Tag: faith

Posted in theology

Archer & Olive, meanness, and kindness

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I have always loved paper. I’m a writer, to comes with the territory! Especially since I spent half my life expressing myself on paper before computer screens were invented. When I was in Italy, I purposely made a trip to the town of Fabriano. That place is one of the earliest and most important places in the West that sparked the trade in paper. The tradesmen there in the 1200s invented vats with multiple hammers, shortening the pounding time necessary to grind fiber to a malleable state. They also invented the watermark.

With a love of paper naturally comes a love of journals. I recently discovered the paper-journal-site Archer & Olive. This is an upscale, super-beautifully designed journal site. Their mission statement says,

At Archer & Olive, we believe creativity and planning should feel inspiring not overwhelming. That’s why we create premium journaling tools designed to support your mental wellness and help you stay organized in a way that feels joyful.

Archer & Olive’s Stamp Collector Collection

Premium is right. They make stunningly beautiful designs for their journals, notebooks, washi tape, and so on. An especially exciting product is their Subscription box. Inside are a myriad of freshly designed items sent to the subscriber. Each box bundle, and each season’s release of new individual collections, is freshly and uniquely designed by the talent behind the scenes.

For subscribers, the anticipation quickens as the date nears for the quarterly subscription box’s contents to be previewed and then released to the subscribers. They sell out quickly, I understand, and no wonder. They are beautiful as well as practical for the journaler or crafter who likes to create art in such notebooks.

Archer & Olive’s Homespun Collection

Last week, on September 1, the Subscriber box was released to current subscribers, and a few days later, the opportunity for new quarterly subscribers to buy one was opened on their site.

I enjoyed seeing the glimpses and previews of the new designs, as well as viewing old “unboxings” on Youtube. These designers really know their craft.

Yesterday I read a statement from Archer & Olive that saddened me. Now, the state of social media is known to one and all. You can carve out a quiet corner for yourself by making intentional follows and relentless blocking… but still, the negativity, trolling, and downright hate will be present even when you make innocuous statements or put out a benign vibe. And so it was with A&O. They wrote:

In the past week, we have been getting an unprecedented number of comments questioning our design process. We will be honest, we were taken by surprise by the sudden influx. Our team have a longstanding history of gorgeous designs, long before generative Al developed to where it is now, and we naively believed those years of designs spoke for themselves. However, as more new people find us, we understand that we haven’t built your trust yet, so here’s what we’re doing going forward.

MAKING OUR STANCE CLEAR

Our team quickly put together this page to clearly state our stance against Al-art, as well as including some insights on our design process we have shared before:

NO AI-ART POLICY- https://www.archerandolive.com/pages/no-ai-policy

This page is not comprehensive, but we wanted to respond quickly to show we are actively engaged in the discussion, and working on ways to make our stance clear.

WHAT WE WILL BE DOING GOING FORWARD?

We have plans to continue to share more behind the scenes, and we are talking to our artists about sharing more of their process. However, we hope that everyone can understand that we will first and foremost be prioritizing the privacy and mental health of our staff. All our artists are in-house employees, and after being met with hostility when personally engaging with comments, many have become hesitant to have a public presence.

We do genuinely understand the vigilance when looking for Al, but our designs are created by real humans; real people who are seeing the unfounded comments and increased negativity towards their work. If you see an error, there was a real person behind that error. Our team are amazing, many who have been with us from the early days of Archer and Olive, and some newer faces who have allowed us to expand our designs and style over the years. We only hope going forward their work can be met with the praise it deserves.

How bad does society need to be that floods an innocent design site with trolls spewing hate! So sad. Here they are, making beautiful things, selling them, enjoying their own products, wanting to help people through journaling, and along come a flood of negative nellies who are skeptical that real, live designers have toiled hard to bring these pretty items to the public. Real, live designers whose work is not only not acknowledged positively, but denied at all!

How unkind.

You know that photo of all the men saluting Hitler in the Nazi salute and one guy rebelliously has his arms crossed?

By Unknown author – arastiralim.net, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20103197

In these days of unkindness, we can be that guy. Being kind in an unkind world will stand out. It will be a balm, a breath of fresh air, a sweet zephyr of repose for those around you.

To fellow Christians, Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32).

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12).

Kindness is a spiritual fruit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22).

As in like manner, kindness will also stand out in a darkening world in our attitudes and behavior toward non-Christians, too.

So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. (Galatians 6:10).

Even to those who are enemies! We should be kind. Luke 6:35 says, But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.

It profits no one anything to be unkind. I know I have failed myself in this regard many times. I begin each day with an appeal to the Holy Spirit to help me be kind to one and all. Fading energy, irritation, illness, are some reasons why I fail to restrain the unkindness and it comes out. But to purposely troll a business with floods of unkind negativity is beyond appropriate.

Stand out by being kind, even in the face of unkindness. Paul quoted Proverbs 25:21–22 in Romans 12:20 (ESV), To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” As GotQuestions explains,

Verse 21 explains the idea of heaping burning coals on someone by saying, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Anyone can return evil for evil. But when a Christian does so, the watching world sees nothing different about our lives. It is not even clear who is right and who is wrong when we respond in kind to the one who wronged us. But, when we follow Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–44) and return good for evil, the contrast is stark. Our kind and gentle reaction to hatred spotlights the depravity of the one who treated us poorly and leaves the hurtful person alone in his or her hatefulness. Nothing pricks the conscience of a hateful person like a soft, forgiving spirit in the one he has wronged (Proverbs 15:1).

Posted in glory, arminianism, prosperity gospel, sovereignty

Predestination: God chooses us. We don’t choose Him

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There is one doctrine, or, a teaching, that incites rebuttal, refusals, and even anger. It’s the Doctrine of Election. It is also known as the doctrine of Predestination.

This teaching in the Bible says that no one chooses God for themselves. God chooses who will be saved. Further, this teaching states that God does not choose who will be saved based on His foreknowledge of who will choose Him. God decided before anyone was ever born who goes and who doesn’t.

He determines who goes to heaven and that person avoids His wrath. Heaven’s citizens are there due to God’s own will and purpose, not due to any choice or decision the individual person makes.

There is another aspect to this. Some say that while God chooses whom He will save and allow to enter His heaven, the unchosen are passed over and defaulted to hell, while others say God not only chooses those people He desires to go to heaven, He also chooses on purpose those who will enter hell. In other words, God predestines some for heaven and predestines others for hell.

John Piper answered that question with scripture, here in his short essay Does God Predestine People to Hell?

It is very hard for us to consider these things. Our heart hurts to think of hell, never mind a God who either allows to default or directly chooses some to experience conscious torment for all eternity.

The Bible says we are dead in our sins.

Colossians 2:13 says “When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,”

Romans 6:11 says before Christ saves us, we are dead, dead IN sin. “So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 15:22 says anyone who is in Adam, is dead.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

How can someone who is spiritually dead choose Christ? Scales are upon our eyes, our minds are futile, our heart is stone (Ezekiel 36:26. We CANNOT choose Jesus. We CANNOT repent. How can someone who is blind even see their sins in order to repent? We cannot.

God darkens people’s hearts, He lightenes them too. In ROmans 1 we read that God gave them over to their sinful passions after stubbornly refusing Him. He darkened Pharaoh’s heart after multiple offerings and displays of His power. Thus, God lightens hearts and minds as well. He is fully in control of His creation, all of it. From the planets and the earth to us humans. We are created beings living in God’s universe.

But what about foreknowledge? Did God who saw down the halls of time see that so-and-so will choose Him, and then He elected the person to salvation? No, what a ghastly thought! That would make God subservient to man’s decisions. It is God who decides. Spurgeon had this to say about election and foreknowledge:

“But,” say others, “God elected them on the foresight of their faith.” Now, God gives faith, therefore he could not have elected them on account of faith, which he foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street, and I determine to give one of them a shilling; but will any one say that I determined to give that one a shilling, that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would have it? That would be talking nonsense. In like manner to say that God elected men because he foresaw they would have faith, which is salvation in the germ, would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment. Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from him. Therefore it cannot have caused him to elect men, because it is his gift. ~Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Election” No. 41-42.

Here are some verses in support of the Bible’s teaching on predestination:

Jude 1:4a- For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation

Proverbs 16:4– The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.

Ephesians 1:11– In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will.

Man’s pride (due to our sin nature) wants to say I did this, I chose, I am in charge of my faith. But we aren’t. We are dead in sins and trespasses. (Spiritually) dead people cannot do anything except lay dead.

God is not ‘a gentleman’. He doesn’t stand aside and hope or wish or plead with us to follow Him. That song “I have decided, to follow Jesus” is doctrinally incorrect. He smashed S/Paul to the ground, blinded him, charged him with persecuting God’s people, and sent him to a Gentile’s home to think about it. He burst into Abram’s life unexpected and told Abram to go to another country.

Humans are appointed to eternal life by God since before the beginning of the world.

When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48).

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love / He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5)

The Doctrine of Predestination AKA the Doctrine of Election is a humbling one. Once the Lord instills in us the knowledge of Him and lets the scales fall from our eyes, we truly see who we are. Who are we? Sinners in need of a transcendent, holy God who forgives. He sent His Son to teach, live a holy life as the spotless Lamb, be killed in the cross as the sacrifice for sin, rise again, and ascend. All for us, who need Him desperately but would otherwise never know it unless He intervened and saved us first.

What a blessing! It’s all HIM! If I was in charge of my salvation for sure I would lose it. I can trust and rely on Him who saves to keep me and bring me home in His timing. What a relief and a joy.

Further Resources

The Cripplegate: Pick me, pick me: Unconditional Election

9Marks: A Softer Prosperity Gospel: More Common Than You Think

Grace to you article: What is the Doctrine of Election?

GotQuestions: Is the doctrine of Election biblical?

Posted in theology

This week we saw the power of deception, the power of God, the power of sin (Dolly, G3, Nepal)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The week of August 21-28, 2026 was an incredible week. It was chock full. We had a death of a uniformly beloved, long-term celebrity, a ministry scandal and fall of leaders that shook the reformed world, and a horrifying natural disaster.

Since God is sovereignly in control, and allows or directly causes all things to happen, and for the Christians, for their good to those who love Him, let’s see what we can learn from these incredible events. We never want to just say “goodness that’s awful” move on without thinking of the heaven above, salvation of others, and our own lesson we can learn. Jesus above all.

Dolly

Southern singer, movie actress, and icon to drag queens Dolly Parton died this week. She was 80 years old. She often spoke of “my faith”, “God”, and ‘living out my beliefs’. To that end, she was consistently kind to all, generous to many, and loving as a state of being. She was gracious under fire, humble, and never put a foot wrong. Never said a wrong thing (in the world’s eyes), and did so while being witty and charming- all for over 60 years in the public eye.

But was she a Christian? It’s heartbreaking to even have to ask. We don’t want to know. We want to say ‘of course she was’ but the evidence of her lived-life says otherwise. Unless she had a change of heart in the end, of course, the evidence over her life in her words and actions, while kind and loving, were not based on the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but of a God she made up in her heart and a spirituality that doesn’t match His.

It’s easy to say, “Sure, Hitler wasn’t saved” but it is very hard to look at a nice person and say “Well, maybe not.” Because there are only 2 camps, God’s, and satan’s, we shrink back to think Dolly maybe was in satan’s camp. But remember, only two roads.

Dolly was self-deceived that the God she clung to was the God of the Bible. People claiming her as a sister in Christ are deceived by substituting kindness and generosity for repentance and faith. Let’s take a look-

In 2005, Dolly wrote a song called “Travelin’ Thru” for the movie Transamerica (about a male who wants to change genders to a female, and his heretofore unknown son who turns into a gay porn star). She said her motivation for writing the song was to change minds, “Some people are blind or ignorant, and you can’t be that prejudiced and hateful and go through this world and still be happy. One thing about this movie is that I think art can change minds. It’s alright to be who you are.” (Source).

‘Who we are’ are sinners deserving of God’s wrath.

Al Mohler on Dolly and the movie Transamerica, The Duchess of Dollywood Speaks — The Very, Very Open Mind of Dolly Parton

Ken Ham: Where will I (and Dolly Parton) spend eternity?

Justin Peters: What is a Christian? (Was Dolly Parton a Christian?)

Pastor Grant: What did Dolly Parton believe about The Bible?

Dolly publicly stood as an ally for gay and transgender people, which is against God’s standards. She was also immodest, posing for the cover of Playboy Magazine, and wore revealing clothes often.

Do not be deceived and do not fall under the power of deception. Be clear-eyed about what faith is and isn’t. Measure a person’s words and actions against the Bible in God’s words, not against our fallible human standards of love, kindness, or generosity.

G3

Oh, G3 Ministries, you break my heart. I attended the G3 Conference twice and I loved both times. I met wonderful people, had great conversations, and was wowed by the quality of the teaching and preaching. I was thrilled at seeing 5000 the first time then nearly 8000 people the second time come from all over the nation to worship God. I was struck to tears when singing with thousands of others to Jesus. I was mainly happy to see what God can do, raising up so many for His name.

What I didn’t know was that at the center of it was sin. The edges were good, but the center was rotten. “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” to quote the famous line from “The Second Coming,” a 1919 poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. And the center did not hold.

Last year the president of the conference and lead pastor of the church that organized it was outed as a hypocritical sinner. He was forced to step down. This was last year. But then last week, his peers at the church and the Conference were outed as maliciously divisive accusers and liars. The main people behind the church that put on the conference, were sinning unrepentantly and maliciously. Be careful, your sin will find you out. Sadly, when it’s a bunch of pastors who were on one side of their mouths speaking in Jesus’ name and for His glory, and on the other side of their mouths reviling & slandering a brother pastor in Christ anonymously, it’s worse when it’s found out. Titus 2:5, 1 Timothy 6:1, Romans 2:24, 1 Peter 2:15 all are warnings to do right, so the name of God will not be blasphemed or reviled.

Measure a person’s words and actions against the Bible. As we have seen with G3 leaders and their church pastors, sin is deceptive. And it’s everywhere, even where you least expect it.

Nepal flood

Far away across the world and atop the earth’s highest mountains, villagers dwell in vertical lives. Their mountainous buildings and constructions amid the heights with no horizontal ground are amazing achievements. Carving out lives and thriving where the air is thin and the borders are close takes human ingenuity.

And it was all washed away in seconds. A glacier collapsed high above them and its meltwater rushing down the unsuspecting villagers in its wrath and speed astounded those who survived and filmed the spectacle. We watched as it was happening, amazing in itself. Boulders the size of buildings tumbled down amid rushing waters with the speed of a jet as if they were a mere matchstick. Mountainsides were re-shaped in an instant. Solid buildings of concrete and sturdy structure collapsed like a house of cards.

People recorded the disaster and the commonest refrain on social media as we watched horror unfold with mouths agape was: “We are nothing before the power of nature.”

Imagine the global Flood. Imagine the coming Tribulation!

We are puny humans, worms in the dust. We are at the mercy of powers of ‘nature’ and ultimately the power of God which we cannot understand. We get a glimpse when building-sized boulders tumble down as a feather, with the rushing waters defying our comprehension, carving our new channels despite all the endeavors of man to have held it back.

video here

To my mind this week was about power. It made me think of the power of God, the power of deception, and the power of sin.

In The Attributes of God by AW Pink, we read in chapter 9 about the Power of God

WE CANNOT have a right conception of God unless we think of Him as all-powerful, as well as all-wise. He who cannot do what he will and perform all his pleasure cannot be God. As God hath a will to resolve what He deems good, so has He power to execute His will.

“The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve…As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow. God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature.” (Stephen Charnock).

The only safe spot on earth is in the arms of Jesus, after repenting of our sin and believing in his death, burial, and resurrection.

Posted in theology

The Shadow of Sin and the Treasure of Grace

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS
The article discusses Thomas Boston’s views on the inescapability of sin, emphasizing that it is inherent in human nature, even among the grace-receiving faithful. Sin follows individuals like a shadow, deeply rooted within. Our temptations arise from internal desires, highlighting the necessity of recognizing human corruption and the need for divine grace.

Continue reading “The Shadow of Sin and the Treasure of Grace” →
Posted in drifting away, state of the church

Drifting away: Are you tending your anchor?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and yet you are dead. (Revelation 3:1).

How could a seemingly thriving church be dead?

I want to take a look at a reason love grows cold. In my opinion, Hebrews 2:1 has one possible answer. In the NASB the paragraph is introduced with the simple but clear title “Pay Attention.” The first verse says “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”

I love the nautical metaphors the Bible writers use. Marine allusions never change throughout time. If we picture the church as a bunch of people on an anchored boat in front of a lighthouse, and we fail to tend the anchor frequently, it slips. It slips because there are tides, and currents and winds trying to push the boat off its anchorage, just as culture buffets us in the world trying to push us away from Christ. As the anchor slips, we drift away slowly at first. As any mariner knows, the less the anchor digs in the faster the drift becomes. Pretty soon the ground under the boat deepens enough so the anchor is still attached to the boat but it’s just hanging there, not doing its job of digging in and keeping the boat close to the Lighthouse. Away the boat goes and in between the boat and the Light are many perils and things that could sink the boat. It does not take long in the neglect of tending the anchor, to become adrift on a cultural tide and too busy trying to control the boat in the currents, tides, waves, and wind to think of the Lighthouse anymore.

What are people doing on the boat that causes no one to notice the slipping anchor? Well, some are on the foredeck, sunning themselves. They say they are warm and comfortable, the sun feels good, and they leave the anchor-tending to someone else. (Sardis failed to keep watch, they are dead- Rev 3:1-3).

Others go below, to cook and eat and play cards and to watch TV. (worldly spirit- 2 Timothy 4:10). They say that they finally have a chance to relax, being on this nice yacht, and they are going to take advantage of it. (wilful sin-Hebrews 10:25-31).

Others are doing boat-things, like repairing sails, or changing the oil in the engine, but still they don’t take the time to go up and glance at the anchor line because they are too busy. (appearance of Godliness- 2 Tim 3:5). One person noticed a fraying anchor line but when he told his fellow boat-dwellers, they said he shouldn’t worry about it, the rope was strong enough for now. (They heard, but did not do- James 1:22).

What they didn’t know was that a storm was on the horizon that would fray the rest of it and cause them to drift. (Matthew 16:3; Luke 12:56). Everyone is supposed to be vigilant and take his or her watch, looking out for storms, fraying anchor line, slipping anchorage. We are a body and we all take a watch. We as individuals and corporately must monitor our position in front of the Lighthouse!

Leaving the anchor-tending to one person (the pastor) or worse, no one, means for sure sometime you will slip away. The Lighthouse is still there and always will be. It is the boat that drifted away. We have love growing cold because too many people are abdicating their watch.

I used to live on a sailboat for two years, me and my husband. We rarely went in to a marina to use a dock for the night, which means we anchored each night in a cove or sheltered open area. We handled the anchor twice a day, letting it down at dusk for the night and lifting it up in the morning when we left. We would look for two things: good anchoring ground and a protected area. Then we would make a plan for anchoring, me at the helm and him at the bow pointing us to the spot he had decided on. Next, we made a pass over the spot, ensuring there were no hidden dangers that would give a nasty surprise that night. Then we would go through the process of anchoring, making sure the anchor was well set.

Finally, though we were stopped for the day and relaxing, we never fully relaxed. One or the other of us would continually take sightings, check the anchor line and generally be on guard, even getting up in the night, lest we drift away. Props to my husband (and me) because our vigilance and fore-planning meant we never slipped anchor. We always awoke the next morning where we had stopped the night before.

We up anchor at sunrise on a Georgia river, circa 1994.

The thing that begins love growing cold is taking your eyes off Jesus the Light and replacing Him with a world view. A world view is satan. The second you give satan an inch, he will bring his crowbar in and pry you away from your first love, inch by incremental inch. That is why it takes an entire body to be on guard, you may not notice your own drift away by inches, but someone else looking at you may spot it.

 1 Peter 5:8 says to be alert. 1 Peter 5:8  says to keep watch (for Jesus). 1 Thessalonians 5:6 says do not go to sleep.

Admittedly, it is a lot of work to tend the anchor of our salvation. You cannot relax, yet our carnal nature very much wants to. I understand that. What people consistently fail to understand is how devastating even a few moments of relaxing are. Ultimately, failure to tend the anchor is a neglecting of our salvation and that salvation was bought at too great a price to neglect it. (1 Corinthians 6:20).

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns. (Psalm 46:1-5)

Posted in theology

God’s allotment, our service

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

Consider this verse-

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3).

Paul began the chapter with talking about our bodies as a living sacrifice, and continued after verse 3 with tying it to the spiritual gifts and our entwinement with each other as members of the Body. The concepts here are service and sacrifice.

“Measure of faith” is defined at Logos as “A biblical term referring to the spiritual capacity or level of belief given by God to individuals.”

But translating and understanding what God meant by ‘measure of faith’ turned out to be not so easy. But I loved wrestling with scripture.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains the measure of faith is not justifying faith. We all have that equally. It is not the spiritual gift of faith, only some have that. He used George Muller as an example of someone given the gift of deep, trusting faith “who was was able to pray with confidence and assurance and the amazing things happened that we can read“.

So what IS the ‘measure’ of faith? Commenter Marvin Vincent (1887) wrote that it is a difficult phrase to translate. I found this to be true. Preachers or commenters Martyn Lloyd Jones, John MacArthur, RC Sproul, Matthew Henry etc all interpreted it slightly differently. However, there are three concepts that stood out- first, God gives the faith, second, for the measure of faith we are given, we use in conjunction with our spiritual gifts to serve. Thirdly, we must not become conceited about our faith or our gifts nor think more highly than ourselves over another person.

Here, J. Witmer in John Walvoord’s The Bible Knowledge Commentary acknowledges Paul’s ‘involved word play’ in this verse:

“By his involved word play on various forms of the verb phroneō, “to think,” Paul emphasized that human pride is wrong (cf. 3:27; 11:18, 20) partly because all natural abilities and spiritual gifts are from God. As a result every Christian should have a proper sense of humility and an awareness of his need to be involved with other members of Christ’s body. As Paul explained, a parallelism exists between a believer’s physical body which has parts with differing functions and the community of believers in Christ as a spiritual body (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12–27; Eph. 4:11–12, 15–16). The point is that each member functions to serve the body, not the body to serve the members.”

Marvin Vincent in Word Studies in the New Testament, (1887) focuses on the word measure, saying our entry into the Kingdom at conversion means we now see ourselves measured against God as our new standard of measurement-

“Faith, in introducing him into God’s kingdom, introduces him to new standards of measurement, according to which he accurately determines the nature and extent of his powers, and so does not think of himself too highly. This measure is different in different individuals, but in every case faith is the determining element of the measure. Paul, then, does not mean precisely to say that a man is to think more or less soberly of himself according to the quantity of faith which he has, though that is true as a fact; but that sound and correct views as to the character and extent of spiritual gifts and functions are fixed by a measure.”

As usual, the solid and trustworthy Matthew Henry in his commentary on the whole Bible (1704) brought Jesus into the discussion-

“Because God deals out his gifts in a certain measure: According to the measure of faith. Observe, The measure of spiritual gifts he calls the measure of faith, for this is the radical grace. What we have and do that is good is so far right and acceptable as it is founded in faith, and flows from faith, and no further. Now faith, and other spiritual gifts with it, are dealt by measure, according as Infinite Wisdom sees meet for us. Christ had the Spirit given him without measure, Jn. 3:34. But the saints have it by measure; see Eph. 4:7. Christ, who had gifts without measure, was meek and lowly; and shall we, that are stinted, be proud and self-conceited?”

It seems to me after chasing down all these winding trails and mulling this phrase for the last few days, that my conclusion is we need to employ trust in our Christian church relationships. We of course remember the primary notion, we are each given a measure of faith in which we operate our spiritual gifts. Do not disparage the weaker brother or be jealous of the stronger brother. We all have a different measure.

So, when we hear preaching, trust that the preacher is operating to the widest extent in his good service to Jesus. When we see hospitable women hosting the sisters, trust that she is operating her faith and using her gifts to the fullest extent according to the measure given her. And so on for each person and each gift. We are one body, and what one does affects the others.

Simply put, use grace to think more highly of others. If we are going to measure anything, measure ourselves in sound judgment to ensure we are serving Jesus with all our mind, heart, soul, and body.

Posted in theology

Born to Be Destroyed: The Stark Language of 2 Peter

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Something that always surprises me is how tolerant and soft-hearted people are when you mention so-and-so is a false teacher. They look at the person being named as false, and not at Jesus. Certainly they aren’t looking at their Bible. False teachers are of satan. But when you say someone like Joyce Meyer is false, or Beth Moore, they look at Meyer and see a woman who smiles and has a large following and has a Bible in her hand, so they say “But she’s not THAT bad”, or “Have you prayed for her?’ or “Leave her alone- God will sort it out.”

All of those are wrong responses to any named false teacher.

While many people will agree that false teachers exist, when I match the person to the claim, they will balk.

Yet the Bible describes these false ones in the starkest of terms. In just one example, we turn to 2 Peter 2:13-14 which says, ‘they revel in their deceptions’.

suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you, 14having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in greed, accursed children;

John MacArthur preached about these false teachers from the 2 Peter 2:13 verse. He said –

“Further describing their action, Peter with obvious disgust says, “They are stains and blemishes.” Boy, those are absolutely vivid words. The word “stains” is the word filth spots, dirt spots. The word “blemish” is the word scab, or the word defect. It is the idea of dirt spots, defects, filth spots, scabs. They pollute. They’re dirty.  They’re foul. They’re diseased. And he says they’re reveling in their deceptions.” Creatures born to be killed.

That means someone like Joyce Meyer is a filth spot. Joel Osteen is a defect. Beth Moore is a scab. THAT is how awful a false teacher is. I’m not saying these things, the Bible is!

Next, do you notice the word revel is used twice in the same verse?! What does revel mean here?

HELPS Word-studies says
tryphḗ (from thryptō, “to break down due to over-indulgence, i.e. living in excessive luxury”) – properly, feebleness brought on by self-indulgence (luxury); (figuratively) moral and spiritual breakdown (“enfeeblement”) from over-indulging in dainty (“delicate”) things, i.e. “dainty living” that deteriorates soul and body.

Their Reveling (2 Peter 2:13–14a), as Warren Wiersbe in The Bible exposition commentary interprets the verse, says-

The words translated “riot” and “sporting” carry the meaning of “sensual reveling.” They also contain the idea of luxury, softness, and extravagance. At the expense of those who support them (2 Peter 2:3), the apostates enjoy luxurious living. In our own society, there are those who plead for funds for their “ministries,” yet live in expensive houses, drive luxury cars, and wear costly clothes. When we remember that Jesus became poor in order to make us rich, their garish lifestyle seems out of step with New Testament Christianity.

Not only do they deceive others, but they even deceive themselves! They can “prove” from the Bible that their lifestyle is right. In ancient times, it was expected that people would revel at night, but these people dared to revel in the daytime, so convinced were they of their practices. A person can become so accustomed to his vices that he sees them as virtues.

These false teachers are born to be killed. Jude 1:4 says certain men were born for condemnation. The 2 Peter verse says they will be destroyed. MacArthur again,

The Greek text actually reads this way, “In their destroying they shall be destroyed.” And that’s…that’s another way to read this, that in the destructive work that they do as they lead people to destruction through their witless, non-reasoning stupidity and living off their passionate instincts, as they consume others in that operation, they will themselves be consumed. They are abandoned to destruction, born for the flesh, born to perish. Sermon- Creatures born to be killed part 1.

It is important to look at the Bible when discerning about false teachers. Because we are sinners, our sin clouds our judgment of others when assessing their output against the Bible. We need the clear word of God to remind us that these teachers whose father is satan, are not just as good as us or just as bad as us. Do not think, “Well, no one is perfect”, or “Well, I sin too.” False teachers are an entirely different beast.

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. (2 Peter 2:17).

Springs without water are empty, like the promises of false teachers. They are reserved for blackest darkness in the future. Don’t follow them.

Posted in theology

The splendor of the temple, the beauty of the Savior

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In my church we are going through Mark. We are up to Mark 13, the much anticipated (by me) the Olivet Discourse. This is the time that Jesus spent answering a series of questions the disciples asked, and Jesus sat down and taught them while they were on the Mount of Olives (hence the name of the discourse).

Mark 13:1-2 says,

As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, look! What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

The disciples must have been shocked. When we see a great building and its sturdiness, the huge blocks from which it is built, its towering presence, we think that it will last forever. The Twin Towers in New York fell after the terrorists’ planes crashed into them. I remember seeing that in wonder and amazement. How could such a strongly built building fall? But it did. Here, my pastor begins preaching and teaching in this verse by showing how massive and strong the Temple was:

One of the 12 disciples, we don’t know who, turned around and looked back toward the temple.

Whoever this was marveled at what he saw. And according to verse 1, he called out to Jesus, look teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. What caught the eye of this disciple was the grandeur of the temple. in all of its magnificent adornment and scale. Viewed broadside, it would have been impressive. It was the largest of all the temples in the Roman Empire, and surely the wealthiest as well.

In fact, someone has remarked that if it hadn’t been a Jewish temple, it would have been considered one of the wonders of the world during its time. Nevertheless, anyone who saw it would have been awestruck. The first century Jewish historian Josephus said that it lacked nothing that could astound either mind or eye. No one had seen anything like it. One reason for its impressiveness was its sheer scale. It was massive.

The temple complex encompassed over 1.5 million square feet, equivalent to 35 football fields in size, and covering one-sixth of the area of Jerusalem. The perimeter of the complex, if you walked around it, stretched nearly a mile in total length. The cornerstones of the complex weighed more than 100 tons, and a stone along one side has been found to weigh over a million pounds. viewed from the Mount of Olives across the valley. The temple complex rose 160 feet above the Kidron Valley below, and the temple itself rose another 150 feet from the center of the complex.

The magnitude of the temple complex far exceeded any other temple in the ancient world. Another reason for its impressiveness was its sheer beauty. One contemporary Roman historian called it immensely opulent. Much of the complex was constructed with polished white marble so that it gleamed in the sun. It was said that from afar the temple complex looked like a snow-covered mountain. The temple itself was adorned with much gold. The front exterior walls were covered in thick plates of gold that reflected the sun’s rays so brightly at sunrise that onlookers had to look away.” —end of sermon excerpt

Nothing on this earth will remain. Not Mount Everest, not the biggest buildings, not the most powerful person. The earth will melt away and be remade. With that in mind, rejoice we have Jesus to cling to! He transcends all earthly strength, power, majesty, and splendor.