Posted in israel, jerusalem

Temple Mount firebombing

Posted on by elizabethprata

This morning I read an interesting news item in the daily Israel National News

Unprecedented: Firebombs on Temple Mount
“Jewish Temple groups demand inquiry as videos show policeman’s uniform alight after he was struck by a fire bomb. Jewish Temple organizations demanded Sunday that the Prime Minister immediately establish an official commission of inquiry into Friday’s events on the Temple Mount and the way the Temple Mount police handled them. Friday’s events were worse even than those that took place during the Great Terror War that began in 2000, the groups said. For the first time ever, they said, fire bombs were thrown at police on the Mount, and one policeman caught fire and miraculously suffered only slight wounds.”

Jerusalem has been set apart by our Holy God as his land and His city since the beginning. (Psalm 132:13). It was where Melchizedek, both a priest and a king of “God Most High,” ruled from about 4 millennia ago. (Then called Salem, Genesis 14). It is the place where we read of Abraham binding Isaac for the sacrifice of the son which God commanded. (Genesis 22) it is where the Presence of God dwelt in the Temple. God chose to place His name there (2 Chronicles 6:6).

It is a holy patch of ground. That is the point.

The site has nothing to commend it in human terms. Jerusalem does not lie on any of the ancient important trade routes. There is no natural reason why this city should be one of the most important places in the world for more than four thousand years. A low range of hills are a barrier to winter rains from the Mediterranean Sea just 30 miles to the west. Just to the East, annual rainfall drops nearly to zero in the Judean Wilderness. The elevation to the East drops too- the Dead Sea is 15 miles away and is 1290 feet below sea level.

And yet it is hotly contested.

So the Muslims built a mosque on the patch and claim it is theirs and that the Jews never owned it or have claim to it. It is a contested piece of ground, and the only reason is that it is God’s and satan does not want God to have it.

The city is called the city of Peace, the root of Jerusalem, meaning Shalom. It has never known peace. Things are going to get much darker for Jerusalem before they get better. But it will. It will get better.

“And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ (Haggai 2:7-9)

“It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and)all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:2-4)

No more firebombs on God’s holy ground. That will be a glorious day. And get this:

“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)

What a glory and a delight when all the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord!

Posted in cross, easter, homosexuality

BBC Easter show to compare practicing homosexuals to Jesus on the cross

Posted on by elizabethprata

When I listened to John MacArthur’s monumental and devastating sermon in September which was a response to the Democratic Party platform, I thought the culture could not get any lower. (Homosexuality and the Campaign for Immorality). Even though I know in my head it can always go lower, I literally could not envision in my heart how it could. But we know that it always does, and indeed, it has.

In that sermon, which was at the time a low point for the global culture, MacArthur said-

“Isaiah knew sodomy was all around them, a part of life in Assyria, a part of life in Babylon, a part of life in Egypt. In fact there was much about homosexuality among the pharaohs. It took a while, it took about 150 years, but all of this kind of seeped in and what destroyed Sodom would destroy Judah. And later it would destroy Greece, and later it would destroy Rome. This is always a deadly sin, and always a defining sin, and always a damning sin.”

It can be seen as a low point because Romans 1:25-32 is a benchmark of progression of how a culture departs from God and what God does when that culture departs from Him. Rebellion against Him always takes the form of sin. A most damnable sin, and the only sin that IS a judgment, is homosexuality.

The political process at the Democratic Party adopted a platform that uplifted everything God hates and they denied God himself by removing His name from any and all affirmations included in the platform.

Ken Ham of the ministry Answers in Genesis wrote this weekend that the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is going to present a show on Easter that compares Jesus Christ to homosexuals. Ham writes,

“Yes, you read that title correctly: the British Broadcasting Company will be airing a radio Easter message that compares the treatment of practicing homosexuals to the Crucifixion of Christ. (Read more about the announcement at this link.) The host of the program will be Benjamin Cohen, the founder of the gay UK publisher PinkNews.

Now, Cohen has written an article titled “Like Jesus on the cross, the gay community know what it is to be abandoned.” He explains his view of the Crucifixion and how he believes it relates to the gay agenda. As you’ll see, his reasoning shows a complete lack of understanding of the Bible’s atonement message and why Christ came to earth as a man:

The story of Jesus is one that is inextricably tied up with the notion of him being an outcast and being both abandoned and rejected by his own people, the Jews. Jesus was abandoned because of something he said he couldn’t help, being born the son of God, the messianic figure for the redemption of the Jewish people and ultimately of mankind. Yet he was persecuted for it, treated as a traitor and ultimately executed.

One of the problems with Cohen’s statement is that the gospel accounts of Christ’s earthly ministry don’t center on rejection and abandonment. They are concerned with Christ’s purpose for coming to earth—to offer salvation to sinful man through living a perfect life, dying in our place, and rising again three days later.

