed to face his wife after the flirting. That was the big problem that precipitated the fastest character development. Today if the movie had been made they’d just as likely have had the dad become a serial killer and arrive home with a dripping knife and a pocket full of eyeballs. I liked the drunk scene because this reminds us that the “smaller sins” of yesteryear are still sins.

The messages from God are decidedly sanitized of doctrine. ‘God’ urged all to love one another, offer mercy to one another, and be forgiving, calling these ‘small miracles.’ Jesus is not mentioned, nor is sin, judgment or worship. However the movie is well done enough so these thoughts are evident in the reactions of the characters. There is a not-so-subtle reference to the nativity in choosing to name the mother’s character “Mary”, the father’s character “Joe” and then there was her delivery of a baby boy.

In the end Joe decided to respect his boss, love his aunt, work on his patience and anger, and attend church. Not a bad moral.

Though there were no big pyrotechnics, being more of a thoughtful, character driven movie, I believe it would be enjoyable for people of any age. It is black and white so the kids may need a little coaxing, lol. I liked watching the locales, sets, clothing, and cars. The film was shot on location at Culver City, California, USA and at Douglas Aircraft, in addition to MGM Studios. It was enjoyable watching a slice of Americana from times gone by, and the fact that the movie was profanity-free, lewdness-free, wholesome with an overlay of ‘what if the next voice you hear…is God?’ made a nice evening. I hope you like this quiet, charming movie too.

Netflix doesn’t have it, but I watched it on Youtube.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie trivia from IMDB:

This is apparently one of only three films in which the MGM lion is not shown roaring at the start of the opening credits, probably because of the religious theme of the film. The only other known incidence of a non-roaring lion is Ben-Hur, which also has a religious theme, and Westward the Women.

The voice of God is never actually heard in the movie. The screenplay is written in such a way that the consequences of each of God’s broadcasts are seen, but the broadcasts themselves are omitted.

doctrine, emergent church, false christians, focus on the family

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian; Part 3

Posted on July 8, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Bono on his Co-Exist tour wearing his Co-Exist headband

Last week, President of the Christian organization Focus on the Family Jim Daly sat down with U2 rocker Bono. Mr Daly emerged from that interview trumpeting Mr Bono as a Christian, and write a glowing piece for Focus on the Family’s website and also published in the Washington Post called “Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“.

In parts one and two of the series of three parts, I looked at–

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian

And now in part 3 we’ll look at the lack of discernment in Christians today. Not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian and it is important to understand that. I’ll tell you why.

–Accepting unquestioningly all people who claim Christianity but who obviously are not, blurs the lines of the faith.
–We are supposed to share truth to a lost and dying world. Non-Christians, including false Christians we accept as genuine, do not have that truth to share.

As GotQuestions states, “The evidence of a true Christian is displayed in both faith and action. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). James says, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Jesus put it this way: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). A true Christian will show his faith by how he lives. Despite the wide variety of beliefs that fall under the general “Christian” label today, the Bible defines a true Christian as one who has personally received Jesus Christ as Savior, who trusts in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, who has the Holy Spirit residing within, and whose life evinces change consistent with faith in Jesus.”

We are supposed to care who says they are a Christian because Christians are supposed to have the truth of Jesus in us and abide by the Spirit. If we do then we’re brethren, and we build each other up, pray for each other, and help each other. If they are not, we know to evangelize them with our words, witness to them with our lives, and separate from them in our spirit. Mindlessly accepting everyone who utters “Jesus” like a magic password, blurs those lines and foils the notion that we are supposed to be separate, holding onto the only truth in a dying world of relativism. This unwillingness to engage in what is at root a problem of discernment is the number one problem in the church.

John MacArthur said, “People ask me this all the time, “… What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity? The biggest problem in the church? It’s simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It’s a lack of discernment. It’s the biggest problem with Christian people, they make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. The are prone to the wrong teaching. They’re unwise in who they follow, what they listen to and what they read.”

