Tag: faith

Posted in theology

Billy Graham rule may not be a good idea for some (a different reason why)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A very famous married elderly Reformed preacher was forced to confess he had been having a five-year-long affair with a woman almost 50 years younger than he. He was fired from his preaching position, ejected from the ministry he founded, and rejected in his many other ministry positions of authority and prestige.

The shock went around the world. Literally. The ensuing shock is still reverberating. Some insiders have said, “No one saw this coming.” Not that they disbelieved that anyone can sin into adultery, but no one saw it coming from this man in particular.

Al Mohler spoke about this situation, answering a question he’d been asked as to whether pastors falling due to adultery are happening more frequently these days. It seemed so to the questioner.

Moher said that he “doesn’t sense an increase in number but an increase in public damage to the church of Jesus Christ. The effect of the issue upon the church and the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so grievous“

Mohler also quoted advice given him by an elder honorable Christian man,

You will never have sex with a woman not your wife, if you are never alone with a woman not your wife.”

In the aftermath of this news, people have been discussing the background of Mohler’s quip, the Billy Graham Rule. (BGR)

The BGR is a rule that 20th century evangelist Bill Graham instituted for himself never to be alone with a woman not his wife. As a traveling evangelist, he was subject to gossip and speculation, particularly in the wake of traveling religious men before him who had been charlatans.

“Graham tells the story of when he was walking along a quiet street with his 18-year-old daughter: the next day, the local paper printed the story that Graham was “again” seen with a beautiful, young woman, insinuating that Graham’s sexual exploits were beginning to be a problem,” explains Kurt Edwards in his dissertation “Billy Graham, Elmer Gantry, and the Performance Of A New American Revivalism“

.

In this June 27, 1954 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham speaks to over 100,000 people at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany (AP)

Graham himself had said of the issue, “There is always the chance of misunderstanding. I remember walking down the street in New York with my beautiful blond daughter, Bunny. I was holding her hand. I heard somebody behind us say, ‘There goes Billy Graham with one of those blond girls.'” (Source).

These rumors bothered Graham, who wanted to maintain a pure reputation. He had recently read the devastating book Elmer Gantry, about the perseverance, rise, and ultimate success of a corrupt preacher who was in fact a false convert. This book spooked Graham. He was concerned enough with his reputation in light of the Gantry book and subsequent movie, that in 1948 “while in Modesto, California, he [Graham] gathered close advisers, including Grady and T.W. Wilson, Cliff Barrows, and Bev Shea” wrote Edwards, to discuss how to handle this kind of attention.

The issues they were concerned about were money, sexual
immorality, discord with local churches, and telling journalists the true numbers of attendees (not inflating the truth when speaking of publicity) – these “rules” were to help squash any issues with these 4 problems and became known as “The Modesto Manifesto”.

The rule Graham had about maintaining sexual purity was that he would never travel alone, nor would he meet with or eat alone with any woman other than his wife. But there is an interesting twist to that Rule many people do not know. More on that below.

It was a purposeful strategy to ignore the Elmer Gantry-ish excesses of the famous American evangelists who’d come before him. And it worked like magic. When scandals destroyed some of his imitators in the 1980s, like Jim and Tammy Bakker, Graham’s operation looked even more like a model of rectitude in comparison. (Rolling Stone, The Soul Crushing Legacy of Billy Graham).

BGR or BGR-ish Can Be Good

I have an issue with the Billy Graham Rule, and it is not what you think. I believe the wisdom behind the Rule is good. It is NOT wise for a man, clergy, pastor, counselor to meet alone with a woman. Not professionally and certainly not personally. Not even in public, as in a restaurant, mall, or park. I also believe it is not a good idea to frequently text or email or phone call a woman who is not his wife, an added caveat since new technology has been invented since Billy Graham was around.

It was not holiness that prompted Graham and his cohorts to formulate this rule. It was not to establish guardrails for the purpose of maintaining discipline so God gets the glory.

It was performance. It was to create an external appearance in order to glorify self.

Some may take issue with what I’m saying here. But I’ve done a lot of thinking about Billy Graham and even more study on his life and ministry. Much. I don’t say these things lightly or without reason or substantiation. I know some won’t like it because some idolize him. That’s fine. Their opinion. I have mine.

