Tag: [By Elizabeth Prata]

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

God’s Providence is like a Pointillist painting

Posted on by elizabethprata

This essay was first published at The End Time in February, 2014

——————————————

We know that the church is a body, a united body of believers.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)

The Holy Spirit ordains where each believer is to be and what gifts he is to have. He ordains where we are in the body so as to contribute to the good of the whole.

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Corinthians 12:11)

It could be said that the Lord is painting a picture.

If you’re familiar with the Impressionist movement of art that emerged in the late 1800s in Paris, then you’re familiar with the works of Monet, Manet, Sisley, Renoir, & etc. These artists used short brush strokes to convey movement and impression, rather than precision. There was a sub-culture of the Impressionists called the Pointillists. Here is Georges Seurat’s famous pointillist painting, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte“.

As the website IncredibleArt.org states,

Strictly speaking, Pointillism refers to the technique of using dots of pure color in such a way that, seen at the appropriate distance, they achieve maximum luminosity.” (source). Georges-Pierre Seurat made this technique famous. His painting,

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1888) is one of the most famous paintings in the world. … At left you see a closeup of Seurat’s painting. It is a closeup of the the man laying down on the lower left. Even thought he appears to be wearing white pants, as you can see, the part of the pants in the shadow just above the grass has no white in it. It’s only when you look at it from a distance that the colors blend in. Seurat spent two years on this painting. He carefully planned it out with several sketches first.“

It could be said, that the earth is the canvas and the people are the points of paint God daubs precisely here and there, working toward an end.

I’ve seen pointillist paintings at museums. You look very closely and all you can see are daubs of color. Dots. If you back away to a distance, you can see the scene clearly. It’s amazing how the colors blend to make a seamless and beautiful picture.

We can think of ourselves as dots. We can’t see the whole picture, we don’t have the right perspective. God does. He puts a pink next to a blue and though all we can see is the blue next to us, we have to trust that the Great Artist is making something beautiful. Even if you don’t like the color pink, you know and trust that the Artist’s purposeful placement of it next to you will make the picture as a whole perfect when it is complete.

Just like heaven.

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

There is only one way to heaven and it’s exclusive

Posted on by elizabethprata

Exclusive

Christianity is the way to heaven. It is the only way. More specifically, the way to heaven is belief in the Son.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (John 1:12)

John wrote the Book of John so that we may believe. You might be surprised to know that the word faith is not discussed in the book of John. But the word belief is all over that book.

1. The Christianity of the Bible is exclusive in that the faith will not accept sinners into it. You cannot have Jesus and your sin, too. Repentance is key, and obedience to Him who gives the spirit of repentance. Unrepentant homosexuals will not enter heaven. (1 Corinthians 6:9). Nor will idolaters, nor adulterers nor any other unrepentant sinner, no matter what their flavor of sin. Religious diversity is a lie. (Isaiah 45:5). Tolerance of sin is death. (Revelation 2:20-23).

2. Christianity is exclusive of people who come another way, except through the Son. Those who try to come in another way are a thief and a robber. (John 10:1). The following “inclusive” doctrines or religions are false.

Universalism, the belief that eventually all persons are saved, or,

Inclusivism, which assumes that all world religions point to a common truth that at the end of the day will be discovered to have been Christ. (source)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). underline mine.

If you believe you can reach the Father in heaven through Buddha or Ganesh or Allah or Thor or by any other god, then what Jesus said above is a lie. If Jesus lied, then that means Bible can’t be trusted, because Jesus said all scripture points to Himself. (John 5:39).

Inclusive

1. Christianity is inclusive in that there exists a way to reach the Father. God’s perfect fellowship, perfect harmony, and perfect delight within His three persons was all sufficient for eons. In eternity after some time had passed, (an oxymoron, I know), God created man. However, in His timing and for His reasons, He chose to create man so as include man within His loving circle.

1a. After the Fall, man was excluded from heaven. No one could see the Father at any time. Ever. The inclusiveness of Christianity means that God sent His Son to make a way to include Humans within their intra-Trinitarian fellowship once more. Humans; men, women, old, and child, can be included in His righteousness once again.

2. Christianity is inclusive in that any person from any tribe, nation, or tongue who has believed on the Son and is continually obedient to Him is saved. People from the north, south, east, and west are going to be represented at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9).

Christianity includes both genders, male and female. Greek and Jew. Slave and free. Old and young. Rich or poor. (Galatians 3:8, Titus 2:1-6, James 2:3). Those who would repent and believe will be included, no matter their station in life. The only boundary to the inclusivity of Jesus is the person’s response to Him.

Don’t apologize that Jesus is the only way to heaven. It is truth. And if a person really, truly understood sin, they would be grateful that there exists a way to heaven at all! And how many ways do we need? We can only travel on one road at a time. I much prefer the narrow path that Jesus gave us than some broad path that man made.

Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to heaven. I’m glad, because He is perfect, He is righteous, and He is wonderful. His way never changes. We never get lost on His way, once we’re found, we’re found. Best of all, His way takes care of sin once and for all. No other way does that, can do that, or ever will do that.

Jesus is the only way. He is both exclusive and inclusive. If you believe this message, you’re probably included. If you do not believe this message, you’re excluded. You see, belief in the Son means His way, or no way. Jesus not only taught he is both inclusive and exclusive at the same time, but He is the dividing line between the two.

blue sky with branches verse

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East is from the west: cardinal directions in the Bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

People don’t refer to cardinal directions of north, south, east, west very much any more. If someone asks for directions and you tell them to go north three blocks, they look at you like you just lapsed into Hindi.

In the days before we were too reliant on GPS, people traveled by using the sun, moon, and stars. They spoke of cardinal directions.

In the Bible there is a lot of talk about the east and the west. (Of course, north and south is also spoken of but I’m concentrating on east-west today).

East is a major direction in the Bible and not just for the directions, but for the symbolism.  Let’s look at a few examples.

The Garden of Eden was planted toward the east. (Genesis 2:8).

The scriptures specify the LORD placed cherubim  at the eastern entrance of the Garden, to protect it and the tree of life.

After God drove out the man, He placed a cherubim with flaming sword to protect this eastern entrance. (Genesis 3:24).

The tabernacle faced east. (Numbers 3:38).

When God’s glory comes/came to the Temple, it comes/came from the east:

Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:1-2).

The wise men followed the star which had risen in the east.

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matthew 2:2 KJV)

The Lord will return from the east. (Matthew 24:27).

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

 The sun rises in the east and its rays shine from that direction. John 1:5 says God is Light, in Him there is no darkness at all. The west is where the sun sets, bringing darkness. The east is where the Light is.
When the sun rises, the light comes from the east. When the Son returns, His Light comes from the east.

There is much more that can be studied on even so mundane a topic as cardinal directions. The wonder of the Bible is that you can take practically any topic, any word, and explore. And do you know what you will come up with?

Jesus.

That’s why the Bible is so great. All scripture points to Jesus.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39 KJV)

Graphics Fairy
Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The crooked speech of gossip

Posted on by elizabethprata

Introduction

God hates sin.

Let me say that again.

God hates sin.

Of course, we know that, but sometimes we let our minds pass over it without thinking more deeply about the fact that God hates sin. Really hates it. Why does God hate sin?

God hates sin because it is the very antithesis of His nature. The psalmist describes God’s hatred of sin this way: “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You” (Psalm 5:4). God hates sin because He is holy; holiness is the most exalted of all His attributes (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 6:8). His holiness totally saturates His being. His holiness epitomizes His moral perfection and His absolute freedom from blemish of any kind (Psalm 89:35; 92:15; Romans 9:14).

The Bible presents God’s attitude toward sin with strong feelings of hostility, disgust, and utter dislike. For example, sin is described as putrefying sores (Isaiah 1:6, NKJV), a heavy burden (Psalm 38:4), defiling filth (Titus 1:15; 2 Corinthians 7:1), a binding debt (Matthew 6:12-15), darkness (1 John 1:6) and a scarlet stain (Isaiah 1:18).From: GotQuestions, Why Does God Hate Sin? For the rest of the essay, go to link here

If I let my mind do it, I’d be telling myself what a good person I am. Hey, I’m not a murderer. I’m not a thief. I’m not a rapist. I’m not queer. Hey, I don’t do those big sins! I’m pretty good.Not so much.

I do the “respectable sins”. I sure do. According to Jerry Bridges in his book “Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate“, respectable sins are the ones we don’t repent of, and nobody calls us to account for them. These are the sins we all collude over because we all do them, hence, the tolerating. What are some of these respectable sins? Pride, worldiness, anxiety, impatience, selfishness, gossip…

Am I proud? Yes. Am I selfish? Yes. Do I gossip? Yes. I’m a sinner! A disrespectable one!

Part 1: Sins of the Tongue

We can dispense with the obvious first. Some sins of the tongue are so immediately identifiable as inappropriate that we can and do call the speaker on those. Lewd jokes or using the F-word, especially in mixed company, at work, or worse, at church, are not tolerated.

If you ever read any parts of Proverbs at all, you run up against warnings about engaging in various types of bad speech. There are over 60 different verses addressing poor speech/right speech. There are lots of sins of the tongue besides lewdness and profanity, such as gossip, white lies, critical/harsh words, slander, insults, sarcasm/ridicule.

When Isaiah was given the vision of God on His throne, and He saw the majesty and perfection of our God, what did Isaiah say? I am a man of unclean heart? I am a man of unclean mind? No, though he was a man of unclean heart and mind (as are we). He said,

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

Where did the angel cleanse Isaiah with the hot coal from the altar? On his breast to cleanse his heart? On his head to cleanse his mind? No. On his lips. Why? McLaren says

The vision kindled as with a flash Isaiah’s consciousness of sin. He expressed it in regard to his words rather than his works, partly because in one aspect speech is even more accurately an act, as it were, of character, and partly because he could not but feel the difference between the mighty music that burst from these pure and burning lips [of the seraphim] and the words that flowed from and soiled his own.

Though we are saturated through and through with sin, our heart, mind, strength and soul are all drenched with impurity and pollution. However, the mouth gives birth to the sin inside us. James said in James 3:10,

And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Sins of the mouth also include hasty words, flatteries, anger. (Prov 29:5, 11, 20). Proverbs warns against hasty words, and James 1:19 advises us to be slow to speak.

Part 2: Gossip

Let’s talk about gossip. It might be a ‘respectable sin’ on earth but God spoke against “sins of the tongue”manytimes in scripture. Don’t be fooled. Gossip is a big sin.

Proverbs 4:24 says,

Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.

And Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible says of the Proverbs 4:24 verse,

Our hearts being naturally corrupt, out of them a great deal of corrupt communication is apt to come, and therefore we must conceive a great dread and detestation of all manner of evil words, cursing, swearing, lying, slandering, brawling, filthiness, and foolish talking, all which come from a froward mouth and perverse lips, that will not be governed either by reason or religion, but contradict both, and which are as unsightly and ill-favoured before God as a crooked distorted mouth drawn awry is before men. All manner of tongue sins, we must, by constant watchfulness and stedfast resolution, put from us, put far from us, abstaining from all words that have an appearance of evil and fearing to learn any such words.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29).

Only such as good for building up…how many times do we fail at speech that is solely for the other person’s good? How many times even in church do we gossip?

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends. (Proverbs 16:28)

Whisper campaigns can be devastating. Sometimes a Christian doesn’t mean to spread tales or doesn’t know the tales are untrue. It’s still sin. Sadly, other times, people deliberately whisper against others, even those who sit in the same pew. Whisper campaigns are-

-a method of persuasion in which damaging rumors or innuendo are spread about the target, while the source of the rumors seeks to avoid being detected while spreading them. Wikipedia

Part 3: The Solution

In returning to the moment when Isaiah realized the magnitude of his sin, and how it’s expressed via his lips, McLaren says,

The next stage in Isaiah’s experience is that sin recognised and confessed is burned away. Cleansing rather than forgiveness is here emphasised. The latter is, of course, included, but the main point is the removal of impurity. It is mediated by one of the seraphim, who is the messenger of God, which is just a symbolical way of saying that God makes penitents ‘partakers of His holiness,’ and that nothing less than a divine communication will make cleansing possible. It is effected by a live coal. Fire is purifying, and the New Testament has taught us that the true cleansing fire is that of the Holy Spirit. But that live coal was taken from the altar. The atoning sacrifice has been offered there, and our cleansing depends on the efficacy of that sacrifice being applied to us.

We’re warned to put to death our sin. (Colossians 3:5). And yet, I don’t. I don’t regularly murder, but I readily kill their character, name, or reputation through gossip, thoughtlessness, or hasty words. Daily I pray for strength to speak words that only build up. Every day I fail. Given the numerous verses which warn about gossip or other poor speech it seems that this particular sin is important to God for us not to commit. I continue in my pursuit of good speech.

I can console myself that several of the heroes of the Bible were caught up in the sin of gossip and complaining and tale-bearing.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. (Numbers 12:1-2)

But it is no consolation at all. The second part of this verse says, And the LORD heard it. Gulp.

In 1 Timothy 3:3, the passage outlining qualifications of overseers, the candidates are warned not to be quarrelsome. Matthew Henry has explained the word quarrelsome,

He must be patient, and not a brawler, of a mild disposition. Christ, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, is so. Not apt to be angry or quarrelsome; as not a striker with his hands, so not a brawler with his tongue; for how shall men teach others to govern their tongues who do not make conscience of keeping them under good government themselves? Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible

Isn’t that a good insight? A brawler with the tongue. One who can govern his or her tongue is worthy to lead.

The solution:

–Remember, the LORD hears it.

–Let us confess our sin of gossip and tale-bearing when we do stumble.

–Adhere to the verse which admonishes that we should sanctify our lips by only allowing good speech such as for building up.

–Repeat

The Conclusion

There is an obscure prophecy in Zephaniah. At the end of time at the conversion of all the nations, the Lord promises that,

“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.”

Interpreters are divided as to exactly what this will mean. Does the pure speech refer to one language, as prior to the dividing of the peoples at the Tower of Babel when God confused the languages? Some think that this verse promises a reversal of the confusion of multiple languages and a return to one language, whether that possibly will be Hebrew, or not.

Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary explains,

turn to the people a pure language—that is, changing their impure language I will give to them again a pure language (literally, “lip”). The confusion of languages was of the penalty sin, probably idolatry at Babel … The full restoration of the earth’s unity of language and of worship is yet future, and is connected with the restoration of the Jews, to be followed by the conversion of the world. Compare Isaiah 19:18; Zechariah 14:9; Romans 15:6, “with one mind and one mouth glorify God.” The Gentiles’ lips have been rendered impure through being the instruments of calling on idols and dishonoring God (compare Ps 16:4; Ho 2:17). Whether Hebrew shall be the one universal language or not, the God of the Hebrews shall be the one only object of worship. Until the Holy Ghost purify the lips, we cannot rightly call upon God (Is 6:5–7).

Yet others think the verse in Zephaniah means less the literal ‘one language’ theory as a pure lips to call upon God once again interpretation. (As Adam and Eve did before the Fall.)

Instead it means the renewal of once-defiled speech. One’s lips represent what he says (the words spoken by his lips), which in turn reflect his inner life (cf. Isa. 6:5–7). The nations, formerly perverted by the blasphemy of serving idols, will be cleansed by God for true worship. As a result the nations, turning to reverential trust in God, will call on the name of the LORD and will evidence their dependence on Him by their united service (shoulder to shoulder). In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures

What a blessing to have only blessing come from our lips! As James said above, blessing and cursing from the same mouth? It is not right! Yet there will be a day when only blessing will emerge from our glorified lips, no inner stain to pollute pure worship and the name of the Lord as we vocally call hallelujah upon Him. And the LORD will hear it.

Further Reading:

The Sin of Talking Too Much

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

“Encouragement In Grace” launch day

Posted on by elizabethprata

Forty-three years and thirteen years in the making, seven-and-a-half years of writing and three months of editing & formatting, today my eBook “Encouragement In Grace” launches at Amazon.

For 43 years I was an unsaved rebel enemy of Christ. Hating Him at every turn, I tried ignoring my festering conscience. I was perplexed by the revelation of God to the world through the world, but rejected the solution of Jesus as Creator. Finally I dabbled in almost every other religion I could find to salve my anxious and offended soul. For forty-three years, nothing worked.

After a torturous series of events lasting several years, at long last and in His perfect timing, I was saved by His grace. I did not have an aisle-walking pillow soft Just As I Am salvation. I did not have an easy experience with warm sensuous embraces by an invisible Groom. I did not hear a gentle voice calling me toward clouds. I was dragged kicking and screaming over the threshold of the Door and was given the grace to repent despite my howling objections. At last, I succumbed.

As a result, I value His grace so dearly.

Post-salvation, the Spirit prompted me to begin using my time and writing ability for His glory. I began blogging and exploring theological issues in the topics of discernment, encouragement, and prophecy, the gifts the Spirit had delivered to me. For nine years I blogged, accelerating my writing activity for the last seven years by blogging daily. I wrote on the range of topics in the way I prayed would encourage or convict readers and honor the Lord.

The internet, and blogs in particular, were a gracious addition to the technology the Lord has allowed to be invented. They have been a wonderful relief to me, a writer who has been minimally published, but despaired at the hurdles and gatekeeping of the tightly-knit publishing industry. Blogs allow authors to side-step all that. What a benefit to live in a nation that allows free expression and discussion of Christian topics on self-publishing platforms.

Years later, along came self-publishing platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Hallelujah! KDP and other programs make self-publishing easier … but never easy. Writing is not easy. Writing about God and for God is even less easy. Neither is it easy researching among the competing self-publishing platforms, proof-reading, formatting, and marketing. But it makes the process of disseminating material written by people like me more straightforward. For that, I’m grateful for the opportunity to make Jesus known through these means.

The next two books in this series will be published approximately four months apart. As with Encouragement In Grace, the next eBooks will be published through the Kindle Direct Program, Lord willing. They’ll be called –

Prophecy In Grace

Discernment In Grace

If you should choose to buy the eBook, I pray that “Encouragement In Grace” convicts, enlightens, or sheds some other aspect of Jesus onto your heart and mind.

 

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Faith of a child

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was in a non-church setting with some 7-year-olds recently. They were drawing a picture to go along with the story about pizza they had just read. When one boy finished his drawing he still had room on the page. He asked if he could draw a cross. I said sure.

Of course then the others wanted to draw a cross too. Most or all of them have been exposed to Jesus. As they drew their crosses they began to talk about Jesus. The original boy said, ‘Jesus died on the cross’. Another said, ‘isn’t He living now’? I chimed in and said His is living now, that He walked around on earth for 40 days after His death and resurrection and talked with His friends.
Continue reading “Faith of a child” →

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The coming darkness

Posted on by elizabethprata

This was first published in October 2009 on this blog.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)

“Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3-5)

I traveled across country in a VW van when I was 32 years old. Off the beaten trail in Arizona is a border town called Bisbee. It is a wealthy town, having been the seat of the most lucrative copper mine in American history. The mine closed after a hundred years in 1975 but almost immediately re-opened as a tour attraction. Retired miners give the tours, which start in the changing room. You must don a hard hat, a raincoat and a miner’s light.

The miner’s light is key. Continue reading “The coming darkness” →

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The Drumbeat Warning of Divine Judgment on the USA

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been warning of coming judgment for a while. When believers look out over soft pastures, busy and productive streets, viable farms, and thriving factories, they have a hard time seeing a nation under judgment. They think everything is OK if brimstone and 100 lb hailstones aren’t falling. But it’s not all right. We are crumbling from the inside and rot has set in, permanently.

There are different kinds of judgments. Judgment can be eschatological and very visible, as the coming prophecies and past histories show us. Judgment can be invisible, secret, and deadly, as God said in Hosea 5:12, I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. Judgment can be an abandonment, as when God simply releases a nation to itself to pursue its sin. (Romans 1:24).

The discerners have been warning, and warning, and warning. We warned judgment would come, we warned it was about to come, and we warn that it is here.
Continue reading “The Drumbeat Warning of Divine Judgment on the USA” →

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

No, Target didn’t stop selling Bibles. Why Christians should stop sharing hoaxes

Posted on by elizabethprata

4 reasons Christians Need to Quit Sharing Hoaxes

“I’ve seen a trend that’s both interesting and troubling: If I find a hoax in my news feed, chances are it will have been shared by an evangelical Christian. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say, but it’s true. In fact, it’s so typical and intriguing, that I’ve been keeping track of the phenomenon for quite a while.” … 

The Christian message to the world isn’t, “Hey, look how bad things are!” It’s “take heart, He has overcome the world!” We don’t have to share every sensational and scary story—especially when their truth is suspect.

The author above gives 4 good reasons to stop sharing those false stories, especially when checking them out takes only one second. One reason he didn’t mention but Sunny Shell did, is that we should promote holiness. Holiness is marginalized to a great degree these days, yet is the primary function of Christians in the world. Our sanctification is the very pursuit of holiness, so that we can be more like Jesus every day.

Why should we be holy? Sunny Shell explains in this essay, The Way of Holiness

“Just as the honor of being assigned as an ambassador of an earthly country should not be taken lightly, so we also, who are in Christ, should not take our high calling as children of the Most High God lightly. An earthly ambassador is chosen to live in a foreign land to represent their country, while maintaining every attribute and character of their homeland. An ambassador does not lose or forget who he/she is merely because they live in another country for a time, rather, they honorably and proudly represent their country and their people.”

People have been tricked since the beginning. Hoaxes, forgeries, and spoofs are part of life. Think early last century circuses. Think: archeology. Archeology hoaxes have been fooling people for a long time. The Petrified Man in 1862 and the Cardiff Man in 1869 were especially blush-inducing hoaxes many people fell for. There’s the Piltdown Man, (1912) War of the Worlds, (1938), and Paul McCartney is Dead hoax, (1969). Hoaxes have tricked the best of us. In some ways, the Facebook Hoaxes are a bit of a let-down in their clumsy way they try to fool us, compared to the ingenious hoaxes of the past. The Turk Chess Game fooled people for over 100 years and the Surgeon’s Photo of the Loch Ness Monster fooled people for 60. At least those lies hoaxes had some elegance to them. Facebook hoaxes are just inelegant and easily proven lies.

We’re all gullible. Christians, however, have the Holy Spirit is us, and so should be wiser and more careful when sharing information. Gossip is a sin, it is impugning someone’s reputation. It’s the same with hoaxes. They turn out to be untrue but the Company, Organization, or person they focus on has been maligned by your act of hastily sharing unvetted information.

Christians, please do your diligence. If you’re not sure if something is a hoax and can’t verify it one way or another, please do not press Enter.

Piltdown_gang_(dark)

Group portrait of the Piltdown skull being examined.
Back row (from left): F. O. Barlow, G. Elliot Smith, Charles Dawson,
Arthur Smith Woodward. Front row: A S Underwood, Arthur Keith, W. P. Pycraft,
and Ray Lankester. Note the portrait ofCharles Darwin on the wall.
Painting by John Cooke, 1915. Wikipedia

 

Further Reading

Best Historical Hoaxes

15 Internet Hoaxes that Fooled All of Us

Why Hoaxes fool us, according to science

Posted in potpourri, Uncategorized

Prata Potpourri: The Oculus, free theology lectures, hilarious lunch duty, advice for pastor’s wives, more

Posted on by elizabethprata

Though school has started and it’s tiring herding kittens teaching kindergarteners all day, I am getting a steady infusion of sweetness, cuteness, knock knock jokes, and random offbeat kid comments to keep me in laughter all day long.

Gerry Brooks is a Principal of an elementary school in Lexington KY and he is hilarious. He is famous for putting up short clips remarking on the ins and outs of school life. He is always funny, but this short video had me literally doubled over and tears coming out of my eyes. Even if you have no clue what Kindergarten Lunch Duty entails, you will laugh along with the rest of us who agree, the first week of duty with the little ones presents certain, ahem, challenges.

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There seems to be a cottage industry these days promoting a how-to series of lessons on how to hear God’s voice. How to be SURE you’re hearing God’s voice. How to ignite/prompt/activate God’s voice. And so on. A google search on “how to hear God’s voice” yields the following-

It can be confusing to try and learn how to hear God’s voice. This is because you can’t. Therefore the ‘teachings’ on it contradict each other. Of course, these ‘methods’ also contradict the Bible. Here are two essays explaining the issues with trying to hear God’s voice.

Spirit of Error asks, What could be wrong with learning to “hear God’s voice?”

Tim Challies asks How Does God Speak to Me Today?

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The economic crash of 2007-08 crushed the dreams of many parents, who in live, hope, and work for their children to exceed their own achievements. That and a host of other reasons, has birthed a generation that unfortunately has come to depend on mom and dad to survive. Here is some advice on how to close that bank, compassionately.

How to Close the Bank of Mom and Dad

The phone rings and you cringe. You feel guilty, but you almost don’t want to answer the call from your own kid. He or she probably isn’t calling just to say hello. Your adult child needs money again. Does your child even realize how much these constant requests upset you emotionally and financially?

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I’m a sucker for anything about the sovereignty of God…

Summary and Outline of J. I. Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”

Packer’s popular paperback is a succinct, non-technical explanation of how God’s sovereignty and human responsibility affect evangelism. It is not a blueprint for modern evangelistic action (7). The aim is to dispel the suspicion that belief in the absolute sovereignty of God hinders evangelism and to show that it actually strengthens evangelism (8, 10). The book divides logically into four chapters. (See the outline of the book below.)

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Study the Gospel of John with Dallas Theological Seminary – for free.

It’s a ten week non-credit course, but you do earn a certificate at the end. I was put off by the introductory video touting ‘famous’ “theologians” who have graduated from the Institution, including David Jeremiah, Tony Evans, Priscilla Shirer and Jennie Allen. The DTS can’t help what students do or say after they graduate, but they can’t help touting them when they are obviously in error. The Seminary should have more discernment than that. I took the first unit, it was solid. But my antennae are up.

If you’re hankerin’ for some learnin’, there’s always the free theology lectures on Youtube from The Master’s Seminary.

I know I’m biased but my own pastor teaches incredibly insightful and theologically packed sermons. He is like Spurgeon on steroids. Every week. We are going through Genesis chapter by chapter, and the sermons are on podcast. Pastor Mark just finished a Men’s Conference today with three lectures on Jesus in the Old Testament, and they are all fantastic too. Find them here-

(1) Jesus In The Old Testament: Genesis
Here we are introduced to the idea that Jesus read the Old Testament and saw it as primarily being about Himself (John 5:39-40). What is it like to read the Old Testament with Jesus at the center? Here we get a sense of the whole story of the Bible starting with Genesis.

(2) Jesus In The Old Testament: Exodus & Leviticus
Here we discover how Jesus fulfills the roles of Moses, the Passover Lamb, Israel and the priesthood. Even Leviticus is about Jesus!

(3) Jesus In The Old Testament: The Prophets to Revelation
Here we look at the nation of Israel, Kings David and Solomon, along with the failures of the Old Testament people of God. The Old Testament ends as a cliff hanger. How does the story of Israel reach its climax in the person of Jesus? How does the whole Bible hold together?

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To pastor’s wives… you have special combat duty. It’s often silent, unforgiving, constant, demanding, and here as Mrs Spurgeon explains, hugely important.

Three pieces of advice from Charles Spurgeon’s Mother-in-Law

Charles Spurgeon abandoned his fiancée on a Sunday afternoon. After lunch, a carriage took the betrothed couple from Susannah’s house in St. Ann’s Terrace to Kennington where Charles would preach. Susannah recounted the event… Susannah left the service and fumed all the way home. Her mother gently “tried to soothe [her] ruffled spirit” and offered some motherly advice about marriage:

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I love travel and all places odd and out of the way. Atlas Obscura is a website that offers lots of odd, quirky, and fun articles about our blue earth. Here are a few of their recent stories

Found: A 300-Year Old Shoe Meant To Ward Off Evil Spirits
It was a men’s size 6, and they put it right back where they found it.

Found: Football-Sized Goldfish in an Australian River
Please stop putting pets in the river.

Nobuo Fujita’s Sword
As a show of peace, a Japanese naval pilot gifted his 400-year-old Samurai sword to the Oregon town he bombed.

The New York Public Library is Moving 1.5 Million Books to an Underground Lair
The books will live highly organized lives underneath Bryant Park.

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Don’t forget the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood! An oldie but a goodie. Here are a couple of articles to get you started-

Fatherhood and the worlds it creates

The New Household in Christ: How Wives and Husbands are to “Put on the New Self” in Colossians 3:18-19

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And for fun, the always amusing Bad Real Estate Photos

For interest, Inside the Beautiful New Oculus at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub
It is beautiful. But it reminds me of the Contemporary Resort at Disney’s EPCOT. Everything old is new again!