What’s more, Christ and His disciples called people to repent and believe. You see, Scripture tells us that homosexual behavior is sinful—so Cohen’s comparison isn’t remotely valid. “

Please go to the link at Ham’s website to read the rest of his essay.

If anything, this shows the persistence of satan. If anything this shows us that sin always has another depth to sink to. This is why the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins to pay the debt of God’s wrath over them had to be Jesus- because He is eternal. His infinite Goodness and Holiness paid the infinite and unholy debt of the depth of the world’s sin.

Aren’t we glad that in one way, when we see sin sinking so low, we can also see Jesus as so high and lifted up?

In the year of the death of king Uzziah, I saw also the Lord sitting upon an high throne, and lifted up, and the lower parts thereof filled the Temple. The Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole world is full of his glory. And the lintels of the door cheeks moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me: for I am undone, because I am a man of polluted lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of polluted lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, and Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me with an hot coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with the tongs: And he touched my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me. (Isaiah 6:1-8)

He is seated on the throne, powerful King of all the universe, having paid the debt of even these people who compare Holy God to polluted sin. That is why we worship Jesus, He is beautiful in His holiness and purity.

MacArthur concludes the sermon series from last fall by saying:

“What’s wrong with our world? Rejected God; same thing that’s always been wrong. What are the solutions to all of the things that come from that? The only solution is to worship God by honoring His Son, the only Savior, the only hope. People talk about hope and change. There’s only one hope–that’s Christ. There’s only one change–that’s regeneration. Otherwise nothing changes and there’s no hope.”

Posted in bible, preaching

A good word from the Shepherds’ Conference: quotes and quotables

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love the annual Shepherds’ Conference at Grace to You. It is a conference organized thirty years ago at John MacArthur’s church with the sole and express purpose of training up men and supporting them in their leadership positions at their home churches. It is a time for the pastors of our faith to come and enjoy being preached to, nurtured, prayed over, and to worship together. It is a moving experience to see them gather and sing, praising the Lord and loving on each other.

Of course, the preaching is stellar. It is expository, the word is central and it is illuminated by men of maturity and wisdom. There is audio available for the sessions here. The web page will soon have the video of these services, but they are already appearing on Youtube as you can see the links below.

Here are some of the many words of wisdom which struck me to the heart. I share them with you and hope that you may find time to click on one or more of the links to listen to the singing or hear a good word. Have a blessed Sunday.

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

[Street demonstrating atheists] “are not nearly as dangerous as church leaders who cultivate a gentle, pious, friendly demeanor but they hack away at the foundations of the faith, under the guise of keeping in step with the changing world.” ~Phil Johnson, Shepherds’ Conference 2013, general session #2

“No Christian should imagine naively that heresy is always conspicuous. That every purveyor of theological mischief is going to lay out his agenda in plain and honest terms. They almost never do that. Wolves come in sheep’s clothing.” ~Phil Johnson, Shepherds’ Conference 2013, general session #2

“There is a dramatic account of God’s judgment in Leviticus 9 and 10. The people had been ready to worship. They now had priests. They had standards by which they were to come before God, and offer Him their worship. In the 9th chapter, they came according to God’s law, a sacrifice was offered, God sent down miraculous fire and consumed the sacrifice. In chapter 10, however, another sacrifice was offered, and God consumed the offerers, because they violated His standard, and offered strange fire.” … Worship is a very serious matter. How you come before a holy God is the most important thing you will ever do.” ~John MacArthur, Shepherds’ Conference 2013 – General Session #9

“A high view of Christ leads to a high and holy regard for the church that He purchased with His own blood. A high view of Christ leads to a driving commitment to reach the world for Christ. But conversely, a low view of Christ produces low worship, little regard for His word, low esteem of the pulpit, low standard of holiness, low involvement of spreading God’s word. Everything hinges upon your vision of who Jesus Christ is. That is why we need to see the awe-inspiring vision of Christ.” Steve Lawson, Shepherds’ Conference 2013 – General Session #3

“Too many people see the Christ of the manger. The Christ of Galilee and Jerusalem. Too many only see the Christ of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Christ of the cross at Calvary and the empty tomb. As glorious as these aspects of Christ’s earthly and ministry are, they do not tell the whole story. If we are to grow in grace and mature in faith, we must not only see Christ as He once was, but as He now is: KING of Kings, and LORD of Lords! We must see not only the meek Messiah and the humble Galilean, but the Sovereign Lord, the Head of the church. The enthroned Christ invested with all power and authority in the universe. … The one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ~Steve Lawson, Shepherds’ Conference 2013 – General Session #3

Of hymns: “We were singing songs the saints have sung for a very long time. I am not on a rant against modern technologies- I use them. I am not on a rant against all contemporary and modern hymns. There are many that are wonderful and we sang one of them tonight. But it is very important that we sing songs that people know are as worship of the One True and Living God. That these songs are not merely emotional expressions that end up flashing on a screen and then disappear. They are songs that belong to the saints. ~Al Mohler, Shepherds’ Conference 2013, General session #6 [emphasis mine]

I second that. I appreciate OUR music. It is not the world’s music, it is immediately identifiable as ours, the church’s, and separate from the world. It is worshipful music, not just worship music.