He continues, “I’m afraid that is pretty typical of the contemporary evangelical scene. There is a lack of precision in thinking, there’s a lack of consistency, there’s a lack of integrity. It’s just a hodgepodge, listening to anybody and everybody, reading anything, making no particular judgments. In fact, to make a judgment may be seen as unchristian. Boundless, endless credulity, anything and everything except there’s got to be good in all of it, how dare you question anybody’s view on anything. And I really believe that because of this pervasive attitude, evangelical Christianity, biblical Christianity as we know it is fighting for its life. Amazing to think about.”

Bertrand Russell had a lot to say about our lack of consistency and lack of integrity to the truth, as we’ll see below.

The reason biblical Christianity is fighting for its life is related to something that Martyn Lloyd Jones predicted 40 years ago. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote in his 1970 book ‘Romans: An Exposition of Chapters’:

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Disapproval of polemics in the Christian Church is a very serious matter. But that is the attitude of the age in which we live. The prevailing idea today in many circles is not to bother about these things. As long as we are all Christians, anyhow, somehow, all is well. Do not let us argue about doctrine, let us all be Christians together and talk about the love of God. That is really the whole basis of ecumenicity. Unfortunately, that same attitude is creeping into evangelical circles also and many say that we must not be too precise about these things. If you hold that view, you are criticizing the Apostle Paul, you are saying that he was wrong, and at the same time you are criticizing the Scriptures. The Scriptures argue and debate and dispute; they are full of polemics.”

Polemics defined is: contentious arguments that are intended to establish the truth of a specific understanding and the falsity of the contrary position. (source). That is Christianity in a nutshell, isn’t it! Jesus is the only way to heaven…you must repent or die…Jesus is God and there is no other… These are polemical arguments. A polemic is one definite controversial thesis. Debate is the second cousin to polemics. Debate is not so definite, debate allows for common ground between the two disputants. A polemic is intended to establish the truth of a point of view while refuting the opposing point of view. In polemics, there is one truth only. In debate, there is compromise and common ground. That is why we cannot debate and compromise in Christianity.

The problem today is that people debate. They don’t engage in polemics. A polemicist says, “There is only one truth and here it is, there is no other name by which you many be saved than that of Jesus. If you do not claim that name in repentance, you will go to hell.” (Acts 4:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Saying that truth today is becoming increasingly radical. Also radical is marking the boundaries of Christianity and claiming that such and such a person is outside of it.

Christianity is itself a polemic. The book of John establishes right and wrong, good and evil, light and

Source

dark. There is either or. Jesus is either God or He isn’t. You are of this world or you are not. Yet today there is a refusal to state the one truth, polemically, and this has allowed all manner of untruths to creep in. For example,

“But there are some things in the Word of God that are very clear and those are the things that are at the heart of our faith. And one of them is to understand who is a true Christian. And it’s astonishing to me how confused people are. I talked to one of the students at the college who went to Amsterdam 2000 this summer, this convocation of thousands of evangelists. And he is a college student, he said to me, “I couldn’t believe what I heard. The thing was opened by a Roman Catholic priest, and there was a man there who denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ and they all received applause and a standing ovation.” By evangelicals? And when somebody steps in and says, “Stop this charade, this pretense of Christianity, let’s get down to who’s really a Christian,” you get vilified and marginalized and alienated. But that’s okay because what matters is the truth. So we’re trying to deal with the truth.” (source)

Christianity by nature of its polemical stance, is divisive. It is supposed to be. I am not saying that people are supposed to be divisive on purpose by being disagreeable for the sake of being disagreeable. However, stating the truth divides. Didn’t Jesus say,

Source

“The Sword of the Gospel”
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36).

So no, Bono by believing in other religions is not a Christian. It is important to say these things. So how do you tell who a Christian is, here is MacArthur again:

“And the way to understand who a Christian is, I’ve concluded after a long time trying to get to this point, is to understand deliverance, the theology of deliverance. You can tell a Christian because they’re delivered. That’s what the Bible teaches.”

“The first category of deliverance is those who are really Christians have been delivered out of error into truth. Now listen to what I say. No one is a Christian who does not understand, believe, embrace and love the truth. What truth? The truth that we call the gospel. …When the Spirit of truth regenerates, He moves people from error to truth. He brings the sinner the understanding of, belief in, embracing of, and total commitment to the truth.”

