Posted in theology

Teen girl speaking at a conference?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Recently I was asked a great question by a reader. I love that, because my aim and goal in my Christian life is to help women become aware of discernment issues and to live a holy life according to the Bible. When I receive a good question it encourages me that women are striving to meet the standards set before us in honoring Jesus. Despite all the ‘bad news’ out there, many unknown women are diligently but anonymously working on their sanctification to the glory of God.

No matter how ‘dark’ things seem, there are always God’s people in every corner of the world learning, fellowshipping, growing, and praying.

Joni Eareckson Tada sharing her testimony at The Strange Fire Conference held at Grace Community Church

The question was:

“I wanted to get your thoughts on whether a teen girl (I believe she was 18 or 19 at the time) speaking during a break out session at a conference on family discipleship. The topic was the “heart of a teen”. I loved everything this young lady shared and her experience and insight was all very helpful. Although there were both men and women present and she was speaking from a teen perspective to encourage parents I was questioning whether it was biblical for her to be speaking to the men as well.”

The conference was the ‘D6 Conference’. The ministry focuses on connecting church and family for personal discipleship based on Deuteronomy 6:4-7. It produces curricula and resources to aid families in their own discipleship, “The original small group” as they say.

The Bible says, But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12).

So the conference atmosphere is kind of churchy (since D6 is a ministry) but the conference isn’t held at a church or put on by a church. The girl is not exegeting scripture, but sharing her expertise with a like-minded audience (in this case, Christians interested in family discipling). It’s like a testimony.

Since the prohibition in scripture is against women speaking during church to a congregation (and by extension in parachurch ministries/conferences) teaching men or usurping their authority by exegeting scripture, I think the teen’s talk is fine. Sharing expertise in an area of life to a co-ed group of people is being IN the world but not of the world.

See photo above of Tada speaking her testimony at the Strange Fire conference.

For example, The Master’s University (associated with Grace Community Church/John MacArthur/The Master’s Seminary) hosts a symposium every year called Math3ma, it’s science and math to the praise of God. Attached is a photo of molecular and cellular biologist Tara Sander Lee at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, sharing her firsthand knowledge of studying the wonders of human genetics and reproduction as designed by God.

Taking the pertinent verses together, we ask is she speaking in church or silent? Is she teaching men or learning? Is she usurping or submitting?

Tara Sandler Lee, Ph.D speaking about DNA at Math3ma

As in all the churches of the saints, the women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:33b-35).

It’s a slippery slope, though. The 1 Timothy verse is clear about in church with the congregation. It’s also clear to me about an extension of the local church body learning at small group in a home or Sunday School. With parachurches and women speaking of personal thoughts during a conference or non-church service setting, it’s fairly clear that sharing thoughts or testimonies to an audience is fine.

A woman sharing knowledge, testimony, or expertise when not under ecclesiastical authority is fine. Or at church but not during the Sunday services, say, during a Saturday conference where the church becomes a venue. We are to be silent in the churches, but not in the world!

Nevertheless, the line is thin. It is easy to get sucked in slowly and incrementally. Optics are important. A woman or teen standing in the place where scripture is exegeted during church services, even if she’s just giving announcements, is part of that slippery slope. Photos of the moment afterwards simply show a woman speaking at the pulpit, later viewers of that photo don’t explain her content was secular, not biblical.

When “speaking” to audiences, careful approaches are necessary. In an incremental creep over time, a woman doesn’t wind up teaching men, to the disapproval of God!

Further Resources

Ligonier: Women speaking IN church DURING service

Posted in history, theology

Little Known Bible Characters #6: King Chedorlaomer

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Little Known Bible Characters #5: Harbonah the Eunuch
Little Known Bible Characters #4: Eutychus
Little Known Bible Characters #3: Trophimus
Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’
Little Known Bible Characters #1: Iddo

Jut as it didn’t take long after the Fall for the first murder, (Genesis 4, Cain killed Abel), it also didn’t take long for the first war to erupt, Battle of the Valley of Siddim. (Genesis 14).

In those days Kings ruled cities and near environs. There was what was known as the Five Cities of the Plain; Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, plus tiny Zoar. (Genesis 13:10-13). They are also known as the Cities of the Valley. It used to be a fertile and lush area, that was the reason Lot chose it when Abraham suggested they split their flocks due to crowding. Now it’s an area of wasteland, salt, and not much else. Most people believe the Plains referred to is the area south of the Dead Sea (Salt Sea).

