Posted in theology

The Language of God: Natural Disasters

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

After a terrible natural disaster, people often wonder, “Where was God in all this?” Others wonder “Did God cause it? Did He allow it? Did Satan do it? Was it just the natural outcome of a fallen world?” And the biggest question, “Why?”

These questions have interested man since the beginning. Even in the Patriarchs age of Abraham and Jacob and Isaac, man wondered. The Covenant with the Hebrews that God instituted starting with Abraham, gave the People an attitude of specialness. They believed that they were protected by God from these things, and if these things happened, it must be because of sin. Deuteronomy 28 is entirely about what would happen if they obey (I will prosper you) and what will happen if they disobey (I will curse and punish you).

God promised “to send” everything against them: boils, military defeat, feverish heat, plagues, fever, mildew, enemies, famine, blight, tumors, rash, scabies, drought, oppression, robbers, insanity, blindness, confusion of mind, rapists, traffickers, military occupation, robbers, consumption, mistreatment.

You notice in that Deuteronomy 28 list there are individual bodily curses, general against-the-people curses, and natural disaster curses.

The People’s theology was based on reaping-and-sowing, disaster cause-and-effect right through to Jesus’ day. If you were bad, then bad things happened to you. If you were good, then good things happened to you. Eliphaz spent chapter after chapter pressing Job on this point. Eliphaz asked Job sarcastically in Job 22:4,

“Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you, That He enters into judgment against you?“

They brought that reaping-and-sowing direct judgment idea to the New Testament. Remember the man born blind? The disciples asked Jesus who sinned, him or his parents? (John 9:2). Jesus said it was neither, but that the works of God might be shown in him. And the discussion about the Tower of Siloam- Jesus explained it fell not because the 18 who were killed were worse sinners than anyone else. (Luke 13:4).

And we do see personal, individual judgment in the Bible. Herod was struck down. Uzzah was struck down. Ananias and Sapphira were struck down.

And the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, four of the five Cities of the Plain, were directly destroyed by God specifically as a judgment. And the Book of Revelation is full of ‘natural disasters’ that are specifically judgments sent by God.

So what are we in these times currently to think when a disaster like lightning, flood, hail, or drought happens? 1) Did God send it as a judgment? 2) Or is it the natural consequence man’s Fall? 3) Or as a consequence of man’s failure to keep the Garden and work it correctly, as in, landslide happened due to overbuilding on tenuous soil, or the tower fell because of sub-par materials…

Yes. All three.

In today’s time there are direct judgments and there are indirect judgments.

But, and here’s the caveat, we can’t know which disaster is a judgment and which is a natural outcome of something else, because we can’t know the mind of God in every specific case. Only the believers living during the time of the Revelation judgments will know for sure that certain natural disasters are judgments, because they are specifically prophesied to happen during that era and in certain ways. They will know the heat, drought, fire from heaven etc. are from God because Revelation records that they will be from God.

As for today, when Hurricane Katrina happens or the Japan tsunami or Joplin tornadoes…are they from God? Does He control the tornado to go here and not there? Does He form the hurricane and send it to Florida or Mexico? Does He create the earthquake as a magnitude 7.2 here but over there he makes it be a 4.6?

In a sense, all ‘natural disasters’ are a result of God’s judgment, because In Genesis 3:17 God told Adam that God will curse the ground because of what Adam did. Between the global curse and God’s sovereignty, yes, He controls the tragedies that occur.

“Well, of course God controls everything, directly or indirectly – I mean, that is to say, did God blow the wind? No, not immediately – but mediately, God controls everything. God is – God allows everything that occurs; there is nothing outside the purview of His will and His purpose. We know that clearly from Scripture. [But] Does God create the forces in the moment that they act? That’s another question.”

“I mean, did God all of a sudden say, “Okay, hurricane, you go there,” or is this the conflux of all those providential elements that God has placed into existence that effect perfectly His will, even to the exact and precise life and death in every individual case? Yes.” Source

EPrata photo

As John MacArthur explained in a sermon called When God Abandons a Nation, he outlined different kinds of wrath as seen in the Bible. There’s

–Eternal wrath– the judgment upon a non-believer after death,
–Consequential wrath– the reaping of what is sown, as in, be an alcoholic, you get cirrhosis of the liver; you’re promiscuous, you get venereal disease or AIDS; you’re a criminal, you might die in a shootout,
–Eschatological wrath– the prophesied wrath the Old Testament prophets warned of and Jesus warned of in the Olivet Discourse and the wrath seen in the book of Revelation,
–Wrath of Abandonment, promised in Romans 1 when God gives a people over to their sin, lifts His hand of restraint and lets them go their way,
–Cataclysmic wrath– tornadoes and tsunamis and hurricanes etc.

God is in control over all of it. He calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He sent fire and brimstone to Sodom. He is sovereign over satan, who sent a wind/whirlwind/tornado from all directions to destroy Job’s house.

Jerry Bridges recounted a terrible earthquake in Mexico that killed 6000 people. Bridges said that a friend had asked his daughter-

“Do you know what caused the earthquake?” He planned to answer his question with a simple explanation of fault lines and shifting rocks in the earth’s crust. His seismology lesson quickly turned into a theological discussion, however, when his eight-year-old daughter replied, “I know why. God was judging those people.” Though my friend’s child had jumped to an unwarranted conclusion about God’s judgment, she was theologically correct in one sense. God was in control of that earthquake. Why He allowed it to happen is a question we cannot answer (and should not try to), but we can say, on the testimony of Scripture, that God did indeed allow it or cause it to happen. (Source)

Further, Bridges said,

Whenever we are affected by the weather—whether it is merely an inconvenience or a major disaster—we tend to regard it as nothing more than the impersonal expression of certain fixed meteorological or geological laws. … But God has not walked away from the day-to-day control of His creation. Certainly, He has established physical laws by which He governs the forces of nature, but those laws continuously operate according to His sovereign will. A Christian TV meteorologist has determined that there are over 1,400 references to weather terminology in the Bible. Many of these references attribute the outworking of weather directly to the hand of God. Most of these passages speak of God’s control over all weather, not just His divine intervention on specific occasions.

Though God sometimes uses the weather, and other expressions of nature, as an instrument of judgment (see Amos 4:7-9), He most often uses it as an expression of His gracious provision for His creation. Both saint and sinner alike benefit from God’s gracious provision of weather.

God’s sovereignty over nature does mean that, whatever we experience at the hand of the weather or other forces of nature (such as plant diseases or insect infestation of our crops), all circumstances are under the watchful eye and sovereign control of our God.

Excerpted from Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

This week I’ll take a look at the Bible and ‘the language of God’ when He had sent drought, earthquakes, lightning, fire & brimstone, and hail.

Further Reading

Ligonier – How Should We Pray when Natural Disasters Strike?

Ligonier – Responding to Disasters

Ligonier – Why Does God allow Disasters?

Jerry Bridges – God and Natural Disasters

MacArthur – When God Abandons a Nation

Posted in theology

Wynter Wakeneth Al My Care

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

‘Wynter wakeneth al my care’ is one of the earliest surviving winter poems in English literature. Its language is Middle English of the 1300s.

It’s a poem about the brevity of life – a memento mori – which is a poem or trope reminding one about the inevitability of death. It is designed to remind one about that inevitability to come upon everyone, and to reflect on what happens after death.

We don’t so much reflect on these things in current days, nor do preachers preach much on it. I remember Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God which was ALL about death and our eternal destination, reaping the rewards of sin, therefore repent. Not a common subject today.

Perhaps because death is so removed from us moderns, we are not as familiar with the Grim Reaper anymore personally. The body is taken to a funeral home, sequestered in Intensive Care Units, it isn’t prevalent in every day life as it would have been for the ancients who saw death all the time. Even warfare is partly done by bombs and missiles from afar, unlike hand to hand combat in former times, killing by one’s own sword or bayonet.

Here is the original poem:

Wynter wakeneth al my care;
Nou this leves waxeth bare.
Ofte Y sike ant mourne sare
When hit cometh in my thoht
Of this worldes joie:
Hou hit geth al to noht!

Nou hit is, ant nou hit nys,
Also hit ner nere, ywys!
That moni mon seith, soth hit ys:
Al goth bote Godes wille;
Alle we shule deye,
Thath us like ylle.

Al that gren me graveth grene;     
Nou hit faleweth al bydene.
Jesu, help that hit be sene,
Ant shild us from helle,
For Y not whider Y shal,
Ne hou longe her duelle.

Here is the translated poem:

Winter awakens all my sorrow;
Now these leaves grow barren.
Often I sigh and sadly mourn
When it enters into my thought
Regarding this world’s joy:
How it goes all to nought!

Now it is, and now it isn’t,
As if it had never been, indeed!
What many a man says, true it is:
All passes except God’s will;
We all shall die,
Though we dislike it.

All that seed men bury unripe;     
Now it withers all at once.
Jesus, help that this be known,
And shield us from hell,
For I know not whither I’ll go,
Nor how long here dwell.

“What impressed the writer was the tragic change that comes over the appearance of the woods and the meadows. The whole point of his song is that he actually sees, as did Shakespeare, hideous winter confounding the beauty of summer-stripping the branches and turning the green into the sere and yellow leaf. That sight-the death of the season-plunges him into melancholy, for he knows that life itself is as brief as summer and that for man death is as unescapable as winter.” Source, article “Wynter Wakeneth Al My Care”, by Edward Bliss Reed
Modern Language Notes, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1928).

The Lord’s Day is a good day to reflect on death, which to the Christian is still a sad subject but one that is laced with HOPE. We know our eternal destination post bodily death is eternal life. Jesus the Savior gives life to those who repent, and we will live forever with Him! A subject that has joy behind it because of the promise of reunion, happiness, and life triumphant in glory.

After winter, comes the spring.

Posted in theology

Are the reporters who focus on sex abuse in the church doing a service, or a disservice?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word errare (“to wander”), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres.” ~Wikipedia

Keep that definition in mind. Keep that picture in mind too.

Tripod Rock, Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area, Morris County, New Jersey, United States, 2019. photo/video © Brian W. Schaller / License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

I’ve written before about the importance of being balanced in our theology.

We should absorb the whole counsel of God. We should share the whole counsel of God. As Christians, we seek balance in our learning. As with anything in life, we strive to be well-rounded.

That’s not to say that we don’t have favorite doctrines. If we’re a layman or if we’re a teacher we may have a niche interest of study. RC Sproul was known for holiness and philosophy. Phil Johnson is known for his expertise on the Psalms. And, there are niches to be studied. The Doctrine of Providence. The Doctrine of Eschatology. The Doctrine of Hamartiology (Study of Sin). It’s OK to have a focused interest.

However, we should not camp on one doctrine to the exclusion of others, or delve so exclusively into our niche that our outlook becomes distorted.

In true discerning communication, there is always an attempt to point toward the good, not simply to highlight the bad. Throwing rhetorical hand grenades is pretty easy. Building a positive and convincing position is much harder.

Discernment bloggers, Truth, and Christian Witness

That quote could be applied to any study, not solely in discernment blogging, but in any Christian writing, any Christian study, any Christian life. Balance is important. Some have lost that balance in employing discernment. Others have lost it in studying eschatology. Now today, I’m speaking of a set of women who hyperfocus on sin: one sin in particular, that of sexual abuse.

Hamartiology is the study of the Doctrine of Sin, granted, but these women who constantly focus on a supposed plague of sex abuse in the church aren’t studying sin for the glory of Jesus. They are studying one sin for the besmirching of the church.

I am offended at these feminist women claiming Christ who perpetuate the myth that all churches are misogyny hatcheries, and every man, woman, and child in them are past, current, or future victims of sexual abuse. No.

Biblical odds are that since church gathers hundreds/thousands of people, some aren’t truly saved, despite professing. So, sin happens, like abuse. Also thievery, deception, adultery, embezzlement, etc. happens too. But sexual abuse has been skewed as THE one, only, main sin happening today in churches. It isn’t.

I’m reminded of John 16:2, where Jesus told his disciples,

They will ban you from the synagogue, yet an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God. John 16:2.

These women believe they are doing a service to God by constantly raising up alleged or even real cases of sex abuse they have no business in, that didn’t happen in their own church but others’, that happened 10 or 30 years ago, giving a platform for victims to recount in lengthy detail their abusers’ acts…

They think they’re helping. They aren’t helping.

Yes, the Ravi Zacharias abuse issue was horrific. Yes sexual abuse happens more and more in this world as all flavors of sin increase. Given how many apostate churches there are and how infrequently pastors preach a true gospel that includes wrath for sin, sadly, it happens in churches too.

Yet-

Jesus’ Church is beautiful, full of redeemed saints as part of His Bride. Yes, sin happens. Yes, unredeemed sinners stalk His gatherings, but the true church is glorious.

What do you think happens when a person (who professes Christ) constantly harps on one sinful topic? Especially that topic? Just as the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day when he discovered the true meaning of Christmas, (love),

that person’s heart will shrink,

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Matthew 13:15 KJV),

What does the verse mean? Barnes’ Notes:

“The meaning in both places [parallel Isaiah 6:9-10] is, that the people were so gross, sensual, and prejudiced, that they “would” not see the truth, or understand anything that was contrary to their grovelling opinions and sensual desires; a case by no means uncommon in the world.“

We should be mindful about our view of the Bride of Christ and how we speak about it. Today’s culture even in professing Christendom, people play the victim so as to gain influence, their moment of fame, or just to join the chorus. Not to diminish real pain experienced from real sin – WHATEVER that sin against you was – but ‘going public’ after the matter is resolved is often NOT necessary or even wise.

I opened with a photo of a glacial erratic. These huge rocks are pushed by a glacier as it moves inexorably along. When the glacier finally melts the huge rock is deposited where those kind of rocks don’t normally appear. It’s out of place. Erratic is from a Latin word meaning “wander”. Often perched precariously atop other rocks, or slanted on a cliff, the erratics look like they will slide away or fall down any minute.

These women hade wandered far from orthodox theology, only to have come to rest on a tenuous set of perches far from their normal location, ready to slide away any moment. They truly are glacial, and erratic.

These and other women have created a theology that perches precariously atop their skewed outlook that sex abuse is everywhere. Their perspective rests entirely on a precarious pet subject…and it isn’t Christ

As you may come across these women in your social media travels, here are some questions to ask yourself:

Are they being careful how they speak of the saints, Jesus’ church, and God’s people, especially pastors?

Does it seem they think of our Jesus as a Savior who doesn’t overlook sin, but sees His redeemed as without blemish?

Do they act like they are walking in love? Do you get the feeling they view the Church as holy and blameless?

Photo by Sooz . on Unsplash

Do you get the sense that these women care for the perpetrators, too? That they pray for them because they know they need the Gospel? Or is the prevailing sense you get from their attitude is that ‘men are nasty; church is unsafe’?

In their overall ministry, is there a sense of hope, a pointing to the true, the good, the holy?

Is there an attitude of evaluating people as being in Christ, this same Christ who has triumphed over these unsavory sins? And if repentant, that the perp is forgiven? Do you get the sense they would welcome a repentant and forgiven sex abuse perp to their church? Sit with them at church suppers?

Would you want to attend church with these women, who focus so deeply on man’s flaws instead of Christ’s perfections? Would YOU feel safe with these women if they discovered a sin in you?

Or do these sex abuse reporters display relentless, pitiless scrutiny on solid men who lead solid churches?

Or do these sex abuse reporters display relentless, pitiless scrutiny on solid men who lead solid churches?

Do you feel your own perspective shifting from believing the church is triumphant and beautiful to a view that is rife with nastiness and stain? It’s this issue that prompted me to write. So many younger women are coming to the latter belief now, instead of the former. Dogged mudslinging will do that.

These women’s continual focus is not a service to God but simply a way for them to satisfy their own prurient interests, to delve into lasciviousness, while appearing to the unwary as pious and spiritual. Or, to satisfy their lust for fame and attention by muckraking and digging up victims whom they heartlessly exploit for hits. Avoid these women like the plague they are.

Further Reading

Ligonier: Ministering to the Abused and the Abusers

GotQuestions: What does the Bible say about a contentious or quarrelsome woman?

Posted in theology

“What did I do?”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A restful Christmas break

Yesterday was the last day of a two-week school Christmas Break. It was eagerly anticipated and much needed. I’ve enjoyed it.

I set goals for the time off. I allow myself to “slunge” the first 4 days till after the actual Christmas day. Slunge is a made up word I use that’s a combination of slack and lounge. After a few days of rest, I energize myself to meet other goals and get some things done I’ve been wanting to do.

Anyway those first few days I binged media content and read a lot. The bingeing consisted of Season 17 of Project Runway, the first season of Reacher, and season 2 of Homicide Hills (A light hearted German police comedy. Yes, the Germans can be funny…).

I also watch a lot of Youtube police-suspect roadside interactions and court dockets. I love law stuff. Some years ago I considered attending Law School but opted for something else instead. With the advent of Youtube now I can be an armchair lawyer, lol. Current favorite judges are Judge Gauthier in MI and Judge Boyd in TX. I also like Judge Cedric Simpson. Anyway, the police-suspect videos, I’ve gotta stop watching. They aren’t edifying, except maybe to illustrate biblical points about sinful man’s nature.

Source. Public domain

But in my watching roadside interactions with suspects over the last year or so and my binge last week, I noticed something. The roadside suspect is one who is accused of crimes like criminal trespass, shoplifting, or driving under the influence. It is interesting to see the suspect’s reaction to an authority who has stopped them and is asking them to account for their erratic behavior.

The first thing to notice is their utter disregard for legal authority over them, embodied by the police. Very few if any of these people are polite and compliant. I realize that the videos uploaded to Youtube are probably mostly the ones that show something dramatic, and a polite suspect easily placed in handcuffs isn’t going to generate hits and views. But anyway, these suspects argue with the cops, ignore the cops, deny their crime, or run away from the cops (either on foot or in the car).

Fleeing and resisting are two things in a tense encounter with the police that will always get you into handcuffs. And so it is. As the police finally wrestle the person into the cuffs, one thing the suspecty always yells:

“WHAT DID I DO?”

Police smashes window of unruly driver.

Over and over, they play the aggrieved innocent, asking what was the cause of their arrest. ‘What did I doooo?’

The police answer. Over and over. They explain, tell, list, all the behaviors that got the person restrained and into the police car. The person rejects the facts, and continues asking ‘What did I do?’

This is an interesting pattern with perps. In one incident, the woman fled in her car for miles with police on her tail with lights and sirens. When finally cuffed, she not only kept asking ‘what did I do’, but complained that there was no secure place to stop. The crawl on the video from the uploader stated,

“The suspect passed 7 parking lots, 2 turn lanes, a gas station, and a church before finally pulling over.”

Another kept asking what did I do, and the police told her that she hit 2 cars, a light pole and she’d been driving with sparks flying from her tireless rim for a mile, with all fluids leaking out.

These suspects know what they did. They know because they just did these acts moments before. Their mind is either busy rejecting their lawless acts, or they are so deep into their drug or alcohol induced mania that they can’t think straight.

You know where this is going, probably. Matthew 7:21-23,

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Lawless sinners will meet the Lord one day. They will be amazed and shocked that their lawless deeds were not overlooked. They had convinced themselves that their deeds were reasonable, lawful, or non-existent. They’d denied, denied denied. They literally can’t think straight. Sin has made them drunk and their thinking is futile. (Romans 1:21). The mind of the lawless is amazing in its ability to suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18).

The suspect always seems totally ignorant of their crime, or denies it, or argues it away. It is amazing to see that done to an authority like the cops. But they will still do it in the Judgment to THE Authority, Jesus.

They THOUGHT they were OK. Even if deep down, they kind of knew they weren’t-

Remember Lot’s Wife: her will was never really brought into a state of obedience to God; her affections were never really set on things above. The form of religion which she had was kept up for fashion’s sake and not from feeling: it was a cloak worn for the sake of pleasing her company, but not from any sense of its value. She did as others around her in Lot’s house; she conformed to her husband’s ways; she made no opposition to his religion; she allowed herself to be passively towed along in his wake—but all this time her heart was wrong in the sight of God. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died. ~JC Ryle, tract, excerpt “Remember Lot’s Wife“.

For disobeying God by watching Sodom‘s destruction, Lot’s wife is turned into a “pillar of salt” while Lot and their daughters escape (Monreale Cathedral mosaic) Public Domain

Don’t let this be you. I plead frequently in prayer to the Holy Spirit for Him to assure me that I am not performing religion, but that my heart is truly converted and submitted to the will of God. The ability to delude one’s self is potent. The warning from Jesus Himself to “Remember Lot’s wife”.

It means we must be sure to be submitting to the right authority.

“Joab was David’s captain; Gehazi was Elisha’s servant; Demas was Paul’s companion; Judas Iscariot was Christ’s disciple; and Lot had a worldly, unbelieving wife. These all died in their sins.” JC Ryle, “Remember Lot’s Wife“.

Proximity to religion will not save you! Arguing with the authority after the fact will not save you! Jesus knows the heart. Only the converted, repentant, faithful heart will be the standard by which He accepts anyone into His kingdom.

Let’s do our best to witness by word and by our lives, to pray for the lost, and to encourage one another to good deeds. We do not want to be the ones at the Final Court asking, “What did I do wrong?”

Posted in theology

Remember!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Sermons hit different people differently. Some say it was the best they’d ever heard, others say meh. It’s why I don’t usually post sermons claiming such things, the Holy Spirit emphasizes different things to different people. What I think is blockbuster the next person can take or leave, and vice versa.

Individually, like for myself, I can’t tell what the Spirit is doing. I can’t tell if I’d advanced in sanctification a lot or a little that day, month, year. There aren’t bells or alarms that indicate such things.

But, we KNOW that the Holy Spirit leads us. We KNOW that He advances us in Christlikeness day by day. But can we detect it?

Not usually. But sometimes.

Allow me to share my experience. In November of this past year, I tuned in to a sermon from The Master’s Seminary because I was curious about the title: “The Secret to Endurance”. It was delivered by Dr. Abner Chou. I’ve listened to him before. I went through his Seminary course in Job, twice. And Exodus. I’ve heard his sermons and Chapel talks. He talks fast and is high-level. Many times I can’t keep up. But I keep at it.

Anyway, I was curious about ‘the secret.’ I tuned in. His text was Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, (2 Timothy 2:8). The sermon was aimed at pastors and soon-to-be pastors but it is highly applicable to anyone in ministry, AND any lay person who just wants to endure.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, (2 Timothy 2:8)

I enjoyed the sermon. It’s good. As happens many times with the Holy Spirit, one particular thing ‘jumped out at me.’ The word “remember”.

Abner Chou can wring out more truth from one word than I think any man alive. He spent some time setting up the premise for Paul telling Timothy to remember, then explained the word remember’s meaning.

Remember Jesus Christ…

I took that part of the sermon to heart. It imprinted in me. Since early November to early December, every time I heard the word remember, I thought of that sermon. In December it drove me batty enough so I tuned back in and re-listened to that part, except longer before and after the part I was wrestling with.

And again throughout December, every time I heard the word remember. I brought it back up and read the transcript.

This morning someone posted on Twitter a JC Ryle link to a short essay called Remember Lot’s Wife. I’m curious about that scene in the Bible as well so I downloaded the link and read the essay. It’s a really good essay. (free download here).

The word remember, remember, remember kept coming up in my mind, so I looked up the sermon AGAIN today. This time I re-listened to the entire thing. Though I enjoyed it the first time in November, this time, something was happening. I cried tears after tears listening to all the explanations about the power of Jesus, the Person of Jesus, the preeminence of Jesus. Paul’s use of the term Jesus Christ, Paul’s entire goal in life to honor Jesus, verses and more verses.

Even though I’d heard the sermon before in its entirety and in parts 2X after that, this time I sat stock still, eyes glued to the screen. I did not multitask. I did not move. All I did was get tissue after tissue and listen, amazed at the beauty and grace of Christ presented through the eyes of Paul to Timothy. The Spirit was obviously doing something. What, I do not know. Knitting truth to my soul…transforming my mind…

It HAS to be the Spirit. I wasn’t moved over a romantic comedy. I wasn’t moved reading a story over a lost cat. I didn’t have tears over a sad news story. It was scripture. And if it’s scripture, it has to be the Spirit, who uses scripture to point to Jesus.

We cannot grow if we do not absorb the scriptures (hearing it or reading it for ourselves). We need to meet with Jesus to learn about Him and be pliable to have the Spirit form Christlikeness in us. If you hear something or read something and your mind keeps turning back to it, follow it up. I’m not talking about mystical signs or omens. But if you keep meditating on a scripture, or part of scripture, then, what are you waiting for? Keep digging. It may be an example of the Spirit leading you. Even if it isn’t, it’s a good thing to return to a verse and keep praying over it for deeper meaning. And if it is, you will have glorified Jesus whom the Spirit is leading you to meet with.

I humbly bow to the power of the Spirit-filled word. I am grateful to the Savior for fashioning for me a life where I can listen to sermons like this, to have time to do so and space to ruminate on the powerful preaching. He is a good, good God. I will remember.

Posted in theology

Lectio Divina is not a harmless Bible reading practice. Here’s why

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

You are at risk. Every minute. IF you are in Christ, that is.

EPrata collage

Satan seeks those whom he may devour. He does not rest. He got Peter, didn’t he? Peter had been with the Lord day and night for three years. Seen all the healings, miracles, heard all the lessons. Peter knew Jesus was the Christ. (Matthew 16:16). Yet when the moment of highest pressure came, Peter denied Jesus. Succumbing to his/our corrupt nature, he opted for self preservation.

Satan is subtle (Genesis 3:1), relentless (1 Peter 5:8), bold (Matthew 4), has an evil, prideful agenda (Isaiah 14:13), deceitful (Ephesians 6:11) and more.

Satan masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14). A masquerade is someone dressing as someone else, in costume and with a mask so as to hide their true self.

HOW does satan deceive? By promoting error and undermining. Matthew Henry says,

They would be as industrious and as generous in promoting error as the apostles were in preaching truth; they would endeavour as much to undermine the kingdom of Christ as the apostles did to establish it.

By promoting error and undermining.

Satan’s subtlety and his masquerade means that something that’s deadly will be hidden as something good, religious, even. The error won’t look like error. It’s hidden behind a mask, remember? But it hides its true nature behind the mask, and will eventually damage you.

One example of his subtle evil is when he inserted Lectio Divina (LD) into the true church. LD is a Roman Catholic/Mystical practice, so it comes from the false church. It is a practice that on its surface, seems good, holy, proper. But satan masquerades, remember. LD only has a veneer of goodness to it. Take the mask off and you can see its true nature.

Many people these days refuse to look beyond the mask. Ephesians 6:11 says to

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Satan has schemes. Many people these days also refuse to even put ON their armor, never mind look into these things to see IF there is a mask and if so, to see what is lurking behind it.

screen shot from Passion 2012 segment where Lectio Divina (lite) was taught to 16,000 attendees.

LD arose over ten years ago and immediately became popular when Francis Chan, Beth Moore, Louis Giglio, Lecrae (I think), and John Piper taught 16000 impressionable youths at the Passion Conference a version of how to do it. The lesson became seeds of false doctrine that the youths returned to their churches to plant. This is both error and undermining, satan’s tactics.

The panel stood on stage before the youths and one by one went through what seems to be a modification of the full LD process, and all the while, a 30 foot high billboard behind them was emblazoned not once but twice with the mantra, “Jesus, speak to us”. Asking Jesus to speak outside his word is error, and it underme the sufficiency of scripture.

Does God still give revelation?

Beth Moore, for example, read a passage from the Bible, and then urged the youths to “be still and ask Jesus to speak his word to us.”

No. The audience had just heard Jesus speak His word. (Hebrews 1:1-2). She had JUST read His word to them. Jesus IS the Word. (John 1:1). The prayer should not be, ‘Jesus speak your word to us’, but ‘Holy Spirit illuminate the word to us.’

What is the biblical doctrine of illumination?

those eyes…

Though these kind of practices are fads negatively impacting the global church, and some fade quickly, LD is still kicking around. I saw women on Twitter defend Lectio Divina this week. One defender said:

Here. Here is where we get these ideas. Brad Klassen explains what Lectio Divina is and why we should stay away from practicing it.

The Bible and Lectio Divina: A Helpful Tool or a Dangerous Practice?

It’s a good article, just a 10-minute read. Klassen proposes 4 reasons why Lectio Divina is harmful to your walk with Christ.

Lectio Divina is dangerous due to-
-Its historical origin and development
-Its alienation of the human writer
-Its eisegesis
-Its subjectivity

After explaining the 4 reasons, Klassen concludes,

While more reasons [not to do LD] could be listed, these suffice. Lectio divina—the “sacred reading” of the Bible—is not just one more instrument that the Christian can add to his spiritual toolbox to better read the Word of God. Inherent to its practice are elements that lead the reader away from the meaning of the text and toward the reader’s own subjective intuition.

I encourage you to read his article.

Satan is subtle. You need to be wary of a fad that enters the church and is almost eagerly accepted, even if it seems to be everywhere, even by people on stages you might look up to. Your faith needs to remain as pure as possible. So, put on the armor, look behind the mask, and pray for illumination.

Further Resources

Discernment review: The mystical practice of Lectio Divina

Why I no longer follow John Piper or Desiring God ministry

When Study Isn’t Study

No Shortcuts to Growth

Posted in theology

The LORD hung the moon; exploring Creation

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

God made this and hung it on nothing. EPrata photo

It’s January 2 and people, including me, are in the throes of their new Bible Reading Plan for the year. I chose to go through the G3 Bible Reading plan again. It’s a 5-day Narratives plan accompanied by hymn, prayer, workbook for reflection. You read through all of the major narratives of Scripture, plus Psalms and Proverbs, in a year. Read only 5 days per week. It also includes a 52-Weekly Catechism, Bible memory, and weekly hymns that correspond with the larger Devotional Guide. I had bought the whole spiral bound booklet. Or you can download for free one by one the parts you like. You can find it all here, and there is a lot available: https://g3min.org/tune-my-heart/

This Plan starts with Genesis 1 and 2. I love the Creation account. I believe what the Bible says in Genesis 1 and 2. There was a literal 6 day creation by God who made it all, and created the first 2 humans. Male and female He made them.

Twitter meme going around

Did you ever think about what that moment was like? God creating Adam fully formed. A thinking, speaking adult. He could have spoken Adam into existence like He’d just done with the universe, stars, moon, sun, lands, and animals. But He didn’t. Genesis 2:7 says,

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person.

We often say we would love to have been a fly on the wall watching this or that. The angels did have a balcony seat. (Job 38:4-7) and they shouted for joy when they saw it.

Barnes’ Notes says of that moment of creation:

Shouted for joy – That is, they joined in praise for so glorious a work as the creation of a new world. They saw that it was an event which was fitted to honor God. It was a new manifestation of his goodness and power; it was an enlargement of his empire…

No one can demonstrate that the work of creation may not now be going on in some remote part of the universe, nor that God may not yet form many more worlds to be the monuments of his wisdom and goodness, and to give occasion for augmented praise. Who can tell but that this process may be carried on forever, and that new worlds and systems may continue to start into being, and there be continually new displays of this inexhaustible goodness and wisdom of the Creator? When this world was made, there was occasion for songs of praise among the angels. It was a beautiful world. All was pure, and lovely, and holy. Man was made like his God, and everything was full of love.”

“Surveying the beautiful scene, as the world arose under the plastic hand of the Almighty – its hills, and vales, and trees, and flowers, and animals, there was occasion for songs and rejoicings in heaven. Could the angels have foreseen, as perhaps they did, what was to occur here, there was also occasion for songs of praise such as would exist in the creation of no other world. This was to be the world of redeeming love; this the world where the Son of God was to become incarnate and die for sinners; this the world where an immense host was to be redeemed to praise God in a song unknown to the angels – the song of redemption, in the sweet notes which shall ascend from the lips of those who shall have been ransomed from death by the great work of the atonement.” –-end Barnes’ Notes

Man, those old timey men could write.

I love adventure stories. Exploration particularly intrigues me. Shackleton’s survival story after the Endurance sank in 1916 near the South Pole has to be one of the most gripping ever. And most amazing ever. By the way, the Endurance22 crew completed the most difficult shipwreck search in the world when in 2022 announced they had found the Endurance at the bottom of the Weddell Sea at the South Pole. The photos are mouth-droppingly stunning.

I just finished reading a book recounting the reconnaissance mission to Mount Everest in 1951, which laid the groundwork for the successful ascent of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Kiwi Edmund Hillary to the top in 1953. The book isn’t long and is heavy on photos. Some of the pictures show some of the mission’s climbers from the back, as he looks forward and up to the mountains at the roof of the world. And it’s aptly named, the Range does look like the roof of the world.

I look at those pictures and wonder, with all the ice and crags and forbidding rocks like teeth, ready to grip a man forever to hold him in an icy embrace (like it did to George Mallory, who wasn’t found for 75 years), what prompts a man to say ‘I want to climb that’? Or a man to look at the south pole and say “I want to sail there”? Why?

It was famed alpine climber George Mallory who took part in a 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition who is said to have replied to a reporter why he wanted to climb the tallest mountain in the world:

“Because it’s there”.

photo of the roof of the world and Everest peak from Shipton’s Reconnaissance book

When God breathed life into Adam, did He also breathe into us an insatiable curiosity about His creation? Or is that willingness to wander and observe, to know what is over the next rise, to see behind the next wave, part of the mandate God told Adam to cultivate the Garden and keep it? Or did that come from after the Fall with man wanting to dominate the world and subdue it as a god himself?

There are many things about the creation account that intrigue me. Maybe the LORD will be gracious and tell us when we get over yonder. Or maybe we will simply be satisfied with who He is, THE I AM, and not ask about those origins.

Meanwhile men still wander all over the earth. The submersible Titan in 2023 which descended to view the wreck of the Titanic imploded is testament to that, men want to explore the final earthly frontier, the deeps. Men have hurled themselves into space…crawled all over the earth from the top of Everest to the deepest point, Mariana Trench (by camera). Why? “Because it’s there.”

But the best exploration is to the depths of man’s soul, introspection of the deepest abyss that here exists: our sinful depravity. Standing transcendently apart from our corrupted soul is God. He is there.

All this roaming and exploring and seeing and understanding is vain. Standing on the moon is pointless unless one acknowledges the God who made it. Looking down upon the world from the roof of Everest is void unless one acknowledges the God who made it.

because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For 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 are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20).

In the beginning, God created…

Posted in theology

Happy New Year 2024! And about resolutions…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

As I arise this morning, January 1, 2024, I reflect on the Lord’s faithfulness to me, and to all His children, His church, and to His word. For eons it has been so. He is the LORD and He does what He says. His promises are pure, holy, and eternal. 2023 was no different. I am grateful for his past faithfulness and promises of future faithfulness.

For we are a sanctuary of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean, And I will welcome you. 18 And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18; 2 Corinthians 7:1

I was blessed in 2023 with being able to continue in the wonderful job He gave me which was working with children. I continued in my church, another blessing He has given me. I continued in my warm, clean, beautiful home, what a blessing. I had health, means, peace, punctuated by occasional happy surprises.

Aging issues are real. I noticed in 2023 that my mental faculties are dimmer, a bit blurry around the edges. I am not as alert after work as long into the evening as I used to be. I also cannot count on energy being present. Sometimes I have it after work, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have it on the weekends, sometimes I don’t. Because of this, after school I tended to slide into less productivity for the Lord. Not reading my Bible as long, not researching as deeply, and sadly also, not reading as many books either secular or theological.

I have never been that successful with “New Year’s Resolutions”. Self-help usually fails. But when it’s a resolve to pursue holiness, to walk more closely with the Lord, to work toward glorifying Him through my earthly decisions, well now, that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, isn’t it! I deeply desire to serve Jesus and please Him.

The Author of Hebrews 12:14, wrote, Pursue peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Be a slave to God Romans 6:22, because ‘the fruit you reap leads to holiness,’

This time of year people usually turn to Jonathan Edwards’ famous Resolutions, as well they should. Beginning in 1722 at age 19, Jonathan Edwards wrote 70 resolutions designed to help him live a holy life.

You can get them at Chapel Library online or sent to you for free, Here, John Piper, a student of Edwards, wrote about them in an article titled The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. He reorganized the resolutions into groups of similar theme, if that helps.

Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758)

Edwards was intent on pursuing God’s glory, spiritual good for himself, and the good of fellow man. He was only 19, but several of the resolutions spoke of the end of his life and his eventual death. For me, this one from Edwards kind of sums up the whole resolutions thing: #17,

Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

Here at Ligonier in an article titled The Resolution Solution, Gene Edward Veith shows the difference between Edwards’ resolutions and the ones made by Benjamin Franklin who’d taken a cue from Edwards shortly after Edwards issued his. Franklin called his experiment of pursuing 13 virtues in 1726 “A bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection”. Gulp. We know where this is going to end, don’t we? Edwards looked to God. Franklin looked to self.

Edwards’ resolves “were focused on God’s glory, Scripture, heaven and hell, and Jesus Christ; Franklin’s were secular, pragmatic, and this-worldly, focused on becoming a good citizen and a successful businessman.”

How did it turn out for Franklin? Did he achieve ‘moral perfection’?

Benjamin Franklin 1706 – 1790)

“Franklin kept a chart upon which he made check marks indicating his progress. When he found that he had problems keeping them all at once, he tried concentrating on one virtue at a time. When he found that he was still not making all that much progress, he eventually gave up the whole plan.“

Sound familiar? Yet Apostle Paul struggled, like we all do. He wrote,

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:19-25).

Ruth in the Bible had made a resolution. Let’s look at her resolve:

But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. (Ruth 1:16).

Pieter Lastman ca. 1583 – 1633. Ruth Declares her Loyalty to Naomi

Jonathan Edwards was impressed with Ruth’s resolve, writing in his essay “Ruth’s Resolution“,

I would particularly observe that wherein the Virtuousness of this her Resolution consists, viz. That it was for the Sake of the God of Israel, and that she might be one of his People that she was thus resolved to cleave to Naomi. … It was for God’s sake that she did thus, and therefore her so doing is afterwards spoken of as a virtuous behavior in her, Ruth 2:11,12, …She left her father and mother, and the land of her nativity, to come and trust under the shadow of God’s wings,

Our resolutions can be as specific and lengthy as Edwards’ or a simple as Ruth’s. But whatever you resolve, they should not be rested upon self, as Ben Franklin’s was. We should resolve things. We are told to walk, run, pursue God’s standards in obedience. We must ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling.’ (Philippians 2:12). These are all active verbs. For us to be active we must decide, resolve, commit.

So whatever kind of resolve you have made looking into the New Year, if they are centered on God’s will, His glory, and His kingdom, He will be sure to bless you and sustain you. We don’t resolve to seek moral perfection, we know that cannot happen anyway until the glorification comes. But we pursue Jesus and work to become more like Him every day, day over day. We realize we can’t do it ourselves, even Paul couldn’t. If we look to Jesus always, and rely on the Spirit through prayer, growing in knowledge of His word, and surmounting sin, our victories whether large or small will increase.

Make your resolutions, then put one foot in front of the other, steeple your hands in prayer, keep the eyes focused upward, and walk on into 2024. That’s what I plan to do. Resolved.

Posted in encouragement

"Dear Sisters" : encouragement

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

To all my sisters who have lost a loved one and are facing the first New Year alone…

To all my sisters who have spoken up for the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ in Bible study and have been kicked out because of it…

To all my sisters who have approached their pastor with concerns of false teaching and have been spiritually abused instead of comforted…or even heard…

To all my sisters who are struggling to be a good Christian wife with a non-believing husband…or an apathetic husband…

To all my sisters who have a spouse deployed overseas this year…

To my lonely and hurting and grief-stricken and saddened sisters. You’re not alone.

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

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Posted in theology

David Platt discernment bundle: “The Real David Platt” new film, Platt’s wokeness, Isa dreams, Radical, and more

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

What is discernment?

Discernment is a gift and a skill. It is a gift when it is given to certain people, as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10,

To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: (KJV. underline mine)

and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. (NASB).

It’s a skill ALL Christians have and should train constantly, as in Hebrews 5:14,

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil. (NASB)

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV).

How I approach utilizing discernment

I have a “three-item” standard. In discernment work, we do not jump at the least little thing a public teacher or local pastor says. We use common sense, review the bulk of a ministry for context, and wait, watching alertly but remaining self-controlled and measured. We overlook something he or she said that’s the equivalent of a typo.

But if we see or hear of something bigger, something that can be tested against scripture, we raise our discernment alarm. One item can be a mistake. Two times could be a coincidence. But three things, now that’s a pattern. Here is my standard:

1st piece of information: Discernment unease
2nd piece of information: Discernment alert
3rd piece of information: Discernment alarm, go public

And so it was with my assessment of David Platt through the years.

Who is David Platt?

Platt “was senior pastor at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2006 to 2014. At the time he was the youngest megachurch pastor in the United States. From 2014 to 2017, Platt was president of the International Mission Board. He became pastor-teacher at McLean Bible Church in 2017. He is the author of the 2010 New York Times Best Seller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.” (Wikipedia)

#1- Discernment unease: Radical (2010-2012)

Radical was published in 2010. It hit conservative churches like a bomb. It was a push-back against the lives Platt saw of conservative faithful settling into a consumerism complacency instead of daring to be uncomfortable and taking the faith to the lost in dangerous places. Book blurb:

It’s easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily…

Kevin DeYoung at the time (2010) wrote a fair review of Radical. “Getting to the Root of Radical“. One of DeYoung’s concerns tracked with my main concern: “It is easy to stir people to action by relating how little everyone else has and how much we have in America, but we are not meant to have constant low-level guilt because we could be doing more.”

Low-level guilt was a thread throughout the book I assessed as emotional manipulation. I’ve also seen it coined as Platt’s “poverty gospel”.

Anyway, I was asked to teach through the 6-lesson Radical Small Group Study that came out in 2012. I was uncomfortable with Platt after having read his book Radical, but he’d quoted and used a lot of John MacArthur in the curriculum, so I stuck to the MacArthur side of things, thereby doing diligence to the trust the pastors had placed in me but also not upsetting my conscience. Going through the lessons raised my discernment radar on Platt. I thought the book was emotional, unbalanced, and in the end, dangerous.

#2- Discernment alert- Urbana15 (2015)

It was at InterVarsity’s 24th student missions conference in 2015 I could not believe what I was seeing. Urbana is “One of the largest student missions conferences in the world, …and combines gospel proclamation, dynamic worship, and missionary connection to launch students into a life of reaching people with the good news.”

Platt spoke there as he often does.

Platt preached of the unnamed woman in Matthew 26 who poured out her expensive perfume, and compared that to pouring out our heart to the Lord. He did mention sin in his sermon, but never uttered the word “repent”. He emotionally pleaded to the thousands assembled there to “decide for Christ”, and said ushers would come by and give them a glowstick which the attendees should break “if they had decided to follow Jesus for the first time”, knowing “that Jesus is worthy of their heart and life”.

Screenshot: Platt explaining how to use the glowstick to indicate one’s decision to follow Jesus

He said to the impressionable youths to hold up the glowstick as a picture of their heart now poured out to Christ. There was a room they could go to where they’d be provided resources, and someone would pray with them to “celebrate God’s grace in you.”

Screenshot: A volunteer at Urbana 15 passing out glowsticks to those standing who’d indicated they ‘decided to follow Jesus’

No. No. No. One never declares a person saved on the spot. This leads to false conversions. Certainly not from a podium to a darkened room full of young people who’d just heard an emotional plea to follow Christ for the first time – but said plea was absent a plea for repentance of sins.

Urbana’s video of Platt at Urbana 15. Above, Youtube’s video of the same event. Youtube is convenient because it has the transcript.

Platt said for the kids to hold up their glowsticks in order to “express affection, adoration, longing, and love for Christ.” Emotional terms. But what about the plea for repentance, holy fear, submission, confession? All these terms were absent from Platt’s decisional altar call.

Devastating. My radar on Platt went to Discernment alert.

#3- Discernment Alarm: Isa Dreams (2018)

In 2018, then-International Mission Board President David Platt delivered a 6-minute report to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting affirming Isa as Messiah and conversion through Muslim dreams. He told of some Muslims in a closed country having dreams of Isa and reporting that “This formerly Muslim couple is now a follower of Isa the Messiah.“

Isa is not the Messiah.

Interestingly, the SBC always fully published their leaders’ reports after the Annual Meeting, but in this particular case, the subsequent transcription published on the IMB website OMITS that Platt had stated that the couple is now following “Isa the Messiah”. Instead they transcribed that Platt said the couple is following “the Messiah”. Also interestingly, unlike in past years where the full report is published on Youtube or the IMB site, that year only a recap video was available. I transcribed his speech from the live video as it was being recorded by someone who was physically present, that’s how I know of the omission when I compared the two.

The following link of mine has the transcript. Blasphemy: Jesus is not Isa, Isa is not Jesus

Anyone who calls Isa a messiah of the faithful Christians is NOT to be followed. He is not credible. Done. Finito. It’s like calling Yahweh Molech or Dagon. This was the third nail in the discernment coffin for me as to who David Platt is. Why?

Isa is a made-up satanic entity in the Muslim tradition who is not deity, was never actually crucified, never died, where a substitute was placed on the cross to fool the Jews, (Suran al-Ma’idah 4:157), was raised to heaven alive (Surah al-Imran (3:55) and who will return to earth to worship the ‘one god’ [not Trinitarian] Allah and kill Christians, break the cross, remove jizyah (A Muslim tax) and rule (forcibly converted) Muslims “with justice.” (Surah al-Imran (3:55).

Critical Mass: Platt’s worst revealed, in new Documentary

Screenshot: https://therealdavidplatt.com/

A new documentary is coming out in 2024 in which a sneak peek of 10 minutes was published at Christmastime 2023.

The link includes describing Platt’s alleged leadership and financial malfeasance of McLean Bible church, allegations by former members and leaders. The film is called The Real David Platt.

It reportedly interviews many of McLean’s church members, elders, and leaders who have departed the church or who they say were forcibly excommunicated after having asked questions of finances and other issues. The interviewees describe their negative experiences there and outline their concerns and fear, often with tears for McLean church, its leaders, and fellow members.

It should be noted that the extended trailer does not include anyone representing from ‘the other side,’ that I saw, although I hope and pray in journalistic ethics the producers give McLean elders and Platt opportunity to speak in the full documentary. We do not know who is behind the documentary, although Jon Harris of Conversations That Matter (linked below) said he worked on intake of the interviewees for the film. He discusses the documentary below.

Conclusion

2010-2012- I’ve seen him off since the book Radical was published. I had concerns when asked to teach thru his Radical book curriculum in 2012 I saw more; and I disliked Platt’s guilt-tripping “poverty gospel”.

2015 when he touted 681 non-Christians made a decision of faith to follow Jesus, signified by glowsticks? at Urbana15

2018- Again in 2018 when Platt affirmed Isa dreams. I was done with Platt 6 years ago in 2018.

But for others, these indicators were not enough to call David Platt, evangelical darling, NYT bestselling author megachurch pastor, a wolf. However, by now at the end of 2023 there is plenty to show that Platt is not to be followed. There’s the Critical Race Theory/social justice/woke stances he spoke at public pulpits over the years, the lawsuit, and allegations of financial greed and authority misuse (internal documents supporting these allegations are promised to be shown in the full movie).

Sadly, we must strenuously urge people to stay away from his material, to repudiate his works, and if having promoted or followed him, to repent. Below are many other resources outlining issues with Platt, and this list is NOT comprehensive.

Further resources

The End Time: Blasphemy: Isa is not Jesus and Jesus is not Isa

Think on These Things: “An Evaluation Of Muslim Dreams & Visions Of Isa (Jesus)” “...one can rejoice in Muslim conversions while still expressing concerns about the messenger, especially since the Isa of Muslim dreams isn’t simply calling Muslims to believe in the Jesus of the Bible; he is calling them to believe in him (Isa).

Jon Harris at Conversations that Matter, discusses this new documentary The Real David Platt?

Here we have The Dissenter with a compilation of statements posted Aug 11, 2021 from Platt titled “David Platt’s Worst Woke Statements Ever“. They wrote: ” David Platt’s McLean Bible Church is currently in the midst of a crisis of division and disunity that was clearly caused by his unbiblical embrace of social justice, particularly, a worldly form of “racial justice,” as an outworking of the gospel. This montage is for the purpose of demonstrating that David Platt has clearly embraced all of this movement.”

Capstone Report: A chronological roundup of Platt’s woke trajectory. David Platt is Harming McLean Bible Church With Social Justice Theology

Evangelical Dark Web: David Platt’s Million-dollar Lawsuit