Posted in children, newtown, shooting

Massacre of the innocents

Posted on by elizabethprata

How long, O Lord? [Additional thoughts here]

“Twenty-seven people, including 20 children, are dead after a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Another person was found dead at 36 Yogananda St. in Newtown, sources told The Courant. The shootings at the school took place in two rooms, one of which is a kindergarten classroom, sources said. One entire classroom is unaccounted for.”

Evil against children has always been in the world.

“Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” (Exodus 1:15)

But God heard Israel’s groaning–

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” (Exodus 2:23-25)

Evil is still in the world.

“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-18)

But God hears their groaning and He sends a Comforter–

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.’ (John 16:7)

Posted in end of days, joel c. rosenberg, prophecy, rapture

Joel Rosenberg asks, ‘Is it the end of days?’ Pete Garcia asks ‘What about the rapture?’

Posted on by elizabethprata

Joel Rosenberg wrote a very good essay answering this question. He has details and scriptures over at his blog.

Here is an excerpt:

“Jesus cautioned His followers not to speculate on the exact time of the Rapture or the Second Coming. In Matthew 24:36, He said that “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” But “day and hour” is a very narrow slice of time. By giving us at least fifteen other specific signs that would be happening in the last days, Jesus clearly wanted us to know when the time of His return was rapidly approaching.”

“Why? He gave the answer in Matthew 24:42, when He said, “Therefore, be on the alert.” He reinforced the point in the next verse, when again He urged His followers to be “on the alert.” In Matthew 24:44, He stressed this critical point for a third time. “You also must be ready,” He insisted, “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

“Followers of Jesus Christ who study these signs are coming to the conclusion that they are being fulfilled today and that we are, in fact, living in the last days.”

They have no idea precisely when Jesus will return, of course. But given how closely world events are tracking with Bible prophecy, they find themselves increasingly motivated to “be ready…”

That is what prophecy does for us. It makes us urgently ready. It is so important to study it and honor it. As the Proverbs say,

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” (Proverbs 29:18).

Knowing that Jesus could return at any moment is exactly a restraint! Prophecy restrains us. It’s like an extending leash for your pet. If you take the leash off, the dog runs and runs and sometimes runs into a car. On the leash he has room and yet he is restrained from danger or from wandering off the path.

Or like your teenager, if they have the house to themselves and know that they have hours and hours of unsupervised time, how much trouble will they get into, as opposed to knowing the parents could come back at any moment?

You might enjoy this essay from Pete Garcia, called “The Rapture“. Here is an excerpt–

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

A Shout: The three times that the New Testament records Jesus shouts in the New Testament, notice what happens:

-One man, Lazarus resurrected (JN 11:43)
-Many tombs opened and dead saints resurrected (MATT 27:46, 52)
-Millions resurrected. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Christ’s verbal command is powerful enough to raise the dead because Christ, having been resurrected, holds the keys to death and hell and is singularly able to command death to obey His voice.”

We serve a holy and glorious God! Go on your way today praising Jesus for all that He is and all that He is doing. We will soon meet Him, and what a morning that will be!

Posted in apocalypse, NASA

NASA releases ‘Told Ya So’ apocalypse video early

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yahoo News: Dec. 21, 2012, has long been rumored to be the day of the Mayan apocalypse, when Earth comes to its inglorious end. The good folks at NASA want you to know that isn’t going to happen.

In fact, NASA is so confident that it recently published a video that appears as if it were intended to be aired on Dec. 22. Titled “The World Didn’t End Yesterday,” the four-minute clip explains how the idea of the Mayan apocalypse was a huge hoax and how the rumors began. A commenter on YouTube jokes, “The correct title for this video: Told ya so!—Love, NASA.”

Time magazine reports that the space agency has been besieged with questions from citizens worried that their lives are about to end. NASA is taking the fears seriously, not because there is any danger, but because irrational fears can sometimes lead to irrational and dangerous actions.

NASA’s official site features an area dedicated to debunking the claims. “The world will not end in 2012,” NASA writes. “Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.”

