Tag: bible

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

The Hidden Strength of Mundane Faith Practices

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

So many people, especially women, are hopscotching the globe founding important ministries, establishing orphanages, ’empowering’ native women, or teaching to packed arenas, that it makes the rest of us humdrum ladies feel, ahem, left behind. Should we be doing the big things? Can we do the bigger things? Are we doing enough?

All I do every single day, is go to work. I come home and I study my Bible &pray, I write, and if I have enough energy after that, I read a bit. Then I go to sleep and do it all over again. On the weekends all I do is grocery shopping, laundry, cooking the week’s lunches ahead, and study a lot more and write a lot more. I go to church on Sunday late afternoon. Bed time. Repeat.

I’m not skipping off to host conferences or giving interviews on panels or unashamedly on tour or in Rwanda on a storytelling trip. I wash dishes in obscurity in GA and my job is to help kindergarteners tie their shoes and learn their ABC’s. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t seem like it’s very much at all of a contribution to the kingdom. I mean, Beth Moore is a 60+ year old grandma busy with her panels, and cohorts, and Bible studies, and traveling tours. She keeps a packed schedule. Younger women also seem to be doing the big things, the glamorous things, like Jennie Allen and Raechel Myers and Kari Jobe. As for me, I’m just plodding.

Well, let’s hear it for the plodders.

First, if you are a mother, you are in a highly esteemed Biblical position. You are doing such wonderful work for the kingdom in being a foundation block in society, in raising pure young women and strong young men for the next generation. I thank Mrs George G. Paton and Mrs Eliza Spurgeon and Mrs Irene MacArthur and all the other Missus’ who raised men and women who in turn, impact the kingdom.

Secondly if you think of the life of Paul most often we think of the highlights. His speeches before thousands, his dramatic miracles, his appearances before kings and leaders.

However, Paul also walked. Thousands upon thousands of miles, he plodded. He trudged. He hiked. From one town to another, in all weathers. In addition, Paul sewed tents. (Acts 18:3). He did the mundane. He wrote letter upon letter to friends. He fundraised. The in-between miracle times in his three missionary journeys were rife with the mundane and the insignificant, except nothing about a Christian’s life is insignificant. Not Paul’s and not mine and not yours. The Lord cares for all our concerns. He clothes us and feeds us and He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. To Him, it’s all significant.

As for the women of the New Testament, Dorcas was beloved not because she was on storytelling tours of Rwanda empowering women for ‘style and justice’, but because she sewed. She made clothes for the poor and she “was always doing good”. (Acts 9:36). She lovingly helped, humbly and quietly, within her own sphere.

Mary, mother of God? Do we hear of her going on her book tour, telling about the angel that came to her one day, and the miracle of the three wise men or hyping up audiences with her harrowing tale of narrowly escaping the massacre of the innocents? No. Whether she was in Egypt or in Israel, Mary simply raised her Son. She brought Him up in the faith and managed her household and she raised Jesus’ siblings too. A few times a year she made the pilgimage to the Temple and the rest of the time, she did what women then and onward have done, she lived in her home and she was faithful to the Lord through His word.

Here are two articles about the plodding kind of faith that endures. That kind of faith is cement. It’s bedrock.

The first is by Kevin DeYoung, titled, Stop the Revolution. Join the Plodders.

It’s sexy among young people—my generation—to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.

This one is one of my favorites. It’s by John MacArthur, titled An Unremarkable Faith

Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry. Teaching osmosis to junior high students, playing Uno with his kids, and working in the yard with Cathy is paradise to him. But the real love of his life is Jesus. Larry’s a Christian. He’s been walking with the Lord for more than 20 years.

Not that founding orphanages isn’t worthwhile or something women or men can’t or shouldn’t do. Not that going on a missionary trip to Africa isn’t something Jesus wants us to do. But the big doers are fewer than we think, despite the hype. Most of the church is populated with plodders. As Kevin DeYoung concluded his article,

Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did.

Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

Posted in discernment, parable, tares, weeds

The Wheat and Tares: A Biblical Analogy Explained

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Parable of the Weeds
 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30)

Donald Grey Barnhouse, in his sermon “What is God Doing Today?” explained,

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ taught clearly that we are in this age to sow the seed – that is, to spread the Gospel. But we are to expect that only part of the seed will fall on good ground, that is, believing hearts. And that the rest will not produce good fruit. The fault is not with the seed, but with the hearts. Christ taught that satan would plant counterfeit believers in the midst of true believers so that it would be difficult to tell the real from the false. The true and the false, the real and the counterfeit grow together until the harvest which is the end of the age in which we live. These truths He taught in the Parable of the Sower and the Wheat and Tares. And he gave the explicit interpretation Himself, not leaving it to man’s imagination. The good and the bad are to grow together. Neither will destroy the other. God will take care of the separation.

Matthew Henry:

So prone is fallen man to sin, that if the enemy sow the tares, he may go his way, they will spring up, and do hurt; whereas, when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced.

EPrata photo

What is a weed? It is useful to study the properties of the object of the agricultural metaphor which the Lord in His wisdom used to explain the parable to us. As we read these properties of weeds, let’s keep in mind how these properties mirror the properties of the unbeliever. At the Penn State Extension website, we read Introduction to Weeds,

–a plant growing where it is not wanted
–a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. (R.W.Emerson). [Ed note: i.e. a virtueless plant]
–plants that are competitive, persistent, pernicious, and interfere negatively with human activity (Ross, et. al.)
–No matter what definition is used, weeds are plants whose undesirable qualities outweigh their good points.

These qualities of weeds certainly mirror the unbeliever’s qualities. Unbelievers in the world interfere with our activity, in pernicious, persistent, and competitive ways. This is because they are sown by satan. To continue looking at weeds:

Certain characteristics are associated with and allow the survival of weeds. Weeds posses one or more of the following:

a) abundant seed production;
b) rapid population establishment;
c) seed dormancy;
d) long-term survival of buried seed;
e) adaptation for spread;
f) presence of vegetative reproductive structures; and
g) ability to occupy sites disturbed by human activities.

I was particularly struck by the notion that weeds engage in “rapid population establishment”. Satan does not rest. One weed soon leads to others.

Weeds are troublesome in many ways. Primarily, they reduce crop yield by competing for water, light, soil nutrients, and space.

The parable is fairly simple, as parables go. The field is not the church. The Lord said the field is the world. (Mt 13:38). If we interpret the field as the church, then we would have a conflict with Matthew 18:15-17, which says to put unrepentant sinners out of the church, i.e. uproot them. So the field is the world, and the unbelievers are sown by satan.

In this tolerant, all-inclusive age, some people chafe when we say that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who are children of the Kingdom and those who are children of satan. We hate to think that there is no middle ground, or love to think that there must be ‘some good’ in people, they’re kinda, almost, mostly good. But no. If a person is not under the control and sovereignty of the Lord Jesus, they are under the control and sovereignty of satan. Wheat or tares. There are no hybrids.

The parable is telling us that we believers are sown into the world by Jesus. Let’s stop there. How wonderful! To be specifically planted by Jesus in the time and in the place He desires us to be grown is a very comforting thought. Matthew Henry wrote the comment to the verse by saying, “when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced,” and how wonderful it is to know we are being grown, nurtured and tended by Christ Himself.

The last part of the parable reminds us that Christ will do the separating at the end of the age. Again, this does not mean pastors aren’t to pursue biblical correction or even excommunication for unrepentant church members. It means that the world’s harvest will be accomplished by Jesus, since He has the power and discernment to see men’s hearts.(John 2:24).

The tares’ fate is to be thrown into the fire, and a woeful moment that will be for them, but for believers it will be an honor to watch Jesus right everything and avenge His name. (Revelation 6:10, 19:2).

Angels if you notice are God’s ministers of judgment. They often carry out the judgments God pronounces. They did at Sodom, also, it was an angel of the Lord that struck Herod down, and throughout Revelation angels execute the dread judgments, to name a few examples. And at the end of the age, they are the harvesters.

The five worst words in the Bible in my opinion. “…and the earth was reaped”. It demonstrates the power and might of the Lord to easily punish men. It also shows the meager and measly efforts of man to thwart Him. It is not possible. It is a terrifying verse because at some point all things will not go on as they have been. There is an end day. It will end for the tares/weeds. But it will continue in glory for the wheat!

 

Posted in theology

The easy-peasy way to discern a false teacher

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There is an easy way to tell if a teacher you like, follow, admire, or ‘learn from’ is false. I’m going to reveal this heretofore (not so) hidden way to detect false teachers. I could go on like the liberal theologians who say ‘this is a new method for interpreting’ or ‘I have a freshly discovered method…’ but I won’t. It’s been there all along. Here it is. Are you ready for this shocking message?

The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;” (1 John 2:4).

People who say “Jesus, Jesus” but sin against him constantly by living a life contrary to His commands, or teach falsely, do not have the truth in them. In other words, they are not saved.

They are revealed to be hypocritical. As John wrote in the verse above, a person cannot have an authentic relationship with Jesus and obstinately and consistently oppose His commandments with their actions.

The inward transformation of a person results in outward transformation (compare Matt 15:11). The work of Christ in a person necessitates them acting on His behalf, out of love (1 John 3:17). Source Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus made it very easy for us. Yet so many people say “but, but, but” and make layers upon layers of excuses.

“But she talks about Jesus all the time!” Of course they do. They talk about knowing Jesus right up to the moment they face Jesus and claim to His face that they know him. But they don’t. And he says so.(Matthew 7:22-23).

“But she does so many nice things!” I know. So did the Pharisees. Outwardly they did all the right things, seemingly. But Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27). Inside they were dead. They did not have the truth in them.

dead inside

“But she only to men preaches a little“. Sorry, but “whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10). Even a small sin, or a single transgression against God’s law, means they are guilty and due his or her just penalty.

“But lifestyle doesn’t count, and her doctrine is fine!” Sorry, but Titus 2:3-5 is only one of several standards for Christian women to adhere to a certain lifestyle. “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” It is dishonoring to God to live otherwise. Men too. Lifestyle counts. So does character. Are they divisive? Slanderous? Combative? Unteachable? Then they are false.

“But you don’t know their heart!” Yes we do. In true Christians, “The Holy Spirit implanted in us a heart that can understand and love spiritual truth” says Tom Pennington in his sermon Recognizing False teachers. A false teacher is not saved and thus does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling his heart. You can detect what is in their heart because the Bible tells us these people are greedy, liars, deceivers, hypocrites, and more.

Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them”. Not ‘maybe, but you WILL know them. We cannot see their heart but what comes out of their mouth is what defiles them, and then we can see the evidence. Making a determination based on evidence (their fruit) is not ‘seeing their heart’. It’s making an intelligent and accurate assessment of their output.

Figs. Their fruit is rotten. EPrata photo

For example, didn’t the Pharisees make a show of praying, fasting, and worshiping? But we can see the evidence of their self-serving attitude in their lengthened tassels, announcements of fasting, pretentious prayers at the street corners, choosing the chief seats. Look beyond their show. See the fruit.

Barnes Notes says of the 1 John 2:4 verse, “Is a liar – Makes a false profession; professes to have that which he really has not. Such a profession is a falsehood, because there can be no true religion where one does not obey the law of God.“

Gill’s Exposition says, and the truth is not in him; there is no true knowledge of God and Christ in him; nor is the truth of the Gospel in his heart, however it may be in his head; nor is the truth of grace in him, for each of these lead persons to obedience.

Did you catch that reference to the heart? The truth of the gospel is not in his heart. “What is in the heart will emerge, and corrupt theology will result in a corrupt life. False teaching and perverted living are inseparable, and eventually will become manifest.” (Grace to You, “What are the Marks of a False Teacher?“)

We over-complicate things. Just go back to the Bible. A false teacher will claim to know Jesus but constantly, unrepentantly, and long term, be disobedient to His commandments.

Further Reading

Beware of False Teachers

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

Exploring Old Testament Typology: Joseph’s Foreshadowing of the Savior

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There are lots of “types” in the Bible. A fancier name for it is Biblical Typology. Biblical Typology is…

…a special kind of symbolism. (A symbol is something which represents something else.) We can define a type as a “prophetic symbol” because all types are representations of something yet future. More specifically, a type in scripture is a person or thing in the Old Testament which foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament. For example, the flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 6-7) is used as a type of baptism in 1 Peter 3:20-21. The word for type that Peter uses is figure.

Another example of a type is in Hebrews 9:8-9: “the first tabernacle . . . which was a figure for the time then present.” The blood sacrifices of lambs prefigured or was a type of the actual sacrifice of the Lamb of God. And so on.

Ligonier defines typology as

Typology is based on the fact that God works in recurring patterns throughout history and says that a past event or person can prefigure or serve as a type of a future person or event.

Joseph, son of Jacob, is in many respects one of the strongest types depicting the Savior.  Sold into slavery, descended into the pit (jail), Joseph interpreted the Cupbearer’s and Baker’s dreams and said to them as they were called to Pharaoh’s side, “Remember me”. Joseph was forgotten, … until the Cupbearer heard that Pharaoh needed someone to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph was called to the King’s side-

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:14)

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 41:41-44).

When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” (Genesis 41:55)

Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. (Genesis 41:57)

Hopefully you notice the similarities. Joseph was reviled, sold as a slave, they put an iron fetter around his neck. (Psalm 105:17-18). He was in the pit, forgotten and ignored. One day in a moment, a twinkling, he was exalted and put in second place, only the King was higher than he. He rode in the second chariot. He was given a fine garment and his iron collar replaced with a chain of gold. All were told to bow the knee to Joseph, just as they will bow the knee to Jesus (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10). Joseph saved all in the land, all the earth.

The almost exact language was used by Pharaoh about Joseph as Mary had stated at the Wedding at Cana.

“Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” (Genesis 41:55 NIV)

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5).

Of course, typology only goes so far. Joseph gave grain (bread) to the people to save their life, but Jesus IS the bread of life. However, it’s interesting to note types as you read along to think more deeply about what God is showing us through His word. Here are some further resources for you on typology.

Ligonier: Typology vs. Allegory.
Carm: Dictionary- Type
GTY: Melchizedek, a Type of Christ

Posted in big god, discernment, osteen, pray big, prayer

Understanding ‘Pray Big’ Misconceptions

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Some sayings sound legitimate on their surface. They sound pious. They sound biblical. Like this one: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Only problem is, that one isn’t in the bible. At all.

It is sometimes hard to tell what truly is Christian and what merely sounds Christian. Charles Spurgeon wisely said, “Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” So what sayings are right, and what sayings are almost right (AKA ‘wrong’)? Let’s look at the following sayings which have become such cliches.
Some of these mottoes are:

“Let go and let God”

“He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good”

“I don’t use commentaries because they’re men’s wisdom. I only use God’s Word when I study.”

“Pray big because we have a big God.”

Does praying big mean as Cassandra Martin says on her blog,

We tend to pray small prayers, shy prayers, safe prayers. God wants us to pray big prayers, risky prayers, prayers that stretch our faith, expand our vision, and place us firmly in His hands. He wants us to take His word seriously and “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) Praying Big begins with remembering that we serve a very BIG God. He is bigger than our fears, our struggles, our falls, our joys, our plans, and our expectations. Praying Big encourages us to invest ourselves in prayer in a big way. Faith-full people are always big pray-ers. When we pour ourselves into prayer, God pours Himself into us. Praying Big invites us to see our lives, our challenges, our opportunities, and our world through heaven’s eyes. Prayer changes our vision, our responses, and our attitudes because in prayer God changes us.

Gee. That sounds good. Maybe.

Or does it mean as Anna Diehl said on her blog, The Pursuit of God,

Here’s a popular little jingle in Christendom: “Pray BIG, because we have a BIG God.” But what does this mean exactly? If we need a car, does God want us to pray for a brand new SUV instead of some small beat up clunker? If we need a new place to live, does He want us dreaming of mansions instead of just hoping for a room somewhere? If finances are tight, are we supposed to name and claim millions instead of just what we need? Is God offended by our lack of faith when we don’t dream big and pray expectantly? Well, it depends.

God wants us to be bold in our prayers, but only when our priorities are aligned with His.
~Anna DiehlGee. That sounds good too.

Or does it mean as so many in the ‘name it claim it’ camp casually teach, like Joel Osteen, that we need to be more ambitious in what we’re asking God for and more confident in what we’re looking for in our lives and to do this we need to pray ‘God-sized prayers’?

No. That definitely sounds bad.

This confusion is why we need to examine what we say and be mindful of our cliches.

The root verse for this ubiquitous phrase we’ve come to hear so frequently is usually supported by an interpretation of Hebrews 4:16,

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Gill’s Exposition explains the boldness and confidence indicated in the Hebrews verse:

“…a drawing nigh to God in that ordinance with spiritual sacrifices to offer unto him: and this may be done “boldly”; or “with freedom of speech”; speaking out plainly all that is in the heart, using an holy courage and intrepidity of mind, free from servile fear, and a bashful spirit; all which requires an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, faith, in the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, a view of God, as a God of peace, grace, and mercy, and a holy confidence of being heard by him; and such a spirit and behaviour at the throne of grace are very consistent with reverence of the divine Majesty

Let’s contrast confidence to approach the throne after the cross as opposed to the Temple days before the cross. In the days before the veil was torn it meant that you had to go through an incredibly time-consuming and intricate set of rituals to enter the holy of holies where the presence of God was. The High Priest must atone for his sins in order to be considered pure enough even to enter. If you made a misstep, you would be struck dead.

Think of Uzzah, who put his hand on the Ark of the Covenant, and was stuck dead instantly, because his hand is sin while the dirt of the ground is just dirt, not sin.

In those days, coming boldly before the throne with confidence was not possible. However, once the veil was torn, signifying that THE atonement had been completed, we can all approach now. We don’t have to wait for a certain day, we don’t need a representative to go for us, we can all approach and He is listening. We know He is listening because He is our intercessor. (Romans 8:34)

So understanding the reason for our confidence (or boldness as some versions say) it brings the focus back on Jesus. Now to look at the size of prayers we’re told to make.

We have somehow equated boldness in behavior to largeness of prayer. We’ve swapped confidence in approach for magnitude in request. If there are “big” prayers by definition they are saying that there are “small” prayers too, and worse, assigning a size to prayers tacitly insinuates that the small prayers are no good.

Philippians 4:6 teaches, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Thanksgiving Prayer, 1942.Photo by Marjory Collins.
Farm Security Administration (Library of Congress)

It doesn’t say “by prayer let your BIG requests known to God” but instead it says do not be anxious about anything and make requests [of any size] known to God.

My God is big enough to care about everything, not just the big things. Are we to dispense with “small” prayers because He could get busy and overwhelmed? What a ghastly thought! He is perfect in patience. Because we don’t want to take up His time? Time in heaven does not exist, and He is the author of time on earth!

So…is praying for our food a small prayer? The Lord told us to pray in this way. In Matthew 6:11 He said to pray for our daily bread.

Praying for our children? Is this a small prayer? Children are a heritage from the Lord, according to Psalm 127:3. Should David not have prayed for his sick son? (2 Samuel 12:16). Should Hannah not have prayed to be given a son? (1 Samuel 1:13). Should Job have not continually interceded for his children? (Job 1:1-5). Yet Job was called blameless and upright.

What about the persistent widow? What hers a ‘big’ or a small petition? She was lauded for persisting in her plea for justice. What about the admonition to always pray, and to pray ceaselessly? (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Ephesians 6:18 says “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” ‘All kinds”, the verse doesn’t say not to bother God with small petitions. It also does not say that the bigger you pray the bigger your faith is.

I think it’s dangerous to start sizing up prayers, it’s especially foolish to base a size of a prayer on the size of our God, because we can’t know how big He really is.

Just meditating on the fact that we can pray to an interceding Jesus is an amazing thing to ponder and be grateful for. God isn’t impressed by the size of our prayers. Just as Jesus wasn’t impressed by the length of the prayers of the Pharisee but by the condition of the prayer’s heart.

Further Reading

What are different kinds of prayer?

What are most common things people say are in the bible that aren’t in the bible?

 

Posted in theology

How Minor Biblical Characters Impact Major Stories

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I love learning about the major people in the Bible. I have a biography of Moses I plan to read. I read one on Paul. It’s fun to look all the verses that mention the top three apostles, Peter, John, James and learn of their backgrounds and personalities. It’s good to remind myself that these are real people, not characters in a book.

I’ve also developed a series of “Little Known Bible Characters”. The series is linked below. The ones who are mentioned a few times and which the Bible gives some details of their lives. I became curious about people such as Trophimus, Eutychus, Iddo, Esther’s Harbonah the Eunuch. There is enough in the record to be able to glean something of their lives and their service to God in providential ways.

But comes now a short essay I read from a favorite author of mine, JR Miller. He was an American who lived from 1840-1912. He was “was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois” says Wikipedia.

JR Miller

We have the major people in the Bible, we have the minor people in the Bible, and we have the (seemingly) insignificant people in the Bible. JR Miller has something to say about this last group, that I thought was wonderfully comforting. Here is Pastor Miller-

Treasures from J.R. Miller (1840 — 1912)

Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all Jews, and he asked Hathach to show it to Esther. He also asked Hathach to explain it to her and to urge her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. So Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai’s message.

Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai …” Esther 4:8-10

We are apt to overlook the minor actors in Scripture stories — in our absorbed interest in the prominent ones. Yet ofttimes these lesser people are just as important in their own place, and their service is just as essential to the final success of the whole — as the greater ones.

–The little girl in the story of Naaman the leper, is scarcely seen among the splendors of the Syrian court; but without her part, we would never have had the story at all.

–The young lad with the basket, is hardly thought of when we read the account of the miracle; but they were his loaves with which the Master fed all those hungry thousands that day on the green grass.

The smallest links in a chain — are ofttimes quite as important as the greatest links.

Hathach was one of these obscure characters. But his part was by no means unimportant. Without his being a trustworthy messenger, Mordecai’s communication with Esther would have been impossible — and the whole nation would have perished!

If we cannot do brave things like Esther, nor give wise counsels like Mordecai — we may at least be useful, as Hathach was, in faithful service. And perhaps our lowly part may someday prove to have been as essential — as the great deeds which all men praise. We may at least help some others in doing the great things that they are set to do in this world. –END JR Miller

You may feel like the smallest ant in a great civilization. You may be thinking, ‘What am I to contribute? How will the Lord use me? My spheres are so small, my resources so few…’ But God. He uses those who love Him in many ways. Naaman’s servant girl had the fewest resources of all, but she had the greatest knowledge, of the One True God. The boy with the basket had barely anything, and he isn’t even named. But his generosity and kindness speaks through the millennia.

Friend, keep living a life in obedience to God and your life itself is the service. Speak of Him where you can. Raise those children, as Eliza Spurgeon did, who was Charles’ mother and whose son became the Prince of Preachers. Even if your son or daughter is also ‘invisible’ to the world at large, no one is invisible to God. He sees all. He has placed you where you are on purpose, according to His will.

Little Known Bible Characters series

Little Known Bible Characters #6: King Cherdolaomer
Little Known Bible Characters #5: Harbonah the Eunuch
Little Known Bible Characters #4: Eutychus
Little Known Bible Characters #3: Trophimus
Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’
Little Known Bible Characters #1: Iddo

Posted in theology

Modern day Jonah: Chilean man swallowed by whale (and it’s on camera)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Adrian Simancas was kayaking with his dad off the coast of Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan. This is at the very tip of Chile where there are a series of islands, through which ships pass so as not to round Cape Horn all the way at the bottom of Chile. Antarctica is not far below that.

So his dad was behind Adrian, with a camera on, recording. And on a nice , cold day, the pair were kayaking around. When suddenly a humpback whale came up and swallowed Adrian and his inflatable kayak. They disappeared from view.

A few seconds later Adrian is spit out, as he reappears at the surface yards away from the spot where he’d disappeared into the whale’s gullet, and moving sideways fast. A moment later came the yellow kayak.

What was going through is mind as he lost the view of the shore and the sky and was engulfed in darkness?

“I thought I was dead,” Adrián told The Associated Press. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”

It takes a bit for the mind to comprehend sudden, incredible circumstances you’re experiencing. But his assessment of the situation was correct. To be swallowed by a whale usually means you’re dead. Prophet Jonah had said,

I called for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
For You threw me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current flowed around me.
All Your breakers and waves passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The deep flowed around me,
Seaweed was wrapped around my head. (Jonah 2:2b-5).

Adrian said he was in terror. “I thought I had died. And no, there was nothing I could do.”

Jonah, rebellious as he was, knew what to do. He prayed.

But You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.
While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, (Jonah 2:7).

What did it feel like? In this CNN news interview, Adrian said he felt a strong movement, stronger than a wave on his neck, then felt a “slimy texture on my face.” He said he could see colors like blue and white approaching him, then it went dark.

Adrian’s next thought as he was spit onto the surface, was that the whale would do something to his father. He next became concerned about getting to shore quickly to avoid hypothermia. His father paddled over and comforted his son.

Adrian in the end decided that the whale was curious, or perhaps wanted to communicate something.

There isn’t much more to the story than that. The video is only 59 seconds long. The only lessons here are: enjoy a quirky and unusual story. Secondly, you are clicking along in life and the next second everything changes. Something dramatic could happen to anyone at any time. Third, and most important, there is ALWAYS something you can do, and that is to ‘remember the Lord, and pray to Him.’ When circumstances change dramatically, as they did for Jonah, for Job, for Mary…knowing the Lord is the best comfort, refuge, and answer as to “why?!”

But God…

Jonah concluded his prayer:

But I will sacrifice to You
With a voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the Lord.

I thought this caption in the video was hilarious:

Here is a news interview.

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c2k5e14vwx4o

Posted in theology

Lessons from Jethro: Wisdom and Support in the Bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’m going through the John MacArthur Daily Bible. A week or so ago I was in Exodus 18. I’ve been thinking about a sweet scene in that chapter. There are a lot of important scenes in Exodus, and some hard scenes, but this one was sweet and left an impression on me.

Exodus 18:13 – “¶ And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.” art from Bible.art

It’s when Moses’ father-in-law Jethro comes to Moses after the Exodus at the Red Sea and escape from Pharaoh.

When Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mountain of God. 6And he sent word to Moses: “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” 7Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other about their welfare, and went into the tent.

8Moses told his father-in-law everything that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had confronted them on the journey, and how the LORD had rescued them. 9And Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the LORD had done for Israel, in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10So Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they acted insolently against the people.” 12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

The impressive scene goes on afterward when Jethro observes Moses judging Israel and the heavy burden it was, and gives Moses counsel to appoint men and delegate the responsibility in various ways. It was wise and good advice.

Exodus 18:24 – “So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.” Illustration from Bible.Art

So I got to wondering how often we mimic the Jethro scene in our lives in this century. How often do we have dinner and break bread together, and discuss the wonder that is God? Or exult over what He has done for His people in general and us personally? Do we give or accept wise advise from elders?

Jethro seemed to be available when Moses needed him and retreated when not needed to allow Moses to live his life. Jethro was an observant and loving father-in-law!

The scene was a good reminder for me to be prepared to glorify the Lord with my words, recounting His deeds and ways in conversation. Being available for loved ones, keenly observing otherwise and ready to step in. Think about the Moses-Jethro relationship and see how we can model ourselves after these Bible people who came before us.

Posted in theology

The Spiritual Groping: Seeking Meaning in a Material World

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I watch Youtube for a few topics, among them, thrifting videos. I like to learn about antiques and vintage items and their production, origin, or history. I watch some content creators who are Christians but most are not Christians, they are just living their lives and making money by making these videos as their job.

As we go along in their walk with Christ, we become more and more saturated with a biblical worldview. Our former secular worldview is increasingly shaved away. No longer blind, we now see. Many times what we see is sad, because we are increasingly recognizing the ‘lostness’ of the people around us. They are searching, groping.

We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead. (Isaiah 59:10).

Jesus talked of people blindly stumbling as they went along, even falling into a pit. It’s a vivid metaphor for the lost, who vainly search for what they know now and even if they find it, reject it.

He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (Acts 17:26-27)

So this one thrifting video lady I watch on Youtube had a video recently where she was at home, not thrifting, and just spoke from her heart. She said she had been doing thrifting-reselling videos for 13 years. For the past year or so, she said, she’s been spiraling. She feels like she is losing her identity as a person and as a content creator.

“It’s causing me some emotional turmoil at times. I’m struggling with my identity because I feel like pieces of my identity are being taken from me piece by piece and when those pieces are taken away I’m no longer an original. I’m not who I thought I was. I’m having an identity crisis. If I’m no longer me who am I this has been my question for the past months who am I what am I doing?”

She said what she does for work is becoming monotonous. She needs something new, she said to the camera.

She s groping for meaning in her life, if I may state my opinion about her self-revealing video. What to do when the “thrill of the find” wears off? The rush you get from finding the exact treasure at Goodwill that you didn’t know you needed, wears off. It’s fleeting. The rush of adrenaline from selling that item for more money than you paid for it, also wears off. It’s fleeting.

It is the same no matter what you do in this life. Whatever you try, it will not be fulfilling. I know. I’ve been there. During my groping years I sought fulfillment in a different job, fame, travel, books, justice, education (wisdom), people, you name it. I still groped, stumbled, and remained unfulfilled. Who am I? What was I doing in this life? What is my identity, just a blob of flesh that in the end, dies and decomposes? Yes, I actively wondered about these things.

The Book of Ecclesiastes is all about that seeking and not finding. The “Preacher”, usually attributed to King Solomon, reveals that depression will inevitably result when seeking happiness in worldly things. The world cannot satisfy. It only leads to emptiness and despair.

So the Youtube lady shared in her video that to resolve her identity crisis and to stop ‘struggling’, she bought a house that she will turn into an AirBnB. THAT will give her new resolve to enjoy her life she intimated. She needed another layer to her life “to hold onto.” As far as I know she is also married with a child or children.

So, her solution was simply more of the same, to thrift for items, but this time to decorate a different house, an AirBnB house instead of her own house or to resell. It won’t work.

I was saddened by this admission and more saddened by her attempted resolution. It got me thinking about Apostle Paul. He was strong, resolute, and diligent in his walk. He was also emotional. He wept for his churches. He mourned over the lost. He cried over the Corinthians’ unruliness. He was angry with the Galatians incipient defection.

Paul cried a lot-

Acts 20:19, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

Acts 20:31, Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

2 Corinthians 2:4, For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

Philippians 3:18, For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,

He cried because he was concerned for others’ spiritual well-being. He cried because he had a passionate commitment to God’s work. He cried over the lost of the world in deep spiritual grief. He cried because he loved Jesus so much and wanted everyone to know Him as well.

May we all have such concern, compassion, and such care for the people around us and the people in the world. They are lost, groping, and wondering why they do not feel a deep sense of restful satisfaction. We know. The restful, peaceful soul knows Christ.

Finding rest in Jesus
Posted in theology

Billy Graham: Standout evangelist, or sad example of one who will say ‘Lord, Lord’?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I made a comment the other day in a recent essay about Billy Graham. A person directly asked me if I was saying Graham was not saved. I said I didn’t know about his salvation, but given his stances over the years, it is not likely.

Billy Graham was a 20th century (and a bit of 21st century) itinerant evangelist. He was known for his “Crusades”, which were events that filled arenas to the max and so popular they were held over multiple days, weeks, or even months. He’d preach, there would be choirs and singing, testimonies, and a final “Just as I Am” song with invitations for attendees to come and pray with a counselor on the field, and then be referred to a local church for follow up.

Los Angeles Crusade, I think, 1963. Source

Graham was listed by Time Magazine and others as “pastor to Presidents”, meeting with 13 presidents, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, over his career. He was known as “America’s Pastor” and was seen as a major religious figure of the 20th century. 

Rolling Stone wrote of Graham,

Since the late 1940s, when two of the country’s most powerful publishers – William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce – helped turn the ambitious blond hunk of North Carolina farmboy into a national celebrity, Graham had merged old-time fundamentalism with modern media to create a wildly popular civic religion. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association produced movies, radio shows, magazines and syndicated newspaper columns. Its crusades were television spectacles watched by millions of families like ours. They sometimes became headline news: Just a few years earlier, a single night of “crusading” in Seoul, South Korea, was attended by a jaw-dropping 1.1 million people. You might have called Billy Graham the rock star of Biblical literalism, except that he was bigger than Elvis and the Beatles combined. Source

It’s hard to picture a man who spent his entire adult life ‘crusading’ for Jesus and “winning souls” all over the world as a false teacher or a false convert. Our minds have a hard time going there. He was so busy! He was so fervent!

But the Bible pierces that mental resistance and trumps it. Matthew 7:21-23 says that on that Day, “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. Many 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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.‘ (Matthew 7:21-23).

There are many other warnings about being true to Jesus and not false, as well, like James 1:22, Luke 6:46, John 14:21, 1 John 2:4, Romans 2:13…

Judas lived with the other disciples day and night, was trusted with the treasury, and heard every sermon and teaching that came out of Jesus’ mouth for three and a half years. Yet none of the disciples even had a whisper of an idea that Judas was false. They first suspected themselves over him.

So it is possible to be ‘doing’ for Jesus but not ‘knowing’ Jesus.

David Frost, a famous English interviewer and mid 20th century journalist followed Billy Graham’s trajectory from the 1940s and onward. Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries said in a talk about Graham,

“David Frost said in the early days Billy Graham would usually preface things by saying the Bible says but he says as time went on he dropped that and it began to be more what Billy Graham thinks rather than what the Bible says. I think that really sums up the problem where Billy Graham is concerned.“

We see in the book Examining Billy Graham’s Theology of Evangelism by Thomas P Johnston on page 379, a table showing the four phases of Graham’s drift over the years. Johnson lists the five fundamentals for belief as a saved person and how Graham compromised on all of them over the years. By the end, Graham even taught that even if someone didn’t know Jesus, they were saved.

Cecil Andrews participated in a Crusade as a counselor in the later 20th century and also sang in Graham’s choir once or twice in England. Andrews said,

“I know a number of men who do door to door work in Northern Ireland and they constantly come across people whose view is ‘oh I made a decision at a Billy Graham crew said but I don’t go to church now I haven’t gone for years and so on’. But yet somehow or other they’re relying on this emotional response 30 or 40 years ago. Yet they would have gone down as one of the people who went forward as an Inquirer. They would be viewed rightly or wrongly by others as fruit…”

Did you know that people streaming down the aisles at the end of the Crusades during the ‘Invitation’, would be funneled to receiving counselors of their home religious tradition. If a Jew, there was a rabbi there. If a Catholic or ex-Catholic, they would receive counseling from a priest. So, no, those likely would not be bearing fruit for the Lord. Nor the ones who made an Arminian decision once (“prayed a prayer”) and then never honored the Lord by attending church.

Are the people who said they were ‘saved’ at a Graham Crusade really saved? It’s another question I was asked.

I am sure though that of the masses of people who had contact in some way with something Graham has said or taught, that the Lord in his providential wisdom saved some.

The Youtube talk by Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries is called “Billy Graham: The man and his message” and it’s been on Youtube for 12 years. I’ve watched it several times, including 12 years ago, when barely anyone said Graham’s evangelism methods were problematic. Andrews was clear but humble in the talk, pointed about orthodoxy but sensitive when delivering his biblical perspective. I recommend the talk.

There are many reasons why Graham in my opinion will be one of the sad souls pleading with the Lord on Judgment day Lord, Lord. Many. Dissertations, books, and essays have been written about Graham’s personal life and how it didn’t follow the biblical pattern for a godly husband, and many essays recounting Graham’s non-biblical stances- all of which indicate he was not a true believer. Too many to explain and back up in one essay. But the point is:

Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will gain heaven. Event he most seemingly busy and fervent workers for Jesus may be false.

The Pharisees spent their lives ‘doing’ religious things for God, but were not saved. Also the Sadducees. Also Cain, Demas, Judas, and the hordes who will cry out on Judgment day as per Matthew 7. These false teachers and false converts masquerade as righteous, (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) and masquerade means they wear a disguise to cloak and hide their unrighteousness. It is hard to detect some of these. Others, well, the mind does not want to go there, as in the case of Graham.

Therefore, do not be surprised that one who seems so fervent for the Lord, so busy doing for the Lord many not be all he or she seems to be. Be discerning.