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Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 1, Introduction and Casualness

Posted on July 20, 2011May 20, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizbeth Prata

I mentioned I was headed to a Beth Moore convention this weekend, part of the Living Proof Ministries tour. I should say right off the bat that I don’t favor gender-segregated ministries. I am not a fan in particular of woman’s ministries. I think they rely too much on emotion and not nearly enough on theology.

I should also say I’m from the North, but I live in Georgia. I’ve never gone through a Beth Moore study. Last year was actually the first time I’d heard of her. When a church friend mentioned her and I innocently asked “Who’s she?” I’ll never forget the response. She looked at me like I had two heads and gushed “BETH MOORE! You’ve GOT to go through one of her studies!!!!!!!!!” And so on. Lots of exclamation marks.

I was immediately skeptical. Because I have a discernment ministry, and knowing it is the end time and we’re to expect false doctrines, I’m always skeptical of wildly popular Christian personalities. Being wildly popular these days is almost a sign that falsity exists. People do not stand for sound doctrine, period. “The time will come when they [the people in the church] will not endure [tolerate] sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). If there is a wildly popular, lucrative book, DVD, and speaking tour, sellout crowds, AND it is based on strict truth and nothing but the truth, show it to me and then knock me over with a feather.

Last, Beth Moore plays up the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair, ultra-feminine mystique…something that I as a Yankee find mystifying. It’s a cultural thing, I know. But just because it is a women’s ministry doesn’t mean all women will understand the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair persona or even understand what she’s talking about half the time. However, if the Bible is center stage, it will transcend cultural differences, wouldn’t it? Let’s see.

So those are my beginning positions. But none of them are important, because the only thing that is important, ultimately, is Beth Moore’s stance on the word. Does she, or does she not, teach truth? That is what I am looking into. This will be a multi-part series. Apparently, there is a lot to say…

First, let’s look at discernment. Discernment is a good characteristic, something we need: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Having no discernment is bad: “Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, but a man of understanding walks uprightly.” (Proverbs 15:21)

Discernment is called for especially in these end times of deception: “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:4; and 2 Timothy 4:3 quoted above).

Discernment defined by John MacArthur is “ability to understand, interpret, and apply Truth skillfully.” Tim Challies defines discernment as “the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.”

Hebrews 5:14 teaches that: “solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Discernment is a skill that has to be exercised.

One last caveat: I’ve watched Beth Moore clips and studies. I’ve read up on her. I’ve prayed. I’ve consulted the scriptures. I have some early concerns about her approach to theology, her method of teaching and her doctrines. I’m still looking forward to the weekend, because I want to investigate these things in person. But I do have grave concerns already. I did not want to go on the trip to the convention but the Spirit prompted me to, and even made provisions for me to go. I have a feeling that a discernment ministry is the reason. If you have rebuttals to what I share here, you must do in like kind, have watched her, prayed, and most important, consulted the scriptures and share the verses that inform your opinion. ‘I love Beth Moore and you’re a silly-head” kind of comments won’t make it through moderation.

OK, to start with my concerns about Beth Moore:

The first one I came across was disappointment when I went to the Living Proof webpage to see what she would be speaking about in Charlotte. I like to prepare ahead. I read the verses, I read the context, I pray, I get a sense of the intent of the verses. I need that grounding and I like to have it. I was surprised at what I found:

“Beth’s focus will be on the Scripture that God lays on her heart for each individual Living Proof Live event — no two are the same.”

So, no verses. Aside from my personal disappointment at not having an opportunity to learn the verses, the context, and to pray for her and the women I’m attending with based on those verses, I have a qualm about this kind of approach to Bible teaching. It is too casual for me. It sounds nice, it sounds like it is being personalized, but it is not. She sold out at the Columbia Colonial Life Arena (18,600) last year and apparently the one I’m attending at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena holds about the same number and is also nearly sold out.

Simply waiting for the Spirit to ‘lay it on her heart’ and being good to go seems disrespectful and also dangerous. In the first instance, it is disrespectful to God to be unprepared. Secondly it is disrespectful to the audience. I want to know that she has spent time treating the Word rightly, preparing and double checking. Would you like it if your pastor told you Sunday morning that he waited for the verse to be laid on his heart and then he bounded up the pulpit steps and launched in? No, I wouldn’t either, and he is a seminary trained man whose systematic theology is his foundation. Beth Moore has none such. The risk of treating the word casually is too great to approach it this way.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Barnes notes explains the verse:
“Study to show thyself approved unto God – Give diligence 2 Peter 2:10, or make an effort so to discharge the duties of the ministerial office as to meet the divine approbation. The object of the ministry is not to please men. Such doctrines should be preached, and such plans formed, and such a manner of life pursued, as God will approve. To do this demands study or care – for there are many temptations to the opposite course; there are many things the tendency of which is to lead a minister to seek popular favor rather than the divine approval. If any man please God, it will be as the result of deliberate intention and a careful life.”

Now, to be fair, there is a period of ten days to two weeks or so between each event, and perhaps she does study between each one as the Lord lays it on her heart. But the seeming lack of forethought doesn’t inspire confidence that that is what is happening. As a matter of fact, it inspires the opposite. If she rightly divides the word at some point the scripture explanation will be consistent, because the Holy Spirit is consistent. Last, I am not worried that “any two will be the same.” I’m not an excitement junkie. I don’t worry about repeats. Even if the scriptures used at one event are the same scriptures used another a year later, I will be a different Christian because I will have grown. I’ll absorb it differently. And what if the Spirit DOES lay the same scripture on her heart, gasp! two events in a row? Would she chuck it, fearing ‘it might be the same?” Maybe she is the excitement junkie.

Next blog entry, we’ll look at her manner of delivery. I’m going through the more superficial (but just as important) things before getting into her treatment of the Word itself.
———————–

Entries in the series-

Troubled by Beth Moore’s teaching: Part 1, Introduction and Casualness
Beth Moore plays up the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair, ultra-feminine mystique…something that I as a Yankee find mystifying. It’s a cultural thing, I know. But just because it is a women’s ministry doesn’t mean all women will understand the southern belle, delicate flower, Texas big hair persona or even understand what she’s talking about half the time. However, if the Bible is center stage, it will transcend cultural differences, wouldn’t it? Let’s see.

Troubled by Beth Moore Teaching, Part 2: Un-dignified teaching
In which I look at one of the things that happens when women teach (tag-end questions and affirmation seeking), the undignified delivery of her lessons, and the problems with a rapid-fire teaching.

Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 3: Contemplative Prayer
In which I explain what Contemplative Prayer is, why it is bad, and Beth Moore’s participation in it.

Troubled by Beth Moore Teaching, Part 4: Legalism
In which I define legalism, and show three examples of Moore’s tendency toward it.

Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 5: Personal Revelation
Beth Moore claims direct revelation from God. Is this biblical?

Troubled by Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 6: Eisegesis, Pop Psychology, & Bad Bible Interpretations
Does she interpret the Bible that badly?

Troubled By Beth Moore’s Teaching, Part 7: Conclusion
It is not about Beth Moore-it is about our own proper discernment. Recommendations for discernment studies and also good women teachers

prophecy, salvation, woman at the well

Reviewing lessons from the woman at the well

Posted on July 20, 2011 by elizabethprata

The woman at the well in John 4:1-42 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes, and the glory of the Word is that each time I read it I’m moved by a different part.

If you are not familiar with the event, then take a moment to read it.

The woman who came at noon to get water at the well met Jesus. He struck up a conversation with her. As the conversation progressed she realized He is the Messiah and He confirmed it. The Disciples returned and watched and listened to the conversation. She ran off back to town, excited, to tell the news. Sounds simple, eh? There are many truths to be plumbed from this passage.

Here is what struck me today:

First, she might have been marginalized because of her promiscuous reputation, but she was not ignorant. She was well aware of the scriptures. She not only knew Jacob as the previous owner of the well, she knew that Jacob was her forefather in the religion. (John 4:12). Soon she understood that Jesus was not just “Sir”, but a prophet. (John 4:19). Immediately she took the opportunity to ask Him a religious question in attempt to gain understanding on a religious debate that had been going around, regarding where the Samaritans should worship. (John 4:20). I know that she used the question as a diversionary tactic to bring the conversation away from her sins, but the fact that she asked it on the heels of her discernment that the man she was peaking with is a prophet shows she understood in His authority enough to ask it in the first place.

By verse 25 she revealed that she knew the scriptures well enough to speak of her faith and hope in the promise of the coming Messiah. (John 4:25). In verse 26 Jesus states that He is the Messiah.

They talk a bit more and then excited, she runs into town to share the Good News, bringing back with her the men of the town to see for themselves. This tells of great faith and clarity in the extraordinary moment she found herself in. I mean, her joy in learning that Messiah had come trumped everything. She ran to town to tell everyone- including her 4 ex-husbands. When was the last time you had enough joy in the Word to share with people who hated you enough to put you out? Including your ex-husband??

Now let’s look at the theological implications. Here was a woman going about her daily business. Walking to the well didn’t take extraordinary strength or talent. Drawing water was humdrum. So her mind was likely on neutral, as mine usually is when I do the dishes or vacuum. As she got to the well she encountered something unusual, a Jew, talking to her, (“for the Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” John 4:9). Rather than shrink from something unusual, she asked questions, open and curious as to what was going on. Compare that to yourself. If you were involved in a mundane task, like at the checkout line at the grocery store, and someone out of the ordinary started talking to you, what would you do? Would you continue on your way, or would you look them in the eyes and converse, curious? Too many people today are wrapped up in the daily mundane, too dulled to notice something unusual, like salvation standing in front of them.

Further, the woman knew her scripture, and applied them to her immediate situation. How many of us do that today?

Last, when the disciples returned, they saw the woman and Jesus talking, but it was expressly stated, “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” We should take that to heart as a lesson, as well. When salvation is knocking for your friend or loved one, and the door is opening, be sensitive to the situation. Don’t squash it, or hurry it, or interfere with it.

The woman went to get water, and met with the object of her faith in the flesh! It was a momentous occasion. She had been expecting the Messiah but was sensitive enough to the open door to walk through it: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9).

If you are saved, then be aware of the people that the Lord puts in your path. They’re there for a reason. If you are not saved, then be sensitive to the knock at the door of your heart. He sends people to us to draw us to Him. Listen. Don’t be in such a rush that you focus on the mundane task to the exclusion of salvation standing in front of you.
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theology

Vacation…

Posted on July 19, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’ve got two weeks left until I go back to work. The last week of July will be busy. So that essentially leaves a week. This weekend I’m going to a Beth Moore convention! Between now and then, I’d like to do a lot of reading. I’ve got stacked up on my table, John Piper’s “Think”, “The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome”, “The Centurion’s Wife, and a book about Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to the Arctic in 1845 – 1848, called “The Terror.” That one is 700 pages.

I also want to revisit the BBC documentary “Atom,” narrated by physicist Jim Al-Khalili. I just got done watching part one again, “Clash of the Titans” and I am loving quantum physics more and more as I learn it.

That’s what I want to concentrate on. I won’t be staying by the computer as much so maybe I will not be posting as much. I don’t know, but I am going to attempt to kick back for a week and do some other things, including the ladies retreat at Beth Moore convention with some real people! That will be a change from my regular life here at The Hermitage.

bank of america, economy, prophecy

Too big to fail? Maybe Bank of America is not too big

Posted on July 18, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’m not posting a lot of my own stuff this week, but I wanted to point you toward Michael T. Snyder’s blog entry today:
“Too Big To Fail?: 10 Banks Own 77 Percent Of All U.S. Banking Assets “

His blog entry contains a devastating amount of information that concludes with saying the ‘too big to fail banks’ are likely to fail soon, one of which is Bank of America. And even as I finished reading the essay, the first third of which I posted below, then I read this news: “Bank of America needs 50Billion or may go bankrupt“

And of course, there was a bank run and a stocks shedding.

Here is Michael T. Snyder’s excerpt of today’s blog entry, I recommend it in its entirety.–

“Back during the financial crisis of 2008, the American people were told that the largest banks in the United States were “too big to fail” and that was why it was necessary for the federal government to step in and bail them out. The idea was that if several of our biggest banks collapsed at the same time the financial system would not be strong enough to keep things going and economic activity all across America would simply come to a standstill. Congress was told that if the “too big to fail” banks did not receive bailouts that there would be chaos in the streets and this country would plunge into another Great Depression. Since that time, however, essentially no efforts have been made to decentralize the U.S. banking system. Instead, the “too big to fail” banks just keep getting larger and larger and larger. Back in 2002, the top 10 banks controlled 55 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Today, the top 10 banks control 77 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Unfortunately, these giant banks are also colossal mountains of risk, debt and leverage. They are incredibly unstable and they could start coming apart again at any time. None of the major problems that caused the crash of 2008 have been fixed. In fact, the U.S. banking system is more centralized and more vulnerable today than it ever has been before…”
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theology

Jerusalem: IMAX tour over God’s city

Posted on July 17, 2011 by elizabethprata

Jerusalem, O Jerusalem! See a mindblowing tour from IMAX over Israel to the city at the “middle of the world” –Jerusalem. (6 min)

flash eucharist mob

Flash Eucharist: Just set up a golden calf and dance naked around it, why don’t you?

Posted on July 16, 2011 by elizabethprata

Count the violations. Go on, count. How many blasphemies can you count in 3 minutes?

OK, first let’s soberly and studiously look at the meaning of the Lord’s Supper from GotQuestions.org:

“A study of the Lord’s Supper is a soul-stirring experience because of the depth of meaning it contains. It was during the age-old celebration of the Passover on the eve of His death that Jesus instituted a significant new fellowship meal that we observe to this day. It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future.”

“The Passover was the most sacred feast of the Jewish religious year. It commemorated the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were spared because of the blood of a lamb that was sprinkled on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God’s command was that throughout the generations to come the feast would be celebrated. The story is recorded in Exodus 12.”

“During the Last Supper—a Passover celebration—Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks to God. As He broke it and gave it to His disciples, He said, “’This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-21). He concluded the feast by singing a hymn (Matthew 26:30), and they went out into the night to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus was betrayed, as predicted, by Judas. The following day He was crucified.”

“The accounts of the Lord’s Supper are found in the Gospels (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:17-25; Luke 22:7-22; and John 13:21-30). The apostle Paul wrote concerning the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Paul includes a statement not found in the Gospels: “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). We may ask what it means to partake of the bread and the cup “in an unworthy manner.” It may mean to disregard the true meaning of the bread and cup and to forget the tremendous price our Savior paid for our salvation. Or it may mean to allow the ceremony to become a dead and formal ritual or to come to the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin. In keeping with Paul’s instruction, we should examine ourselves before eating the bread and drinking the cup.”

“The Lord’s Supper/Christian Communion is a remembrance of what Christ did for us and a celebration of what we receive as a result of His sacrifice.”

So who is qualified to oversee the Lord’s Supper?
“Christians universally agree that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ and should be observed as an ordinance in the church by His followers. It was to the Corinthian church that Paul wrote instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Paul later wrote to Timothy about the qualifications for church leaders, bishops/elders and deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13). In the original language the word “deacon” comes from a verb that means “to serve,” probably in the sense of waiting on tables, but it also came to be used to signify a broad range of service in the church. Because of the connotation of table service in the word deacon and the centrality of the Lord’s Supper in the worship of the early church, there is strong indication that serving the communion elements was an important function of deacons.” [And church leaders are males].

“From this we can conclude that designated church leadership conducted the Lord’s Supper in the early church; however, there is no Scripture specifically given with “how to” instructions. Therefore, it would seem reasonable for the leadership, if there were an insufficient number of deacons present, to appoint laymen to serve.”

“More important than who serves communion is the attitude with which it is both served and received. First Corinthians 11:27 goes on to say that those who take the elements in an “unworthy manner” are guilty of sin against the body and blood of Christ. An unworthy manner can mean the taking of the elements by those who do not belong to Christ or taking them in a flippant or irreverent manner. It can also mean using the ceremony as a means to be seen before the eyes of men to be exalted by them. Verse 28 gives the criteria for both serving and participating in the Lord’s supper. We are to examine ourselves before we partake and be sure our hearts are right before the Lord. Then both the servers and the receivers can be sure of pleasing God when they participate in His communion.”

So knowing all this, with Scriptures to back it up, how many violations can you count? How patient He is to endure all this blasphemy and idolatry and perversion! How longsuffering! Soon enough, His name will at long last be recognized by one and all as the Holiest. Until then, we have righteous anger at the profaning of His spotless name and His holy ordinances … and we also have a deep love for those who know not what they do, because surely, the Lord’s anger will be unleashed on them many times over.
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israel, manasseh tribe, prophecy

"Lost" tribe of Manasseh given go-ahead for return to Israel

Posted on July 16, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’d written on June 27 about the “lost” tribe of Manasseh were captured by the Assyrians and carted off in the 8th century BC. They are now living in the far hinterlands of northeast India, near Burma, and have for 2700 years practiced the Jewish faith precisely as the original tribe did when they were captured.

For several years now, a representative has been appealing for aliyah, being allowed to return, en masse. They were making good progress until a few years ago when previous Prime Minister Ehud Barak inexplicably stopped all petitions and refused to hear them. In June of this year they had another meeting which was better received. The Rabbinical council acknowledged that this group is of the Manasseh tribe, and all that then remained was the go-ahead for the process to begin for them to return to Israel. That permission was granted this week.

Resolution to Bring Bnei Menashe Home
“The government has decided to draft a resolution to bring India’s Bnei Menashe populace home to Israel, after years of lobbying by the Shavei Israel Organization. The 2,700-year-old group, which claims its ancestry from the Lost Tribe of Menashe, has maintained many of the laws and traditions written in the Torah.The resolution, backed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, is expected to go to the Cabinet by the end of this month.”

We often think of miracles of the blind suddenly seeing, cancerous tumors disappearing, tornadoes missing one particular house though devastation is all around. But this is a miracle too. It is a fact that by the second generation all displaced cultures begin assimilating. All displaced cultures absorb the culture around them. They lose their language, or it begins to be peppered with phrases from the culture in which they live. Maintaining perfect mirror-like images of the original culture, though thousands of miles away from their homeland has never occurred in all of anthropology- except the Jewish people. This is truly a miracle, a 2,700 year old miracle! If you are interested, here is an article from Haaretz newspaper from 1999, tracing the Manasseh Tribe’s winding history to the place they live in now:

Bnei Menashe in India

“Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.” (Ezekiel 39:28)

As we read the rest of the news, particularly as it relates to Israel, please ponder the miracle that this is. His providential care is eternal. His promises from centuries ago hold in perfect truth until the day of their fulfillment. That means His promises for us, too, His church and bride, also are eternal, timeless, and perfect. He is mighty, not losing even one of His sparrows, whether they are in exile in the mountains of India for 2700 years, or are in the rolling hills of Georgia, He knows where all His children are, and He will not leave any one behind.
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end time, judgment, lightning

48 years apart: Lightning strikes kill dad, son

Posted on July 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

It might be time to review what God has to say about lightning…

A story out of NJ today:

“HAMMONTON, N.J. – July 14, 2011 (WPVI) — The story seems almost unbelievable, but the bark blown off an old sycamore tree is a reminder this tragedy is all too real. It was in a Hammonton backyard that 54-year-old Stephen Rooney was struck by lightning at a family barbeque July 3rd as he stepped away from the crowd to light a cigar. The party host, Rooney’s cousin and next door neighbor, Funzi Digerolamo, says a giant bolt shook the yard. “Hit the tree, went up the tree. It electrified all through the root system of the tree at that time so he was standing right in the electric field,” Digerolamo said. Digerolamo’s son Scott was blown right off a bench, but survived. Steve Rooney died five days later.”

“Just before he was hit, Rooney downplayed concerns about the lightning. “He had just said that lightning doesn’t strike two people in one family right before it happened, not long before it happened, he said that,” neighbor Paula Weisbecker said. Lightning is not supposed to strike twice, but in this case it did.”

“Steve Rooney’s father George was also killed by lightning 48 years ago when Steve was just a 5-year-old boy. The odds of this happening to a father and son are astronomical. Everyone is stunned that a bolt of lightning could claim them both, almost 5 decades apart.”

Why TV cooking shows have morphed into adventure programs

Posted on July 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’ve been talking about two things lately. First, are the increasing superlatives that must be attached to describe the events we’re seeing in the world. Because Jesus likened the time to birth pangs, we know that birth pangs get worse and worse, more and more painful as the big event nears. The weather is record shattering, this flood is the worst ever, this tornado outbreak is the biggest in history. Yet the superlatives keep getting attached to the events in ever bigger form as the events grow larger and records keep getting shattered. It is an upward spiral that eventually will bring everyone down.

The second thing I’ve been mentioning is ever-deepening sin. Sin’s depths know no bounds. In 1969, Charles Manson was discovered to have led a bevy of mind-controlled females and males into committing the Tate/LaBianca murders in California. Nine people died and it absolutely shocked the country. Nowadays if there aren’t at least nine killings on a television show the ratings dip. As one sin becomes passe, another worse one has to take its place. There is simply no where else to go for the rush except to top it and try and repeat the rush next time.

This deepening of sin and its combined adrenaline rush is played out in television show titles. I was noticing on the television listings about the nature of the titles of reality shows. The Food Network for example. In decades past, the shows used to feature gourmet chefs who were galloping, or were frugal. The titles were benign, inoffensive, charming. The very first cooking show on television was James Beard in 1946. (no, not Julia Child, she came along more than a decade later, in 1962). Beard’s show was simply called “I Love To Eat.”

Nowadays we have gone from:

Top Chef … to … Chopped …to… Iron Chef …to… Extreme Chef. Where once upon a time, people were content to simply sit still for half an hour and watch a competent chef teach them something new, we watch quick-edits of chefs running in the desert and dodging hailstones while extracting ingredients from a block of ice or using a Swiss Army knife as a lone cooking utensil, being are pushed to their physical and mental limit. All for a good pasta.

In 2003 “The Restaurant,” a reality show featuring two owners at odds with each other, was compelling enough to spawn more restaurant shows, each with a more adrenaline-rush name:

Hell’s Kitchen … to … Restaurant Nightmares… to …Restaurant Battle …to … Restaurant Impossible. Impossible! As each television season unveils a new show, the names have to be tougher, the people participating in them have to be rougher, the fights bigger, the injuries worse. And these are the cooking shows. In order to lure increasingly jaded audiences, they entice them with teasers promising blood, crashes, fisticuffs. Again, I’m talking about cooking shows.

In 2000, The History Channel aired a 46-minute episode titled “Ice Road Truckers” as part of the ‘Suicide Missions’ series. The IRT episode became a break out show on its own. After four years, Ice Road Truckers alone wasn’t good enough (not enough of them sank beneath the cracking ice to drown their drivers in a frozen lake?) so we got IRT: Deadliest Roads in the Himalayas with constant quick-cuts to crushed vehicles at the bottom of precipitous inclines.

The shows titles and of course their material are getting more extreme. I think if we looked at a prime time television line-up schedule from 1965 and then looked at one now we’d be shocked at the mentions of extreme, death, deadly, etc. Like this- What’s after ‘Fear Factor’? “Terror Factor”?

The only place to go is down. Television is rapidly becoming more and more shallow, nasty, and polluted. However, being a mirror for our culture, it is only reflective of the people who watch it and our descent into sin is also rapid, polluted, and nasty. It is a progression James 1:15 aptly describes: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The lust he describes is not just a sexual lust, it is a coveteousness, desire, sensuality that seeks to fill the emptiness inside. That emptiness is a place just waiting for Jesus, His light, His holiness, His righteousness. But if they do not accept Jesus, they continually seek to fill it with ever deepening poisons and perversions.

Unbelievers say that they are free. They are not, they are slaves to their lusts. The television schedule shows us that, plainly. But Jesus is the INSTANT answer to the need for that emptiness to be filled. He is waiting to fill it. You will be a participant in His plan to regenerate you from the inside out. He replaces lusts and poison and depravity with light and holiness and righteousness. You feel fresher. You no longer seek and seek and seek the next high, because you have finally found the ultimate High: Jesus.
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bible jesus, end times, pelosi compares obama to job

Pelosi says that Job is nuthin’ compared to Obama

Posted on July 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

And the biblical allusions just keep on coming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today in referring to the debt limit talks, that Obama has more patience that Job. Really, WAY more. Her transcribed comments:

“I want to commend the president – I have never seen – Job is no place compared to this president in terms of patience,” said Pelosi at a press briefing on Thursday. “He [Job] doesn’t even begin because this president has demonstrated a level of patience, not only during the meetings but as respect, respectful of the suggestions that are made by all parties at the meeting, in his preparation for the meeting, and his coming back to address concerns that are expressed by others.”

Article here, at CNS, and video below

So Job doesn’t even begin to compare to Barack Obama. Wow. Just wow. Well, maybe she’s right. Let’s check

Obama sat through four meetings, feeling attacked by Republicans. Job was attacked by satan, the most evil being in heaven or earth.

Obama lost time on the golf links, and planning his birthday bash.
Job lost all his herds and all his children in one day.

Obama goes home to a loving and supportive wife.
Job went home to a wife that urged him to “curse God and die.”

Obama has all the possessions he wants or needs.
Job lost everything he had.

Obama worries about graying hair.
Job worried about finding enough potsherds to scratch the pus-filled boils on every inch of his body.

Obama has friends who say he is the greatest man alive.
Job’s friends told him he was a scummy sinner that deserved what he got, including dead children.

I could go on but you get the idea. Let’s cut to the chase. Here’s the truth. Obama has petulance. Job had patience. Obama has the spirit of antichrist. Job has eternal glory in the bosom of God. I guess Pelosi is right. Obama and Job do not compare.
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