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

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

Obviously, they do not know God. He is a threat.

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slide, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’” (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Jonathan Edwards wrote of that verse- “That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God’s appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost. “

The world will not end until after the Tribulation and after the 1000 year Millennium Kingdom, but the point is, the rapture may happen on any given day prior to the NASA video where NASA is resting comfortably on the featherweight net suspended over the hellish fires of unbelief…and when the rapture happens, the world will not end but it will feel like the world is ending. God has an appointed time where destruction will come upon the earth. It might be tomorrow, it might be December 21, 2012, or it might be the day after.

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)

Posted in christmas, judgment, wrath

Merry Christmas, God’s wrath is coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Christmas season is one where we call for peace on earth and goodwill to men. It is the season of love and joy and harmony. We pray and hope that we display the best qualities of these things to one and all.

Do we realize just what a radical love Jesus has called us to?

We think of the sweet babe in swaddling clothes, the still night broken by heavenly glory lighting the fields, angel choruses, and the grace of God. And it is, but these thoughts and visions in our mind are or should be counterbalanced by the reason for them: His wrath.

The reason He sent Jesus is to rescue us…from His wrath.

I’d like to contrast Godly love with Godly wrath in the lives of two bible people: Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was taken as a captive away from his homeland as a youth or early teenager. He was trained and put to work in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. He was threatened with death, his three closest friends were thrown into a fiery furnace, and he had to serve a pagan king with all its godless disgusting practices around him every minute. Yet, Daniel was compassionate and he loved Nebuchadnezzar as God would want us to love our enemies.

Nebuchadnezzar

When it came time for Daniel to reveal the interpretation of a particularly fearsome dream to the king, Daniel hesitated. Here is the scene:

“Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!” (Daniel 4:19).

Daniel knew that the dream meant God was going to cut Nebuchadnezzar down like a tree and make him go insane for seven years. The king was going to be crawling around on all fours eating grass like an animal. Daniel’s level of compassion was such that not one ounce of chortling, glee, or gloating came over him. He was troubled, dismayed, and didn’t even want to tell the king because he did not want the king to be troubled himself.

How many times do we get a bit of news where someone else was going to be cut down to size, and we cannot wait to share it? If it is an enemy all the better. Yet Daniel was compassionate toward the king, who was holding him captive and at any time could take his life for any reason or for no reason. THAT is Godly love.

Now the wrath. Why did God cut Nebuchadnezzar down and make him go insane for seven years? At the end of the interpretation, Daniel said to the king, “O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed,”

William Blake’s Nebuchadnezzar, Wikipedia commons

God’s wrath always comes because of unrepentant sin. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

When we enter the Christmas season, remember peace on earth but remember wrath, too. Too harsh, you say? No.

“This is how Paul begins the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness,” as John MacArthur said. (source)

The good news begins with wrath. It ends with love.

MacArthur again, “Our Lord had more to say about judgment, more to say about destruction, more to say about damnation, and more to say about hell than anybody else recorded in Scripture. And if you think it unusual that this great epistle on the doctrine of salvation opens with this statement about judgment it’s because you really haven’t thought very long about how the whole New Testament opens.”

source

Daniel’s radical love of Nebuchadnezzar was Godly because God loves the sinner. His grace saves the repentant sinner and when we convert, we remember His love and the fact that there but for the grace of God go I. So Daniel loved even his enemy, and wanted the best for him. And what a glorious thing that was, because in each chapter Nebuchadnezzar the king gets closer to the dramatic moment when finally, finally, he converts.

Note that when Daniel shared the news about God Daniel did not say, “God loves you and has a great plan for your life.” He urged the king to stop sinning. Eventually Nebuchadnezzar did:

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Daniel 4:37).

And the second part of Daniel’s message was the multiplying part- stop sinning and show mercy to those who are.

Wow. That is what Godly love does. It multiplies, and we continue in that love because we remember His wrath. We love because He first loved us, (1 John 4:19), but we remember that sin brings wrath. The whole story must include those two bookends- wrath and love.