As a side note, I’ve read Stephen King’s The Mist, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Lovecraft…and Elmer Gantry. Let me say that Elmer Gantry out-horrored them all and was the most chilling, horrific book I ever read. It definitely leaves an impression.

Throughout Billy Graham’s career, the evangelist sought performative manners to ensure that he would not be perceived as another “Elmer Gantry”, or huckster preacher out to win money, fame, and favor. Graham’s intent was to grow a ministry that would form a new performance paradigm for American revivalism. Graham prepared as an actor to use his gifts, train his voice and body, to write a different style of script, to capitalize on celebrity, and to embrace new media forms that would bring his message around the world thus creating a “New” revivalism while at the same time distancing himself from being seen as the character in Sinclair Lewis’ novel Elmer Gantry…” ~Dr. Ronald E. Shields, Bowling Green State University.

Why I am suspicious about the BGR

Graham decided not to sup alone, be seen with, or in any way be tainted by the notion that he was alone with a woman not his wife in public, and this included his daughters.

This is my issue and it’s why I deem it performance, a whitewashed tomb rather than a God-glorifying pursuit of purity.

He sacrificed his girls on the altar of personal reputation. It wasn’t for the glory of God. It was so people would think he was a highly moral person. We see this conceptually in the Modesto discussions, and we see in reality at the abandonment of his daughters for the sake of being well thought of.

“From that point on, Graham would not to travel, meet, or dine alone with any woman other than his wife Ruth — even his very own daughters when they came of age.” ~Edwards

Evangelists were often separated from their families during long periods of time and could be tempted with immorality (at least to do things that were disparate with what they were preaching for or against). The team pledged to avoid even the appearance of compromise. From that day forward, Graham never traveled alone, nor did he meet or eat alone with any woman other than his wife (including his teenage daughters). ~paraphrasing William Martin’s book, “A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story.

So: the entire point about me cautioning with regard to the Billy Graham Rule is —

MOTIVE

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.
(James 4:3)

All the ways of a person are clean in his own sight, But the LORD examines the motives. (Proverbs 16:2)

The Pharisees were ALL ABOUT performance. Jesus called them out on it. He said they stand on corners (busy location) so they would be seen They didn’t wash, so they would be seen. They pulled long faces at fasting, so they would be seen. When they tithed they sounded trumpets. They sought the chief seats at banquets. All so they would be praised and glorified.

Then the Lord said, “Because this people approaches Me with their words And honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me, (Isaiah 29:13).

Practicing righteousness to heap glory onto one’s self is a worthless endeavor.

Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)

CAUTION

As you think about the BGR, ponder your motives. And sin being what it is, even if you’ve instituted such a rule for yourself at the start based on wanting to give glory to God through a holy lifestyle, over time it can become hardened and rigid, and become one of many rules that are void of worship and instead by now are just a performance. A rule for the sake of a rule.

For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10).

That question should always be utmost in our minds. WHY do we do the things we do? Is what I am doing out of love and submission to the Savior? Am I pursuing holiness for the sake of God getting glory, or for myself so as to be well thought of? Has it become rote, and devoid of meaning and worship?

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

Posted in chantry, discernment, megapastor, prophecy

What are the signs of a believer?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

If people would simply stop accepting at face value the proclamations of celebrity pastors and lady ‘Bible’ teachers, that they are Christians, the faith would be stronger.

When a megapastor, such as the types like Mr Furtick, Mr Driscoll, or Mr Stanley, or a lady ‘Bible’ teacher like Beth Moore or Jennie Allen or Joyce Meyer teach something that isn’t in the Bible, or otherwise make an outrageous statement, the thinking goes something like this:

“What?! How could Pastor So-and-So say that? He says s/he’s a Christian, so how can s/he not know that isn’t the truth?! Since s/he says they are a Christian, we have to find out what s/he really meant. It must be a mistake, or s/he said it because s/he must be temporarily under the influence of NyQuil. Of course s/he is a Christian (because Pastor So-and-So says he is) and Christians would know better than to teach that.”

Complex rhetorical pretzel-logic ensues.

You know, most people who say they’re saved, are not saved. Am I pessimistic? Am I “judging the heart”? Am I “judging their motives”? No. Jesus said that many go on the broad way to destruction and few find the way to salvation. (Matthew 7:14). Jesus followed that statement immediately in the next verse, saying

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matthew 7:15). Further on we read the devastating verses in Matthew 7:21-23 where many are unveiled to not have been a Christian all along. Jesus says ‘Depart from me, yu worker of iniquity, I never knew you.’

In the New Testament ‘false prophets’ are pastors, a word we’re more familiar with today. Or they are teachers.

If someone in real life says to me that they are saved, I don’t dismiss their statement, of course. But I do not accept it at face value, either. I listen to testimony, I watch for fruit, I reserve comment or opinion on their self-proclamation until I see one way or another which way their wind blows. That takes time.

But if someone is a pastor or teacher at the highest levels with a following or influence, and thus a body of work to examine and compare to the Bible (Acts 17:11), and they say something incontrovertibly against a foundational doctrine, (like when Billy Graham says we can go to heaven without knowing Jesus; or the wild abuses against the Spirit of Benny Hinn or Joyce Meyer, or the greed with which a Joel Osteen bows to Mammon), then it’s understood in my mind that someone with the Holy Spirit in them would never teach that or behave that way. Ever.

There are some simple items to help people begin to understand whether to call someone a brother. Here are a few-

1. True believers will understand, confess, and defend the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. (See Corinthians 15:1-5.) 

2. Actual Christians will discerningly spot counterfeit gospels and conclusively reject all of them. (See Galatians 1:6-9).

3. Believers, while not morally perfect until glorification, will care about holiness and will strive to live according to God’s commands. If pointed out to be teaching falsity or to be in sin, they will hasten to correct (See I Corinthians 6:9-11).

Remember, the Holy Spirit indwells a true believer. He will not allow decades of falsity to spew from the pastor’s or teacher’s mouth. He will not allow decades of behavioral abuse to continue. If an actual believer teaching something falls into sin, after a short while it will be resolved through repentance, or even in the case of the Corinthians they were disciplined with sickness or even death for abusing the Lord’s Table, or the Thyatirans who followed metaphorical Jezebel, Jesus threatened to kill them. The Spirit’s ministry is to point to Jesus, not allow falsity from one of His sheep to confuse the unwary and pollute the faith. We must see Jesus with clear eyes. Many, believe it or not, do not profess the true Jesus, but sadly, many do not know that the foundation of their faith is sand and not the Rock. (see Matthew 7:21-23).

In his Handout Church History Lecture series, John Gerstner said in 1990,

How goes the Gospel in the world at the end of the twentieth century? There is no way of getting full or accurate statistics (though there are many useful attempts). One can only make educated guesses. Mine is that the vast majority—maybe 90 percent—of professing Christendom does not profess Christianity. Or rather, it does not understand the Christianity it professes.

Most of the people who profess Christ do not believe the essential doctrines that set one apart as a regenerated, saved Christian. I have seen this up close. A Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Teacher/Director laughingly said to me once, “Oh, I just take most of the Old Testament with a grain of salt.”

Here is Got Questions with 12 verses answering What are some of the signs of genuine saving faith?

Here is John MacArthur with an essay on “What kind of things do and do not prove the genuineness of saving faith?” Do not be caught by the conditions observed in a person that do not prove OR disprove genuine saving faith, such as: Visible Morality, Intellectual Knowledge, Religious Involvement, Active Ministry, Conviction of Sin, The Feeling of Assurance, A Time of Decision. Then MacArthur continues in showing Nine conditions that DO prove genuine saving faith. Here is the link.

Ever since the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I have been concerned with the notion of false professions, false Christians, and polluted faith. I work at not contributing to the problem by examining myself, confessing sin when necessary, and keeping my eyes on “This Same Jesus” who departed in Acts 1:11 and will return the same way.

I dread the day when Matthew 7:21-23 comes true, when many (hopefully not me!) will be unmasked as false believers and sent to hell. However, that will be one way that Jesus’ glory will be shown to be even more glorious than we ever could imagine. These things must be pondered.

Posted in encouragement, faith

The faith of Adam

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

When Adam and Eve trusted the words of the serpent instead of GOD and stepped out into disobedience, they fell from grace.

To the woman God said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” ” (Genesis 3:16).

Then God made His prophetic pronouncements to Adam (the ground is cursed because of you, labor will be painful, you’ll sweat and toil, the serpent will be bruised under the heel of the woman’s offspring)

When God was finished speaking, the man called his wife’s name Eve, “because she was the mother of all living.” (Genesis 3:20)

God Judging Adam, cropped, by Wm. Blake, 1795

Was Eve a mother yet? No. Adam’s naming of Eve was a step into faith based on the future promises of God.

If Adam’s faith was so great based on such little revelation, how much more faith should we have based on the incarnation of Christ, the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit, and the completed revelation of God?

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Are you living in faith? (am I?) With the great revelation we have in our complete Bible, revelation wisdom that we can turn to at any time, freely, let us today and forever live by the promises of God. His word will never fail. Whatever happens today is for our good (which is good) and His glory (which is best!)

Posted in encouragement, theology

How to obtain faith

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This post first appeared on The End Time in September 2011. It’s been slightly edited.

————————————–

Many people believe in a god. If, as people say, ‘a god’ does exist, then it stands to reason He is far above us in ways and thoughts. And if He is far above us in ways and thoughts it stands to reason that He is perfectly holy, just, and wise. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. (Ephesians 2:14).

It also stands to reason that if He is so far above us, then we are below Him in ways and thoughts and wisdom. We are not equals, that is for sure.

Now, the standout attribute of our God (not ‘a god,’ because He is the only one, of course) is that He is holy. Holiness is described as “A quality of perfection, sinlessness, and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone.”

What is it that makes Him holy and us not holy? Our sin. Sin is anything we think, say, or do that displeases God. It is cosmic treason, as RC Sproul said. It is disobeying His holy Law.

Since we cannot go through life perfect, then we sin, and we displease God. Our sins keep us from having a relationship with Him because He is holy and we are not. Every sin we commit is a brick in a wall between us and Him. If we die with that wall there, it stays there for eternity and we will go to hell and be separated from Him forever. There.we are punished for those sins we had committed while alive on earth.

But He made a way for us, sinful though we are, to have a relationship with Him. He desires communion with His people. The way He made, is through His son Jesus. He said to His Son, (Hebrews 5:5; Psalm 2:7) in effect, ‘I am going to ask you to set aside your divinity, pour yourself into human flesh, and live a life on earth, be accused though you are sinless, and die a terrible death on the cross. You will exhaust all My wrath for sin, being the sacrificial Lamb in the people’s stead.  Once your blood is shed, it will pay the debt humanity owes me for their sins and they will be covered.’ Jesus said ‘OK.’

After Jesus died on the cross and was buried, on the third day God made Him come to life again. He ascended and dwells with God in heaven. He welcomes believers home to Him when they die! (Hebrews 1:3) It is simultaneously a beautiful and a horrific plan.

What I just said is re-stated from Ephesians 2.

What a person has to do to find faith is to believe that Jesus was and is the son of God, died for our sins, and rose to life again. If you believe that then by default you also believe that you know you’re a sinner and you ask Him to forgive the sins. Because His blood covers you, your confession and belief will enact your pardon. The brick wall will come down. We are justified and regenerated.

Jesus says that once you believe, THEN He makes all the truths of the Bible come alive in your brain. The Bible will no longer be a dry, dusty, incomprehensible book but the Living Word from a Living God who loves us. You know what else He does for us after a you believe? He sends the Holy Spirit to be inside us to help us resist sin and temptation. Oh, we still sin, we’re human after all. But the more we submit to the Spirit’s leading, the less we WANT to sin, and the more He helps us resist it. Like I said, it is a relationship.

For that relationship to begin, you must first understand that you sin. Do you believe this?

How can a person obtain faith? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.“—Romans 10:17. Charles Spurgeon preached on this topic, “How can I obtain faith?“. Click the link to read the whole sermon. He began with saying this:

It is difficult to make men understand that the salvation of the gospel is not by works but entirely by grace, that it is not presented to men as the reward of their own endeavors, but is given to them freely upon their accepting it by an act of simple faith or trust in Jesus Christ.

That is all there is. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We obtain faith by grace. It is all His grace given to us.

Faith comes by hearing the Word. “For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14).

wall verse

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

What lurks within…

Posted on by elizabethprata

We read in Job that-

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. (Job 1:4-5).

What a sweet picture of Job, in these pre-Patriarchal times, performing his function as priest over his family. His ten children certainly had a father upright in integrity and faith in the one true God. Job was concerned not just with their behavior in terms of moral vs. sin, but their thought life. Have they cursed God in their hearts? Are they holding on to some sin for which they have not repented? Have they cursed God inwardly? Job continuously sacrificed to God as a cover for them.

As we know from so many biblical examples, people can appear as moral but inside, in their mind or heart, they can be holding on to many sins. The Rich Young Ruler claimed to have obeyed the commandments, yet he was revealed to be holding on to greed and materialism. The Pharisees tried to appear holy on the outside, but inside they were raging hypocrites, uncaring for widows and sinners and their fellow man in general!

The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are hidden inside a person’s mind and heart. The bottom line is, people are good actors. There are some we will never know if they are truly saved or not, until the Day. (Matthew 7:21-23).

We can surmise that perhaps Job’s ten children were indeed faithful to Yahweh. They loved each other, didn’t seem to have in-fighting, liked to spend time with each other. They lived near by enough to partake of family doings on a regular basis. No prodigals, in other words.

We know Job was a righteous man. Ezekiel 14:14 declares Job one of three most righteous men (along with Daniel and Noah).

It’s Mrs Job that was a problem.

Job spent time covering his children’s sins with daily sacrifices…but what of Mrs Job? When the pressure became unbearable and the grief too deep, she showed her true colors. Rather than a gentle help-meet who encourages and supports her husband, she suggested to Job that he curse God and then die (by his own hand).

An excellent wife, who can find? (Proverbs 31:10). As Matthew Henry says of an excellent wife,

She can be trusted, and he will leave such a wife to manage for him. He is happy in her. And she makes it her constant business to do him good. … Above all, she fears the Lord.

Inward sin will not reveal itself until or unless there is pressure. Whether it is the pressure of too much unrepentant sin, or the pressure of circumstances, the sin will eventually be revealed. Mrs Job, and indeed Mrs Lot too, showed that despite living with biblically-declared righteous men, they had sin inside lurking within them. Their disdain for the Holy One, Yahweh was fatally revealed for Mrs Lot when she turned to look back at her life in Sodom, and in Mrs Job when her excellent husband needed her most.

What lurks within is ugly. We should take care of sin daily, by picking up our cross, slaying our sin, and repenting. (Matthew 6:12, 2 Corinthians 7:10).

Don’t be a Mrs Job or a Mrs Lot. Deal with what lurks within. Your husband and children need you.
mrs job
Illustration by William Blake

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Feeling weak and weary? It’s OK. Even Timothy needed urging

Posted on by elizabethprata

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

Has your zeal waned? I’m not talking about the normal subsiding of a fervency that first ignites in the heart upon salvation but then matures to a steady fire. I’m talking about the day to day, month to months or year to year faith that, if left untended or un-nurtured, diminishes to an ember, with cold ashes all around. Or the faith that is timid and retiring, waiting for igniting or just fearful.

It happens.

As we see in the verse above, Paul was urging Timothy to fan into flame his gift (of faith). One who already has a flame doesn’t need someone to urge him to fan it. Only someone who is dimming needs such encouragement. Paul knew this was true of Timothy, so Paul wrote to encourage Timothy to nurture his faith.

Barnes’ Notes:

The idea is, that Timothy was to use all proper means to keep the flame of pure religion in the soul burning, and more particularly his zeal in the great cause to which he had been set apart. The agency of man himself is needful to keep the religion of the heart warm and glowing. However rich the gifts which God has bestowed upon us, they do not grow of their own accord, but need to be cultivated by our own personal care.

We all need that exhortation. Fan into flame the gift of God.

OK. How? What are the actions we should take when we sense our spiritual walk is slowing?

In the Spurgeon sermon Our Gifts and How to Use Them, we note that to stir up one’s faith requires action.  Spurgeon here has some ideas. The following are excerpts from the above link ‘Our Gifts and How to Use Them.’

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

And this brings us, secondly, to the consideration of HOW WE ARE TO STIR UP OUR GIFTS.

EXAMINE YOUR GIFTS
First, we should do it by examination to see what gifts we really have. There should be an overhauling of all our stores to see what we have of capital entrusted to our stewardship.

STIR UP YOUR GIFTS
The next mode of stirring up our gift is to consider to what use we could put the talents we possess. To what use could I put my talents in my family? Am I doing all I could for the children? Have I labored all I ought for my wife’s conversion; my husband’s conversion? Then about the neighborhood: is there nothing more that I could do for the salvation of my poor godless neighbors?

… Are you doing all you can for Jesus? Come, answer like an honest man! Having done so, I have more for your self-inspection! Will you examine yourself in every relation in which you stand? As an employer, stir up your gift in reference to those you employ; as a servant, stir up the gift towards your fellow servants; as a trader, and stir up your gift in reference to those with whom you come in contact… If our churches were in a right state of spiritual health, men would not first say, “What can I do to make money?” but, “What can I do to serve Christ, for I will take up a trade subserviently to that.”

ACT IN AND THROUGH YOUR GIFTS
But, next, stir it up not merely by consideration and examination, but by actually using it. We talk much of working, but working is better than talking about working. To get really at it, and to do something for soul-winning and spreading abroad the glory of God is infinitely better than planning and holding committees. Away with windbags! Let us get to acts and deeds! … Work, work, and the tool that is blunt will get an edge by being used! Shine and the light you have shall grow in the very act of shining! He who has done one thing will find himself capable of doing two, and doing two will be able to accomplish four; and having achieved the four will soon go on to twelve, and from 12 to fifty! And so, by growing multiples, he will enlarge his power to serve God by using the ability he has.

IMPROVE YOUR GIFT
We have for years endeavored to stir up the young Christians of this congregation to educate themselves. … I think every man ought to feel, “I have been Christ’s man with a talent; I will be Christ’s man with 10 if I can; if now I do not thoroughly understand the doctrines of His gospel, I will try to understand them; I will read, and search, and learn.” We need an intelligent race of Christians, not an affected race of boasters of culture—mental fops who pretend to know a great deal, and know nothing! We need students of the word, adept in theology like the Puritans of old!

PRAY OVER YOUR GIFTS
—that is a blessed way of stirring them up, to go before God and spread out your responsibilities before Him. … It stirs one up to preach with all his might when he has laid before God in prayer, his weakness; and the ability which God has given him, and asked that the weakness may be consecrated to God’s glory, and the ability accepted to the Lord’s praise. Should we not do just the same, whatever our calling is—take it to the Lord and say, “Assist me, great God, to live for You; …

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

End Spurgeon. Don’t you love his bluntness? ‘Don’t just talk about working, actually work. Away with windbags!’ Lol.

Does the flame of faith in your bosom need fanning? It is not sin, not yet. Fainting youths and weary soldiers give opportunity for stronger brothers to come alongside and exhort and encourage. Perhaps that strong soldier will need fanning one day, and you can return the favor. In addition, we are pitiful human creatures, stained with a sin-drenched mind always attempting to get the better of the Mind of Christ that is given to us. Or, our timid hearts stray to the back of the crowd. Or, our spotted souls seek to grow the spots instead of slay them.

The battle is long and the fight is tiring. It was for Timothy. What a blessing the Bible includes the weaknesses and flaws of our fainting brethren who came before us. See? You’re weak. I’m weak. It happens.

If you need fanning, no matter. Stir up your gifts, the basis is which is the gift of God of faith and repentance, the gift of knowledge of our own sin, and so seek to revive that flame to a burning love giving light and warmth to fellow soldiers and to the cold and wandering lost.

flame

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Nebuchadnezzar knew it was best to take the youth

Posted on by elizabethprata

James Montgomery Boice preached through Daniel. In his initial sermon of the series, Daniel 1: A Young Man Decides, he expounded on how liberals use language to change the meaning of words, and to inculcate a loyalty to the new definition by showing how Nebuchadnezzar did the same. (Daniel 1:1-7).

How does one change the loyalty of people who adhere to a different God, and make them loyal to him and the Empire? And as much as possible make them forget their loyalty to their homeland and all that was within it (including their God)? In the sermon, Boice noted that the originator of the word changes was Nebuchadnezzar.

We see of course that Nebuchadnezzar took young men, who at that age are more impressionable and perhaps have not come to a settled loyalty yet. Or who at least could moldable and be made to forget.

Next, you entice them. That was why the King offered the young men choice delicacies from his own table. Nebuchadnezzar was making the world attractive.

Third and chiefly, Nebuchadnezzar did it through changing their names. Their names had God within them. According to Daniel 1:6, the young men’s original Hebrew names were

Dani-El
Hananiah
Misha-El
Azariah

Daniel and Michael have the name for God (El) in them, the plural name of El is Elohim which we may be more familiar with. In Hebrew, Daniel means “God is my judge”, Mishael means “Who is like God?”. The names were great reminders of their racial and Godly heritage. Hananiah and Azariah contain a shortened form of the name Jehovah. Hananiah’s meant “Jehovah is gracious”, Azariah’s meant “Jehovah is my helper.”

Nebuchadnezzar was intending to mold them by giving them names of local Babylonian deities in order to distance the men from their own God and inculcate a local loyalty.

We can apply Nebuchadnezzar’s tactic to our own day. Nebuchadnezzar did it then, and the world still does it. Changing words and meanings of words is a scheme that molds followers to a new concept or idea. Liberals change words within the Christian vocabulary. They don’t abandon the great concepts outright, they simply change the meanings of the words.

A word like sin is changed to mean: not any want of conformity unto or lack of obedience to the Law of God, which is the word as true Christians know it. Sin is changed to oppression that resides in the social structure to a word so that it’s not a personal thing, where you and I individually have rebelled against God, but is instead something ‘out there’ in the system that can be overcome by revolution.

The name Jesus according to traditional understanding is the second person of the Godhead, God the Son who became a man-God who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to be seated at the right hand of the Father.

The word ‘Jesus’ has come to be redefined in some liberal quarters, not the second Person of the Trinity, but is changed to mean simply a Person who is an example to us, not someone who achieved anything for us.

Salvation comes not as a word meaning not God’s deliverance to us by His grace instead of the penalty due us for our sins, but a word meaning we are freed from the world’s socially oppressive structures.

The word faith has been changed to mean not that obedient response of the heart to God’s declaration of what He’s done, but instead becomes something like “commitment”.

Change the word meaning, and you can change the mind. What’s important though, its that external pressures, liberals, or the world, cannot change the heart. What keeps the heart warm and moldable to God is reading His word and prayer. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah could not be swayed from their faith to God and in God. They remained actively attuned to Him and steadfast in their faith in both heart and mind and so were true to the end.

When you speak to people and they say words like faith, salvation, Jesus, sin, or any other common word, they might mean something totally different to that person from what your understanding of these words are. It’s always important to first, know what you believe and can define it. Second, when discussing Christian concepts, don’t take for granted that both you and the other person have the same understanding of the words you are using. Third, recognize that there is nothing new under the sun, and people opposed to the truth use and re-use the same tactics that are intended to incrementally sway you away from the truth.

One wonders what tactics were being used against the truth to draw the Galatians away from the Gospel. Paul was amazed it had happened so fast.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel (Galatians 1:6).

The word ‘quickly’ is tachus which means quick, fleet, speedy. We get the word tachometer from tachus. Tachometer is a measure of velocity of machines. I know right now you’re picturing a tachometer needle speeding up form first gear to top gear. Sometimes desertion of the truth can happen that fast.

Make sure your loyalty is founded on a solid rock and that you (and I) have a solid understanding of what word means what in the faith. Especially the moldable youth. I do not think it is an accident that over this last generation we have herded the youth away from the main church service and sequestered them all in one room or building. Nebuchadnezzar knew that the impressionable teenagers were best to remove from their traditional place and mold to a new thought by sequestering them, enticing them, and redefining what they used to know into new concepts.

Stay strong, Ladies, oppose redefinition of our words, which are precious to the faith and important to the mind and heart. Watch your teenage children. Don’t be satisfied when you superficially hear the Youth Pastor teaching them of Jesus, sin, faith and the like. Make sure you know that he knows what they really mean, and that your children do too.

And, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).

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.
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