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About ‘The End Time’ blog ministry

Posted on March 26, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

What do you do? Why do you do it? Why ‘the end time’?

Origins

For newcomers to this blog ministry, here is a bit about me. I’m just a layperson whom God apparently gave the ability to write. When I was saved late in life (around age 42), I became eager to read the Bible. I’ve always processed complex thoughts by writing, so it seemed natural that I’d write to try and understand the Bible. Blogs were emerging as a platform then, so this made it easy for me to write and self-publish my thoughts, and if a wider audience clicked in, good.

After about 18 months post-salvation I began digging into the Bible in earnest. I had already started a personal blog called The Quiet Life. As my religious interest grew, I split the topics by creating this blog, The End Time, to be my religious writings, and The Quiet Life continue to be my personal blog.

Why ‘The End Time’?

I chose ‘the end time’ as the title because we are IN the time of the end. The end time is the time between Jesus’ ascension and His return. I want us all to be eager to be about our Father’s business, and remember that time is short. He could return any time, or our number of days will be called and we’re translated to heaven. Either way, life is short so let’s be like Paul and pour ourselves out for His name and His glory.

I have taken some classes here and there to deepen my understanding of His word. And to ensure that I am correctly dividing His word. I don’t hold a theology degree or anything, but I have a responsibility to make sure I do not lead anyone astray. So I do my diligence and continue to learn.

Goals with this blog

My goal here is to encourage, to help women discern, and to pass along credible ministry links for women’s further learning if they so chose to click. As to this last one, there is so much false teaching out there, I desire to be a trustworthy platform where women can trust and safely click through on the links I present

Discernment

When I was first saved I resisted going to church (being a loner and not understanding the ‘one anothers’) so I followed Joel Osteen on TV and incorrectly believed I was doing well. After some months, when I began looking into the Bible in earnest and compared Osteen’s speeches to God’s word, I saw that Osteen was false.

I was sad and angry that I had wasted that time of following a false teacher. However, it soon became apparent that one of the spiritual gifts the Spirit dispensed to me was discernment, so I decided to write about discernment topics in hopes that women who follow me would not be deceived, or at least, awaken to the possibility they may be following a false teacher.

Encouragement

I also write encouragement pieces. Much of what women do in this world is hard- if she works outside the home, the world is pressing against her, if she works at home with children, the world mocks her. Submitting to a husband in marriage is also hard work, and against our fleshly nature. So I try to encourage women by extolling the glories of Christ. There is no better encouragement then looking unto Jesus!

Prophecy

Finally, I love prophecy. In my earliest days I was thrilled with prophecy because it answered all the questions I’d had as an unsaved adult who was perplexed with the world and human behavior. Why are people so bad? Why does the world hate Israel? Why is there a heaven (it seemed obvious there was since all cultures spoke of one) but if so, who goes there? And if everyone goes there, what makes it different from here? Who created the world? (Obvious to me it didn’t emerge from a Big Bang, and evolution seemed unwieldy).

I was dwelling in the nether world of Romans 1:19-20 where my understanding was that there IS a Creator, but my fleshly mind rejected anything about Jesus. I also knew deep down I was a sinner but up top of my mind I suppressed that and thought I was a fairly good person. The dissonance was highly uncomfortable.

Prophecy answered my questions. NOW I know who created the world, and why. NOW I know why the world hates Israel. NOW I know why my conscience was bothered by my sinfulness. I was so relieved in learning prophecy in the earliest days of the blog when I was using Blogspot I did some newspaper eisegesis but the Spirit grew me out of that.

Prophecy is THE answer to all the questions pagans have, and we believers hold that key. This is truly amazing. I love the Lord’s prophetic work, it is one way I worship His sovereignty. Who else knows the end from the beginning? Who else created the end from the beginning? And that He deigns to share it with puny humans is amazing.

I came at the Bible in a way that seems different from many, I did not start with the Gospels. I began reading the Old Testament; Genesis, then ALL the Prophets, then Revelation. It took me about 3 years to finish them, and by the end of that I had what I believe is a beginning of an understanding of past-fulfilled end time prophecy.

Eschatological Views

Based on studying the Bible alone, I believe the Bible clearly shows that there will be a rapture, that believers will be caught up in the air to be with Jesus in heaven. I believe that the rapture precedes the Tribulation, during which God will punish Israel and the world for 7 years. I believe during that time the antichrist will rise and persecute Jews and Christians. I believe the Battle of Armageddon will occur but the LORD will return as War-King and slay all his enemies. I believe He will then establish a kingdom of 1000 years of peace since the devil and his minions are locked up…until the end of 1000 years when satan is let out. After one final quick battle, the Lord will melt the earth and make a new heavens and a new earth, He will judge all humans since the beginning at the Great White Throne Judgment, and believers will begin eternity.

Some call this eschatological view “Dispensationalism”. I reject that. It’s simply biblical. I did not arrive at this belief by stumbling on John Darby. I did not arrive at this by listening to John MacArthur. In fact, I was listening to Adrian Rogers during these years, and also a Oneness Pentecostal post-millennial pastor called Irvin Baxter. However as I grew in understanding, Baxter’s beliefs were increasingly confusing and I never understood his version of the end of time. I finally rejected it.

After concluding my studies of the Old Testament, then Revelation, I settled on what seemed clear to me: the order of events I described above. THEN I began in the New Testament.

Some of my favorite preachers are John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Mike Riccardi, Martyn Lloyd Jones, RC Sproul, Paul Washer. Authors I enjoy are John Bunyan & other Puritans, Tony Reinke, Sinclair Ferguson, and Nate Pickowicz. Ministries I enjoy are Just Thinking Podcast, Wretched Radio, Justin Peters Ministries, G3 Ministries, American Gospel TV.

I am wary and careful about women’s ministries because even if they start out great, often, too often, they go sideways with wrong doctrine. But some good ones are Susan Heck, Martha Peace, Open Hearts in a Closed World, A Word Fitly Spoken, Thankful Homemaker. I also enjoy Megan Basham and Allie Beth Stuckey on Twitter.

Trivia

I lived on a sailboat and cruised the Eastern seaboard for two years, then lived in a VW camper van for 3 months and traveled the US Southern border.

I also traveled much in South America and Europe, Canada too. Italy is my favorite.

I hate snow.

I love birds.

I support myself as an educator: I’ve been a classroom teacher, substitute, and now a paraprofessional.

I’m a native New Englander living in the American south. I love both regions for their uniqueness.

So that’s it. My goals, my stances and my hopes for women. Be encouraged in Jesus love and care, be hopeful that the end of all things will come, and sin will be no more!

theology

Why aren’t things beautiful anymore?

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I saw on Twitter a while ago the question posed: “Why don’t we make things like this any more?”

The tweet author presented photos of ornate and beautiful buildings: cathedrals, skyscrapers like Empire State and Chrysler building, Taj Mahal and the like.

Why don’t we build beautiful buildings any more? I wonder that too. I searched and found this video which I think explains it in a reasonable way. Of course, his is not the only opinion, but he did make sense. It is a 10-minute video with nice graphics.

Why don’t we build beautiful buildings any more?

Others have remarked on this idea, too:

Culture Faith & Beauty @cultrfaith: A beautiful building from an era when we built beautiful places.

But it’s not just buildings. I mean, buildings are important. They are our landscape; the silent, insentient forms populating our visible spaces. I personally believe we need beauty in our lives and that includes buildings plus everything else we see. Anything we see: art, fashion, interior décor, exterior architecture. Beauty. We need it.

RC Sproul thought the same. He was big on “Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.” A while ago when I searched for a teaching on beauty, his was just about the only one I found. It was a course called “Recovering the Beauty of the Arts.”

In that course, Sproul said,

“In the history of the Christian church, goodness, truth, and beauty have remained the three most important concepts. Unfortunately, we have historically overemphasized one at the expense of the others. Some stress ethics, others stress doctrine, and still others stress beauty. But rightly viewed, all three are to be emphasized, since they are all interdependent and interrelated.”

We see that played out in Psalm 27 when David noted the origin of beauty:

One thing I have asked from Yahweh, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of Yahweh
And to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

In 1 Chronicles 16:8–36, David the king mentions God’s glory often—a word that refers to His majesty, worth, and splendor. He then calls on God’s people to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. We are to worship the Beautiful, said Sproul.

Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name;
Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness.
Psalm 29:1-2

Ponder the word “splendor”. It means grandeur, majestic. We don’t really use the word splendor in common conversation much any more. Growing up in the 1960s, there was a song called Love is a Many Splendored Thing. Aside from the Bible, that’s the only time I heard the word in secular life.

Sproul said further of Christians and Art: “While the Christian church has produced some of the finest artists in history, the modern church has tended to marginalize artists by implying that their vocation is somehow more worldly.“

True.

Art can be ugly, you know. Yes, I know that art is subjective, but you know ugly when you see it. Witness the reaction of the populace of my city when the City installed public art that was pretty much universally denounced as ugly. One local Redditor posted, “Can we all commiserate on how terrible this is?” and hundreds of comments ensued. Then, uh-oh, this news story about this same installation: “Controversial downtown artwork vandalized”. Its ugliness prompted someone to take negative action. We need beauty. Ugliness offends us.

Or how about the MLK statue recently installed in Boston’s Common, Slammed as “The Ugliest Thing Ever.” People tend to take beauty for granted…until ugliness comes in and by contrast, and we mourn the ugly in our need for the beautiful.

The tweet that got me started on this personal musing on beauty and the increasing lack of it in the world, is the tweet author’s opinion that the beauty we mourn the loss of is not exclusive to buildings and art forms like songs and 2-dimensional art, but in people, too.

He had noted that it seems that people dislike going outside into the world now because of lack of aesthetics in people. Not their physical looks, but faces, dress, and attitude. There seem to be so many ugly dressed people, ugly character, and ugly speech.

I was surprised when I went to Italy for the first time in 1990. Maybe things are different now, but when I traveled there, I saw that everyone out and about was dressed beautifully. From head to toe, men and women were polished. They took care and pride in their appearance. Not surprising, Italians through the ages have always loved beauty and they have consistently crafted gorgeous buildings, appealing art, and high fashion. They took beauty seriously.

But I believe we are becoming increasingly inured to the ugliness around us, accepting it and not even noticing its impact on our soul.

Remember, satan always tries to beautify sin. As sin increases (as the Lord lifts His hand of restraint) people’s sin also rises closer to the surface. In the past, moral pressure from society and also a Christian veneer everywhere kept people’s sin more hidden. Now, it is clearly everywhere, including on people’s faces. The rising sin in individuals and in society as a whole is seen on faces.

I am always reminded of Cain’s face when God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s,

And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering; but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his face was gloomy. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? (Genesis 4:4a-7b NASB).

I like the KJV of verse 6: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?”

Think about that connection: as sin rises, the face falls. Cain was the Bible’s first angry, depressed man. And it showed on his face.

COUNTENANCE One’s face as an indication of mood, emotion, or character (Gen. 4:5–6; Prov. 15:13; Eccles. 7:3; Mark 10:22). Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

How about today’s world? With sin rising, don’t people look more upset/angry/depressed/cranky, etc? I believe they do.

Matthew Henry says of the Genesis 4 verse and Cain’s face:

God puts Cain himself upon enquiring into the cause of his discontent, and considering whether it were indeed a just cause: Why is thy countenance fallen? Observe, 1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions and discontents. There is not an angry look, an envious look, nor a fretful look, that escapes his observing eye. 2. That most of our sinful heats and disquietudes would soon vanish before a strict and impartial enquiry into the cause of them. “Why am I wroth? Is there a real cause, a just cause, a proportionable cause for it? Why am I so soon angry? Why so very angry, and so implacable?”

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 17). Hendrickson.

Mostly everyone is angry now. It shows.

Absent the Holy Spirit inside us, people will continue to look (and speak and dress) in increasingly ugly ways. One good thing about this, the only thing I think, is that as their faces fall further and ugliness rises, the ONE and ONLY place where beauty reigns is in Jesus. His light is splendorous.

Goodness, Truth, & Beauty Ligonier (Harry Reeder)

In Christian theology, beauty demands to be noticed essay

The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly About the Arts, by Leland Ryken book

Beauty and the Beholder: A Christian View of Aesthetics and Art (outline)

Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer (very short book)

Sunday Word of the Week: Sovereign

Posted on March 24, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In addition to the familiar Bible verses speaking to God’s sovereignty, one of which is at the conclusion of this essay, there is a famous quote from RC Sproul that exalts God’s sovereignty:

If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.

It is a great quote because it speaks to how God created and upholds every single atom in the universe. He is the author, architect, and absolute king over all.

Jesus, His Son, has been given all power and authority as God. (Matthew 28:18). Jesus is the exact imprint of His Father.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (Hebrews 1:3).

We Americans are unfamiliar with sovereignty. We shed our King back in 1783 when we signed the peace treaty at Paris, concluding the Revolutionary War. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, sovereignty means

Sovereignty, though its meanings have varied across history, also has a core meaning, supreme authority within a territory

Ligonier: What’s so great about the sovereignty of God?

Many people do not believe in God’s sovereignty, yet still serve the Lord. But there is a great difference. Those who see the Lord in His sovereign glory have an inward compulsion to serve this God. Serving God is the glory of their lives. Their service is measured not so much in what they achieve–or what God achieves through them–but rather in the sheer wonder of the God they serve. Like little boys dividing up into teams on the playground, being picked to play on this team is the greatest joy imaginable, especially for those who are so unworthy. “Here am I! Send me,” is not merely the response of those who see God’s sovereign glory, it is their delight. Since God is certain to be glorified, they want to be among those glorifying God.

Let’s finish with AW Pink-

“What do we mean by [the sovereignty of God]? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35).

To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Psa. 115:3). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is “The Governor among the nations” (Psa. 22:28), setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the “Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.” A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, chapter 1.

theology

Jerusalem part 3: Its glorious spiritual future

Posted on March 23, 2024March 23, 2024 by elizabethprata

Elizabeth Prata

Jerusalem: Introduction
Jerusalem Part 1: The Land
Jerusalem Part 2: The Nation

In this third and final part of looking at the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel, we’ll look at the spiritual aspect of this holy city. We looked at the land itself in part 1, the geography, animals, and plants. In Part 2 we looked at the political entity that is today’s Israel. Now let’s see what God has in store for the city where He placed His name!

I had said in the introduction that in listening to John MacArthur preach through Zechariah, I have been encouraged, astounded, and blessed as the meaning of that tremendous book opens my mind in awe of God. In one of the sermons he preached about “The Future Glory of Jerusalem“. Here is a small snippet of what he preached. I encourage you to listen in its entirety.

Let me give you a little fast history, hang on. It first appears in Scripture as the city of Salem, ruled by a man by the name of Melchizedek. In Genesis 14 he is called the king of Salem. Most people assume the name Jerusalem or Salem comes from the Hebrew shalom, which means peace. Twenty centuries before Christ it existed as the city of Salem. The next time we see Jerusalem in history it appears as a Canaanite stronghold with an allegiance to Egypt. Soon after that we see it in reference to Joshua. This is 600 years after the Genesis record or 1400 years before Christ. Joshua in Chapter 10 sets his sights on this city as he conquers Canaan. And in Chapter 15 Joshua says that this territory, including this city, has been given to Judah when the land was divided among the tribes. But even though it was 1400 years before Christ that the city was said to belong to Judah, it wasn’t until 1003 B.C. that David stormed Jerusalem, which was then a fortress of the people called the Jebusites and according to II Samuel 5, David took the city, which was later to bear the name the city of David. The city never really became much under David. It wasn’t until David’s brilliant son, Solomon, that Jerusalem reached its golden age.

And under Solomon the wall was extended, an incredible palace was built, an amazing and marvelous wonder of the world the temple was accomplished, and Jerusalem became something astonishing, something astounding. But after Solomon the ages that flowed on brought no comparable glory to Jerusalem and by 586 B.C. or about 400 years after Solomon, the city was a rubble, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Nehemiah went back and rebuilt it but it remained rather insignificant from then on. Finally in 70 A.D. after the birth of Jesus Christ some 70 years the city was wiped out again and destroyed by the Roman army, as we saw last week. Jerusalem arose rather meekly from the ashes a little after 70 A.D., but by 132 A.D. whatever was left was crushed by the Emperor Hadrian from Rome. And until modern times even in our modern era Jerusalem has been kicked back and forth between the Turks and the Christian nations, the Moslems and the Christians kicking it back and forth.

And finally in our generation the marvelous rebirth of the state of Israel has occurred, a miracle of sociology, a miracle of the perpetuity of a race of human beings. I dare say nobody has ever met a Jebusite, a Hivite, a Amorite, a Moabite or a Edomite, or any other -ite around the Bible, but we sure have Israelites because God has preserved them in their own land. They’ve come back, but the hold it very tenuously don’t they, surrounded by enemies. In fact surrounded on every side of them that is land they are locked in with literally bloodthirsty enemies and their hold is tenuous and they are always on the edge of war. Incredible as it is from Melchizedek in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis to 1977, the story of Jerusalem weaves its way through history. Cities come and go but not that city, it just continues. The city of Melchizedek, the city of David, the city of Christ, the city of Paul, the city of Salidine, the city of General Allenby, the city of Ben Guion, the city of Moshe Dayan, it is ever the perpetual city and someday it’ll be the city of the seat of David, the Lord Jesus Christ yet again.

When God decides the timing is right for that to happen it will be stupendous! During the Tribulation the glorious city will be trodden into the mud. It will become so perverse that it will be called metaphorical Sodom and Egypt. (Revelation 11:8). Both Sodom and Egypt were known for oppression, perversity, and sin. Armies will circle around the city (Luke 21:20). The Gentiles will trample it. (Luke 21:24). An earthquake will split it into three parts and 7,000 will die (Revelation 11:13, Revelation 16:19). Jerusalem is going to have a rough, rough time.

But we cannot leave it like that.

The Lord chose this city for His name. He endowed it with His presence. (Luke 2:9). He chose to be crucified there. And when he returns, it will be to JERUSALEM!!

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south. (Zechariah 14:4)”.

And He will change the topography of the area to raise up Jerusalem!

It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day
Which is known to the Lord—
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.

8 And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.
Zechariah 14:6-8

All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.” (Zechariah 14:10).

Jerusalem! The LORD is there. (Ezekiel 48:35). How close is the time for Jerusalem to be inhabited safely (Zechariah 14:11) and the glorious city and temple to be glowing with the manifested presence of God who is Jesus in the flesh? I do not know, but when it happens, it will be mercy…He promises mercy…

“Therefore thus said the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, said the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth on Jerusalem. 17Cry yet, saying, Thus said the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 1:16-17)

It’s amazing that this powerful, holy God should want to dwell with people. He does, and He will make His home in Jerusalem then New Jerusalem:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

What a day that will be!

theology

Jerusalem part 2: The Nation

Posted on March 22, 2024March 23, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Jerusalem: Intro
Jerusalem: part 1- The Land
Jerusalem part 3: Its glorious spiritual future

Jerusalem! It is the eternal city, (Psalm 46:4, Revelation 3:12) God’s city where He has set His name, (1 Kings 11:36, 2 Chronicles 12:13) and is the city in which Immanuel (Matthew 1:23) will dwell in all His glory, (Zechariah 8:3) calling it Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is There. (Ezekiel 48:35). It is the nickname He uses when he calls His people. (Zechariah 3:2). It is a place that it figures solely as the most important land, city, and people in the history of the earth. All of history is dwindling down to one focal point: Jerusalem. So let’s take a look at this incredible place.

God chose a people and a land to bring unto Himself. These are the Israelites and His land is Israel. Its city is Jerusalem. He made this promise to Abram in Genesis 12. God was actually delivering three distinct promises to Abram, later re-named Abraham. God made a land promise, a national promise, and a spiritual promise. In part 1 we looked at the land promise. Here is the verse–

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Was Israel a great nation? Yes. Militarily secure (for a while) incredibly wealthy (for a while) and led by the wisest king ever to walk the earth (for a while). Israel as a nation has certainly had its ups and downs.

Is Israel a great nation now? Well, yes. It has developed some of the world’s most wonderful technology. It has changed an arid place into a garden, and now most of the world’s fruit is exported from there. It is a military nation, strong and mighty. It is a tiny nation, having given away land during successive political parliaments. It is only the size of New Jersey, but it is incredible in that it simply did not exist for 1900 years and then one day it did! No other nation can boast that history.

However as much as Christians bless the nation, and pray for its deliverance, we have to be realistic. This is from a sermon titled “The Cleansing of Israel,” delivered by John MacArthur in 1977. Not much has changed since then-

“Israel is not a religious nation. I would have to say that I doubt whether been in a more irreligious nation in my life than Israel. It’s an irreligious nation. Their god is the god of armies, the god of strength, the god of surprise, the god of might, the god of racial identity, which is the big thing, but not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and not the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Jerusalem is referred to as ‘Salem in Genesis 14:18, when Abram honored Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the God Most High (unusual that this one is King AND Priest, something banned later in Israel’s history. Priests always came from the tribe of Levi and Kings from the tribe of Judah).

Below, The meeting of Abraham with Melchizedek

Ezekiel 21:25-27 prophesied the end of the kings and there has been no king rightfully officiating over Israel since King Jehoiachin in about 600BC, shortly after Ezekiel’s pronouncement. There has been no priest in Israel since the last High Priest serving when the Roman army came and overthrew the Temple in 70AD since Phannias ben Samuel and he wasn’t even from a priestly family, he was just a revolutionary. He died during the Roman overthrow.

There is still no king or priest over Israel today. And of course, no prophet since John The Baptist and then Jesus who is ultimate Prophet. There was not even any nation Israel between 70AD and 1948. By this standard, the Israel of today is merely a political entity, led by a Prime Minister, a President, and a Parliament (Knesset) and sadly, a spiritual desert.

Even during the period between May 1948 and June 1967, Jerusalem was not in Israel’s hands. Israel won East Jerusalem back during the Six Day War of June 1967, wresting it from the Jordanians who were occupying it. Later that month the Israeli Knesset declared Jerusalem unified. On July 30, 1980, the Knesset passed a law declaring the City of Jerusalem to be ‘eternal and indivisible.’” The United Nations promptly condemned the action.

There is still contention today. For example, what are the city’s borders? You can search for that answer online and you’ll come up with millions of maps with dotted lines, position papers, and news articles, but no borders.

Why does the world insist on calling Israel a state, and not a nation? The roots of the political conflict with Jerusalem and Israel lay in the fact that the Arab world refuses to declare it a national state for the Jewish people. This goes back to the original enmity between Israel as God’s selected people and the world that hates God. This is especially true of the Philistines who hated the Jews and their descendants are the Palestinians who are currently at war with Israel.

The upshot is that Israel, and Jerusalem, is a political entity. It surely is a great nation, but it is without paying homage to her God. God is still with her, and will protect her to the end. She will be ravaged, for it has been the times of the Gentiles since Jesus ascended. Only gentile Kings ruled Israel, such as Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. Even now she is without a king, only a Prime Minister.

Today’s Israel is a politically buffeted nation without a king or a priest or world regard. The world is against it.

This was an Opinion Editorial in Israel National News 11 years ago by Guilio Meotti. “How did 150,000,000 Europeans Come to Hate Israel?” Anti-Semitism has risen markedly even since then.

Meotti ended his piece this way, “Europe’s public opinion has been persuaded to believe that Israel is a state that ought to be dismantled forthwith. Europe’s population count today is 730,000,000 citizens. What would happen if the anti-Semitic worm infected the mind of all of them? Can Israel really remain immune from that eruption of psychotic anti-Jewish illness?“

Yes. and No. Political Israel’s days are numbered. The world is coming against it as Zechariah showed in the prophecy. The psychotic illness that is hate against Israel is satan’s contribution to his plan to thwart God. In the end of the end the world will gather against Israel and surround Jerusalem. In this regard, the Italian journalist’s question is consistent with prophecy.

“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3).

Things do not look good for the nation Israel and the city Jerusalem, now or in the future. And they aren’t. But the Lord will come and save His nation, His people, and His city. The third part of the series on Jerusalem will look at its glorious future! And it IS glorious! They will go through a dark time, but then things become very bright, as bright as the glory of the LORD himself!

biodiversity, israel, jerusalem

Jerusalem! part 1: The Land. Israel’s biodiversity, geography, & wildlife

Posted on March 21, 2024March 23, 2024 by elizabethprata

Jerusalem! Introduction

Jerusalem! Part 2, The Nation

Jerusalem! Part 3, Its glorious spiritual future

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

It all begins and ends with Jerusalem.

Actually let’s back up a bit. It all begins and ends with God.

Before the foundation of the world, God determined in His mind and His heart to select a people for Himself to have fellowship with, to produce the Messiah through them, and for them to spread the news of a Savior to the world. (Deuteronomy 7:6). And so began the creation of worlds, and His creation of people. (Genesis 1).

However, simply because the Jews were chosen, did not mean they would be exempt from living out God’s holy standards. We know from much of the Old Testament, that they didn’t.

“You only have I known among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your wrongdoing.” (Amos 3:2)

Out of the dispersed descendants of the builders of Babel, God called one man, Abram, with whom He enters into covenant. Some of the promises to Abram and his descendants were purely gracious and unconditional. These either have been or will yet be literally fulfilled. Other promises were conditional upon the faithfulness and obedience of the Israelites. Israel utterly failed.

The LORD made a promise to Abram, found in Genesis 12, telling Abram that the LORD chose Israel to be His nation and the Israelites to be His people.

Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3).

God was actually delivering three distinct promises to Abram, later re-named Abraham.

He made a land promise, a national promise and a spiritual promise.

1. The Land Promise: “A land that I will show you.”
“He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” (Genesis 15:7). Genesis 15:18-21 describes the boundary of the promised land in terms of the territory of various ancient peoples:

“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

This land promise has never been fulfilled. The land that God promised His people the Israelites is very extensive. It would encompass all of today’s Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, part of Iraq to the Euphrates & Tigris, the Nile Delta of Egypt, and part of Saudi Arabia.

Ancient maps placed Jerusalem in the center of the page. They knew that Jerusalem is God’s city and is the fulcrum of history, the axle of the wheel, and the center of the world stage. In the Jewish tradition, the Ark in the Temple in Jerusalem, through which God revealed himself to His people, rested on the Foundation stone marking the “navel of world” (‘omphalos’).

Ezekiel 5:5, “This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations.“

And what of this land? What is it like? It is wonderful! From deserts of the southern Negev to the snow-capped mountains to the north, to the 270 miles of coastline along the Mediterranean and to the frontier at the east, it is a diverse land.

Mountains of Judea, source Wikipedia commons

rosh hanikra view. Source Avishai Teicher via Wikimedia CC

Jordan’s Rift Valley. Source Wikipedia Commons

Acacia tree in Negev Desert, Makhtesh Gadol, Wiki photo

The wildlife of Israel includes the flora and fauna of Israel, which is extremely diverse due to the country’s location between the temperate and the tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. (Wiki: Wildlife of Israel)

God called it a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:8). A land with abundant milk means that it had abundant grasslands and pastures upon which the grassy lands could support abundant cattle (or goats). I have read in several Jewish commentaries that the honey is not bee nectar but the syrup one extracts from dates or figs. Either bee or fig, it evokes the same sense of abundance, this time from lush and growing vegetation.

Hoopoe looking for insects. Author Hari K Patibanda, CC license

According to Israel Birding website, “Israel is situated at an intercontinental junction- a bottleneck for migration routes. An estimated 500 million (!!) birds pass through every spring and autumn, with 530 species in record.”

The bird migration bottlenecks over Israel because when the migrating birds of Europe migrate, there’s the Mediterranean to the west and the Black Sea to the east. Every migration south or north they fly over Israel. There are so many flocks and Israeli aviation and military planes had so many bird strikes that the Israelis developed special radar to avoid downed planes from bird flocks.

“Israel’s climate varies from semi-arid to temperate to subtropical. The region is home to a variety of plants and animals; at least 47,000 living species have been identified, with another 4,000 assumed to exist. 116 species of mammals are native to Israel, as well as 511 bird species, 97 reptile species, and seven amphibian species. There are also an estimated 2,780 plant species. There are insects belonging to roughly 27 orders in Israel, out of about 29 worldwide“. (biodiversity in Israel).

So the landforms, birds, insects, and now mammals are extremely abundant and diverse. Incredible since Israel is only the size of New Jersey.

From Nature Israel, “From ancient times Israel’s native mammals have had an important role in Jewish culture, featuring in colourful biblical metaphors and prophecies, as symbols of the tribes of Israel or discussed at length in the dietary codes so central to the Jewish culinary tradition. The young David battles a bear and a lion, and Samson struggles with a juvenile lion. Torah scrolls are written on parchment from deer or antelope skins, the Jewish New Year is commemorated by blowing on the ram’s horn and the very Land of Israel itself is described as the “Land of the Gazelle”.

Song of Solomon 8:14 mentions the gazelle in terms of its speed. One of the sons of Zeruiah was compared to the speed of a gazelle in 2 Samuel 2:18.

Sadly (or not sadly for the locals…) the lions and bears are now extinct, but most of Israel’s native mammals familiar from the Bible and folklore remain – the jackal and the gazelle, the rock hyrax and the ibex, the wolf and the leopard, the wild boar and the hare.

Psalm 104 mentions many different kinds of vegetation, birds, and mammals of Israel.

“mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.” (Psalm 104:18). Proverbs 30:24 says the following animals are ‘exceedingly wise’ and the hyrax, or rock badger, is one of those, “the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;” (Proverbs 30:26). (Above, rock badger)

As mentioned, lions and cheetahs are now extinct in Israel, but imagine young David, armed only with a slingshot, guarding his flock against wolves, lions, bears, leopards, and cheetahs. Not to mention hyenas and jackals. Leopards still exist in Israel today, as do other wild felines including caracals (a kind of lynx), bog cats and wild cats.

Bears are mentioned in 2 Kings 2:24 as animals that came out of the woods and tore up 42 youths who were mocking Elisha. Of course the lion is prominent in fact and in metaphor in the Land. Proverbs 30:30 says of the lion, “the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;“. The LORD used lions as a judgment when Assyrians settled in the Land and did not worship the LORD. (2 Kings 17:25).

The Lord has blessed His land with biodiversity, geographical diversity, a wondrous climate, and beautiful flora and fauna of all kinds. After the restoration when the curse is reversed, it will finally be all that He intends it to be, His city, His dwelling, named “The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35. (Jehovah Shammah!)

Further Reading

What does it mean that the Jews are God’s chosen people?

jerusalem, prophecy, shammah

Jerusalem! A Three-part Series: Intro

Posted on March 20, 2024March 23, 2024 by elizabethprata

Jerusalem! Part 1, The Land

Jerusalem! Part 2, The Nation

Jerusalem! Part 3, Its glorious spiritual future

I went through Zechariah. Pound for pound, there is more prophecy in Zechariah than any other book in the Bible, including Revelation. The book is at turns comforting, inspiring, and difficult to interpret. Overall, I’m fascinated!

In Zechariah 2, I became fascinated even further. Jerusalem, and by definition, Israel, is a hugely important topic for every Christian to seek understanding of and wisdom about. Israel is the fulcrum of history, God’s nation, the apple of His eye, and future home of Jesus the King. Christians will be living in New Jerusalem. Thus it is our focus as Christians to understand His plans for this city, as well.

When the LORD dwells in Jerusalem the name of the city shall be Jehovah-Shammah, meaning, “The Lord is there.” (Ezekiel 48:35). It never fails to move me to even think of the Lord being there, physically and eternally. Jeremiah 30 is a chapter describing the future restoration of Israel. See here verses 18-22,

“Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its ruins and the palace shall stand where it used to be. 19 Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. 20 Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them. 21 Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the Lord. 22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

The Lord is there, Jehovah Shammah!

I decided to write a three part series on Jerusalem and Israel. The first part will be about Jerusalem geographically and its natural history. It is not a dry desert with swirling sands as most people think and as I once believed. Jerusalem and environs is a fascinating place, with lush animal and bird life, an interesting climate, and is the crux of three continents. It is the belly button of the world, depicted so on maps in former ages.

The second part will look at Jerusalem politically. I’ll look at what prophecy says about it during this time of the last days.

Last, will be the best part in the series of all. What of Jerusalem spiritually? What of the future glory of Israel? What does the Bible say Jerusalem will look like and what are God’s plans for it?

Stay tuned! This will be exciting look at our spiritual home, Jerusalem, the City of David, the Holy City, Jehovah Shammah!

theology

Trauma Bonding with false teachers

Posted on March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Yesterday I wrote about the ministry of Jenny Weaver Worships, founded by Jenny Weaver and her husband Stephen. Weaver was a runaway, homeless, witchcraft-practicing drug-addicted teen, then a troubled young woman eventually at age 26 jailed for meth use and discovered in jail she was pregnant. She says she got clean in jail, got out, married the father of her baby (Stephen), began singing the scriptures, and got famous. Her ministry has turned into deliverance ministry events and mentorship courses (like a college similar to Bethel) focusing on demons, charismania, and exposing the supernatural realm.

I’d concluded with a warning to avoid her ministry.
Jenny Weaver: Discerning her ‘ministry’

Trauma Bonding

In researching Jenny Weaver, I came across The Honest Youth Pastor (HYP). He gave a ‘sermon review’ of one of Jenny Weaver’s events. He is Michael Moore (no relation to false teacher Beth or former ERLC guy Russell). In his review he shared a perspective I thought was highly interesting and new to me.

He called it “trauma bonding”.

In these current days many people claim to have trauma. It’s a popular buzzword. Everyone seems to be a victim of something.

I don’t deny trauma occurs. Most definitely. What I take issue with is the watering down of the definition of trauma, from something heavy and life-impacting, to merely getting the wrong order at the McDs drive thru.

Screenshot of a Weaver event “Festival of Fire.” Her events are not lacking a willing audience

Jenny Weaver is a singer, entrepreneur, mother, and prophetess. I discussed her theology and lifestyle yesterday. The HYP Michael Moore’s take on Jenny was interesting to me. As I had looked at her theology and lifestyle (1 Timothy 4:16), Moore also looked at the psychology. To be sure, he is not a psychologist, but in general terms, we can see a person’s catalyst for launching into ministry and some things they say and do can be plainly understood.

I do not discount the rough start in life Jenny had. Hers surely was a traumatic life. I feel for her. That she survived as long as she did was amazing. Good for her that she seems to be thriving today. I just wish she wasn’t thriving on making merchandise of her followers by capitalizing on their perceived trauma, and trading on hers.

Here is the perspective I thought was so interesting. The Honest Youth Pastor said of Jenny’s output:

HYP: “Within our day and age there’s a lot of people that have been traumatized through various things in their life. So what she’s [Jenny] really calling on not just with the story that she tells but the illustration she’s giving here, is there’s this broken little child inside of you and you need freed from whatever demon entered at that particular time. She’s going to play on that trauma that occurred in a lot of these ladies’ lives as an entry point to say, ‘hey there’s a scared little child Jesus is protecting and he wants to free you from whatever thing happened’.”

(Editor Note: If this reminds you of how Beth Moore approaches her ministry, you’d be correct.)

Honest Youth Pastor: “There’s a lot of psychological truth behind that in regards to people being traumatized and your brain kind of changing during those moments. Because your brain by God’s grace is designed to try to protect itself. So even in a fallen world your brain operates in a way that God has gloriously designed it to try to and shield you from that.”

It’s true that trauma causes brain changes. From the article Traumatic stress: effects on the brain by J. Douglas Bremner, MD in the National Library of Medicine, we read-

Dr. Bremner looked at how “To understand how traumatic stress occurring at different stages of the life cycle interacts with the developing brain… Brain areas implicated in the stress response include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas.

The Honest Youth Pastor states at the outset of his reviews that he looks for 3 things in a the person’s speech he is reviewing:
1. Did the person read scripture from the Bible?
2. Did they exegete the scriptures correctly and in context?
3. Did they preach the Gospel?

HYP: “So we were left with a very strange mixture of Deliverance Ministry demonology, and not really not really self-help, but the bringing up of trauma and overcoming that trauma. She did talk about Jesus for sure but she didn’t mention the gospel.”

In the review that the HYP shared on his Youtube channel, no, Jenny Weaver did not read the scriptures, she did not exegete the scripture, and she didn’t preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jenny did talk about Jesus a lot, but the explicit Gospel was absent. The implicit assumption was that everyone there already believed in Jesus and we just need to get these demons out of the way.

HYP: “By the time they left did feel like something had happened, because when you work through trauma, when you talk about trauma, when you actually bring that about there’s a lot of emotions that come up in there. There’s a lot of things that surface. There’s a lot of endorphins that are released.”

HYP: “Sometimes those things are good. Talking about trauma is great. Overcoming trauma is wonderful. What’s more helpful however, and what assists in that process the best is, if you understand that the God that created heaven and earth came in the form of a baby, lived a perfect life that you could not live, died the death you should have died because we’re all Sinners apart from God. Because of Jesus’s life, death and Resurrection we are reconciled to God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son.”

And that is what was absent from jenny’s speech. Jesus was spoken of, but trauma via demons was the main idea.

These false ones connect with you over trauma. They share an emotional story of their own trauma, however they define it, assisted by language designed to pull at the heart, and some sensitive music thrown in. They don’t bond with you over our universal issue of sin and the need to repent. Their connection point is emotionalism through shared trauma.

Honest Youth Pastor review of Jenny Weaver event: https://youtu.be/WfsfP6FjyYE?si=1vBFYaLs_wyZV6pz

It makes sense, because we all have trauma of some kind, and in this day and age, all sorts of definitions of trauma are accepted. It’s a “my truth vs. your truth” sort of idea except it’s “my trauma vs. your trauma.”

That’s a problem, when the call to repent of sin and to worship Jesus is replaced with a call to bust the demon that’s harassing or possessing you by the power of Jesus. In the latter case, Jesus is a vehicle for fleshly temporary relief, not a Savior unto eternal salvation.

Adherents to this type of ‘ministry’ base their belief on the signs, miracles, and healings, not on the One who performed them. Jesus acknowledged this when He said,

Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” (John 4:48)

The post-event resilience that occurs for most of these demon-focused or signs-focused people in Charismatic ministries isn’t the perfect peace of Jesus, it is the psychological feeling that someone finally listened and helped. Of course, this feeling doesn’t last, because no emotion lasts. So the feeling of relief or connection or empathy dissipates, and they need another dose of demon deliverance to make it stick. And on it goes.

My point for the dear reader today is, watch and discern upon which connection point the Bible teacher or pastor uses to connect with his or her audience. See if it is the same connection point he or she uses on a regular basis. If it’s regularly anything other than the person of Jesus, Him for Himself, then begin discerning more deeply and pray it through. Most importantly, avoid these kind of ministries.

theology

Jenny Weaver: Discerning her ‘ministry’

Posted on March 18, 2024March 19, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Today I’m talking about Jenny Weaver of ‘Jenny Weaver Worships’. She came to my attention when I was asked about her ministry. I looked into it and answered the reader’s query. Then I dug in even further. This is what I discovered.

Cut to the Chase:

Avoid Jenny weaver. She’s false.

About Jenny

To begin with, who is Jenny Weaver? Weaver has 212,000 followers on Instagram, 167,000 on Facebook, 149,000 subscribers on Youtube. Her events sell out to masses. She became known as Jenny Weaver Worships because she is at root, a musician. She sings the scriptures.

She is said to have spiked a “massive Jesus movement.” But is this movement of Jesus? Let’s look into this ‘massive movement’ (that I never heard of till now).

Origins

Jenny, daughter Cameron, and husband Stephen in 2020 thanking God that their ministry is also a business that kept them afloat during the C0vid time. Source Weaver FB Page

Jenny Grew up on the Gulf coast of Florida in a family of 8 with a mother and father who Jenny said were excessively strict and punished at the slightest provocation. They also both used heroin, including when the mother was pregnant with Jenny. Jenny was born addicted. At age 13 her father abandoned the family and the remaining family became severely impoverished.

Subsequently, Jenny was entranced by witchcraft, reading up on Wicca and practicing the witchcraft arts. She says she became so good she could perform telekinesis (ability to move objects by mental power), saying she could extend her hand to a bureau drawer and it would open. Or lights would burst above her and shower down glass when she was talking about the demonic realm.

At age 17 Jenny ran away from home. She began heavy drug use. She couch surfed with a family whose daughter was into the demonic realm via witchcraft, and Jenny circled further down into it. She says she could feel demons all around. Instead of the practice being fun she now began to feel tormented with no escape.

Sometime later she finally quit the witchcraft but continued to be demonically tormented for years, Jenny says. Her drug use continued. When she was 26 she was living with her boyfriend Stephen and addicted to meth. Reaching her lowest point, she screamed for Jesus to help her. She said after that she felt peace.

The help, she says, came 2 days later in the form of arrest and jail. In jail she discovered she was pregnant. She got clean, got prenatal care, got out, married Stephen Weaver, and got saved.

Yet…about that salvation…in her book “The Sound of Freedom: How to Bring the God of the Breakthrough into Your Toughest Struggles“, she says at age 6 she was at a Pentecostal revival and the pastor there singled her out, called her to the front, laid hands on her and she was suddenly slain in the spirit and fell backwards. Getting up off the floor she says she spoke in tongues. Saved then?

And, that at age 7 she was given a vision of Jesus in heaven on his throne. From her book, her own words,

I finally reached the place where Jesus was sitting and He put me up on His lap. Just like a loving Father, He began to talk with me, and He put His hand over my heart. I don’t recall exactly what He said to me, but I do remember feeling safe. I remember feeling loved, and it felt like I was home. I was so ecstatic about the dream. To me it wasn’t just a dream, it was Jesus actually meeting me and encountering me. From that moment I began to see into the supernatural realm.”

Des Jesus talk with us now? The scriptures say they are enough, even Peter who had a transfiguring experience with Jesus, said the word is more sure.

And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19).

Saved then? Saved in jail at 26? I understand some people do not know the moment of salvation, but her lifelong experiences with the supernatural realm is likely the reason why she attributes potential demon possession to Christians.

Issue #1: Demons Everywhere

Nowadays, Jenny’s entire ‘ministry’ is founded on and focuses on trauma and demons. She calls everything a demon. Lonely? It’s a demon of loneliness. Rejected? That’s the demon of rejection. So, issue #1 with Jenny Weaver, her focus on the demonic realm. More on that tomorrow in another essay. Stay tuned, there are some really good perspectives I discovered from The Honest Youth Pastor.

For the record, I don’t deny there are demons out and about, the Bible tells us there are. I also don’t deny some unsaved people in today’s times can be demon possessed. It still happens. However, Jenny claims Christians can also have a demon. She is sometimes vague on this, going back and forth in nebulous language on whether a Christian can have a demon inside ‘guiding’ them or if it’s external oppression. But in two videos I watched she did assert that a Christian can be internally inhabited by a demon, and this is simply not true.

Issue #2: Lifestyle

As an adult, Jenny Weaver claims to be “a wife and homeschool mother, she believes in building families and communities in the Kingdom of God.” That quote was from her website. It’s obvious that Jenny also believes in building her brand and being a busy entrepreneur.

In 2018 Jenny Weaver started an online mentoring group of about 50 people. She calls it CORE. By 2022, she writes, it exploded in popularity as ‘God’ broke out revival. The curriculum of this now vast training college of 14,000 adherents includes live lessons which are ‘Holy Spirit-led’ and on Mondays students learn “deliverance & spiritual warfare training”. She also started a kids’ program and now trains thousands of kids and teens in the core group.

Below are the businesses and activities Jenny runs and maintains according to her Instagram linktree. And she also homeschools and mothers her daughter? Not sure about this claim. There isn’t enough time in a day to do all that and focus on being the mother Jesus wants a woman with children to be…

So, of her claim to be a “homeschooling mom,” in addition to mothering, she travels for concerts, runs a Business Coaching program that helps with “social media strategies, scaling a business, recreating a cohesive look and “feel” to your brand or business and I even teach how to use systems for organizing and schedule blocking“, develops and sells merchandise, AND runs an CORE academy with 14,000 students, and more. Homeschooling mom? Doubtful.

Issue #3: Direct Revelation

Jenny says she ‘leads in “Prophetic worship”‘ Nope. When she prophesies it’s false prophecy. These screen shots are from her January 2 prophetic word on Facebook Live. She is praying the Lord’s use of her will be accurate and edifying, and “thus saith the Lord”.

“Thus saith the Lord” is biblical language used in the Old Testament which confirmed the Prophet was of God. Above, Jenny is taking the Lord’s name in vain, blaspheming according to Exodus 20:7, because the Lord is not speaking to her. She is putting words in His mouth He didn’t say. Doing so, kindles His wrath.

Above, Jenny’s January 2 ‘prophetic word’ includes specificity on exactly HOW ‘Jesus’ told her to express His words to the listening audience on her Facebook livestream. Putting words in the Lord’s mouth that He didn’t say is dangerous. False prophets like Jenny will be severely punished.

This is what the LORD of armies says:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They tell a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16)

I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
Jeremiah 23:21

“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14).

False prophets happened then, it happens now. Prophecy is not occurring in this day and age because the canon is complete. (Revelation 22:18-19; 2 Timothy 3:16). Anyone in these days who claims to have heard directly from the Lord, is is delusional, false, or lying.

Jenny Weaver is a false teacher and a false prophet. All that is left for her (unless she truly repents) is plagues and wrath and punishment, according to the word of God. Avoid Jenny Weaver.

Can a Christian be Demon-possessed?

Charismatic Conference with singer Jenny Weaver encourages children to be slain in the spirit, speak in tongues

Testing Jenny Weaver’s Teachings (18-min video from Learn to Discern). In this video Weaver also says that Christians can be possessed by mind-controlling ‘octopus spirits’.

poetry, theology

Kay Cude Poetry: Invisible Made Visible

Posted on March 17, 2024 by elizabethprata

Kay Cude is a Texas Poet. Used with permission. right-click to open larger in new tab, or, read text below

INVISIBLE MADE VISIBLE

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD THE SON ARE DISPLAYED
“For SINCE THE CREATION of the world
HIS INVISIBLE ATTRIBUTES, HIS
ETERNAL POWER and DIVINE NATURE,
have been clearly seen, BEING UNDERSTOOD
through what HAS BEEN MADE, so that they [mankind] are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

“HE [Christ] IS THE IMAGE of THE INVISIBLE GOD, THE FIRSTBORN of ALL CREATION. For by HIM ALL things were CREATED,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – ALL things have been CREATED through HIM and for HIM. HE is BEFORE ALL things, and IN HIM ALL things hold together. HE is also HEAD OF THE BODY, The Church; and HE IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN from THE DEAD, so that HE HIMSELF WILL COME
TO HAVE FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING.” Colossians 1:15-18

BY KAY CUDE:
“But now INVISIBLE MADE VISIBLE Through broken sunlight gazed I still, through shadows dusky to the west; down paths I wandered towards the mill, to sit ‘neath bowers moss bedressed.

Pure diamonds glisten flowed the stream that feeds the wooden waterwheel; as gently tumble aerie dreams, so Waking Truth Christ’s call made real. Lush grows the grass on emerald vale, where spotted fawn and doe oft’ play; strolled I said bank and meadowed trail, and there for me God’s Love displayed.

His Love, first seen through golden wisps, then glorious bursts those Hallowed Beams; and o’er His Head a Dove persists, and by His Grace, my life redeemed… /end Kay Cude poem

ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the HAND OF THE LORD has done this, in WHOSE HAND is the LIFE of every living thing, and the BREATH of ALL mankind?” Job 12:7-10