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

The Lord will punish the sins of His people in due time. His wrath will be unleashed but He sent Jesus as the love offering and rescue from that wrath. How can any part of the Good News omit that? Even at Christmastime? It cannot.

To sum up, I am not saying that for the Christmas season we go around saying, “Merry Christmas, God’s wrath is coming!” LOL. But it is part of the story.

source

Instead, envision the scene in Luke 2:8-20 where the shepherds are guarding their flocks by night, and the angels appear with a message. Particularly envision verse 11, (For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord), and know that this is the moment of rescue from wrath. The word savior in Greek used here means–

“properly, the Savior, Jesus Christ who saves believers from their sins and delivers them into His safety.” (Strong’s 4990), Safety from what? Wrath. Delivers them from what? Wrath. The Christmas message is one of loving rescue from wrath, and no witnessing of the Good News nor proclamations about it are complete unless both sides of the story are told.

Here is one last anecdote from modern day culture about the love and wrath bookends. I watched a video of Phil Robertson of Duck Commander and Duck Dynasty television fame preach. In that segment Phil said that he was on the phone at Duck Commander headquarters taking an order for a duck call from a guy in Alabama. Phil said that the man was using God’s name in vain, that every other word out of the guy’s mouth was “G-d this and G-d that.” Finally after about the fifth time, Phil couldn’t take it any more and he asked the guy, “Why are you cursing the only One that can rescue you from death?”

To make a long story short, Phil invited the guy to his house, about a ten hour drive from where the guy was calling from, and praise the Lord, the guy showed up the next week. Phil preached sin, death, and wrath, and the guy and his buddy both cried like babies on his living room floor. Before sunup, they were baptized.

Phil said he never saw the guy again – until 17 years later, when Phil was preaching in Alabama. Phil was led to a room and the guy was there, he was now one of the leaders of the church. He went from unsaved, blaspheming godless man to a Godly leader shepherding others into Christ.

The effect of the entire Gospel story is one of multiplying miracles. Leave off the wrath and you only have a smarmy story of an invisible God who loves us for some reason. Don’t leave off the reason.

Merry Christmas.

Posted in bible, faith, genesis, johan's ark

God, Noah, the ark, and the origin of wisdom

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday I wrote an essay about Thomas Jefferson and how he had edited the bible down to 46 pages. He excised all mentions of anything supernatural or miraculous, including the  flood and the ark.

Genesis 1-11 is often the first battle ground for people to begin chipping away at the truth of God’s word. They cannot believe the 6-day creation, the fall of man, the global flood, the ark, the tower of Babel and so on. So they don’t.

But disbelieving those things means one does not believe by faith that God has revealed Himself in His word. It also means they don’t believe the bible is true. It further means they believe themselves a better barometer of truth-detection than God.

However, God is sovereign. That means He has dominion over all of creation, from the furthest universe down to the deepest atom.

I’m struck by one example of His dominion over all, how he calls the animals to do His will.

For example, the ark- He sent the animals to Noah.

“Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.” (Genesis 6:20)

He sent the ravens to Elijah.

“You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.” (1 Kings 17:4, 6)

He sent a fish to Jonah

“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17)

He sent a worm to Jonah

“But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.” (Jonah 4:7)

God sees the smallest bird, the tiniest worm, and the most discouraged Christian. Nothing escapes His eye. We have a God who sees.

“So she [Hagar] called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” (Genesis 16:13)

Could not a mighty God who creates, sees, redeems, gives grace, and judges make an ark to hold animals? Boat builders even do that.

Johan did it. He is a Dutch man who created a life sized replica of the ark.