You can tell a Christian because they know the truth and a non-Christian doesn’t. Simple.

It is important if we are a Christian be clear about any interlopers in our midst. Look at poor Bertrand Russell. The philosopher Bertrand Russell gave a lecture in 1927 in London, called “Why I am Not a Christian.” In it, he bemoans the watering down of what the definition of Christianity is, and mocks those of us who are holding the hose.

Bertrand Russell

“As your chairman has told you, the subject about which I am going to speak to you tonight is “Why I Am Not a Christian.” Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word “Christian.” It is used in these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians in all sects and creeds; but I do not think that that is the proper sense of the word, if only because it would imply that all the people who are not Christians — all the Buddhists, Confucians, Mohammedans, and so on — are not trying to live a good life. I do not mean by a Christian any person who tries to live decently according to his lights. I think that you must have a certain amount of definite belief before you have a right to call yourself a Christian. The word does not have quite such a full-blooded meaning now as it had in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In those days, if a man said that he was a Christian it was known what he meant. You accepted a whole collection of creeds which were set out with great precision, and every single syllable of those creeds you believed with the whole strength of your convictions.”

Having certainty and conviction of clear doctrines was something that atheist Russell could respect, even get behind. Ultimately, so can Jesus.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16).

Russell says our definition of Christian is too elastic, and he is right to wonder about the whole shebang of Christianity when we let so precious a truth become elasticised and stretched beyond recognition! It is his way of saying, “If they don’t care what Christianity is, why should I?” And when the false professors we have allowed into our midst fall away, and they always do, then what?

Phil Johnson

Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church and Executive Director, Grace to You, was assigned the task of explaining and critiquing the emerging church movement in one of the 75-minute sessions at the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference The resulting paper is titled, “Exposing the Postmodern Errors of the Emerging Church”. (a .pdf).

Pastor Johnson said the emerging church movement is an “irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas”, and of Bono, Johnson said he is one of the prime leaders of it. “This may help you more than anything I have said so far to understand the flavor of the “emerging church movement”: Bono—the Irish rocker and politico of U2 fame—seems to be the unofficial icon of the movement. If you’ve been tuned into pop-culture at any time over the past two decades and know anything about Bono, that might help you to grasp something about the look and feel of the movement”. … emergent types seem to quote Bono all the time. I would say that he sometimes seems to be the chief theologian of the “emerging church movement,” but in all fairness, that honor belongs more to John R. Franke and Stan Grenz. .. But he and Franke are the two academic theologians who have done more than anyone else to blend postmodernism and theology into a kind of quasi-evangelical doctrine”.

And that is what we have today. We have a long-standing organization such as Focus on the Family promoting an icon in Bono who represents a false movement which is bringing quasi-evangelical doctrine to quasi-evangelical Christians. On the other side we have an elder of the faith in Pr. Johnson who says that movement Bono represents is full of irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas, has contempt for biblical authority, breeds doubt about the perspicuity of Scripture, and sows confusion about the mission of the church.

At the January 2013 Convocation of the Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, Rev. Steven Lewis noted that there are indicators that the religious landscape of North America has radically changed. “That landscape change includes a spiritual revival and renewal afoot but it is not religious, the Rev. Steven Lewis, academic dean of Bangor Theological Seminary, said in January in the opening session of Convocation. He called it “humanitarian spirituality.”

Who wouldn’t be confused about who’s really a Christian when seminaries are graduating theologians who are told these terrible things? It is exactly this ‘humanitarian spirituality’ which Bono exemplifies-that Jesus will vomit out His mouth. As blogger Elliott Nesch said of the Daly-Bono meeting and the resulting version of Christianity which was unfortunately validated through it, “Philanthropy is no substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! … Bono is embraced and given the upper-hand in both religious and political spheres of influence. Many are following Bono in social justice but throwing the Gospel out the window. Bono’s hip Christianity will inspire many Christians to embrace ecumenism and apostasy in the cloak of philanthropy. This is a politicized social Gospel which is contrary to the doctrine of Christ.”

And THAT’S why we care about who is a Christian.

————————–
Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian Part 1

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian? Part 2

foxe's book of martyrs, goose, john huss, martin luther, martyr

Sunday Martyr Moment: John Huss, "The goose is cooked"

Posted on July 6, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

A day early with this because today is the anniversary of the burning of martyr John Huss. July 6, 1415. Excerpted from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. John Huss was killed by the Roman Catholic Church for the ‘heresy’ of proclaiming that Christ is the Head of the church and that salvation is in Christ alone. The martyrs died proclaiming Jesus is the head of the church and so many foolish people today have wantonly substituted idols for Him instead.

The day will come in His millennium Kingdom when

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

~Isaiah 11:9

The earth will be FULL of the knowledge of the Lord! Full…all will know and all will bow.

As he was taken to his death, Huss refused to recant and was heard to say, ‘You are now going to burn a goose, but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.’ A hundred years later Martin Luther arose, challenged the church, and was known as The Swan.

~~~~~~~~~~~Foxe’s Book: John Huss~~~~~~~~~~~

When he was brought before the Council, the articles exhibited against him were read: they were upwards of forty in number, and chiefly extracted from his writings. John Huss’s answer was this:

“I did appeal unto the pope; who being dead, and the cause of my matter remaining undetermined, I appealed likewise unto his successor John XXIII: before whom when, by the space of two years, I could not be admitted by my advocates to defend my cause, I appealed unto the high judge Christ.”

When John Huss had spoken these words, it was demanded of him whether he had received absolution of the pope or no? He answered, “No.” Then again, whether it was lawful for him to appeal unto Christ or no? Whereunto John Huss answered: “Verily I do affirm here before you all, that there is no more just or effectual appeal, than that appeal which is made unto Christ, forasmuch as the law doth determine, that to appeal is no other thing than in a cause of grief or wrong done by an inferior judge, to implore and require aid at a higher Judge’s hand. Who is then a higher Judge than Christ? Who, I say, can know or judge the matter more justly, or with more equity? when in Him there is found no deceit, neither can He be deceived; or, who can better help the miserable and oppressed than He?” While John Huss, with a devout and sober countenance, was speaking and pronouncing those words, he was derided and mocked by all the whole Council.

“His vestments were removed from him, one by one, and each bishop present pronouncing a curse on him as part of the ceremony. They put a cap on his head; on which were painted frightful pictures of demons, and on the front of it the words “Archheretic.” Jan Hus said, “Most joyfully will I wear this crown of shame for Thy sake, O Jesus, who for me didst wear a crown of thorns.” ‘ (source) .

These excellent sentences were esteemed as so many expressions of treason, and tended to inflame his adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by the Council stripped him of his priestly garments, degraded him, put a paper miter on his head, on which was painted devils, with this inscription, “A ringleader of heretics.” Which when he saw, he said: “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.” When it was set upon his head, the bishop said: “Now we commit thy soul unto the devil.” “But I,” said John Huss, lifting his eyes towards the heaven, “do commend into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ! my spirit which Thou has redeemed.”

When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?”

When the wood was piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire him to abjure. “No, (said Huss;) I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” He then said to the executioner, “You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.” If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

Jan Hus burning.
Drawing after Ulrich von Richental’s illustrated
chronicle of the Council of Constance

The flames were now applied to the wood when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was interrupted by the severity of the flames, which soon closed his existence.

Then, with great diligence, gathering the ashes together, they cast them into the river Rhine, that the least remnant of that man should not be left upon the earth, whose memory, notwithstanding, cannot be abolished out of the minds of the godly, neither by fire, neither by water, neither by any kind of torment.

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

John MacArthur has a tremendous sermon about John Huss and Martin Luther, and their resistance to the RCC’s popery. It’s called Undermining the Headship of Christ. It is well worth a listen.

encouragement

Midday encouragement: Jesus is the spring of life

Posted on July 6, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

divisive, Hermeneutics of Humility, homosexuality, rachel held evans

Rachel Held Evans asks "What if my son or daughter were gay…" and gets a response from Dr Joel McDurmon

Posted on July 5, 2013December 1, 2023 by elizabethprata

Nine months ago, I wrote about popular Christian author and blogger Rachel Held Evans. I mentioned her in this blog entry here which speaks of the Christian feminist agenda, and also I listed her in an essay about the new Christian feminism.

Evans had written the book of late, “A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master.”

Her book was thoughtfully and instructively critiqued here (negatively), and sternly here (very negatively).

Today I read an essay which is a response to Evans’ piece called “If my son or daughter were gay…” The piece is written by Dr. Joel McDurmon and it’s called “To Rachel Held Evans, RE: “If my son or daughter were gay…”

Sometimes when we write about someone who has a new book which illustrates a slide toward apostasy, it’s good to catch back up with that person later on to see if they have corrected course, indicating a momentary inattention and a repentant drift, or if they have continued that slide (are they are still going out from us?) Is Rachel Held Evans still sliding? Yes. That is the first point of this essay. Examples to come and warning duly given.

Example 1: Over the last year Mrs Evans has been presenting a series of ask and answer questions on her blog. The series is called “Ask A…” in which she asks a prominent person a question and explores all the biblical responses to it. As Kevin Miller says at Patheos, “she’s allowing readers to throw their questions at people who hold to various positions on hell. First up was Edward Fudge, well known advocate of Conditional Immortality and author of The Fire that Consumes. Next up is Robin Parry, author of The Evangelical Universalist.”

Enough said.

In the essay response to Mrs Evans’ ‘If my son or daughter were gay’ piece, Dr McDurmon wrote, “There is a stream of tears dripping from the end of Rachel Held Evans’s recent blog, “If my son or daughter were gay…”. I have to admit: I am crying, too. – … Yes, I am crying, too, but for a different reason. I am weeping over the disgrace to God, the neutered theology, the tortured application of “unconditional love.” – See more here.

I think it is clear that to read Mrs Evans’s blog or her books would not be profitable for the Christian and her works do not honor Jesus.

The second point of my essay here today is to examine the tactic Mrs Evans uses, in the hopes that how satan slyly comes in will be made more apparent to you and you can then be aware in future.

She asks questions.

I am not against questions. Christianity is a thinking religion, demanding in its intellectual and spiritual proposals. After all, the Holy Spirit endeavors to transform our mind. (Romans 12:2). That is one of the ministries He is performs inside us- renewing our mind away from the default of saturated sin and evil toward light and Christlike. (Colossians 3:10). Honest questioning is a good thing. “What did that verse mean? How can I apply that to my life? Is there a biblical example of that I can learn? Where is a parallel verse? What is the context here? What does Jesus mean when He says ‘meek’?” and so on.

Those are honest questions. When a disciple of Jesus comes to the word and honestly seeks to know, and asks the Spirit to answer, this is honest work.

Satan asks dishonest questions.

Let’s look at the dramatic moment in Genesis 3. I keep going back to that moment in many of my blog essays because it is important. Also, we are given insight into not just what the apostles said about satan, but in the very few times satan himself is recorded interacting with man (or Jesus or God) it behooves us to pay attention and learn from it.

We meet satan for the first time in Genesis 3:1. The introduction to him is “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” That is how the Spirit chose to introduce satan to us. So pay attention.

When you make an introduction to someone you state their name. You say one or two of the best things you can think of to commend that person, to make a good first impression. In the bible’s introduction of satan, his name is left off and the only commendation of him to us is negative. Not one good thing.

In the very next sentence we read, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

This is dishonest questioning. Satan had an agenda. He did not approach the woman in earnest, seeking to know what God hath said. He already knew what God hath said. He is all ears. He sees all that God does and with constant and persistent action, seeks to undermine God and accuse humans. (Revelation 12:10). If satan had really wanted to know what God had said, he could have gone to God and asked. No, satan knew the answer but had a different reason for asking. This is dishonesty.

He asked this question of Eve not because he didn’t know the answer. He asked it because he had an agenda. That agenda is to subvert the word of God and to introduce doubt into the recipient.

Rob Bell perfected this art of subversive questioning in his book denying hell’s existence, “Love Wins.”

Dr John MacArthur noted this in his review of Rob Bell’s book, “Rob Bell: “Evangelical and orthodox to the bone? Hardly.”, first quoting a passage from Bell and then making his statement-

Bell: “What if that spring [the virgin birth] were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart? . . . If the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?” (26-27)

So on the one hand, in a single sentence, he professes to affirm the virgin birth. On the other hand (and on the very same page), he spends multiple paragraphs calling the truthfulness and importance of that doctrine into question.

Back to Mrs. Evans.

Even Charisma Magazine asked a couple of days ago if Mrs Evans has caved to the culture.
“Evans, who states that she “grew up in a religious environment that vilified LGBT people,” still identifies as an evangelical Christian but has had a change of heart in her viewpoint on homosexuality, just as she had a change of heart on “the age of the Earth, the reality of climate change, the value of women in church leadership, [and] the equal failings of both the Republican and Democratic platforms to embody the teachings of Jesus.” And so, when Exodus International announced it was closing its doors and when the Supreme Court made its momentous, pro-gay activist decisions, she “celebrated” along with her many LGBT friends. …The title of her article is “Not All Religious Convictions Are Written in Stone,” but Evans leaves us wondering if any religious convictions are written in stone.”

Yes, they are written in stone. It is the job of satan to make you believe that they aren’t.

This questioning-seemingly-humble tactic is what John MacArthur called the “Hermeneutics of Humility” in his sermon on 1 John 1:1-4, “The Certainties of the Word of Life, part 2“, writing, ” There’s a new hermeneutics, a new science of interpretation called the Hermeneutics of Humility, and this is serious to the people who espoused this and their Hermeneutics of Humility say, “I’m too humble to think that I could ever know what the Bible really means and so I can only offer my opinion and I certainly can’t say that this is in fact the truth.” They pat themselves on the back congratulating themselves for such intellectual openness.”

It does seem to fool people when we come across someone who seems to be struggling with the larger questions of Christianity, and they are seemingly innocently asking questions in order to resolve their doubt. Who wouldn’t want to come alongside such a person and help them with biblical answers? But we are in the midst of wolves. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16). This calls for discernment. Is a person a wolf who will devour me with their questions, or are they an immature lamb seeking their Shepherd?

As for being a ‘humble seeker,’ you can know. You should know. You will know with certainty. In the sermon on the 1John verses, MacArthur said “I mentioned to you before that 36 times you’re going to find some form of the word “know” here. I know, we know, you know…there is an absoluteness in that.”

I wondered about hell when I was first saved. I studied the bible, read what Jesus had to say about it. The answer became clear. So then I stopped asking. Question asked and answered. To continue to ask questions about a subject once you have learned what the bible says on it is blasphemy because by then you’re not genuinely wondering about your understanding of the topic, you are directly questioning God. To fail to gain clarity on a topic that the bible presents clearly in the first place is also blasphemy. It is all dishonest questioning.

The bible is also clear on the disposition of the unrepentant sinner, including unrepentant homosexuals. It is also clear on the definition of love. A person is not being humble by continuing to ask, they are simply using their blog to introduce doubt and giving a platform to others who are wolves. (I.E. “Ask A… series”).

The bible speaks to these foolish ‘what if’ questions. The bible has the first word and the last word on the questioning tactic, dishonest questioning, that is, ‘If anyone has a morbid interest in controversial questions…’

“If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that religion is a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

Pulpit Commentary says
“In this morbid love of questionings and disputes of words, they lose sight of all wholesome words and all godly doctrine… surmisings, here in the-New Testament, In classical Greek it means “suspicion,” or any under-thought. The verb occurs three times in the Acts – “to deem, think, or suppose.” Here the “surmisings” are those uncharitable insinuations in which angry controversialists indulge towards one another.”

Be wise, be strong, and study hard. Know what you know, and proclaim it! Satan is coming on like a flood.

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Tall Ships Bicentennial memory, 1976

Posted on July 4, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ve been reminiscing this morning about the 4th of July in 1976. It was our nation’s 200th anniversary, and I lived in Rhode Island then. I was 15 1/2 and massively excited about the Tall Ships.

My grandparents had bought a beach house in 1938. The thing to do back then was buy a seasonal cottage by the bay or ocean, and the family goes to the cottage all summer while the men commuted to work. The state’s nickname is The Ocean State because of so much ocean coastline everywhere.

So in 1938 my grandparents bought a cottage on a small hill overlooking Narragansett Bay, which led to the Atlantic Ocean. It was unfortunate/fortunate…the 1938 hurricane wiped out RI as far inland as Providence, and destroyed huge swathes of coastline and many hundreds died. It wrecked the cottage pretty bad. It was unfortunate that they had the beach house only a few months before the state’s worst hurricane hit, but fortunate because they could rebuild it to their liking. Over the years they added on and enlarged it, slowly.

The Bay was great. It was a giant playground for us kids and cousins. Back in the 60s and 70s kids did stuff and we didn’t die, lol. Every kid had a ramshackle boat of some kind or another. My dad used to tell us when he was a kid they’d come to the beach house for the summer and he’d find a boat with holes in it abandoned on some mudflat, and he and the cousins would fix it, and they scraped up a motor from somewhere and fix that, and then they’d go out onto the Bay and get quahogs and fish for bass. (Quahogs are a clam you dig out of the mud flats at low tide, but way out far and low tide only).

In my day we had a new Boston Whaler to go around in. Can you imagine sending your ten and twelve year old kids out onto the bay in a boat for the afternoon and say ‘come back for dinner,’ LOL! But that’s what we did, mess around in boats, and mess around in the water and jump off the dock all day until our hands were pruny and our lips were blue.

On the 4th of July it was great because you could see all the towns’ fireworks from across the bay. Us kids would be running up and down the beach in the dark holding sparklers and whooping with joy as kids do. We were barefoot of course and I remember stepping on a sparkler that had just gone out and someone had thrown to the sand. It really hurt and the shock of the fiery pain was too much for old sensitive me, so forever after that I was not such a huge fan of sparklers. But I do think they are pretty.

The grownups had all sorts of amazing and highly dangerous fireworks. Before they were banned by the US government in 1966, they set off cherry bombs, and there were bottle rockets and lots of other things they spent hundreds of dollars on to have a blast creating their own fireworks show. Then we’d watch everybody else’s show.

In 1976, for the first time in history all the Tall Ships from around the world were going to gather at Newport RI. It was a huge, huge event. We’d eagerly read the paper every day for months before the time, watching to see which new Tall Ship was responding to the invitation. The list was growing longer and longer. Tall Ships from Russia, Argentina, England, all over, were going to sail up Narragansett Bay from Newport in a parade. The Newport Bridge was lined with people, thousands upon thousands lined the shorelines, and the Forts on all the islands dotting the bay. We piled in boat, and got into the mix of the thousands of boats crowding the bay to see this historical event.

Part of the event was a tall ships race from Bermuda to Newport. Wow, that must have been something to be in Bermuda’s Hamilton Harbor and hear the cannon and see them unfurl sail and take off across the bounding main!

There is something so elegant and majestic about a Tall Ship under full sail. The Secretary of the Navy came to RI for the ceremonies, and after the ships parade they docked at Newport and you could tour them. Prince Harold of Norway came over on one of them and also attended the ceremonies. It was so much fun. Eighteen tall ships from 14 nations came to RI for the 1976 4th of July. The boats were actually heading to NYC for the actual 4th where there would be a massive fireworks celebration and another parade up the Hudson River.

From Newport RI Archives. See the men on the spars?!

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This is a picture of Operation Sail Bicentennial 1976 in NYC from the South’s Grit Magazine! The ship is the Coast Guard Tall Ship USS Eagle. What a great ship!

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Here is a write up,

“Operation Sail 1976 provided a centerpiece for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. The event took five years to plan, featured more tall ships … including the Soviet Union’s czarina of the sea, the Kruzenshtern, which Frank Braynard had won over against all political odds on a trip to Moscow. … They proceeded “in company” to New York, where they were met by a vast spectator fleet. In partnership with the Navy, Operation Sail 1976 also resurrected the tradition of holding an International Naval Review, which brought together a peacetime armada of 50 warships under as many flags. From the deck of the USS Forrestal, President Gerald Ford reviewed the parade of sail, complete with a 21-gun salute. In Frank Braynard’s estimation, it was “the biggest assemblage of ships since the Battle of Navarino in 1827.”

That was a day you just never forget, the elegance of the ships and the pride in our nation and the celebrations all over. It felt great to be a part of it and just to be alive and young in America.

So cut to 1994 or so. My husband and I were living aboard our 37 foot yacht and had sailed far up the James River in VA and anchored at a kid of watery cul de sac. Not many cruising sailboats went up this far, it was a long way up and a long way back. But the high green hills and the peace were what we sought, and even better was knowing the William and Mary College was a short distance away and adjoining that, a park. It would be quiet and far from the cruising hubbub that sometime got to us as we cruised south to the Bahamas with a fleet of other like-minded live-aboard cruisers. It was the equivalent of taking a turn onto a dirt road as you drove south on the highway from GA to FL.

We got settled, anchoring the boat and buttoning up the sails etc. We were thinking about what to make for dinner when we heard a ‘whoosh’ and turned to look at the river entrance. It was a tall ship! The HMS Rose (right) was making a slicing sound in the river and the whoosh was the wind in their sails. Our boat was the only boat in the river and immediately the Rose aimed for us. They lowered the US flag and put up the Jolly Roger, lol, a bunch of sailors being trained were now having a bit of marine fun. They circled around us under full, billowing sail. It was thrilling to see a tall ship this close, just 50 feet away. As they tacked around us and sailed a bit further away, they let off the cannon! A boom and a puff of smoke and cheers from the sailors broke the stillness of the quiet waters and woke the sleeping geese along the shore.

We laughed in joy and just like that, the ship swapped the Jolly Roger for the US Flag again and sailed out of the cul de sac and back down the James River. We felt honored to have been given this treat. If we hadn’t seen it ourselves we would not have believed it. It all happened so fast!

The collegiality of the sailors on the ocean is universal, irrespective of nationality or type of ship or anything. It hits us hard when a ship sinks and even worse a stalwart old workhorse is lost to us. In Hurricane Sandy last October, the replica of the HMS Bounty sank off NC. This Bounty was the very same used in the 1960 s film Mutiny on the Bounty and the same ship what was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Still from coast guard helicopter video

This was a shocking photo to many people-and a sad one. Not only the majestic ship of the sea is gone but two people lost their lives, including the captain- who was never found. The crew says he said he’d go down with the ship. The Coast Guard concluded that he did. He had snatched a photo of his wife from his captain’s desk first and clung to that as he went down. He died with honor. Captain, I salute you.

For us mariners, when a ship goes down it’s like losing one of our own.

Growing up in Rhode Island we were on the water constantly, it was part of us. The wind, the tides, the fog, the lighthouses, the buoys…all part of our language. Boston’s harbor, Narragansett Bay in RI, Nantucket’s whalers, Gloucester’s fishermen, Plymouth’s Mayflower which we would go see on school field trips. The sea is in my blood. I’ve lived aboard my own boat, sailing almost 12,000 nautical miles. I’ve been on ferries, skiffs, cruise ships, ice breakers, barges and schooners, and my knees instinctively know how to bend and blend with the waves and the motion of the boat.

I have been through mighty storms and anchored in quiet waters. I’ve seen the rainbow over the harbor and the moon rising above the phosphorescent waters. I have lived this verse from Psalms, and it made me see the greatness of my Lord and the smallness of myself, a human not worth even His notice as an unsaved sailor, but later saved by His grace. Looking back I see how tremendous is the earth and the seas and all their secrets. He brought us safely to our desired havens of safe ports again and again, and later, as a soul lost in the sea of sin, He brought me out of the miry ocean to the haven of His bosom, justified and righteous, dry and warm, forever.

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry to the LORD in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he brings them to their desired haven.” ~Psalm 107:23-30

Rainbow over Marsh Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas