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How a Pastor guards his flock: Jim Murphy’s sermon "The Subtlety of Satan" Part 1

Posted on July 11, 2012December 7, 2023 by elizabethprata

Part two here. Please read it as well, I entreat you.
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I listened to a great sermon on Monday, and I mentioned it in a blog yesterday. I decided to do a stand-alone blog entry about this sermon, because the sermon blessed me to tears and encouraged me beyond measure. Perhaps it will for you too.

The Subtlety of Satan, by Jim Murphy

Pastor Jim Murphy is pastor at First Baptist Church at Johnson City NY. On Sunday, July 8, 2012, He stood before his congregation resolved and firm. He had been convicted to share with them, and actually reprove them (and himself) of the false teachings that Christian books, curricula, and Bible studies are promoting today. It had permeated his church and he was broken-hearted about that, not the least because he had been worried about these teachings but had done nothing. Well, this is something.

He said he was going to root this stuff out, and purify his local church. He said, “And you’ve heard the rumor, that Pastor Jim killed the Beth Moore trip. Let me clarify that rumor: I killed the Beth Moore trip.”

He spent an hour Sunday laying the context for how the modern church of 2012 has come to be so weak, accepting falsity for true, and being me-oriented instead of God-oriented. Though the slide away from our firm foundation began long ago, in his sermon, he started the trip in the mid-1940s. He educated his congregation about Gnosticism, post modernism, Christian Universalism, Emergent Church, and more. He named the names of the wolves bringing these teachings, and among them were Rick Warren, Beth Moore, John Piper, Bill Hybels, Francis Chan, Rob Bell.

He also chided his congregation for being undiscerning, and that their lack of discernment came from laziness. He charged them. He charged himself. He was strong.

Rather than being unloving, as the liberals claim today, he was being the most loving of a preacher than I’ve heard in a long time. Raw, honest, clear, he was doing what pastors are supposed to do: guard his flock from wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The Sola Sisters were the ones bringing the sermon to our attention, and I thank them for that. It has gained wide notice in our circles, being on the Brannon Howse’s World View Weekend radio program, being linked to by many others, being spoken of in chat rooms. The flavor of all this notice is one of gratitude. As Brannon Howse told his listening audience, ‘I’ve been encouraging you that there are pastors out there who stand against this stuff. They are out there…here is one!’

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Reactions to the sermon:

Brannon Howse radio program examining Pastor Jim’s sermon, part 1. WVW shows are available for two weeks, after that, they cost $5. Part two was broadcast today and can be listened to here.

Here are some transcripts of part of the sermon that other bloggers have posted.

Julia’s excerpts from Steak and a Bible—

“Now is the time for clarity. No more messing around. No more experimentation. No more dabbling into these dangerous practices. Now is the time for clarity and that clarity comes through discernment: this ability to think Biblically. The ability to read a book and see what it is saying aside from the warm fuzzy you got from it. Discernment takes time and it takes work and shame on you for not taking the time and effort. shame on you.”

“How do you know it’s not God’s voice if you don’t know the Bible?”

“I’m here to ask your forgiveness. I expressed my concerns along the way in several areas but there were some things that I heard and saw that I was not comfortable with and I thought well, let’s just roll with this. It may be not that bad.”

“Today things change. I’m responsible for this ministry. I will be called a tyrant, a fundamentalist, controlling – you fill in the blanks – I don’t care anymore. We’re going to be making some changes and we’re going to root this stuff out of our ministry because it is unacceptable. It is not biblical Christianity and we’re going to get back to the Bible. I’m not going to make a lot of friends …”

We do NOT need mystical experiences
to validate the Word of God!

“There are pagan books floating around. I’ll be addressing that in writing. When it’s published I’ll give you a copy. You need to learn to be discerning and we’re not. Why? You need to get into your Bible. You don’t know because you don’t read and you don’t study. Number two: You need to connect the dots. The Bible says this. Why this? If the Bible says that you have been given everything for faith and practice in this book, what do you suppose that means? That you have been given everything for faith and practice in that book, which means this: you don’t have to hear voices, and you don’t have to go by experiences. You can know the truth in this book and that truth will set you free. You get that don’t you?”

“What I now have no patience for — I’m kind of at the end of my rope, I’m gonna be honest with you — is the lack of effort. I’ve addressed some of these matters. “Oh it’s no big deal.” How dare you! It is a big deal. It’s a big deal to me, it’s a big deal to God and it’s a big deal to the opposition.”

An Unnamed Christian Woman’s excerpts at My Sheep Hear My Voice—

Relevance v. Repentance

“What is a Christian according to the contextually relevant teachers of today? “Someone who has made the decision to be an emotionally well adjusted self actualized risk taking leader who knows his purpose, lives a no regret life of significance, has overcome his fears, enjoys a healthy marriage, is an attentive parent, celebrating recovery from all of their lusts, their habits, their hangups and practices biblical stress relief techniques, is financially free from consumer debt, fosters emotionally healthy relationships with his peers, attends a weekly life group, volunteers regularly at his church, tithes off the gross and has taken at least one humanitarian aid trip to a third world country. That’s who a Christian is. What about the Gospel? Never once do you read in that modern contextualization that a Christian is one who sees their sin, confesses their sin, repents of their sin, and receives the gift of salvation in Christ alone. That is how far we have come.”

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This is long so I’m going to make a part two and talk just a tiny bit more about this, using an analogy, and ending with an encouragement. Again, here is the link for the wonderful sermon, “The Subtlety of Satan.” Please take an hour and listen…or break it up into two halves. I am sure that you will learn, be encouraged, and refreshed at listening to a pastor guard his flock.

For your consideration-
How a Pastor guards his flock: Jim Murphy’s sermon “The Subtlety of Satan” Part 2: God takes away the discernment of the elders.

america's breadbasket, corn, crops, drought

America’s breadbasket is emptying: Corn is dying

Posted on July 10, 2012 by elizabethprata

The searing heat sparked derechos, which shut electrical power off to millions, the heat stayed and with no way to get cool, tempers flared. Millions were displaced. Business stopped.

That was a cascading series of events, which the heat is also causing another series right now: the corn is dying.

The heat is exacerbating the drought problem, and it is impacting corn pollination. The nation’s breadbasket is drying up, and the future for grains looks poor. In fact, the corn is dying all over America.

These are comments from farmers on AgWeb: an interactive board of farmers making crop comments

7/10 – Lyon County, Iowa: Boy, did things change around here. After a wet May the rains shut off. Total of 8 tenths in June and none so far In July.

7/10 – Cass County, Mich.: The fields are dry and in need of rain like everywhere else. Fields being watered are running 24/7 and will be expensive at years end. Feels like the summer of 1988, all dry land corn will be considered a loss and the beans are not far behind the corn, but can hold up a little better at times, WE STILL NEED RAIN.

7/10 – Lincoln County, S.D.: Corn on corn or old alfalfa ground will be zero to 5 bushel. Corn-on-soybean ground maybe 50-80 BPA if it rains soon (at least it tasseled). Soybeans look ok, may still yield above crop insurance if it can rain. We lifted the KP out of the way and put in the grass chutes to start cutting corn silage!

7/10 – Wayne County, Ill.: I am a small farmer, but my crops in Wayne County, Ill., are the worst I have had sine 1952-53. Corn will be lucky to make 10 bu. and beans are going downhill. It’s been over 100 degrees for 11 straight days. Bad crop.

7/10 – DeKalb County, Ind.: Finally got my internet back up and running after the storms last week, lots of people lost power for a few days, lots of wind damage but no rain out of it in my area. We had a high of 110 degrees Thursday and hot winds. I looked at some corn today and its 3 to 5 feet tall, part tasseling and almost no ears forming. Most corn is probably ruined here. I drove into northern Ohio and just as bad, beans, same story: poor stands, short, some trying to blossom.

7/10 – Miami County, Ind.: I was still a bit optimistic a week ago. The heat has eased and the corn is now rolling even with somewhat cooler temps. Also, some firing starting to show in some fields. Spider mites are now being seen in a few bean fields. Ten day forecast doesn’t look good either. How soon before this becomes the top story in the national news?

Indeed! You know, corn is in most of what we eat.

Corn Belt heat wave breaks, but this week’s rains light
“The extreme heat and drought conditions are hitting the core of the U.S. Midwest just as the region’s big corn crop pollinates, the key yield-determining growth phase for corn. Drought conditions intensified the past week across the central United States, causing irrevocable damage to crops in Missouri, Indiana and even southern Illinois, where farmers are cutting stunted corn for silage, a low grade feed for cattle. U.S. crop condition ratings for corn and soybeans fell last week, and grain traders expected the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly report later Monday to show further deterioration. Crops will need rain to have much chance of rebounding, and forecasts looked mostly dry for the next 10 days from the central U.S. Plains across Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.”

The heat, the lack of rain, the lowering water table, the no-pollination, the loss of power, all combine into factors that will come to fruition at the Tribulation, when wheat will be so scarce that a loaf of bread will cost a day’s pay. Even barley will be no bargain. (Rev 6:6). Can you see how one thing leads to another and the consequences yield up like a clam under the sand spitting water into the air? The whole world is percolating like that now. The consequences from the radiation at Japans’ damaged nuclear reactor Fukushima is coming home to roost a year later in the fish we see off Hawaii.

Anyway, food is a huge issue right now, being so expensive it is unavailable to many in the ‘wealthy’ US never mind around the world. The Lord is constricting us. He is merciful and gives us time to come to a saving knowledge of Him. He is loving and desires no one be lost. Please acknowledge your sins now and turn to the Savior who will save you from eternal condemnation. These happenings are not accidents, they are last stage warning signs of a God whose patience is longsuffering Itself, but is coming to an end.

egypt, great pyramid, monument, prophecy

Egyptian clerics calling for destruction of Pyramids. Is this part of prophecy?

Posted on July 10, 2012 by elizabethprata

First, the news:

Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids Begin
“According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi‘i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to ‘destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.'”In other words, Morsi’s call to release the Blind Sheikh, a terrorist mastermind, may be the tip of the iceberg in coming audacity. From calls to legalize Islamic sex-slave marriage to calls to institute “morality police” to calls to destroy Egypt’s mountain-like monuments, under Muslim Brotherhood tutelage, the bottle has been uncorked, and the genie unleashed in Egypt.”

There are several things to consider here. The bible says there shall be a coming oppression of Egypt by a “cruel master.”

“I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 19:4)

Whether that cruel master is Morsi, the newly elected President, remains to be seen. But the days for Egypt’s people are going to get a lot darker before they get better. We can see that the persecutions and oppression have already begun in Egypt. They will not slow down, but only get worse. If Morsi isn’t the ‘cruel master’ today, then he is on deck.

The Lord does love His people, and He has special plans for Egypt. At the end of the Tribulation, they come to repentance and cry out to the Lord, and he blesses them as a nation. He only names three nations to be blessed, Assyria and Israel are the other two. This is also a prophecy in Isaiah 19.

In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[b] on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance. ”” (Isaiah 19:24-25).

But it will be a very bumpy road till they get there…

The article goes on for two well-researched pages about the past habits of the Muslims who, when they conquer or rule, tend to destroy monuments to their religion that don’t line up with their religion anymore. As the article states, “Under… subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity.” That in itself is sad. Are they a people so confused and hateful that they repudiate former relics at will? Yes. That is one reason they need Jesus, so they can have peace, and live with the indwelling Spirit who never changes and is constant and true.

Secondly, there is an obscure prophecy regarding a monument at the center of Egypt. Some historians and archaeologists speculate that the Great Pyramid was built as an homage to the One True Lord and is the monument the prophecy in Isaiah refers to. (see below). The Great Pyramid was the one pyramid never used as a tomb. It as also the first Pyramid built. Therefore, if the Isaiah prophecy of a monument to the LORD refers to the Pyramid, then this sudden attention the Islamists are paying to the Pyramid in wanting to tear it down is extremely interesting.

One thing is obvious: the Great Pyramid had supernatural help in its construction. As Jack Kelley explains, the person designing the Great Pyramid would have to know “all the dimensions of Earth and had a command of engineering, astronomy, and mathematics that would be impressive even today. Think of it. This guy knew the weight and curvature of the Earth, the irregularity of that curvature at the poles, the location and size of every land mass and its height above sea level, Earth’s mean temperature, its latitude and longitude scales, the exact direction of true north, the locations of the stars, and the fact that 1300 years later the Earth’s orbit would change, increasing by 5.24 days. He knew how to make things absolutely level, straight, and square, and how to pre-cut and position gigantic pieces of stone so that when in place they fit so perfectly that every course is level and square even today. He knew how to calculate the coefficients of expansion and contraction and compensate for them. The list goes on. If this guy didn’t have supernatural capability himself, he was certainly assisted by Someone who does.”

Great Pyramid of Giza from a 19th century stereopticon card photo. Wiki.

The Great Pyramid is a great monument, and also a great mystery. Is it a pagan monument, or an homage to the One True and Great God? Here is the obscure prophecy about Egypt, the Hebrew name, Mizraim. (Gen 10:6) and a monument. The prophecy is from Isaiah:

“In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.” (Isaiah 19:19-20).

The name Mizraim is the Hebrew name for the land of Egypt, with the dual suffix -āyim, perhaps referring to the “two Egypts”: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The land of Egypt used to be in two parts, Upper and Lower Egypt, and the Great Pyramid at Giza stands at the border of these. Nowadays, Egypt is one nation and the Pyramid is in the center. That is how a monument can be at the heart of the nation AND at the border. The Great Pyramid is at the center of the world, actually.

“The Pyramid is located at the exact center of the Earth’s land mass. That is, its East-West axis corresponds to the longest land parallel across the Earth, passing through Africa, Asia, and America. Similarly, the longest land meridian on Earth, through Asia, Africa, Europa, and Antarctica, also passes right through the Pyramid. Only a solid stone mountain could endure the Pyramid’s immense weight. And indeed, a flat solid granite mountain happens to be located just beneath the surface of the ground directly under the Pyramid. It is built to face true North. Since the Earth has enough land area to provide 3 billion possible building sites for the Pyramid, the odds of it having been built where it is are 1 in 3 billion.” (source)

The Great Pyramid is “different from all the other pyramids in Egypt. For one thing it’s made of stone, not bricks, and is the only one that’s not solid. There’s a series of passageways and several chambers inside. All of the 80 or so other pyramids came later, are grossly inferior copies, and unlike the Great Pyramid were used as gigantic headstones covering the tombs of the Pharaohs. (The Great Pyramid never served as a tomb.)” (source)

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Wiki

Jeremiah 32:20 says [O Great and Mighty God]… “who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day.”

Do the Jeremiah verse referencing signs for all mankind even to this day and the prophecy from Isaiah 19:19-20 both reference the Great Pyramid? Is that why satan is influencing the Islamists to tear down the Pyramid?

It is a mystery whether the supernatural help in designing and building the Great Pyramid was from satan or from God. I think God. But it is just an opinion.

But one thing is not an opinion or a mystery: Jesus will come for His Bride. As John McTernan said in his blog today, “If the Lord does not return soon for the church, we are going to see incredible events with great destruction and loss of life. All these issues are coming together at the same time. I much rather be with the Lord Jesus than watch what is coming upon the earth. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb sounds very good me at the moment.”

Amen, Brother.

false christ, jim murphy, messiah, prophecy

A man in Australia says he’s Jesus: and his cult is growing

Posted on July 10, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In looking at the end time signs, there are a plethora to sort out and keep track of. They are not all only contained in Matthew 24’s Olivet Discourse, but we read them also throughout the rest of the New and Old Testament. For definition purposes, I define the “end time” as the time when Jesus is building His church, (Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 11:25), Acts 15:13-17), between Pentecost and the Rapture. After that it is the Tribulation period as it is known to the church and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble as it’s known to Jews. Halfway through the Tribulation it becomes the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27).

False messiahs are one of the signs Jesus told us about.

“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Mt 24:11);

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:14);

“For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:5)

There is a man in Australia named Alan John Miller, who says he is THE Christ.

From his website:
“Because of my personal desire and passion for God, as I grew, I recognized not only that I was the Messiah that was foretold by ancient prophets, but also that I was in a process designed by God that all humans could follow, if they so desired. I called this process becoming “Born Again”. It is the process of the human soul being transformed into the Divine, the process of becoming At-One with God. Many persons who were connected with me in the 1st century came to know and follow this path while on earth, the most notable person being Mary Magdalene, who is my soulmate, and who was actually married to me in the 1st century, and was pregnant with our daughter when I died.”

I wrote earlier today about judging and being fruit inspectors, and even the most shrill believer crying “Judge not!” when a false teacher is named, will undoubtedly be able to use whatever vestige of discernment left in them to judge that this man is not Jesus. (If you decide that, aren’t you judging? Aren’t you being fruit inspectors? Yes, and that’s good. More here)

This Australian video news spot is called: “Aussie messiah questioned“. Actually, it is the second spot they did. There was one the night before and the news anchor said that the office had been deluged since it aired with concerned calls from family members who have lost dear ones to the cult.

In the news video, the journalist said, “AJ Miller’s claims to be Jesus Christ would be almost laughable if nobody believed him. The problem is, many people do.”

So back to the prophecy. Jesus said that many would come in His name, claiming to be the Christ, and this has occurred. AJ Miller certainly is not the first man claiming to be Jesus Himself. Remember the Russian-Siberian guy, Sergey Torop, known as Vissarion? I wrote about him in 2010. He claims to be the reincarnated Jesus also. His cult is still going strong. Vissarion’s sect is estimated to have some ten thousand adherents, with claims of up to 50,000 adherents in eighty-three communities spread over 150 square kilometers. (source)

And there have been many more. On Wikipedia, there is a list of people who have claimed to be Christ. The list starts in the 1800s, and you notice the 1900s list is a LOT longer than the previous one. And the list for the 21st century is growing pretty healthily too, despite only being 12 years old.

This entry sort of dovetails with the previous one I’d linked to about being fruit inspectors. It is all about discernment. I listened to a pastor online who had preached on Sunday in firmness and protection of his flock about how he has finally had it with the falsity permeating the global church body today. His sermon is called the Subtlety of Satan. I recommend it!

He gave a short but detailed history of beginning in the 1940s of the acceleration of the downward slide of the evangelical church, and named names (Beth Moore, Richard Foster, Rick Warren, etc) and named the titles of these false doctrines (Gnosticism, Contemplative Spirituality, Post-Modernism, Pantheism and Panentheism etc) and brought it up to the present day. He said he was going to root this stuff out of his church, by going through his library and tossing out the false. Going through every curriculum and tossing out the false. He killed the Beth Moore trip. He will examine every teacher and leader and monitor closely what they teach. He is purifying his church. How did all this false stuff get into the church in the first place? One charge he made to the congregation is that laziness and lack of discernment. It’s got to stop, he said. It is one of the reasons people get so deceived. People simply don’t read the bible any more. The pastor said the last thing people need is “another bible study” when they should just read the bible for themselves and appeal to the Spirit for understanding- and then actually apply the principles to their lives. Amen. You can listen to his sermon here.

Pastor Jim said discernment takes work, and you have to put in the time. I agree. It was a good sermon and I’m proud for him that he is protecting his flock.

Mentioning Pastor Jim’s sermon may seem like it doesn’t fit with the main point of the essay, that a man in Australia is calling himself Jesus, and with my essay yesterday about the outcry not to “judge” or be “fruit inspectors,” but it does. Mr Miller began his cult just a few short years ago, and it really accelerated in 2010. In Australia he already has branched out with cult locations springing up in Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria.

And his influence is spreading around the world, to Europe,

And to the United States:

Any corporate business owner would be so jealous of having an expansion to three continents within two years! The problem is, that what is expanding out is false doctrine, which is actually poison.

How did we get here? Pastor Jim had asked the question rhetorically throughout his Sunday sermon. How did we get this far? As this blogger kindly transcribed, because we failed to discern. We don’t judge and we don’t inspect the fruit. We listened to satan’s subtle voice telling us:

“What is a Christian according to the contextually relevant teachers of today? “Someone who has made the decision to be an emotionally well adjusted self actualized risk taking leader who knows his purpose, lives a no regret life of significance, has overcome his fears, enjoys a healthy marriage, is an attentive parent, celebrating recovery from all of their lusts, their habits, their hangups and practices biblical stress relief techniques, is financially free from consumer debt, fosters emotionally healthy relationships with his peers, attends a weekly life group, volunteers regularly at his church, tithes off the gross and has taken at least one humanitarian aid trip to a third world country. That’s who a Christian is. What about the Gospel? Never once do you read in that modern contextualization that a Christian is one who sees their sin, confesses their sin, repents of their sin, and receives the gift of salvation in Christ alone. THAT IS HOW FAR WE HAVE COME.” (-Pastor Jim Murphy of First Baptist Church, Johnson City NY)

The bible says,

“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.” (Matthew 24:23)

That is pretty clear. But Jesus made it even clearer:

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:30b-31)

Did you see Jesus in the sky? No? Then AJ Miller is not Jesus. It’s amazing that such a lack of discernment exists when something is so obvious. How will they discern when it is not so obvious? Badly or not at all. Satan is the most subtle creature in the garden (Gen 3:1) but he doesn’t even have to be subtle anymore with a people who lack even a crumb of biblical knowledge and regularly fail to practice discernment. By now, Satan is just shooting fish in a barrel.

On still a serious note but two things that amused me in all this… in one of the videos I watched featuring AJ Miller AKA Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lord of Lords, you notice he is wearing glasses. Hmmm, he is two thousand years older now, so I guess his eyes are fail…NOT!

AJ Miller incorporated his Divine Teachings or whatever he calls it. He named it

God’s Way of Love…Ltd. You know LTD stands for Limited. God’s Way of Love Limited. LOL!

Jesus said there shall be ones coming in His name calling themselves the Christ. His word is so perfect and so true, than even though we mourn over AJ Miller and his wife Mary’s lost state, and pray that the light would come to his followers, we love the True God all the more, because, He said, “See, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:25).

“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:31)

discernment, fruit inspectors, judge not

On being fruit inspectors

Posted on July 10, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I hear this line often: “We’re not supposed to be fruit inspectors, you know!” People say this a lot too: “Judge not lest ye be judged!”

Well…actually…we are supposed to inspect fruit and we are supposed to judge.

The word ‘judge’ here in the way we have come to use it is kind of an unfortunate one. It doesn’t mean to judge unto condemnation. Only God does that. It means to discern by carefully detecting whether a person’s words line up with the bible and whether their character is bearing good fruit from a good tree.

And yet when people are confronted by a statement or claim that this preacher or that teacher is false, and back it up with the bible, they invariably allege verbal misconduct on the speaker’s part and do the very thing they say we should not do: judge the speaker. Ever consider the irony, rather the hypocrisy? “I judge that you are wrong for judging!” LOL. Here is what the Matthew verse actually says in context:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5).

1. In that set of verses, Jesus gave a procedure for us to employ for when we DO judge. Not ‘if” we judge, “when” we judge. First is to make sure we have repented to Jesus. Are we ourselves are in good standing with Him? Have we let sin pile up in our lives? That is the log. When we view others through the filter of our own unrepented sins it colors our perspective and partially blocks our view.

So the first part of the process is to examine ourselves to see if we are a hypocrite. Once that is completed, presumably through prayer, repentance, biblical study and perhaps fasting, then we are clear to judge. The Greek word is translated judge…or decide. To come to a choice, make a decision about something.

To the people who say we should not judge, what you are really saying is that we should never make a decision about anything that we come into contact with in our Christian walk. Not hardly!

2. Other times, people will look at the fact that there seems to be fruit and decide that person must be good based on that assessment alone. But that, too, is judging. Irony alert. People do this especially when there seems to be a LOT of fruit, or fruit has been bearing out for a long time, like Teresa of Calcutta’s work with the poor for 50 years. But what are fruits? Are fruits simply good things that people do? Here is the scripture that deals with the subject:

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

So now that we have cleared the log from our eye, the second point is that we look for fruits- AND we look at the tree! How do we do that?

3. First, inspect the tree. In Maine we had a 100 foot tall pine tree leaning over our house. We suspected it was dead, but of course we couldn’t see the inside of it. And we didn’t want to tear it down if it wasn’t dead. We hired an arborist to come give an assessment, and he said that the tree was dying. There were symptoms that in his expertness told him so, such as the leaning over, the mounding at the roots, the sandy soil that wasn’t nutritious, among other things. But only when we had removed the tree and exposed the inside did we see the truth: the tree had heart rot. The entire inside was rotten. Practically only the bark was holding the tree up at all! So decide if the tree is good or evil.

An application of that inspection would be the book The Shack. The Shack is said to be good fruit by man, evidence of a good work in bringing the love of Jesus to many millions. But what tree did the apparently fruitful book come from? William P. Young.

Mr Young does not believe Jesus is the sacrificial substitutionary atonement for sins. He is actually a Universalist. This is an evil tree. I am not saying he is evil, but that the false doctrine that he holds in his heart leads to heart-rot and a rotten heart cannot produce good fruit. No matter how healthy the fruit looks on the outside, it will contain stuff that you don’t want to ingest. Let’s take a look–

4. Inspect the fruit the tree bears. Really! Well, would you eat a piece of fruit that you haven’t judged as healthy? Look here. This is my apple tree. I walked out there and looked to see if there were fruits yet. Yay! There are! Mmm, that red one looks lovely.

Those fruits look good. After all, they are apples, from an apple tree. If I never judged them by their fruits I’d just yank the red one off the tree and take a big, juicy bite out of it.

But I don’t do that. Before I ingest anything, I make sure it is healthy and won’t harm me. Don’t you look at what you eat, first? So I inspected the fruit. How did I do this? I got closer. I looked at it from every angle. I took my time. And…oh, no!

The other side of the red apple was rotten. I don’t know how or why, but it was not safe to ingest. Is it a bad tree? It might be. Maybe it is dying. Maybe its interior is rotten. I read the first 75 pages of The Shack. I thought it was well-written and had a good premise: how to deal with horrible things that happen to children. But as I read, alarms went off. I inspected the theology behind the book, sin isn’t punished, God is a woman, The Spirit is a woman, the bible is dusty and outdated, there are many ways to heaven…and I realized that this was not a fruit of Mr Young’s that I wanted to ingest. The tree isn’t good.

We are not God and only He can see the heart rot. But we can examine the external symptoms that lead to a tree’s death and decide, or judge, whether the thing is living or dying. I won’t eat that apple! I am glad I am a fruit inspector!

4. Where is the fruit? He is the true vine. (John 15:1). Apart from Him we can do nothing. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5).

Sometimes fruit falls off the tree and rolls away.You are being a fruit inspector when you see this and you determine it is not good fruit.

I think everyone would agree that is bad fruit lying on the ground there. It isn’t attached to the branch, that’s why. It shriveled up and got no living water and it is a dead fruit now. Oh, but don’t judge that poor fruit! It couldn’t help shriveling up! Ack.

There is a man in Australia today who says he is Jesus Christ, returned, and his wife is Mary Magdalene. (More on him in a later post). The duo bought up land and they have followers who bought land and they are making a compound. The cult now has half a dozen branches in Australia, in branches in half a dozen other nations, too, including the US (Brevard County FL and Las Vegas). Would you ignore his claims that he is Jesus by saying, “But he gives to the needy! He organizes food distribution to tornado victims! He is so nice! Who are you to inspect his fruits! Judge not!” No, you would not say that, (I hope). So when you reject the Australian man as Jesus, you are judging and you are inspecting fruits.

What I am getting at is that the closer one looks like the real thing the more outcry we get about not inspecting their fruits and not judging them. But we must inspect all who claim to come in the name of the Lord! Not just the easy ones like The Shack and not just the wacky ones like the Australian Jesus.

But people like Billy Graham and Beth Moore and Jentezen Franklin and Joel Osteen and Joseph Prince do seemingly good things, and seemingly bear fruit, but they say things that indicate they are not doing them in the strength of the branch and in fact are apart from the vine. Their fruits, after a while, will be shown to be the wasp-ridden, bug-infested seemingly good fruit that is on the ground even if initially they looked healthy.

Like this one.

It looks good. It might be good to eat. It hasn’t been off the branch for very long. It is still coasting on the nutrients it had absorbed while it had been attached. But I better check it out anyway. You know that the minute fruit is off the tree, bugs and wasps and worms will be attracted to it. I sure don’t want to bite into a wasp! I will inspect this fruit.

Oh no! I’m so glad I inspected this, and I judge it not fit to eat. The fruit was borne but it went away from its branch. There are harmful things on this fruit I was not aware of until I looked closer.

Just because someone ministers, sacrifices, or helps does not mean automatically that they are good. Further inspection is necessary. Is the tree healthy? Is the tree bearing fruit? Is the fruit that it bears consistent with the kind of tree that it is? Is the fruit good, or rotten? Is the fruit on the branch or off the branch? These are the inspections we need to make.

In case you’re still clinging to the notion that we ‘judge not’ and we aren’t fruit inspectors, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 says, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”

We are warned to beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but “inwardly they are ravening wolves.” They have heart-rot that is not evident at first. How could we “beware” and how could we know they’re “false prophets” if we don’t judge? The Lord asking us to judge. Do so carefully, respectfully, prayerfully, lovingly, and not hypocritically, but do judge (decide). And to judge you have to inspect first.

end is near, signs

The end is so close, but don’t relax

Posted on July 9, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The signs of the end are unmistakable. Though the signs Jesus warned us about (wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, apostasy, false messiahs…) have always plagued man, the rush of prophetic activity the Lord has been doing the last 50 years is unlike any other in history. The headlines we are reading were unthinkable even 10 years ago. The last two weeks have been so crowded with activity of a startlingly prophetic precision! As Pastor JD Farag said, we wonder what will the next two weeks hold?

It is not time to get ready, it is time to be ready. The schoolbus is not in the next neighborhood, it is not down the block, it is not even at the next house. It’s downstairs honking, and the time is now to be ready to get on board. We need to be already packed and ready to go.

Sometimes I read in the news, or see in a novel, a particularly tragic event that happens in a war. I am thinking particularly of WWI, where a famous armistice was the prelude to the final peace treaty. An armistice is a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations. The armistice in WWI was signed on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. The commemoration of WW1 Armistice Day is now known to Americans as Veterans Day. It is different from a truce and it is not a treaty, but it is effectively the beginning stages of the end of the war. Did you know that though the 11-11-11th 1918, is held to be the official end of the First World War, final peace with Germany was not ratified until 1919, and peace was not finally ratified on all fronts until January 1920?

Anyway, the when the news of Armistice got around, soldiers started to relax because they knew they were going home soon. The war is almost over. Almost.

It is such a tragedy when a soldier dies after the armistice is signed. In France, 3,500 casualties occurred between the armistice signing and the official end of hostilities.

Here is an article about the aftermath of those deaths. It is a good article that explains the thinking of the commanders and generals and what happened to cause so many to die when the end was so near. Were those soldiers’ lives wasted?

Wasted Lives on Armistice Day
“On November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front in France suffered more than thirty-five hundred casualties, although it had been known unofficially for two days that the fighting would end that day and known with absolute certainty as of 5 o’clock that morning that it would end at 11 a.m.”

General John J. Pershing, in a Congressional hearing a year after the armistice period, said, “When the subject of the armistice was under discussion we did not know what the purpose of it was definitely, whether it was something proposed by the German High Command to gain time or whether they were sincere in their desire to have an armistice; and the mere discussion of an armistice would not be sufficient grounds for any judicious commander to relax his military activities….”

You see, although the soldiers and commanders knew that the end was near, they were not sure what the enemy was going to do, whether it was a feint or not. They remained vigilant because they knew that the enemy was likely still out to kill and destroy.

Besides, the thinking went, the word had not gotten to all the soldiers that the end was near. They could not relax because some of their compatriots were not relaxing their guard. They were all in this together, one unit, even though strewn on different battlefields. The article continues with Pershing’s testimony:

“No one could possibly know when the armistice was to be signed, or what hour be fixed for the cessation of hostilities, so that the only thing for us to do, and which I did as commander in chief of the American forces, and which Marshal Foch did as commander in chief of the Allied armies was to continue the military activities.”

My grandfather, serving in WW1, British Army, Royal Leicestershire Regiment

It makes sense, doesn’t it, if the soldiers didn’t know the day or hour, then they were duty bound to continue the good fight.

“Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander in chief of Allied forces in France, issued on November 9, to keep up the pressure against the retreating enemy until the cease-fire went into effect. …Foch had described to his staff his intention ‘to pursue the Feldgrauen [field grays, or German soldiers] with a sword at their backs’ to the last minute until an armistice went into effect.”

Keeping up the pressure on the enemy, pouring ourselves out as a drink offering… As Paul said in the bible, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24).

Pershing continued, on the notion that the very idea of an armistice was repugnant, because the enemy was still fighting. The enemy was still the enemy, after all:

“‘Their request is an acknowledgment of weakness and clearly means that the Allies are winning the war,’ he maintained. ‘Germany’s desire is only to regain time to restore order among her forces, but she must be given no opportunity to recuperate and we must strike harder than ever.’ As for terms, Pershing had one response: ‘There can be no conclusion to this war until Germany is brought to her knees.’ “

Pershing is right to say that the war is not over until every knee bows and all acknowledge the victor.

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”(Philippians 2:10.)

“Pershing saw his army akin to a fighter ready to deliver the knockout punch who is told to quit with his opponent reeling but still standing. Conciliation now, he claimed, would lead only to future war. He wanted Germany’s unconditional surrender.”

That’s right. Unless the job is done thoroughly, the enemy comes back stronger than before.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” (Mt 12:43-45).

I hope by now you have caught the metaphor. Though we old prophecy soldiers can see the signs that the end of our war in the spiritual realms is near, we cannot relax. “And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

source

It feels so close, doesn’t it! But the enemy is still on the field and actively engaged. We won’t go home until the Commander in Chief calls for us, and until then, we continue to fight the good fight with all due vigor and attention. Until we hear the Trump of God, carry on, soldiers! (1 Thess 4:6).

earthquake, newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador experience unusual 4.4 quake

Posted on July 8, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Newfoundland and Labrador shaken with unusual 4.4 magnitude earthquake
“HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador was hit with a 4.4 magnitude earthquake Sunday morning. A seismologist with Natural Resources Canada says the magnitude isn’t large enough to cause destruction, but it is significantly more than most earthquakes in the region. He says the earthquake hit around 8:13 a.m. local time along the Quebec-Labrador border, just south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Those in the immediate vicinity felt very strong shaking. Miners in Labrador City said the earthquake felt like a regular mine blast. Natural Resources Canada says the last time an earthquake of this size hit the province was 50 years ago.’ “

USGS source

Newfoundland and Labrador have had numerous small quakes, but one of that size is unusual. “While earthquake activity isn’t unusual for this particular region of Labrador, Department of Natural Resources Seismologist Stephen Halchuk says a tremor that size hasn’t been recorded in 50 years.”

change times and the law, jesus, prophecy

How will the antichrist try to change the times and the law?

Posted on July 8, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Before I was saved by Jesus grace, I used to wonder about our calendar and timing system. I wondered, if Jesus was of no account as my father used to say, why the world which uses the Julian and Gregorian calendars marks time from the moment of His death. Our calendar is AD and BC, Anno Domini (After Death) and Before Christ. The AD technically is translated in Medieval Latin, ‘In the year of the Lord’ but we summarize that to ‘after death’ in common usage. The US Constitution is signed with the full expression, “Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven”.

I like to think in word pictures. I think of the moment when He returns to earth and lands on the Mount of Olives as described in Zechariah 14:4: “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.”

Here is an aerial view of the Mount of Olives. To the left of the pin is a valley and then another mount, the Temple Mount complex. North is to the top.

The scripture says the rupture will come from east to west, and half the split will move north and the other half, south, making “a very wide valley”.

Some scholars believe that the valley is so wide and combined with the details in the Ezekiel verses depicting the geo-physical changes, that the temple will be pushed toward Shiloh. Shiloh is 27 miles due north of Jerusalem and was the location of the first tabernacle, for 400 years. Who knows…but the valley will be wide enough so that the river that runs from the temple will go to the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea (which won’t be dead anymore, lol).

Source

But I digress. The mountain splits under His feet. It is like the BC-AD thing. He split history. We count history as before He came and after He died. He ruptured it, actually. It was surely the universe’s most seismic moment.

Knowing that Christ’s appearance on earth is such a singular event, of course the secular world wants to delete the BC-AD designation. So they came up with BCE, or Before the Common Era. Sure, the designation doesn’t mention Christ, but they still count time from moment zero of the epicenter of His appearing. They can’t delete THAT! LOL.

But they will continue to try. There is a prophecy in Daniel. It is just part of one sentence, but I think it is interesting. “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” (Daniel 7:25).

Many scholars believe that the antichrist, who is the ‘he’ spoken of here, will try to change the calendar to reflect worship back on himself, instead of onto Christ. I believe this also. But I was listening to Steve Hadley last night and he proposed something that I think makes sense as well, and adds a layer of understanding to the situation. In his sermon “Preview to Revelation,” he preached on Zechariah 6. (July 1, 2012). Pastor Hadley mentioned that the antichrist will try to change times and dates and create a new calendar because he is moving the world toward a unified religion (one that will eventually point to himself). In wiping the calendar clean it also wipes out all the holy days. Christians mark Easter in April and Christmas in December, Jews have their calendar appointed holy days, etc. If a new calendar is instituted, all those memorializations will be changed, and as the antichrist will think, wiped from memory as they begin to worship him.

There is no erasing Jesus. His appearance was marked by shepherds, angels, and Kings; His death was marked by celestial signs and a large earthquake. The very calendar changed and we marked time from the moment of his death. His re-emergence will be marked with earthquakes. But the main earthquake that He represents is one that split the veil between this world and the next, rupturing time and space itself. Our calendar marks that rupture.

Nothing the secular people can do in juggling calendrical designations, and nothing the antichrist can do to think to change times and the law, will ever alter the fact that He is in control of time itself, and that His emergence into our world the first time and the second time are THE exceptional events in history.

annan, clinton, middle east, peace

US sends USS Ponce to Gulf instead of to decommission

Posted on July 8, 2012 by elizabethprata

Some Middle East news I thought was interesting. After June’s ramp-up on the Negev and Gaza Strip with Hamas bombs falling, and the last minute rush of UN’s Kofi Annan to try and get a peace going in Syria, and Turkey’s anger over Syria downing its jet, tensions were at a ridiculous height. Over the last two weeks that tension has ratcheted down a bit, but now are ramping up again. Iran has renewed its belligerence and has made some provocative statements. The US has made some decisions, and things are cycling back to new heights. The news regarding these things is below.

Please view all this through the lens of prophecy concerning the last days wars of Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 and 19, and Ezekiel 38-39. I say this because those prophesied battles have not yet been fulfilled in their entirety, and we see movement in these days toward that final fulfillment, for the first time ever in some cases.

Throwing in the towel on Syria:

Annan admits failure of Syrian peace mission
“Kofi Annan, the joint UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, has admitted his failure in solving Syrian crisis, according to a French daily. “We have made significant efforts to resolve this situation by peaceful political methods. Obviously, we have not succeeded. And there is no guarantee that we will succeed,” Annan said in an interview with Le Monde.”

So America stepped in to make a few statements:

Clinton warns Syria violence must end to avoid ‘catastrophic assault’
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday warned time was running out to save Syria from a “catastrophic assault” after international envoy Kofi Annan admitted his peace mission was failing. The comments by the top U.S. diplomat came as 15 people, including 12 civilians, were killed across the country, according to a rights watchdog. “It should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime their days are numbered,” Clinton told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan in Tokyo.”

And the US made a decision to send an aging carrier group to the Gulf instead of decommission it, like they had planned.

US beefs up Gulf naval force amid tension with Iran
“A U.S. navy ship that had been slated for decommissioning has been sent instead to the Gulf to help mine-clearing operations, the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain said, the latest move in a gradual U.S. build-up as tensions with Iran smoulder. A fleet spokesman in Manama said the USS Ponce, described as a “afloat forward staging base” (AFSB), had arrived on Thursday after undergoing refitting for its new mission.”

‘Floating base’ deploys to Gulf: US Navy
“An ageing American naval ship converted into a “floating base” has arrived off the coast of Bahrain to support counter-mine operations in the Gulf, the US Navy said Friday.The deployment of the USS Ponce marks the latest in a gradual build-up of American forces in the region since tensions spiked with Iran in December over its nuclear programme, with Tehran threatening to possibly close the strategic Strait of Hormuz.Equipped with a helicopter landing deck and space for troops, the amphibious transport ship, in service since 1971, can support an array of missions as a “forward staging base” involving special forces, countermine operations or repair work for warships, officials said.”

Joel C. Rosenberg calls this area the prophetic “epicenter.” His language mirrors scientific language concerning earthquakes. The United States Geological Survey defines an earthquake epicenter as, “the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins.”

We view prophecy through Jerusalem as the epicenter because that is the lens through which God acts. Jerusalem is His focus and Israel is His hypocenter. It is the point on earth where the prophetic rupture begins. Many scholars believe the initial rupture kick-starting the final 7 years of this present age will be either the Psalm 83 battle, Isaiah 17 event or the Gog Magog war described in Ezekiel 38-39; or a rapid succession or combination of all three. All three prophecies are located in and around Israel.

This is because despite having been continuously inhabited for almost 6000 years, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1) has never been destroyed. Because despite Israel’s enemies always and endlessly stating they will wipe Israel from the earth, never in documented history has that particular combination of allies attacked her, (Psalm 83) and the same is true for Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog war.

So we watch the epicenter. In earthquakes, scientists still cannot figure out when or where one will occur. But our God is the author and perfecter of time, precise in His word, and orchestrates all events on the earth and above it. He told us ahead of time when the final prophetic rupture will be (when we see the signs begin to happen- Luke 21:31) and what to do when we see the begin (Luke 21:28; 1 Thess 5:4-5).

As Jesus warned His people to watch, as Paul warned his people to watch, so we watch. And wait. Not impatiently, but expectantly, and in joy that the author and finisher of our Faith is coming to complete His word. Thy kingdom come…Thy will be done.

bulgaria, israel, jordan, positive tweeters, prophecy, russia, wildfires

Being negative about positive tweeters is not a negative thing, I’m positive

Posted on July 7, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Some news today for you. Bible thoughts at the end.

103 Dead in Southern Russia Floods
“Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday.” (Photo BBC)

UK hit with torrential rain, floods

Sky News, Pic: Graham Ross

“Torrential rain sweeping across much of Britain is bringing widespread flooding to homes and businesses in its wake. Some areas are expected to receive up to one month’s rainfall in 24 hours. Farmers have been urged to move livestock from low-lying fields, summer concerts have been canceled and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is facing a washout.”

6.3 earthquake in Vanuatu yesterday. Some of the volcanoes have calmed down. Here is a volcano report:

“A sedate day in volcano land. The on-going volcano-seismic crisis at El Hierro (Canary Islands) while not over, appears to be on the wane. Bursts of spasmodic tremor have become less frequent and are of lower amplitude than when the crisis began last month. Tremor has dropped to even lower levels at Nevado Del Ruiz volcano (Colombia) and the once robust plume of SO2 emitted by the volcano has dwindled. A strong plume of SO2 over the Virunga volcanoes (DR Congo) which became visible (through satellite imagery) during the past few days is not evident on the most recent satellite pass. The plume was the only evidence of increased activity there. There have been no reports of an eruption in the region so far and no earthquakes associated with the plume (unlike that which accompanied plume activity there last month).”

Geologist/volcanologist Erik Klemetti has absconded to MA due to the storms in OH having knocked out his power. He writes that he is out of touch this week with volcano news but is on the way home tomorrow and hopes to get back to it this week, if power has been restored that is. Amazing how much we depend on electricity. I wonder if Edison had any clue?!

As of yesterday, officials are still scrambling to determine what the mystery disease is that is killing Cambodian children. The death toll is up to 64, and has only affected kids under the age of 7. It’s been reported in 14 Provinces.

Source

A Golden Algae bloom has killed thousands of fish in Arizona for 20 miles along the Salt River. Experts say this is a first. It is such a shame when algae blooms and environment disasters like this happen. It really makes me long for the beauty that is coming, a perfect world with untold and unimaginable wonders! (1 Corinthians 2:9).

There is a bad wildfire in Bulgaria, and Israel has offered technology and help to quell it. The temps in Bulgaria are predicted to be very high over the next few days- at least 98 degrees F. But there is now a wildfire in Israel too, that has spread into Jordan.

Speaking of Jordan, King Abdullah has summoned the Parliament to “meet in an extraordinary session for an unspecified period for the purpose of deciding matters to be specified in the Royal Decree when the summons are issued. An extraordinary session shall be prorogued by a Royal Decree”.

What a relief, the Presbyterians voted not to ditch Israel. “By a razor-thin margin, the largest Presbyterian group in the United States rejected a proposal Thursday to divest from three companies that do business with Israel. Pro-Palestinian advocates vowed to try again.” It is clear we are losing the church. But not the bride! She is spotless and contains exactly the number of souls the Savior has determined since the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8).

Call me a curmudgeon but I am tired of the “positive tweeters.” I’m not talking about people who aren’t sarcastic or mean or who work hard at minding their tongue. All those are good things and we all need to work on them, including me. I’m not talking of either secular people who are happy to make conversation and spread cheer. Relentlessly happy people. I am talking of believers who think they are doing the world a service by ONLY tweeting positive about Jesus, the bible, and faith. Like this one:

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. Mother Teresa”

Aside from the fact that Mother Teresa was an enemy of God rebelling against Him her whole, long life, and likely residing in hell at this very moment, I am going to be blunt here, this is a ridiculous tweet. I tweeted back,

“What if we share the Gospel in love, and tell them of sin, they get convicted, and leave UNhappier?”

A believer’s language and life is not only a joyride on It’s A Small World or sitting in the Friends fountain clapping happy things.

Positive tweeting is a good thing if it is tempered with the notion that not everything we say or do in Jesus makes people happy. And that we have joy, but life is not always “positive.” As a matter of fact, there is a woe about people who constantly think well of you. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26).

Expressing only what sinful man thinks is “positive” usually leaves out the talk of sin, conviction, and judgment. But those things are part of the Gospel. Our lives in Jesus are full of pain, mourning, lament, grief, and sorrow over our sins, others’ sins, the end of the world, and the persecution of our brethren. That is a fact. Whitewashing it by being relentlessly and exclusively “positive” doesn’t do justice to Jesus. I wonder if positive tweeters ever tweet John 11:35. Or Genesis 6:6.

We do love our enemies (Luke 6:25) but we are to be salt as well. Salt has a medicinal quality that stings when applied. Speaking only positive things and not the whole counsel of God leaves us unbalanced as only Light and not Salt AND Light. Positive tweeters want to give lemonade without the lemons. Anyway, it is a Twitter thing that bugs me. Oh, and I never got a reply to my question.

Don’t forget to read the bible. Not just to listen to good preachers, or read good commentaries, or sing good hymns. All those are edifying but don’t let them substitute for reading the bible straight up for yourself.

I am going through Judges. I re-read chapter 3 & 4 today before going on to chapter 5. Deborah was amazing, wasn’t she! So was Jael. Here is How Judges 5 ends. It is the last line in Deborah’s song:

“Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But let those who love Him be like the sun
When it comes out in full strength.”

His wrath will be full strength (Rev 14:10) but His glory is full strength too! Believers will not have to endure the former and will cry with joy when we experience the latter in full strength. He is most worthy to be praised.