Dutch Creationist Rolls Out Life-Size Noah’s Ark Replica
“A carpenter who spent three years and more than £1million building a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark has opened it to the public. … The narrative of the ark, in which God commands Noah to prepare for a great flood sent to purge the world of evil, specifies that the boat was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Mr Huibers converted this ancient unit of measurement, which is based on the length of the forearm, to determine that his recreation had to be about 450ft long. This puts the boat, nicknamed ‘Johan’s Ark’, at more than half the length of the Titanic”

Johan’s feat of biblical proportions
“Floods of visitors are amazed by Dutch builder’s replica of Noah’s life-saving ark. Just as the first storms of winter roll in, Dutchman Johan Huibers has finished his 20-year quest to build a full-scale, functioning model of Noah’s Ark. Huibers used books 6 to 9 of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, as his inspiration, following the instructions God gave Noah down to the last cubit. Translating to modern measurements, Huibers came up with a vessel that works out to a whopping 130m long, 29m across and 23m high. Perhaps not big enough to fit every species on Earth, two by two, as described in the Bible, but plenty of space, for instance, for a pair elephants to dance a tango. Johan’s Ark towers over the flat Dutch landscape and is easily visible from a nearby highway where it lies moored in the city of Dordrecht, south of Rotterdam.”

“Another visitor, Martin Konijn, was impressed with the level of detail. “You might know the story of Noah, okay, but if you see this you begin to get an idea of how it would actually have worked in practice.”

Exactly.

And of course the ark could hold two of each kind. (Not species, kind. Not variety, kind. Not sub-species, kind).

GotQuestions gets technical.

Thus, the ark could have been up to 550 feet long, 91.7 feet wide and 55 feet high. These are not unreasonable dimensions. But how much storage space does this amount to? Well, 550 x 91.7 x 55 = 2,773,925 cubic feet. (If we take the smallest measurement of cubit, 17 inches, we end up with 1,278,825 cubic feet). Of course, not all of it would have been free space. The ark had three levels (Genesis 6:16) and a lot of rooms (Genesis 6:14), the walls of which would have taken up space. Nevertheless, it has been calculated that a little more than half (54.75%) of the 2,773,925 cubic feet could store 125,000 sheep-sized animals, leaving over 1.5 million cubic feet of free space (see – http://www.icr.org/bible/bhta42.html).

John Woodmorappe, author of the definitive Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, estimated that only about 15% of the animals on the ark would have been larger than a sheep. This figure does not take into account the possibility that God may have brought Noah “infant” animals, which can be significantly smaller than adult animals.

How many animals were on the ark? Woodmorappe estimates about 16,000 “kinds.” What is a “kind”? The designation of “kind” is thought to be much broader than the designation “species.” Even as there are over 400 dog breeds all belonging to one species (Canis familiaris), so many species can belong to one kind. Some think that the designation “genus” may be somewhat close to the biblical “kind.”

Nevertheless, even if we presume that “kind” is synonymous with “species,” “there are not very many species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. The leading systematic biologist, Ernst Mayr, gives the number as 17,600. Allowing for two of each species on the ark, plus seven of the few so-called “clean” kinds of animals, plus a reasonable increment for known extinct species, it is obvious that not more than, say, 50,000 animals were on the ark” (Morris, 1987).

Ultimately, today’s post and yesterday’s post are about faith. Do you believe what God says about Himself? Do you believe that what is written in the bible is directly inspired by the Holy Spirit? Do you believe it was accurately recorded and represents the best and only reliable information we have about God? Do you believe the things that the bible says happened actually happened as written? (Ten plagues, Red Sea parting, Lazarus raised from the dead etc?)

These are questions we need to ask ourselves, and be ready to make an answer to all who ask. (1 Peter 3:15). If you have an area where you could study more so as to give a reasonable and accurate answer, do so. Answers in Genesis exists to give people who are curious about these things a scientific and sound basis for questions such as how the animals could fit into the ark, why fossil dating is unreliable, and so on.

“Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible.”

It’s about faith. Don’t be like Thomas Jefferson and claim that some things Jesus said were like diamonds and the rest a dungheap. It’s all good. Even the stuff you have a hard time believing. After all, if God was so common and understandable, He wouldn’t be God. It is about faith in His wisdom, not ours.