The kings of the cities of Shinar had warred with the kings of the Plains and won. (Victors were Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim.)

The triumphant kings exacted tribute from the vanquished, and expected it regularly. Chedorlaomer is mentioned as the King receiving the tribute, perhaps he was the lead king among the five who were allies. His Elamite kingdom extended in what is today modern day Iran along the Persian Gulf. It is believed that the Elamite nation began in the area of modern day Iran sometime around 2700 BC and continued through 640 BC. From the Table of Nations of Noah blessing his sons Ham, Japheth and Shem, that the Elamites were perhaps descendants of Shem.

Except, 13 years later, the defeated kings, having grown rebellious with the state of things, decided to stop paying the tribute to Chedorlaomer and his gang. Of course this brought on a war. Chedorlaomer called upon his allies to let them know, and hostilities were reactivated.

Well, the Kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and tiny Zoar, lost soundly. Again. Chedorlaomer ransacked the Cities of the Plain and carried off as much booty as they could, including Abraham’s nephew Lot and all Lot’s people and all Lot’s goods. (Genesis 14:12).

We know from the subsequent chapters that Abraham pursued Lot’s kidnappers for hundreds of miles. With 300 men Abraham eventually got Lot back and all his people and all his goods, too. Abraham praised the Lord.

Who was Chedorlaomer, though? Not much else is known of him via the Bible. He held sway as a successful King over a large area, so he must have been powerful. He is also noted in Genesis 14:5 to have warred against Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites and conquered them, too.

His name is known to be a compound word meaning worshiper- ‘Chedor’ and ‘la’omer,’ (“lagamaru”), the name of an Elamite deity, noted by Assurbanipal. In 1896 TG Pinches was reviewing some of the clay tablets held by the British Museum (they had been severely delayed in cataloging them, over 21,000 tablets came in from one site alone) and he thought he read Chedorlaomer’s name on one of the tablets, and there was general excitement in the biblical archaeology community for some years, but it was later disproven. To my knowledge, there are no secular sources in archaeology that mention Lot’s kidnapper king.

Now, Abraham was savvy in war and knowledgeable, but the Bible notes that he defeated mighty Chedorlaomer, powerful King of Elam and victor over many tribes, with only 318 men. As we know, it is really the LORD’S victory. The LORD does this to indicate HIS power and might, over all humans, including mighty kings, if it be His will. Melchizedek King of Salem said as much in Genesis 14:19-20,

Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!

Blessed be the Lord, King of Kings, King over all, even mighty Chedorlaomer, who, in the end, worshiped wrongly and paid the penalty for it.

crown

All those who believe in King Jesus, King of all, will have eternal life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10).

Other entries in the series:

Little Known Bible Characters #8: Tryphena and Tryphosa
Little Known Bible Characters #7: Salome
Little Known Bible Characters #6: King Chedorlaomer
Little Known Bible Characters #5: Harbonah the Eunuch
Little Known Bible Characters #4: Eutychus
Little Known Bible Characters #3: Trophimus
Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’
Little Known Bible Characters #1: Iddo

Posted in theology

Easily offended, nursing wounds, and reveling in victimhood

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I sometimes highlight examples of women in the Bible who were a positive influence in the faith. I mention a few of them below. Alternately, I highlight less than positive examples of some women either in the Bible or walking around today, as an example of what not to do or to be like.

There are some “Bible teachers” and female “leaders” in today’s times who I am of the opinion are actually harming the faith and throwing mud on the name of Jesus. I scan their output in every once in a while and read some stuff they’ve put out there lately, albeit hands over my eyes peeking through horror movie fashion.

I did that yesterday morning with Aimee Byrd. Formerly co-host along with Todd Pruitt and Carl Trueman of the Mortification of Spin podcast, author, blogger, sometimes Sunday guest preacher, Aimee has had a long public history in the faith. To the negative.

A couple of years ago, Aimee loudly left her long-term denomination, Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Aimee is actually an ex-OPC mirror to ex-Southern Baptist Beth Moore, who also left her denomination loudly and badly. Both ladies left for what I personally see as the same reasons: refusal to submit to biblical gender roles.

Yesterday I read Aimee’s new essay “Messages of Shame”, where she publicly whined about decades-old comments she’d received, which she “put in the tomb with Jesus.” Her essay really only displayed the accuracy of those comments, some of which included her failure to listen, her pushiness, her unapproachability, and her resistance to correction.

I’m not great at accepting criticism or rebukes myself, so I understand the temptation to hold on to anger. But for her to be public with long-held resentment against people whose comments were probably off-hand or artless, failing to give grace or think the best of folks, shows an un-loving stance. It’s even worse when someone is looked upon as a leader or an influencer.

Her essay had no mention of Matthew 5:11, Proverbs 10:12, 1 Peter 4:8…

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” (Matthew 5:11)

Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all transgressions. (Proverbs 10:12)

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8).

And this too:

For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13).

Writing 20 years later of men who caused her “wounds” or whose comments were “violent” (allegedly, as she interprets it) for example, writing of a man who giggled at her, is as petty as Beth Moore complaining that no one acknowledged her in an elevator.

Believing women who actually possess the Holy Spirit in us, are strong. Look at Abigail in a brutal marriage. Jesus’ mother Mary seeing her Son die so excruciatingly. Esther. These are the women to model one’s self after. Not these paper kittens like Moore and Byrd.

In her essay, Byrd ‘threw’ these “messages of shame” into the tomb of Jesus. Using the tomb of Jesus as her personal trash can to throw what she interpreted as “sins” of others against her, not even her own sins, (20 year old comments, giggles, compliments) is log-in-eye arrogant.

Unfounded attacks are hard to take. So are gossip, slander, and insults. Well-founded rebukes are even harder, because they would our pride even more if they are true.

By God’s providence my devotional this morning touched on this very subject. Favell Lee Mortimer said in his Devotional Commentary on the Gospels:

“It is in this spirit that irreligious people judge those whom they call “evangelicals and saints.” They accuse them of hypocrisy, and of pride; they watch their conduct with an eagle’s eye, and triumph over their infirmities with a demon’s joy. Such people have a beam in their own eye. This beam prevents them from seeing their own sins. We may be assured, that if we do not see ourselves to be very great and miserable sinners, there is a beam of unbelief in our eyes which prevents our seeing it. While we cannot see our own sins, we cannot see the sins of others aright. What we call sins in them, perhaps are not sins. We do not know how to reprove until we have discovered what sinners we ourselves are. But when God, by his converting grace, takes the beam out of our eyes, then we may help our brother to overcome his sins. Then we shall warn him in a spirit of humility and love, feeling our own unworthiness, and anxious for his good.”

Ladies, don’t be easily offended. Don’t nurse victimhood. Forgive and move on. We are called to do that. I know that some comments hurt. I know that criticism or rebukes are hard to take. But the primary reason we do, and with grace, is because Jesus took them ALL. No one in history was more reviled, insulted, rebuked, spat upon, ‘wounded’ with REAL violence than the sinless, perfect, beautiful, truthful Jesus. You need to remember that, I need to remember that. When we receive remarks we interpret as disdainful or insulting, our flesh might want to allow to build resentment around.

Yet love takes many forms:

Better is open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
Proverbs 27:5-6

Further reading

The End Time essay: Apostasy: We say goodbye to Aimee Byrd

RC Sproul recounts a time when malicious talk sent him into despondency. How Should Christians Respond to Attacks and Insults?

Sometimes when we THINK we have been attacked for doing good, when the opposite is really true. Tom Ascol for Ligonier: What Is Christian Persecution?

Posted in theology

Satan’s relentlessness

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’d mentioned the famous quote from John Calvin as I concluded a recent series on idols and idolatry, that our hearts are idol factories. Our own flesh betrays us constantly. But add to that failure, satan’s pressure of constant temptation. (Idolatry series below)

Is “Trad wife/life” an idol?
What IS idolatry?
How to make an idol: Example, Nehushtan
Idolatry: Did you know of these two false gods?
Idolatry finale, roundup & resources

One must always be vigilant. I’d read a startling thought in Spurstowe’s book The Wiles of Satan. One of satan’s strategies is to tempt us. We know that. But an even wilier strategy is to “cease to tempt, or to feign flight.” Have you ever thought of that? It’s to provoke our pride. We SEEM to have won the battle. We think, ‘Oh great, I’ve got this temptation licked! I got the victory of that sin!’ But no. Just as we release our guard, satan comes back!

We see this satanic relentlessness in the Bible.

Example #1: The Demon Possessed slave girl. Acts 16:16-18a,

It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave woman who had a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” Now she continued doing this for many days.

Note that she did this “for many days”. Paul was greatly annoyed, the verse says. In the original Greek, the word greatly annoyed meant “exhausting, depleting grief which results in “piercing fatigue.” “

Satan relentlessly troubles us till we become so exhausted we either give in to the temptation or we destroy our witness with anger or some other un-Christian behavior. Oh, if we all had the same power Paul had to simply banish the demon away! But we don’t.

Example #2: Satan came to Jesus three times in the wilderness. Luke 4:1-13. Note that satan tempted Jesus in the first place! Satan’s arrogance is such that he thought he could tempt the Sinless One to sin! If satan opposed Jesus in this way, then for certain he and his minions will oppose you and me.

Of course satan couldn’t budge our Messiah, but note how he departed. Not in defeat, but in promise of continuing the battle:

13And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Satan is always prowling. (1 Peter 5:8). He roams to and fro upon the earth, Job 1:8 says. Satan has a God-given access to everything on the earth, and that includes people (wherever God said satan could go or as far as he could go). He tried to get at Job continually, but could not until God allowed satan to get increasing access to him. Job was probably the most perfect man on earth ever (not sinless, but morally upright). And that is why satan wanted him. God put a hedge of protection around Job…until He didn’t. No one on this here earth can expect continual protection from satan.

Our soul is safe if we are truly converted, but our heart can be tempted. When we fall into sin, especially a public sin, then satan, his minions, and the world rejoices, saying “There goes another hypocrite!”

1 Timothy 3:7 speaks of the importance of remaining above reproach for leaders. The reason being a leader’s reputation must glorify God. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.

The same is true for us women even though we are not leaders. We must maintain a good reputation. 1 Timothy 5:10, says we should be having a reputation for good works. This is because our reputation is not our own, but of Jesus in us.

Jesus protected Himself through prayer and fasting. One of satan’s tactics is to SEEM to let up on you but he is just biding his time to come at you again. Our own flesh even more so. Don’t let up! I do let up occasionally, to my own shame. But just because we are not being tempted at present, it is likely that the devil’s minion is simply releasing us to our own pride. He always waits for a more opportune time. Do not get snared!

Posted in theology

He is Risen!

Posted on by elizabethprata

He is Risen indeed!

easter verse

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24:2-3)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all. (Acts 4:33 )

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

Though Jesus is enthroned, becrowned, reigning in love and wrath, seated next to the Father, today is a day we remember what He did. Today is the day we know death is dead, but the Lord lives.

Happy Resurrection Sunday everyone.

Love,
Elizabeth Prata

Posted in theology

Prata Potpourri: LithoKids, Becoming a Widower, Guide to Gaming; more

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Spring is in the air…and so is pollen. Isn’t it amazing how our Lord uses the insects, birds, and even the air to redistribute His seedlings and cause another spring to appear before our very eyes?

“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

So here’s the roundup of links:

Erin Coates, our precious sister from Canada, has partnered with LithosKids regarding the Lithos Kids new book, the Parables of Jesus. This is a book aimed at 4-12 year olds, and “aims to lead families deeper into the heart of Jesus’ teaching. Covering well-known parables like the Good Samaritan and lesser-known tales like The Dishonest Manager, these short stories provide an engaging way for children to learn surprising truths about Jesus and his coming kingdom.”

See more at LithosKids Canada
LithosKids US

Dallas Holm shares his heart on the recent passing of his dear wife. Good article.

Next Time it Will Be Forever

I, along with many others, are fascinated with the Titanic. I am a mariner at heart having lived next to and even on the sea for most of my life. I messed around in boats since I was a tot. The Titanic tragedy has so many aspects and facets, especially if you are a Christian. Here is missionary A.W. Workman with thoughts on The Safest Boat of its Time, lifeboats, and arrogant thinking.

I teach in an elementary school, working mainly with kindergarten to 3rd grade. These are children aged 5 to 9 or 10. Most of them enjoy video games. The boys certainly do. Seven year olds who play Fortnite all evening and weekends… survival games with shooting, zombies, and threats of constant apocalypse is not good for the mind or the soul. Video gams capture not only the young adults but increasingly ensnare the youngest children.

Here is Reagan Rose with a short book in the Track Culture series called

Track: Gaming: A Student’s Guide to Gaming by Reagan Rose. The book offers a Biblical view of gaming and is aimed at students and young adults. The synopsis says,

Gaming is multi–billion–dollar industry, which has been growing massively in the last few years. It seems that everyone is gaming in one way or another. You might not think that the Bible has anything to say about gaming, but Reagan Rose has written this helpful book on what our relationship with gaming should look like.

I watched Netflix’s movie Damsel with the actress Millie Bobby Brown (star of Enola Holmes). I liked it. It was clean, no bad language or wokeness. Sorta feminist in that it was women who drove the movie, including Robin Wright as the evil Queen (The Princess Bride) and the dragon, who was female (if you know what female is. I’m not sure. I’m not a biologist). King Roderick has near zero lines (I had to look up the cast just to learn his character name) and the Prince Henry tried to be nice, but he did after all, throw his bride Elodie into the Dragon’s pit.

 Rough day for Elodie- “But I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it. I’m swamped.” oops wrong movie

One of the pivotal lines on the movie is Brown as Elodie saying “I’m done with people telling me what to do”. Granted, her father had told her to marry the Prince who turned out to use her for a sacrifice, a deal her father knowingly made. But still… Her father, the Prince and the King were all conniving weaklings. In the end, Elodie, her good step-mother and Elodie’s sister Floria decide to return to their own kingdom and run it themselves. What queen needs progeny, anyway.

It was a good movie nonetheless, rollicking caper in fairy tale form. I’m a monster fan a geek actually, and the dragon was stupendous, from CGI to voice acting. Here is The World’s review of the film: Damsel review.

From Apartment Therapy, this couple tore out a wall and discovered the original staircase! Gorgeous, with before and after photos. The Ingenious Staircase DIY That Made an Entire 1920s Home Feel Larger

“I’ll be staying at The Carlyle”. An opulent article about an opulent hotel. A gal can dream, can’t she?

The Carlyle hotel review: The New York hotel that’s covered in stardust
Posted in good friday, theology

Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday: The World’s Three Most Important Days

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Can you imagine the pit of despair the Disciples felt on Good Friday? To them it was a hellish and confusing Friday. They were confused, they scattered, Peter even denied Jesus.

Jesus’ separation from the Father while on the cross (Matthew 27:46) is the loneliest and most poignant moment any person ever felt in the history of the universe, bar none.

But the disciples’ sudden and unexpected separation on Friday from their spiritual Father they’d been following so hopefully for three years came upon them cruelly and brutally, throwing them all into states of panic, despair, and spiritual depression. Even though Jesus had told them ahead of time, and even though they had studied the scriptures, they didn’t understand. To them, it wasn’t Good Friday. It was just bad Friday and the seeming end of the long trail of hopes and highs they’d been experiencing for three years with Jesus in discipleship to Him. They did not know as we do, Friday’s here, but Sunday’s coming!

We worship Jesus every day. We worship and praise Jesus collectively in services on Sunday. We exalt Him once a year on Resurrection Sunday. We know Him as Resurrected King triumphant over sin and death!

His ultimate moment will be His return, when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10, Isaiah 45:23).

“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.” (Zechariah 14:9)

Everyone will know that Jesus is MESSIAH! Their spouse, their work, their own self cannot and never will save a person from hell’s punishment. They will finally know the Resurrected Jesus is the only name. He is all names. He is the beginning and the end!

And it started with the cross on Friday.

Posted in easter, gethsemane, resurrection

Sacrifice, agony, ultimate love: Good Friday tomorrow

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

Sunday’s a-coming!

I can’t imagine how it felt for our precious Savior or for our Loving God, after eons of intra-Trinitarian delight, of giving and submitting, loving, planning, and creating, sweetly delighting in each other’s presence, then for Jesus to be apart from God or for how it felt for God to be separated from His Son. It is painful to even think about…that moment in the Garden when Jesus was praying to be released from the agony of the cup, or the moment on the cross when He felt God’s presence depart from Him (Luke 22:42) … Oh! Oh! Oh!

How can the death of one man be the best thing for the whole world? But Jesus was not only man, he is God! He poured His infiniteness onto flesh to love, teach, preach, and give the Gospel because he IS the gospel. he is THE good news for all mankind.

But Sunday’s comin’!!

S.M. Lockridge’s sermon combines with footage from The Passion Of The Christ for this powerful video.

Posted in Uncategorized

Hollow bunnies and solid food

Posted on by elizabethprata
bunny
Wikimedia Commons

By Elizabeth Prata

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be … 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy 3: 1-2,5).

As a kid on Easter morning in a secular household, it was all about the basket. The eggs, the chocolate, and toys. Even the fake green grass. Our baskets were always generously filled, and I especially loved the centerpiece of a large chocolate bunny on the mound of grass.

As a kid, if you see a 5 inch chocolate bunny you get very excited. You don’t think about how much to eat or not eat, you don’t think about the appropriate time of the day to eat it. You just rip the cellophane and chomp.

I remember being disappointed that the bunny was hollow. As a kid, I could not tell the difference between a solid bunny and a hollow one, they looked the same to my immature eyes. But when I bit into the ear it seemed to be a total gyp when it crumbled to bits because it had no interior support. The bunny had only a form of solidity.

We are told over and over in the Bible that the last days would be filled with deception, false pastors and false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, antichrists, false apostles, false doctrine … and are repeatedly warned not to fall for it.

How can we tell if a bunny is solid chocolate or hollow? Test by eating it, you say? Satan is poison, his deceptions are poison. Who wants to eat poison? Ingesting falsity for too long will inevitably pollute. As mature Christians, we must be able to discern and detect hollow Christianity and false teachers who only have an appearance of Godliness early on, before it permeates the entire congregation, or our own heart.

Are you a child in Christ, seemingly mature but having fallen out of the habit of testing the scriptures for yourselves? Have you lost the ability to test the spirits? Are you, yourself hollow? Professing a form of godliness but denying its power? Have you departed from the spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading the word, giving, fellowship, and gathering with saints for worship? Abandoning these will hollow youout.

bunny2
Free to Use

Ephesians 4:14 tells us not to be babes. “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

Pray for experience, wisdom, and discernment through a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Let us be mature, our faith be solid. We should not have only a veneer of godliness but be solid to the core, strong, with the interior support of the Holy Spirit. A counterfeit Christianity will reveal the person to be a child, rushing toward something that looks oh so good to eat but biting into the hollowness to be disappointed, but perhaps already hooked by its tastiness. Do not be a baby in discernment! Do not be hollow in faith!

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14).

The word of God is a sure way to stay close to Jesus and grow in faith to mature, solid Christians, who in turn extend a hand to new babes in Christ and help them along. And so it goes.

Posted in theology

Ship hits Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, entire bridge collapses into the water

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I woke this morning to horrifying news. I’ll relate the news then below I’ll discuss a personal connection to the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

A container ship flying under flag of Singapore, the “Dali,” apparently lost power twice briefly just before passing under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, bouncing it off course for safe navigation under the bridge and causing a collision with a pier. This occurred at about 1:30 AM. The bridge immediately collapsed within seconds, taking whatever traffic was upon it into the Patapsco River, along with the iron trusses, concrete, and a construction crew working on the bridge.

Reportedly, the an officer on board the Dali called a mayday prior to the collision, alerting bridge workers to the danger. Thank the Lord he did, because workers were able to halt traffic from that moment on.

“Police radio traffic recorded at 1:27 a.m. captured responders rushing to evacuate and hold traffic on the bridge after an officer announced that a ship had lost control of its steering, according to records from Broadcastify, an open-source audio streaming service“, reports Washington Post. Sadly, not ALL traffic was cleared because reportedly 7 vehicles went into the water and also the construction crew who were on a meal break.

Reuters aerial view of Francis Scott Key Bridge. It is outermost bridge going up the Patapsco River headed to busy Port of Baltimore. The entire port is now cut off.
Road map showing position of bridge. The entire river to this busy port will be clogged for months as workers rescue, then clear it. Road traffic that used Rt 695 is affected also. The bridge is part of the beltway road system around the city.

NBC News reported,

“The bridge is more than 8,500 feet, or 1.2 miles, long in total. Its main section spans 1,200 feet and was one of the longest continuous truss bridges in the world upon its completion, according to the National Steel Bridge Alliance.”

“About 31,000 vehicles a day use the bridge, which equals 11.3 million vehicles per year, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.”

“The river and the Port of Baltimore are both key to the shipping industry on the East Coast, generating more than $3.3 billion a year and directly employing more than 15,000 people.”

The 1,200 feet (366 m) span bridge was the third longest span of any continuous truss in the world.

These were reactions on Twitter that I thought were of interest,

Justin Z, @JayZMD
Going to be a nightmare for a while. Daily Commutes, interstate Travel to and From NY/ Philly, Shipping to and From the Port of Baltimore, and Amazon has a huge facility right there.

David Hobby @strobist The port of Baltimore has also just been severed. Huge downstream economic impacts for the city.

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Bridge is destroyed utterly.

I’ve sailed under that bridge and I’ve driven over it. The Patapsco River is an important river on the eastern seaboard leading to one of the busiest ports. It receives and sends a lot of container ships but what Port of Baltimore is known for is one of the largest if not THE largest roll-on roll-off ports. That’s items shipped that can roll on and off, like cars, farm machinery, anything that can roll. After the search and rescue turns to recovery and cleanup, which will take months, the port will be closed to all marine traffic. This will cause a disruption in many of our supply chains. Forbes wrote that the port closure will be:

“[P]otentially causing major economic interruption, as the bridge crossed over one of the largest ports in the U.S.—and the single largest port for cars. Besides the impact on car imports, 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo moved through the Port of Baltimore in 2023, worth more than $80 billion, the state said.“

“Outside of the maritime problems, the lack of the bridge will also affect the movement of goods and leave delivery drivers on the East Coast with fewer routes. A number of major companies also have distribution warehouses in an industrial park on the north end of the bridge, including Amazon, BMW, Home Depot, FedEx and Under Armour, Bloomberg reported.”

When I lived on our sailboat cruising up and down the Eastern Seaboard, we passed under the Key Bridge. It is named for Francis Scott Key, who witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” which when put to music became the Star Spangled Banner we know today. The Coast Guard sets a red, white, and blue striped buoy at the spot where Key had witnessed the British attack, in commemoration.

We sailed under the bridge, and up to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. We anchored there for a few days and saw the sights. Then we upped anchor and sailed back down the Patapsco. When we traveled across country in our VW camper, we drove across the bridge. It’s a nice looking bridge, and serves a highly important function- We used it to avoid the traffic around the city of Baltimore. It’s part of Rt 695, a beltway around the congested city.

As much as I like bridges and admire their architecture, I am not a fan of driving on bridges. I’ve always been scared of traveling over them. The Jamestown Bridge in RI was built in 1939 and opened in 1940. Our family used to go for “Sunday Drives” and we’d head over to Newport to enjoy looking at the Mansions from the Gilded Age. To get there you had to drive across the Jamestown bridge. There were metal grates on top that clacked loudly as you went over them. I used to worry about falling through and plunging to Narragansett Bay many feet below.

I’ve walked over the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Tower Bridge and London Bridge in London the Forth of Forth in Scotland, Chesapeake Bay bridge, 7-mile bridge in Florida, Sunshine Skyway, Golden Gate, sailed under AND traveled over the Brooklyn Bridge (as well as the other NY bridges). Some were white-knuckle traversals, others like Ponte Vecchio and 7-mile which are barely above the water were less anxiety inducing. I have a horrible fear of drowning in a car, unable to get out from some body of water the car plunged into.

I wonder if the people traveling over the Key Bridge had a fear of bridges or if they commuted that way and had become used to it. Either way, the Lord speaks truth. We all have a number of days to live. I cannot imagine the horror of driving over the bridge and suddenly the bottom drops out from under you. The drivers surely didn’t know what was happening exactly, except that death was coming for them.

We all must be ready to meet Jesus at any moment. Death is a specter we all face, the end of our fleshly existence can come at any moment. For 6 of the construction workers eating a meal in the shadow of the night lights from the port, suddenly they were tumbling down 185 feet to the 47 degree water below, to arrive at their final destination moments later. Which destination will it be for you when the end comes? You might not know it’s coming, as the poor unfortunate folks at 1:30 am last night didn’t. Our bodies die but life continues in heaven or in hell.

Repent of your sins to Jesus, who lived a sinless life, died on the cross absorbing the wrath for your sins, was buried, rose again, and ascended to heaven. If you repent He will forgive you and you will escape your due and just punishment because Jesus already took it. Be cleansed, be prayerful and repentant. If you are already saved, be grateful for salvation and His assurance as one of His children that on the day of your death you will be safe forevermore in heaven, alive and joyful.