“God is not just the mayor of Jerusalem. He is the judge of ALL.” ~Al Mohler, Shepherds’ Conference 2013, General session #6

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

Now for some good, short essays on other topics:

What About Those Who Have Never Heard?

Locusts arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel (it’s a small pack and not a massive swarm. Officials hope that already-completed preventative spraying will keep them at bay)

Damascus, Syria is still imploding.
“The danger of Syria’s impending implosion”: 5 ways the collapse of Syria might be more dangerous than most people realize.”

Specks and Beams: the importance of judging

The sun isn’t producing many sunspots like it was ‘supposed’ to in its solar maximum. Scientists can’t figure out why it’s quiet…too quiet.

Posted in faith, john wesley, repentance

The isthmus of life

Posted on by elizabethprata

“I desire to have both heaven and hell ever in my eye, while I stand on this isthmus of this life, between two boundless oceans.” ~John Wesley, 1747

An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas, usually with water on either side. A tombolo is an isthmus where the strip of land consists of a spit or bar.

The sandy isthmus or tombolo connecting
North and South Bruny Island in Tasmania, Australia

One of my favorite spots on earth is at Lubec Maine, and this shot is of the East Quoddy Lighthouse at Campobello Island, New Brunswick Canada. It is across from Lubec. The famous tides in this area rush in and rise to heights of thirty feet or more. This narrow spit of sand submerges in furious fashion when the tide comes in and covers it up.

If you are standing on the sand when the tide comes in you will find that the current stirs up the sand and pebbles and what you thought was solid to stand on becomes completely unstable. The forces of the water sweep you off your feet and carry you away. Your strength will not able to overcome the strength of the water. Its chilling effect weakens you and hypothermia sets in rapidly. The webpage for the lighthouse warns–

“If you become stranded on the islands by the tide, wait for rescue. Even former keepers of this lighthouse have lost their lives by misjudging the strong, frigid, fast-rising tidal currents, and tide-pressurized unstable pebble ocean floor, while attempting to make this crossing. During a summer in the 1990s, two visitors attempted to swim across this passage. One made it across, but the other was swept away by the current. After a rescue by boat, both had been stricken with hypothermia, were rushed to the hospital — and luckily, survived.”

The page ends with this warning:

DANGER!–TAKE NO RISKS & DO NOT LINGER!

We think of Wesley’s notion of life as an isthmus. It is narrow and temporary. The boundless oceans of heaven and hell are on either side, pressing in. Eventually the land gives way and we are carried away by one, or the other.

Which direction you go depends on your attitude toward Jesus. At the moment of your death, the difference in direction will all come down to one point, one only. Jesus. He will lift you from the hopeless, chilling waters of your looming eternity in hell and bring you to the warm bosom of Himself in glorious heaven. The difference in which boundless ocean you will spend your eternity is repentance. Repent and be saved!

What, then, is the connection between repentance and salvation? The Book of Acts seems to especially focus on repentance in regards to salvation (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). To repent, in relation to salvation, is to change your mind in regard to Jesus Christ. In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent (Acts 2:38). Repent from what? Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus (Acts 2:36) to change their minds about Him, to recognize that He is indeed “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Peter is calling the people to change their minds from rejection of Christ as the Messiah to faith in Him as both Messiah and Savior.

Repentance and faith can be understood as “two sides of the same coin.” It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.

What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?

So this is the message: DANGER!–TAKE NO RISKS & DO NOT LINGER! Every day one lives on earth without knowing Jesus is a danger. You are taking risks with your eternity. Do not linger in repentance and faith in Jesus.

Posted in history channel, the bible, weird

Mark Burnett says ‘weird’ things happened on set of ‘The Bible’

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christian Post reports some more on Mark Burnett‘s miniseries “The Bible”. Burnett reportedly is  pleased that the hand of God was over the production and is confident that it will be the most-watched thing that he, Mark Burnett, has ever produced and they will be watching what he, Mark Burnett made, even 50 years from now.

Let’s take a station break for this verse. And now, our sponsor, GOD:

“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” (Proverbs 29:23)

And … we’re back. Burnett went on to say that the proof of God’s hand on the production is that weird things happened. Once, get this, the wind blew! It has been a still night, but then the wind blew. And for 20 seconds!

That is not a miracle. It’s called “weather”.

In another incident, the set’s snake wrangler, who usually recovered one or two snakes per day on set to protect crew members, found 48 cobras and vipers hidden near the scene of the cross, where the crew was to film Jesus’ crucifixion.

In a third incident, part of the man playing Jesus’s costume floated away in the river and a boy brought it back a couple of days later. That’s not a miracle. That’s manners.

And with those, Burnett ascribes some sort of Godly supernatural glory or blessing to the production.

I want to remind one and all of some things. I have a particular peeve with people who ascribe God to every manifestation of every twitch under the sun. Things like, “I sneezed as I drove under the bridge so that means God will bridge the gap” or some such tripe like that. Or when the toast comes out burned and someone sees the face of Jesus on it. John MacArthur told of a woman who burned her tortilla and thought the face on it was the face of Jesus and she made a shrine and thousands came to look at it. He said,

“Well, evidently, skepticism is a rare commodity these days. People’s hunger for the mysterious and the astonishing and phenomena is a little unsurpassed in the history of the church. It’s pretty popular stuff in the secular world and it’s found its way into the church. Eager to witness miracles, many people seem willing to believe that almost anything unusual is a genuine heavenly wonder. The problem with that is it poses a severe danger for the church because it plays right into the hands of Satan, doesn’t it? False wonders and false signs, false miracles, extremely believable ones, the Bible tells us will be the primary tool of Satan in the end times. Jesus said, “False Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect.” Then He added as if knowing that many would ignore the warning, “Behold, I have told you in advance,” Matthew 24:24-25.”

Like, the wind blowing in the Sahara is not a heavenly miracle, people!

He says, “And the types of miracles that are being claimed today are absolutely nothing like New Testament miracles, absolutely nothing like them. In fact, the types of miracles today could be distinctly seen as different than New Testament miracles. Jesus and the apostles instantly and completely healed people born blind, a paralytic, a man with a withered arm. All obvious and disputable miracles, even Jesus’ enemies didn’t challenge the reality of His miracles that He had the people there to verify them. He raised the dead, of course, as we well know. They never did a miracle that was slow, they never did a miracle that took time, they never did a miracle that was less than permanent. By contrast, most modern miracles are partial, gradual, temporary, sometimes reversed, and almost impossible to verify.”

The snakes, now that seems like it was more from satan than from God.

Not everything is a miracle and not everything that happens that’s “weird” is from God. Satan is coming with signs and lying wonders, remember. (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

“Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” (Revelation 13:14).

Sometimes in the past, God worked a miracle that circumvented His natural laws in order to accomplish something He wanted to accomplish. In most cases today, and even in the past, He works through providence.

When Burnett claims weird things happened and they were from God so that meant God’s hand was upon the production, he is claiming direct Divine Intervention. Mary’s virginal gestation of the baby Jesus was Divine intervention. The Red Sea parting is Divine Intervention. As GotQuestions explains:

“At the opposite end of the spectrum are believers who view virtually everything as an example of divine intervention. A good parking spot being open is clearly a miracle from God. A sudden gust of wind or the chance meeting of a friend is clearly a sign from God to move in a different direction. While this mindset is more biblical than the approach a deist might take, it poses serious problems. Interpreting virtually everything as divine intervention can lead to very subjective conclusions. We tend to read into things what we want. It is tempting to study cloud shapes to find “proof” for what we want God’s will to be instead of truly seeking God’s will in a biblical manner.” (Romans 12:1-2). … “But the Bible does not instruct us to seek hidden spiritual meanings in everyday life events. While we should be aware that God does intervene, we should not spend every waking minute trying to decode secret messages from above.”

I pray that for you, the real miracle you experience is the living, breathing word of God, alive and profitable for everything.

Posted in sheep, shepherd

The Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd

Posted on by elizabethprata

The John MacArthur, Grace to You annual Shepherds’ Conference is going on right now in California. You can follow the twitter feed at #shepconf, or go to the website at ShepherdsConference.org

The purpose of this annual conference is to minister to the pastors, elders, and leaders of the local church. Its focus is to make the conference a time for our men to be refreshed and rejuvenated in their ministry. Men from around the world attend, and it is a beautiful sight to see and hear thousands of men singing hymns such “It is Well With My Soul” and seeing them gather. It is also wonderful to be able to pray for so many at once.

One of the first sermons preached at the 2013 conference was by Phil Johnson about the Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd.

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)

Brethren, Jesus is with us, always. No matter what you are going through, He is with you. He cares for you as one of His lambs, nourishing us, rounding us up, leading us to calm waters, giving us pastures to refresh us. He protects us from wolves and gives us shelter under His wings to steady us from the storms. How good to hear His voice, in the bible, and how great it will be to hear it audibly when He, the Chief Shepherd, calls us home, and we follow Him as the sheep we are. (John 10:27, 1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Is there anything more comforting than knowing that the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, knows His sheep…us?

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,” (Hebrews 13:20).

Abel was a shepherd, and when Cain killed Abel Abel’s blood cried out from the ground. (Genesis 4:2, Genesis 4:10). David was a Shepherd, and perhaps this was why God called David a “man after my own heart”. (Acts 13:22). Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11).  “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:24)

And so on Crucifixion Day, it was the blood of Jesus that cried out from the ground. (Matthew 27:51).

Yet the Shepherd rose again! Our Chief will care for His sheep forever!

“And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” (1 Peter 5:4).

But the glory is His. Let us cast our crowns back to Him and praise Him for His work in heaven and on earth. There is nothing we are going through that you and He can’t get through together.After all, he created us, He will keep us in His care.

Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:10-11

Posted in Uncategorized

It’s a young earth, and believing that makes a difference in your approach to the Gospel

Posted on by elizabethprata

I bring your attention to this article from One News Now/Christian Press. It is a young earth, brethren. It makes a difference.

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

Noted Apologist Calls Out Evangelical Leaders Who ‘Undermine the Word of God’

A noted biblical apologist and expert on creationism is calling out several of his colleagues. An audience of some 300 people at the recent National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Nashville were shocked to learn of the number of evangelical leaders who don’t believe in a literal 6 days of creation narrative.

At the recent NRB convention Ken Ham, president and founder of Answers in Genesis and the Cincinnati-based Creation Museum, gave a lecture entitled, “The Age of the Earth, Biblical Authority, and the Downfall of the USA.”

During his presentation Ham showed video clips of prominent evangelicals to illustrate how some modern Christian theologians are, what he calls, compromising the Word of God.

He believes in a literal interpretation of the creation account found in the Book of Genesis.

“I’m not attacking these people personally and I’m not saying they aren’t Christians or preach the Gospel or I don’t respect them,” Ham told Christian Press News. “I’m dealing with a particular issue that is important in which God’s Word is being undermined. Wittingly or unwittingly many of these famous Christian leaders are really undermining the authority of the Word of God.

Ham mentioned, in particular, John Piper, founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, co-pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla. Dr. R.C. Sproul and Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, as Christian leaders who have drifted away from teaching a young earth perspective.

“Many Christian leaders today will say ‘who cares what Genesis says and what does it matter about the age of the earth as long as you trust in Jesus. We need to go out there and preach the Gospel,’” said Ham. “But the point we need to understand is the Gospel comes from this book called the Bible and if generations of people have been led to believe they can’t really trust the Bible or lead to doubt that you can trust its authority or doubt its history – eventually they will reject the Bible and won’t listen to the Gospel.”

During a recent interview on the Bill O’Reilly show, Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, acknowledged his belief that the earth could have been created 13.7 billion years ago.

“I think it very well could have been,” Jeffress told O’Reilly. “One of the things fundamentalist Christians mess up on is they try to say the earth is 6,000 years old. The Bible never makes that claim.”

Ham denounced Jeffress statement maintaining the Bible makes no such claim that the earth is billions of years old.

“Pastors need to be told that when you do that, you undermine the authority of Scripture,” Ham said. “They are helping atheism by undermining the authenticity of the word of God.”

Posted in ahmadinejad, interfaith, rick warren

What do Rick Warren and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have in common?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is currently the President of Iran. His tenure is coming to an end, but for these past seven and a half years, he has been the loudest voice of Shia Islam.

Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. Of Shi’ites, there are about 20 million or 10% of total Muslim population. About 80% of the Shia population lives in only 4 countries: India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. The largest denomination is Sunni, of which there are about 1.2 billion or 90% of Muslims.

The Shia (and Sunni) Muslims believe that Jesus, AKA Isa, was a prophet of Allah, born of a virgin, lived a wonderful life, was NOT killed on the cross but lifted bodily straight up to God. They believe that Jesus will return with the 12th Imam or Final Mahdi to perform one last task: to break the cross, to kill the people of the cross, and to renounce his own Christianity and causing all to worship the true God: Allah. Then Isa will get to marry, have children, and die a natural death under the ‘peaceful regime’ of Allah. If this sounds suspiciously like Christianity’s False Prophet, you are correct.

Hugo Chavez was a socialist and friend to Iran, who died this week. Of Chavez’s passing, Ahmadinejad was praising him in a eulogistic pronouncement. However, it seems that Ahmadinejad went too far in his praise of his dead friend Chavez, saying that Chávez would “return on resurrection day” with Jesus and the Final Imam, the Twelfth Mahdi, who is the most revered figure in Islam.

Ahmadinejad is receiving criticism for this statement because Imam and Jesus/Isa are revered figures and are prominent players in Muslim end time scenarios. They take it seriously, because that is the time period which is supposed to usher in the final peace, with Islam being dominant over all the world. Jesus/Isa has a major part to play in that ushering-in. To speak words that include Chavez in the scenario is a religious no-no, illegal, even.

I wrote on the blog in September 2012, that Ahmadinejad said at the UN in his annual speech, “that the return of Jesus Christ was soon to come, along with the Islamic end-time figure the 12th Imam. “God Almighty has promised us a man of kindness, a man who loves people and loves absolute justice, a man who is a perfect human being and is named Imam Al-Mahdi, a man who will come in the company of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and the righteous,” Ahmadinejad said, according to a transcript by PolicyMic. According to Shi’a Muslim beliefs, which the Iranian president subscribes to, Jesus of Nazareth will return to Earth along with the above-mentioned Imam, and they together will solve many of the world’s problems.”

One of those world problems is the presence of Jews and Christians, which ‘Isa’ will kill at Imam’s command.

Now to Rick Warren.

At the 2008 Obama inauguration, Rick Warren was asked to give the invocation. He prayed the following to end his prayer–

“I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus…”

Warren prayed in the name of Isa.

He prayed in the name of a false god which a billion and a half Muslims believe will return to kill Christians, break the cross and renounce his Christianity. Warren may as well have said “I pray in the name of Baal”.

I don’t want to hear any excuse that Warren was just using a pronunciation. Warren’s next door neighbor is a Muslim, with whom he traveled to Syria to learn more about Islam and his neighbor’s world. He breaks bread with Muslims at their local Mosque on Friday, he has spent money and effort to ‘build bridges to Muslims’, and he has studied Islam for a long time. Warren knows Isa is not Jesus.

The bible says we are not to be yoked with unbelievers when doing the work of Jesus. We are to be separate.

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).

What good can come from darkness? Hitching with organizations or religions which deny Jesus of the Gospels goes against Revelation 2:14-15. Why unite with apostates? You see the damage it does? You wind up calling Jesus Isa and praying to the “All merciful One” of Islam.

In an interfaith paper to Muslims, seeking exactly the opposite of what the bible calls for, ‘reconciliation between two great faith communities’, Rick Warren was a signatory. The letter ended like this:

“Before we “shake your hand” in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world.”

Again, Warren invoked a different God. By the way, Rick Warren is one of the paid consultants to oversee the scriptural integrity of the doctrines presented in the History Channel’s “The Bible” miniseries.

When Ahmadinejad says ‘Jesus is coming’, THAT Jesus bears no relation to God in the flesh who died for the sins of the world. Ahmadinejad’s Jesus, or Isa, is satan. Rick Warren’s Jesus/Isa is satan.

So what do Rick Warren and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have in common? They both pray to a false god. To be even more clear, they both pray to satan.

Posted in discernment, doctrine, last days

Discernment: Why is it important?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Justin Peters is an ordained minister and preacher, but is more well-known for his creation of the seminar “A Call for Discernment”. It is an in-depth, biblical critique of the Prosperity Gospel/Health-Wealth false gospel. This false gospel is also known as a Word Faith Movement, perpetuated by Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer and many others.

His bio says that as a teenager, Justin himself attended faith-healing services in hopes of being delivered from his Cerebral Palsy. Though the potential was there to shake his faith in the Lord, in the long run, these experiences had the opposite effect. He says he has learned that his CP is a blessing because it keeps him dependent on God in his own weakness.

What is Discernment and why is it important? Are we supposed to “judge” or not? Are we told to discern even if we do not have the spiritual gift of discernment? In this seminar, Peters shows that discernment is a duty for all Christians, not only to detect issues in Word-Faith preaching, but in all aspects of a Christian’s life.

You might have heard people say, “I don’t need to know doctrine. I am not a theologian. I just loooove Jesus.” Peters says, that is a foolish statement. You cannot know someone unless you study them and know who they are. If you want to love Jesus, become a student of Him, and study His word. It is a false humility to say you don’t need doctrine.

Here is a link to the session’s .pdf outline that you can read along with the seminar clip below.

If you don’t want to or don’t have time to watch the entire video above, here is Todd Friel of Wretched Radio & TV, interviewing Justin Peters, discussing the Word of Faith movement in this 7-minute clip.

The Lord is gracious and kind. He gave us His word in the bible so we would not be unaware of satan’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). I believe the battle is growing more deep and fierce. Satan is scheming mightily to make the unwary drift away (Hebrews 2:1-4). Keep your anchor dug in- the anchor is Jesus. He is the rock, the foundation of our faith. There is no greater joy than in clinging to Him. Never fear: no one can ever snatch us out of His hand. (John 10:29).

Love Jesus by getting to know him, in His word. Doctrine matters. So does discernment. Ultimately the scriptures tell us why doctrine and discernment are important:

“For whatever was written was given to us for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 KJV)

HOPE! What a blessed word in dark days! Light shines and hearts melt and love reigns. Hope! Hope in Him, learn about Him, He is the treasure!

Posted in false, history channel, the bible

Why I am not watching The History Channel’s "The Bible", part 2. It sows error and confusion

Posted on by elizabethprata

I believe the contending for the faith over the History Channel’s presentation of the miniseries “The Bible” is a pitched one. I have almost never received the number of views on one essay as I have on part one and in such a short time too. Christian blogger Mike Ratliff said the same. Further, Mr Ratliff said the following, with which I agree:

“… As I stated in an earlier comment referring back to this post, I haven’t experienced such a strong level of dark spiritual warfare protecting some stronghold of darkness in quite some time. Our enemy has obviously staked quite a bit into this…”

Why? Why is this such a battle to get people to see the error and corruption in this film?Look how bad it is, as Ratliff describes,

“I’ve watched extended previews of it Kim that are not available on TV. It is comparable to taking a man-centered version of the Bible and watering it down even further to make it entertainment. I believe the Bible calls that removing the offense of the Cross since the purpose of our Lord’s incarnation, which is the Atonement, is totally submerged into the “Change the World” view that Rick Warren and those who emulate him teach. Paul rejoiced when others preached Christ, but that’s not what this is since the gospel they preach is “another gospel” and the Jesus they preach is “another Jesus.”…

In the film “The Bible”, the bible is mishandled, period. It removes sin, the cross, the need for the cross, changes verses, inserts events, takes liberties, and puts man at the center of a feel-good social Gospel. Anything that is this grossly man-centered is bad, a different gospel, and to be avoided. But let me give just a few examples of how the producers and writers and paid ‘Christian’ consultants have put forward a Gnostic gospel of man to the dilution of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Remember, in the Gnostic series I had written a few months ago, the Gnostic will always seek to change the emphasis of the gospel away from the work of Jesus to the worth of man. Always.

An early example is Noah. As he tried to comfort his family on the ark, we listen to the voice-over tell us something that is simply not true. We hear the reason for the flood was: “Wrong choices, wrong decisions, that’s why this [the flood] is happening.”

In the pre-flood world according to the movie “The Bible”, man didn’t sin but simply made mistakes. An entire world was drowned because some people made a bad choice? The bible says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” They diminish the rebellion of sinful man against Holy God by making it sound like someone picked sauerkraut for their hot dog instead of ketchup. God didn’t send the flood because of an “oops.” He sent it because He determined to wipe out man due to his continual evil. (Genesis 6:7).

The truth is, after the fall, all humans born on earth were born with a total sin-nature. In the Gnostic world they tell us that we still have the capacity to do right by simply deciding to make good choices and avoiding bad decisions. Without faith in Jesus and His indwelling Holy Spirit, we don’t have that capacity. We see this incapacity and total sin-nature right away, when the son of Adam and Eve, Cain, became a murderer. (Genesis 4:8). We see it when David says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5). And again, Solomon knows, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). It has nothing to do with man’s choices but all to do with man’s evil.

Next: When we hear in the film that God ‘cleansed the land’ by sending the flood, it shifts the emphasis away from man’s sin to the oopsies he did. If I poured out milk onto the floor, the analogy would be that in the real bible I would own up to spilling the milk (man is culpable for his actions.) In the film version of The Bible, God just cleansed the land, so the focus becomes the mess and the mop that wipes up the mess, not the man who made it. It changes from focus on the sin of the sinner to the consequence of his sin, which, after all, was just a little dirt to be cleaned up. Just by saying ‘cleansed’ it removes man’s participation in the reason for the flood. But look at what the real bible has to say–

“for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:12b-13)

In another example, in the film series “The Bible,” we hear the narrator say after the flood: “it was a new beginning for Noah’s descendants & a chance to restore the relationship between God and humanity.”

They would have you believe that the restoration and reconciliation between Holy God and sinful man was up to Noah and his progeny. There was no mention of God’s promise of a Messiah to redeem us. According to “The Bible” filmmaker’s Gnosticism, it is up to man to make that reconciliation. A Gnostic always changes the emphasis away from the work of Jesus to the worth of man. Always.

In another example, we hear the narrator say the “Covenant between Abraham and God.” The covenant was not between man first and God second. The covenant wasn’t even between God and man, it was between God and God because it was an unconditional promise of a sovereign God to sinful man, who simply received it.

The truth of that covenant is, “This unconditional covenant, first made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, promised God’s blessing upon Abraham, to make his name great and to make his progeny into a great nation. The covenant also promised blessing to those who blessed Abraham and cursing to those who cursed him. Further, God vowed to bless the entire world through Abraham’s seed. Circumcision was the sign that Abraham believed the covenant (Romans 4:11). The fulfillment of this covenant is seen in the history of Abraham’s descendants and in the creation of the nation of Israel. The worldwide blessing came through Jesus Christ, who was of Abraham’s family line.” (source “The Covenants of the Bible“).

But when it came time to mention the covenant, “The Bible” writers put man first and made it sound like man cut a deal with God and God capitulated. That is a Gnostic tactic.

Then there is what Mike Ratliff mentioned, the “Change the World” theology. This is most troublesome.

When Peter is called; he is told that he “will change the world.”

When Paul is converted and baptized, he is told the reason for his baptism is so he may “change the world in [Jesus’] name.”

When the man playing Jesus emerges out of the water, he says he is going to “change the world.”

This ‘change the world’ theology’ is a repeated message in the film and one that the Gnostic loves. Why? They love it for two reasons. First, because it is man-centered. Who is going to change the world? Man. Jesus is a footnote in this world-changing. It elevates man’s worth above the work of Jesus, something the Gnostic always likes to do. A Gnostic loves himself more than God, who is enemy to Him. And second because it focuses on this world and all the temptations that the Gnostic offers and wants.

Ratliff said,

The scene that sealed this for me was in Peter’s boat after Jesus had him catch all those fish after he had fished all night and caught nothing. The stuff that went on in that scene is found nowhere in Scripture. Instead of Peter saying, “Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man!” he asked Jesus what he is going to do if he follows him. Jesus replied, “Change the world!”

I have news for you. This world is going to melt. (Matthew 24:35). It is a temporary world. The SOULS on this world are eternal. Yet the ‘change the world’ mentality is simply another name for social gospel, and social gospelers say that the kingdom of God is to be realized by social improvement. They would have you believe this is why Jesus came. It is a different gospel, and if it is a different gospel, it is false. (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:8; Mark 7:9).

The encroachment of the Social Gospel is a tactic and a barometer at the same time. Dr. Paul Hiebert was a Doctor of Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and missionary for 6 years under the Mennonite Brethren Board of Missions. Art Azurdia explained in a lecture on the series, Drive By Discernment,

“Hiebert said that the first generation of Mennonites were a people preoccupied with the Gospel and concerned with some social responsibility. The second generation of Mennonites assumed the Gospel, and became increasingly absorbed with social responsibility. The third generation of Mennonites abandoned the Gospel and was consequently altogether was completely preoccupied with social responsibility. Preoccupied. Assumed. Abandoned.”

Over the last century, theological liberals were increasingly defined by the social gospel accompanied by their view of the kingdom. To the liberals the “kingdom was not future or otherworldly, but ‘here and now.’ ” (source)

We want to do good for others but the reason we are called to the Kingdom by grace to go out is not to change the world. Often, that is the result. But the reason we go is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I heard one of the pastors I listen to say that if there is an adjective in front of “Gospel” it is not the real Gospel. We see this split between Gospel and social gospel in David Platt’s book Radical.

“A similar voice is David Platt’s and his book Radical. Platt offers better balance than Chan but still propagates a two-tiered gospel composed of the true gospel of redemption and the social gospel. While Platt is careful to elevate the true gospel, the social gospel of feeding the hungry and giving to the poor is the primary focus of the book and accounts for its popularity. He writes, “As we meet needs on earth, we are proclaiming a gospel that transforms lives for eternity.” The author does not advocate the social agenda as opposed to true evangelism, as mentioned above, but he does say that caring for the poor is evidence of salvation. As a matter of fact “rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God.” However, when we turn to the New Testament, we find that, while Christians are to be loving and generous to all people, they are never told to attempt to remedy the consequences of the sin of unbelieving humanity through social action. Instead, they are instructed to meet the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ, something Platt admits in a footnote (p. 225). In fact, the church is never commissioned to rectify injustices by dealing with the symptoms of sins but to “radically” uproot sin itself through the gospel.” (source)

Do you see how insidious The Bible series is and its evil ‘change the world’ gospel? It shifts the emphasis away from the work of Jesus on the cross to the worth of man, so that he may boast. “Look what I did! I changed the world!”

No…that was Jesus, our beloved and holy Savior.

The Bible miniseries on The History Channel is not worth your time or energy. The Lord is too Good, too Pure, too Precious to waste even a moment on the darkness and corruption of that show. I am personally convinced that the show is a pivot point in the deepening apostasy of the church. The show sows error, confusion, and corruption.

Like Chris Rosebrough said, lol, don’t watch the movie, the book is so much better!

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 Part one here