He offers the best knowledge,the highest wisdom and the most solid protection. Lean into His understanding

If we lean onto our own wisdom, it is no different than a man who uses a newspaper to wrap himself in to keep the cold away. Man’s words will tear and rip and the knowledge he finds in those pages will melt away in the first storm or rain.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 source

“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)

Faith is a holy thing–

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” (Jude 1:20)

In the end, it is faith that is the victory–

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”  (1 John 5:4)

God is sovereign. He calls the animals to do His bidding. He tells Noah to build the ark. He sends the animals to it. “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22). God is not asking us to build an ark. All He commands us to do is to believe. (John 6:29). Do you?

Posted in frugal, miser, Proverbs

Avoid the stingy man’s table

Posted on by elizabethprata

As we enter the feasting Christmas season, there is a small but powerful wisdom verse I’d like to share. During this holiday season we are often invited to places, to people’s homes, or to work-related parties. We eat with people as part of the fellowship of the season. Breaking bread over a table in hospitable fellowship should be a sweet way to celebrate the Savior. And it usually is! However, as with most things involving people (because we are all sinners), even accepting a simple invitation to sup with bosses, peers, friends, acquaintances is fraught with mine fields of the emotional and spiritual kind.

You would not think, at first, that a kind invitation to break bread at a person’s table would be fodder for deep consideration and caution. But it is- IF the person is stingy.

I am not talking about frugal because their income demands it. I am not talking about careful shepherding of the financial blessings Jesus bestows because they love Jesus and follow Him and His ways. I am talking about a person whose life is defined by how much money they do or do not have, a true miser.

The Dictionary defines miser as “One who lives very meagerly in order to hoard money.”

The bible has much to say on the subject of generosity and giving. Therefore it makes sense that there are warnings about miserly behavior. Here is the verse and afterward are three commentaries explaining it-

Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
(Proverbs 23:6-7)

Barnes Notes: The hazard here is the hospitality of the purse-proud rich, avaricious or grudging even in his banquets.

Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible: Of him that hath an evil eye – Never eat with a covetous or stingy man; if he entertains you at his own expense, he grudges every morsel you put in your mouth. This is well marked by the wise man in the next verse: “Eat and drink, saith he: but his heart is not with thee.”

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: Beware of deceitful men, whose courtesies even you will repent of having accepted.

Should you eat with a Scrooge? The bible warns against it.

Just a quick devotional thought this morning. As always, be generous with your love, with your Spirit and with your money. ‘Tis the season … the season of Jesus all year long!

Posted in deism, inerrant, jefferson bible, thomas jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s bible and the danger of doubt

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love God and I love Jesus. I honor the Holy Spirit who dwells within me as a deposit of the guarantee from Jesus as to my adoption and future inheritance. I acknowledge God as the Creator of all the universe and everything that is within it.

The Old Testament is overlooked by today’s liberal, superficial, felt-needs Christian. I am a fundamentalist- I believe everything the bible records is literally true. That means I believe and celebrate the fact that God made the world and all the animals in six days. He sent the global flood. There was an ark and two of every kind of animal was on it, along with 8 God-honoring people. He is the all-powerful, supreme creator and has dominion over everything. The miracles happened. Hell exists. Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected by the power of God. He ascended in a cloud and will return the same way, the second time to judge the living and the dead.

You would not believe how many people disbelieve one or more of those fundamentals. Christians, even church leaders, have said to me point blank, “Oh, I just take the Old Testament with a grain of salt.” The reason so many Christians disbelieve the basics of the bible is that for many decades now, centuries even, non-literalists have chipped away at the truth of God’s word.

They say that slow evolution and a Creator God are compatible doctrines. They say that there is no hell and our spirit expires at death. They say that all the animals could not possibly have fit onto the ark, and a flood could not possibly have covered all the world’s mountaintops. (Genesis 7:19).

In the recent Presidential election cycle, I read much from the Republicans and the conservatives vaunting America’s supposed Christian status as a nation. They turn to the Founding Fathers as “proof” that the writers of the Constitution were Gospel-saved, bible believing Christians and that their foundational documents of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution spring from biblical precepts.

Not so.

The main writer of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. He wrote the famous line that opens the second paragraph:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Not many people know that Jefferson had in mind a different Creator than the bible presents. Jefferson was a product of the new secular humanism and the naturalism sweeping French and British philosophical circles. Jefferson was a Deist, which the LA Times defines in their article about Jefferson as,

Deists differed from traditional Christians by rejecting miraculous occurrences and prophecies and embracing the notion of a well-ordered universe created by a God who withdrew into detached transcendence.

To that end, Jefferson took a razor blade and carefully cut out every single reference in the bible to the supernatural miracles of Christ. He also disbelieved “receiving of the Holy Spirit, angels, Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, a future kingdom, and eternal life, Heaven, Hell and punishment in everlasting fire, the Devil, prophecy, and the soldiers falling backwards to the ground in response to Jesus stating, “I am he.” (source)

If necessary, Jefferson would even cut a sentence in half if the latter part of it contained a reference to a miracle.

In a letter to William Short in 1820, Jefferson wrote:

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate therefore the gold from the dross; restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart. (source)

He called the resulting text The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. We know it now more informally as The Jefferson Bible. “Jefferson said his “wee little book” of 46 pages was based on a lifetime of inquiry and reflection and contained “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”

Imagine, excising God’s word from its full and glorious revelation of our Holy and Graceful God, down to a wee little book of sayings.

I want to state with all fervency, that to begin to unravel one verse because it doesn’t suit your sensibilities, or to excise one passage because it does not agree with your version of possible occurrences, is traversing down the same dangerous road Jefferson traveled. Cutting away the flood means you also call Peter a liar because he preaches the flood in 2 Peter 2:5. Disbelieving Jonah was swallowed by a fish makes Jesus out to be a liar because he said Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, in Matthew 12:40.

The bible is a tightly woven tapestry of truth and beauty. Either you believe all of it or none of it. The good news is, God gives us the faith to believe and the courage to proclaim. He opens our mind to the truths He has delivered to us. He is great and wonderful.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (Luke 24:45)

Will you turn to the left just a bit, and begin to doubt the 6-day creation, the Flood and the ark? Or will you turn to the right a little bit and step into the eternal glory of His truth, all of it, without doubt?

If you are beginning to doubt, ask Jesus for help! He will give it! The Holy Spirit will strengthen you and bring to mind all the things you should know, if you read His word and pray for knowledge.

Here is Daniel of the T.R.U.T.H. Group showing what happens when you start to disbelieve the fundamentals. He is pointed from the beginning. He really gets going at 3:30 and at the end watch even after the music starts. He comes back to say something funny.

Beware of Jefferson’s razor. He doubted. He began chipping away. At the end he was left with only a wee little book … and a long eternity.

Posted in chemical, damascus, syria

Mysterious ‘Site 911’ in Israel Raises Eyebrows

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel National news reported last week—

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv. “Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base,” The Washington Post reported. Security concerns at the site are so great that non-Israeli employees hired by the builder can come only from “the U.S., Canada, Western Europe countries, Poland, Moldavia, Thailand, Philippines, Venezuela, Romania and China,” according to a Corps notice.

“The employment of Palestinians is also forbidden,” it says.

“According to security regulations, the site “shall have one gate only for both entering and exiting” and “no exit or entrance to the site shall be allowed during work hours except for supply trucks.” Guards will be Israeli citizens with experience in the Israeli air force. Also, “the collection of information of any type whatsoever related to base activities is prohibited.”

More at link. Israel is becoming more security conscious every day. Their reliance on their military is a good thing, otherwise I’m sure that as a nation they would have been obliterated by now. And, after all, it is God who allowed their successes so far.

However, there is such a thing as over-reliance. Today at the opening of the Cabinet meeting, Israel Prime Minister Netanhyau said, “Therefore, we must – and are capable of – standing against this. We will also withstand the international pressure, were it not for which, we would not have reached this point. Today, this is what is required from leadership in Israel – to have no illusions, to stand up for the vital interests of the State of Israel and to rebuff the pressure to bring Gaza into every home in Israel. This is what we are doing and will continue to do.”

However, their continued run of success will only make them ever more reliant on their military and further from remembering that God is behind it. As a matter of fact the Israel Defense Force tweeted, “Our job is to minimize the need for a miracle, even in Hanukkah. We must always be ready.” . 

The Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 will change that attitude. If not for God, Israel would be obliterated. I encourage you to read those two chapters, they are short but powerful in describing how God plans to show His holy face to all nations as personally He saves Israel from the surprise enemy attach that comes against them

In addition, today I read in Israel National News,

Report: Israeli Special Forces Tracks Chemical Weapons in Syria
IDF Special Forces are operating inside Syria to track chemical weapons, the London Sunday Times reported.

“IDF Special Forces are operating inside Syria to track chemical weapons, the London Sunday Times reported. The Israeli government has not commented on the report. The report from London comes hours after Syrian opposition forces released a video showing that Syrian President Bashar Assad has used chemical weapons in the commercial center of Aleppo. The newspaper stated that the IDF operations across the border are part of new secret operations to locate non-conventional weapons and to sabotage them to prevent their use.”

“We have known for years the exact location of Syria’s stockpile of chemical and biological weapons,” an Israeli source told The London Times. He noted that satellites and unmanned drones have helped locate the weapons. However, “In the past week we have received signs that munitions have been moved to new location,” according to the source. The IDF ordered the maneuvers after rejecting the idea of an aerial or ground assault to destroy Syrian President Bashar Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons, most of them bought from Russia.”

“One of the objections to a frontal attack was the chance that the chemicals might be released and cause a catastrophe to local villages and cities. If evidence mounts that Assad already has used chemical weapons, the United States and Israel might coordinate to carry out a ground invasion, according to the London newspaper.”

The IDF is really amazing, isn’t it?! Well, the proof of chemical weapon use they were looking for appears to have been confirmed

William Hague confirms ‘evidence’ of Syrian chemical weapons
“…[Foreign Secretary William] Speaking to the BBC at a security conference in the Gulf on Saturday morning, Hague was asked whether he had seen proof that Syria was preparing such weapons. “We have seen some evidence of that,” he said. “We and the US, as I said in parliament this week, have seen some evidence of that and that is why we have issued strong warnings about it. We have done so directly to the Syrian regime.” Pressed on what kind of evidence he had seen, Mr Hague replied: “We absolutely cannot be specific about that because clearly those are intelligence sources that these things come from. “But we have seen enough evidence to know that they need a warning and they have received that warning.”

World, what will you do? You know, the current dictator of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad’s father reportedly used hydrogen cyanide against his enemies in an uprising in 1982 when he was retreating from Damascus. In that event, 20,000 people died.

Right now US Secretary of State Clinton, Russia’s Putin, and a UN envoy are holding talks about the situation. They are saying that a free Syria cannot include Assad and that there needs to be a political transition. And look how well that turned out for Egypt. Mushy words like “political transition” in the face of a potential harsh reality of chemical death just don’t jibe. However, “Clinton stressed that the U.S. would continue to insist that Assad’s departure be a key part of that transition.” And indeed, there are signs that the Assad regime is in its final phase. How will they make him go? How may he decide to go? What may Damascus look like after he is gone? We will see.

Posted in jesus

The Light is here and His brightness is coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jesus is the Light.

“he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.” (2 Samuel 23:4)

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

The light we see now is but a pale flicker compared to His coming glory!

“For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

At the end, all will be bright —

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,” (Revelation 21:22-24).

Keep your eyes on the Light, not the darkness in between the light. And soon, we will be in glory, where there is no darkness at all, and everything we see will be JESUS!

Posted in abortifacients, friel, hobby lobby, morning after pill, obamacare, wretched radio

Wretched: Have a Hobby Lobby Christmas

Posted on by elizabethprata

Obamacare includes some health care items that businesses will be forced to provide employees. One of those is abortifacients, substances that induce abortion, such as the morning after pill. Hobby Lobby is owned by a Christian family and they oppose this. They went to court and lost. They are considering going out of business on purpose so as to remain in integrity with their Christian values. Watch Todd Friel at Wretched Radio explain: