sin – Page 12

Predestination means people are elected as vessels of wrath, too. Part 1

Posted on March 10, 2017March 13, 2017 by elizabethprata

A few days ago I’d posted an essay about predestination. This is the doctrine where the Bible teaches that God is completely sovereign over everything that happens, including individual salvations. He elects people to salvation, independently and apart from foreknowledge of any decision they make. It’s all His grace, and not our decision.

People dislike that doctrine and fight against it. One of the reasons people resist the plain truth of the doctrine is that people want to think that somewhere in their heart or mind, they chose God. However, we are dead in sins and trespasses and have no ability to choose God, or ‘make a decision’ about our salvation. It is granted to us. (Galatians 3:22). We have no part in it, except the resulting gratitude and service in His name.

The verse to consider today is from Romans 9:21-24

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

There are vessels of mercy, and there are vessels of wrath. Considering anything regarding God is weighty and should fill the saved and the non-saved with awe and humility. But to really consider His work of judgment should bring to mind the famous comment attributed to martyr John Bradford, “There but for the grace of God go I”.

Here is M’Cheyne preaching on the Romans verse. In my opinion, it’s brilliant. I post ed M’Cheyne’s point 2 here. I’ll post point 3 tomorrow and the next day, Lord willing. The full sermon is here.

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The Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction

The following sermon preached on the afternoon of March 12, 1843, was the author’s last in St. Peter’s. “It was observed, both then and on other occasions,” says Andrew Bonar, “that he spoke with peculiar strength upon the sovereignty of God.” The following evening McCheyne’s illness commenced and on Saturday, March 25, he went to the Saviour whose glory he lived to proclaim.
“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?” – Romans 9:22,23

In a former discourse, brethren, I attempted to show you that the reason why God will punish the wicked eternally is, because he loveth righteousness. It is said in the eleventh Psalm, “Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” I then tried to show you, that God has created hell, and will maintain it for ever, not because He loves human pain – I believe it is not so, nor is it because He is subject to passion, as men speak of passion – but because the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.

And I showed you, as you will remember, what a certainty hell is to the wicked. If it had its origin in the love of human pain, then you might have hoped that it would have an end; or, if it proceeded from passionateness, then it might cool; but ah! when it proceeds from Jehovah’s love of righteousness, I see, brethren, in that a reason why “the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

There is a second question which no doubt has occurred to you: why are there any left unpardoned at all? Why was Adam left to fall? Could God not have held him up? Or, if it was necessary that Adam should fall, in order that Christ might die, why are not all saved? Surely there is efficacy in the blood of Christ to pardon all – why, then, are not all saved? There are many answers to that question which we will know in a higher state of being; but here is one; “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory?” You will notice, brethren, that in these words the apostle Paul tries to give an answer to that question. He does not answer it directly, he employs a “what if”.

Let us enter into this subject a little more deeply. There are three reasons set down here why men are allowed to perish.

I. The first is, that God was willing to show His wrath. These words are terrible. We are told frequently in the Bible of the wrath of God. It is not like human wrath: it is calm, settled – it consists principally in a regard to what is right. This is the wrath of God. We are told a great deal about it in the Bible. It is revealed against all sin. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” – Romans 1:18 Observe the word “all” – it is against all sin. Then Colossians 3:6, “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” We are told also, brethren, that this anger is constant. “God is angry with the wicked every day.” – Psalms 7:11. The bow of God’s justice is, as it were, already bent against the wicked, the arrow of God’s is already on the string against the wicked. And then we are told that His wrath is intolerable. In the Psalm which we were singing (Psalms 90:11), it is said, “Who knows the power of thy wrath?” And we are told in Revelation, “The great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”

But we learn more by example than even by these declarations. We have many examples of God’s wrath and its consequences. The first example we have is, his casting the angels out of heaven. We are told by Jude, “That the angels which kept not their first estate, He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.” And we are told by Peter, “That God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Now, brethren, in several respects this was one of the greatest examples of divine wrath we have, for it seems to have happened in one day. One day these angels were in heaven – the next in hell. One day they were angels of light – the next fiends of darkness. And then this made it fearful, when the Lord left them no room for repentance. One thing the universe might have learned from this was, that God will certainly punish sin.

Another example of God’s punishing sin was not in heaven, but one earth, when He sent the deluge upon it. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.” And so it came to pass: “The flood came, and carried them all away;” and it has left traces on our world still, to show that God will not fail to punish sin.

Another example of divine vengeance was, when God destroyed Sodom. “Now, the men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” The cry of its wickedness went up to heaven, and God sent down two angels, to see if it was according to the cry that came up; and they found it even so; and, when they had taken out just Lot, God rained fire and brimstone upon the devoted city; and he has left traces of it there to this hour.

There was yet another exhibition of divine wrath on earth – it was the death of God’s dear Son. If ever there was a time when God could have said that he would forego his wrath it was surely this. It was this for two reasons. First, because the object of that wrath was dear to God. There never was on in the universe so dear to God as his Son. And another reason was, Christ had no sin of his own. Just as his robe was seamless, so was his soul sinless. Nay, brethren, that one act of his – laying down his life, was so glorious, as an exhibition of God’s justice, that the universe never saw its “marrow”. “Yet it pleased God to bruise him.” These words do not give the least shadow of his suffering from God on account of our sin. Brethren, if any thing in the world can show that God will punish sin, it was the death of his dear and sinless Son.

There is one exhibition of his wrath yet to come. Verse 22 – “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?” God is yet to destroy the souls that he has made–not the angels that fell, for he has done that already, when he cast them into hell, but the souls on which he has waited. There is to be a new exhibition of wrath that the world never saw the like of before. He is going to show what he will do to the despisers of his Son – to those who despise his gospel. it will be a new thing when “God will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know him not, and that have not obeyed the gospel.” God waits to show his wrath. Ah, brethren! it will be fearful to feel it – it is fearful even to think of it. so I believe it will be with the wicked: they will be beacons, to show how God will punish sin.

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Part 2 here

Part 3 here

prophecy, Uncategorized

The second best moment in all the universe

Posted on March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 by elizabethprata

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13)

Waiting….waiting…

The best moment in all of the universe through all of time, of course, is when Jesus arose from the grave, victorious over death and sin and Hades. The second best moment in my opinion, will be the culmination of all things, when God puts an end to sin and refreshes the universe by scrubbing it from His presence forever. This will include destroying the old heavens and earth and making a new heavens and a new earth.

The end of this world is a good thing. Jesus will regenerate the earth, He will cleanse us from our sins by glorifying our bodies, He will heal us completely, He will resurrect the saved, He will restore the damaged children, He will appear to us in His full glory, and much more. Who wouldn’t wish for that?

We are blessed, yes, blessed to be watching the Lord of the Universe work visibly in the world. He gave us the Word, and He is allowing us to see His word alive, organic, living and breathing coming true before our eyes in His providence and in His people. He regenerates hearts and His children bear fruit before our eyes. He transforms lives and we watch it before our eyes. The cycle of seasons march through years, and we see His hand ordaining and sustaining it all.

His promises are true, and though no one likes to see hunger and pain and grief, but we do see through those hardships that His promises are true. His promises that trials will come also include all of the above as well- the glory and the justice concluded and the conclusion of His work in the Church Age.

And in addition, when the day comes for your death, or the rapture, you will say as Paul did, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6-7).

There is no shame in longing for His appearing!

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)

Do not be embarrassed at wishing for His will to be done! There is glory! His glory, made manifest in us who walk the earth doing His will, pointing to the only Hope!

We are waiting…waiting…

encouragement, Uncategorized

Never forget what sinners we are, and what a Savior! (repost)

Posted on March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 by elizabethprata

This was originally published on this blog in June 2014.

The actual wickedness of men’s lives bears a very small proportion to what is in their hearts. But when lust is inwardly cherished, it will break forth into outward sin. Those who tempt others to drunkenness never can be their real friends, and often design their ruin. Thus men execute the Divine vengeance on each other. Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, who continue to live without prayer, even when in trouble and distress.” ~Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Hosea 7:1-7

Gustav Kaser said of icebergs,

Think of an iceberg! Only about 1/7th rises above the surface of the water. The remaining 6/7ths are under water and not visible to the human eye. A human being is comparable to an iceberg.

The wickedness we see above the surface is only a small proportion to what is in our hearts…

Therefore, praise God that He sent His Son! Jesus lived a sinless life. He died shedding His blood for those appointed to salvation, and pleased with His Son, God raised Him to life on the third day. Now instead of staggering under the weight of all my sin, that which is seen and that which is unseen below the surface, Jesus sees it all, and He saved me anyway. Now I have His righteousness declared upon me by God. As long as I am in this sinful body breathing air on earth, I have been released from the power of sin via the Holy Spirit indwelling me. I have the glorification to look forward to, when I’m no longer even in the presence of sin.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

discernment, Uncategorized

Greed is good?

Posted on February 28, 2017February 28, 2017 by elizabethprata

We know from Revelation what the very last days will be like; the people respond uniformly to the Antichrist (except for the Christians) and allow him to coalesce the world’s broken economy into a one-world economy around his mark. (Revelation 13). All of chapter 18 in Revelation gives the Christian what s/he needs to know about the world economic system run by the Antichrist just prior to Christ’s return. It is one that still has a healthy trade in luxuries, despite the desperately impoverished condition in which most of the world’s population dwells, and despite the people knowing that it is God sending the judgments! (Revelation 16:9).

For all the politically liberal people’s talk of social justice, sharing equally, and helping the poor, we see the stark opposite when push comes to shove during the Tribulation. The poor cry for bread and the rich buy and sell fine flour and wheat, ignoring their cries even as they die in the street.

It’s partly why the Tribulation will occur, to allow sin to run its full course, revealing the depths of man’s depravity.

We as humans are greedy. Greed defines us. It’s a besetting sin that the sinful person lives with every day. The Christian must guard against and slay the remnants of greed still within us. How many Bible verses warn against greed!

Then he said to them, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15 )

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

Do not put your trust in wealth (1 Timothy 17-18)

Greed is listed among the sins which will prevent one from attaining heaven:

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5).

It’s interesting that the verse connects greed and idolatry. See here in the Tribulation, when money is in short supply and supplies are in short supply, at least for the common person, they still create idols out of gold and silver in order to worship!

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, (Revelation 9:20)

The movie Wall Street came out in 1987. The 80s were a heady time of pell-mell stock surges, whirling real estate flips, dizzying income heights…it seemed that nothing was impossible and money would last forever. In that atmosphere came the movie Wall Street, in which financier and stock raider Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gecko famously gave his ‘greed is good’ speech. Here it is in part:

I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

It’s easy for us to look back on the 80s and point fingers at the excesses which were fueled by greed. But are the times so different now? We are still greedy, and at least the fictional character Gordon Gecko and the men he was based on were true to their sin. In today’s time we have an unhealthy attraction to the Prosperity Gospel, which is just anther ‘greed is good’ speech cloaked in Jesus’ name. Which is worse. Way worse. Yet if the remnants of greed are present in a Christian’s heart, the Prosperity Gospel will be attractive to him.

9Marks asks the question, Why Is the Prosperity Gospel Attractive?

Sadly, in spite of the Scriptures’ clear warnings, the prosperity gospel has a large and growing group of followers. This isn’t hard to understand, since the message appeals so directly to our native greed. Yet it is sad and bewildering that many people remain in the movement for a long time, even their whole life, since its preachers cannot fulfill their promises.

‘Our native greed’. Greed is not good, ladies and gentlemen. Greed is bad.

The author continues in his interesting essay to briefly present the psychology of the Prosperity Gospel, its effects, and at the end he offers ‘immunization instructions.’ In America we’re plagued with the likes of prosperity theologists Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagin, but other continents have their plagues too. Africa and Latin America also are rife with prosperity gospel preachers deluding the unwary.

The 9Marks article ends with this:

Above all, present Christ as the pearl of great price, who infinitely surpasses in value anything that this fleeting world may offer (Mt. 13:44-46; Phil. 3:7-8)

When you have Jesus, you already have everything. When you have Jesus, there’s no need for greed. Or a prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all.

discernment, Uncategorized

Crouching at sin’s door: Lessons from Lot

Posted on January 2, 2017January 2, 2017 by elizabethprata

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. (Genesis 19:12-14).

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When their combined flocks grew too large to sustain them on the land, Abraham suggested to Lot that they separate. Abraham said he would go left if Lot chose to go right, or he would go right if Lot chose to go left. Lot had his choice of anywhere to settle. Interestingly, Lot pitched his tent NEAR Sodom. (Genesis 13:12).

We meet Lot again, and this time he is living IN the city. (Genesis 14:12.) No longer a sojourner in a tent, he has a house.

The next time we meet Lot he is serving as magistrate FOR the city. (Genesis 19:1).

What is meant by the term in Genesis 19:1, “he was sitting at the gate” is that Lot was part of its government. Middle Eastern men of that time were not simply whittling as they rocked in leisure at the front gate. This term ‘sitting at the gate’ means they were the officials of the city, both to greet visitors and determine their business, friend or foe; and also to settle disputes among its citizens.

In 2 Peter 2:7–8 Lot is called righteous. We know that God considered him so because he did not destroy Lot when the angels came to overthrow the cities. When brimstone came down, Lot had already been warned to leave. Lot had (weakly) tried to warn the aroused mob that what they were doing were evil deeds (Genesis 19:7). Perhaps he had tried to be a good leader to his household and a righteous example in the city, because the 2 Peter verse says Lot was vexed by the sin all around him.

Putting aside the ‘perhapses’, when push came to shove, Lot’s testimony had been so tarnished that his family thought he was joking when He spoke of imminent judgment from God. Joking.

And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:6b).

Despite the city’s reputation for evil and sin, Lot had chosen to pitch his tents near it. This was a mistake. The Bible warns us to flee from sin, not test it. (1 Corinthians 6:18, Ephesians 4:27)

My own prayer is that I beseech the Lord to aid me in fleeing sin, cutting it off, resisting it. (Genesis 39:12, Matthew 5:30, Hebrews 12:4), so that when I speak of Him, the words are taken seriously. What a crushing blow to love the Lord and to have hated sin, but to have lived so weakly that when speaking of Him, it’s a joke to the hearers. Lord, let it not be so. Let my words be honoring to You and let my life exalt you also.

prophecy, Uncategorized

Ex-Wham! singer George Michael dead

Posted on December 26, 2016December 26, 2016 by elizabethprata

At age 53, on Christmas day afternoon, it appears that George Michael has died “peacefully at his home”. Fox News, BBC, UK Mirror, Business Insider confirm. Here is TMZ–

George Michael passed away at his home in England at the age of 53 … his rep confirms.

A rep for the pop star says, “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.”

Details surrounding Michael’s death have not been released. Police say there’s nothing suspicious about the death, according to the BBC. George was a music legend — and sold more than 100 MILLION albums during his career. Michael launched his career with WHAM! in the ’80s — churning out hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Careless Whisper.

The immediate thought whenever a celebrity or local person dies, is always, ‘I wonder if they are surprised at their eternity’. Either way, whether the person died in their sin or they died in Jesus, the fact of their eternity becomes real one second after breath expires, and is a billion times worse, or a billion times better, than he could ever conceive while on earth.

I have a connection to George Michael. I’m 56 years old, three years older than he was, and grew up on his songs. I wasn’t saved until I was in my forties, so I enjoyed pop songs with all the range of lyrics from sweet to profane, for half my adult life. I liked Wham! and I liked George Michael’s songs.

But even more than that, music is so forceful especially when you’re a teen and young adult. The lyrics feel almost alive, embedding themselves into one’s brain and heart to settle intimately with the very sinews and tendons of the body, becoming part of us in ways that other leisure activities do not. You hear a certain song, it immediately takes you back, you’re swallowed in a memory with all its smells, feelings, and sensations as if it occurred a moment ago. At Psychology Today the question is asked,

Why Do the Songs from Your Past Evoke Such Vivid Memories?

We all know the power of an old song to trigger vivid memories that seem to transport us back in time and space. What songs bring back emotional memories from your past? The songs we love become woven into a neural tapestry entwined with the people, seasons, and locations throughout our lifespan. What is the neuroscience behind the ability of music to evoke such strong memories of the people and places from our past?

The discovery may help to explain why music can elicit strong responses from people with Alzheimer’s disease, said the study’s author, Petr Janata, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis’ Center for Mind and Brain. The hub that music activated is located in the medial prefrontal cortex region—right behind the forehead—and one of the last areas of the brain to atrophy over the course of Alzheimer’s disease.

The article goes on to describe findings from three different studies about the therapeutic potential the research can yield.

One of George Michael’s biggest hits was the song Careless Whisper. It is about a man expressing regret over the pain that his now-discovered adultery caused. It was a good song, but it was too real for me. It was on the radio when my ex-husband was engaged in adultery and leaving our marriage. This life-altering event occurred over thirty years ago, and the pain of one flesh being ripped back into two has simmered to long healed scar tissue, only occasionally flaring up…such as if I hear Careless Whisper again in an elevator…radio…or in the wake of George Michael’s death. The Careless Whisper is a whisper with teeth, ready to bite.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Hebrews 13:4)

It’s strange how life takes you and your loved ones on different paths. Neither my husband nor I were saved while we were married, but eventually I became saved by grace afterward. To my knowledge, he never was. He died unexpectedly 6 months ago as a young man of 58, and I wonder, did his eternity surprise him? Is he regretting his own careless whisper? There but for the grace of God go I…at any point prior to being saved if I had died my own eternity would have surprised me as I’d be punished for all my own many careless and careful sins.

Adultery is horrible, and it inflicts a particularly painful pain that which takes many decades to soften. The grace of God lifted mine and gave me the strength to overcome anger and bitterness and to forgive. The careless whisper of adultery brings pain and spiritual death. The careful whisper of Jesus on the cross is the guiding whisper of my life, ‘It is finished.’Even as His own breath expired, He brought life to His elect who are now forgiven in sins. The sin of adultery forgiven as all other sins are forgiven. What a difference in life and death Jesus makes.

Men, women, husbands, wives, I can tell you that adultery is terrible, whether it’s the person committing it or the person being committed against. I’ve experienced it, I’ve helped wives through it. It is a dastardly sin. Don’t do it.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18).

I can never hear that song by George Michael, his Careless Whisper, and not be immediately transported to my old sunny dining room, me with a Walkman sitting at the table doing the bills, and hearing the first notes of the mellow and sultry saxophone, turned up full blast on my ears, my heart breaking, my hands shaking.

My ex-husband died recently, and this brings its own sad weight to the grace-filled heart. The man who wrote and sang the song is now dead, too. One wonders, (hopes), they are enjoying bliss and not torment. My own sins are forgiven and I know the eternity that awaits me. We three, our own unholy trinity inside a song, inside the lyrics, blowing wind borne notes now at long last released, lifting into different destinies.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

encouragement, Uncategorized

We all look forward to our wages, but…

Posted on December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 by elizabethprata

I work in a school system. We’re paid monthly, on the last day. It takes discipline to budget a household in a single income where the wages come 28-31 days apart. In December we go on Christmas vacation a few days before the holiday and return in the first week of January. It’s about a two week break, something everyone looks forward to since we began school in early August. We all need one by then!

As a kindness, the payroll system works in feverish activity and closes payroll early so we can get paid before Christmas instead of the week after, as the usual rotation would have been. That’s the plus. The minus is that it’s 50 days in between paychecks. Our wages don’t come for about 6 weeks and it’s a veeeeeeery long stretch between mid December and the last day of January. It takes a lot of patience to wait calmly and in disciplined manner for that paycheck in January.

We all look forward to our wages, whether they come on the day we worked, or the week’s end or the month’s end. When we receive that envelope, or open our bank account to view the Direct Deposit, we feel gratitude, pride in our work, and relief.

For the unsaved world, including the false Christians who think they are saved but aren’t, the spiritual wages they will receive on their last day will come as a shock. The wages for the sinner have a very long delay, but on their last day they will receive a fat envelope containing a list of all their misdeeds and sins. Their wages will be toted up at the bottom and it will say $DEATH$.

Why is this Romans 6:23 verse an encouragement to me? Deep in sin, Jesus lifted me from the muck, cleansed me with His blood, and gave me eternal life. I accumulated an eternal debt of wages upon wages for all the evil work I had performed before I was saved. I deserve death. He gave me life. Hallelujah!

Praise Him to the Highest. The babe has come, the boy will grow in wisdom and stature, the Man will die, the King will reign!

EPrata photo

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52).

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25)

Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)

discernment, Uncategorized

Looking at Joanna and Chip Gaines and their church’s stance on homosexuality

Posted on December 3, 2016December 3, 2016 by elizabethprata

In February 2016, I’d done a discernment two-part essay looking at HGTV personality hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines. The duo are at this time are hosts of a reality television home decorating and renovation show. Their show has gained massive popularity and widespread influence. In addition, the Gaines’ claim to be Christian and are using the resulting platform of popularity from the show to promote their faith.

In light of this increased influence, I had decided to look into their claims of faith, especially when Mrs Gaines issued a Baylor University-produced video of her Testimony.

I wrote the two-part essay looking at Mrs Gaines’ testimony, their life, comparing what they said with what they did. These two essays have consistently been the top viewed essays on the blog, bar none. They are linked below.

In August 2016, the magazine Jezebel wrote about the Gaineses and their decorating and impact the couple has had in Waco. Though not a Christian, the author of the Jezebel piece loved the Fixer Upper show and the Gaineses in general. The article was laudatory toward the hosts. Someone in the comments linked to my discernment essays, and from there, hundreds of comments were made at Jezebel about the judgmental Christian hypocrite (me) daring to judge the Gaines’. The essays received thousands of views, on one memorable day, tens of thousands which is not usually the case for my little blog. All of the comments at Jezebel regarding my discernment essays on the Gaineses were negative, yelling with a vitriolic screed the name Jezebel suggests it would, given its namesake. The comments were all in the vein of ‘How dare I malign their faith! Nobody should judge anyone else. Typical judgmental Christian hypocrite,’ and so on.

Now, this past Tuesday when I read Jezebel again (because hits were picking up and I saw another link), the writer at Jezebel had done an about face on the Gaineses. She had discovered they belong to a church that preaches homosexuality is a sin. O, the horra. Let me just say Jezebel is no longer entranced with shiplap, and there’s a whole lotta judging goin’ on at her blog.

I knew it would not take long for the homosexual community to put together the fact that Fixer Upper has never had a gay client on that particular show, (though HGTV has featured other homosexual house hunters on other shows) and that the church the Gaines’ belonged to preached against sin, all sin, including homosexuality. I knew the issue would alert the LGBTQ crowd and there would be a brouhaha about it. Sure enough, Buzzfeed reported on it. They found out that the Gaines’ pastor Jimmy Siebert at Antioch Community Church preaches staunchly for biblical marriage as one man and one woman for a lifetime, and that adultery pornography, and homosexuality are sexual sins which God looks upon with wrath.

The review and update concluded, I want to make two points.

1. Never underestimate the relentless, unbending intent of satan to promote his agenda, no matter what it is. Some of his agenda in the world is to push temptation, chaos, false doctrine, and homosexuality. Homosexuality is a particular pet of satan’s and he will push it with a malicious force we can only begin to imagine. The Genesis 19 passage below gives some idea. When a nation or an individual has succumbed to it, we know they are under judgment, God has given them over. (Romans 1:26-27). Of course God can and does give the grace of the spirit of repentance to nations and individuals to forsake homosexual sin, but make no mistake, homosexuality is a deep sin and satan will do all he can to encourage all to either engage in it or bow down to those who do. (Romans 1:32). The pressure will only increase, and I can only imagine the firestorm of pressure this has created for the Antioch Community Church pastor. I applaud his biblical stance in the face of unyielding satanic pressure (so far). I pray he remains strong.

2. Biblical adherence in one area does not necessarily mean the individual or the local church as a whole is committed to biblical adherence in other areas. At Antioch Community Church, so lauded for its biblical stance on homosexuality, seems to have caved to this generation’s demand for female leadership. Today the Antioch Community Church About page under ‘Who We Are’ lists two women elders and three women pastors. Yet their ‘Beliefs’ pages states that the church considers the Bible inerrant, infallible and is their authority for all practice.

Antioch Community Church elders and leaders include several women,
which is not biblical

Antioch Community Church lists several women pastors, which is not biblical

Antioch Community Church’s stated beliefs, first paragraph,
says they follow the Bible in practice. But they don’t seem to be doing that,
as noted above.

Friends, the Bible does not give permission for women to be elders at church, nor pastors, which is biblically the same thing. (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). Women are not qualified as leaders to give oversight. This is what I mean when I tell you to look at what they say, but also look at what they do. The church SAID they submit to the Bible, what what they DID was rebel.

GotQuestions explains about women not being biblically qualified to serve as elders/pastors on the basis of the above verses-

Can women serve as elders in the church?

Can women be pastors/preachers?

GotQuestions also explains about women being biblically unqualified to serve as pastors, yet Antioch CC lists three. So they MIGHT be strong on homosexuality as a sin (we’ll see) but they are not strong on other aspects of clear doctrine and sadly, seem to be in rebellion.

The discernment lessons here are:

1. Do not let down your guard against satan because his energy is unflagging and he is a predator looking for prey, all the time (1 Peter 5:8). We relax. Satan doesn’t.

2. Do not let down your guard against false doctrine in church, look at both what is said and what is lived in all areas, not just one.

—————————————–

Nebuchadnezzar knew it was best to take the youth

Posted on October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 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).

prophecy, Uncategorized

UN creates global gay watchdog post

Posted on October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 by elizabethprata

The United Nations took action last week to protect global homosexual and transgender activity by appointing a “czar” to investigate discrimination and violence against them.

Vitit Muntarbhorn Appointed First UN Investigator on LGBT Violence and Discrimination

UNITED NATIONS — The Human Rights Council (HRC) has appointed international human rights expert Vitit Muntarbhorn as the first U.N. independent expert charged with investigating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. John Fisher, Geneva director of Human Rights Watch, said his appointment on Friday “made history” and “will bring much-needed attention to human rights violations against LGBT people in all regions of the world.”

The Washington Blade, which describes itself as “America’s Leading LGBT News Source”, reported similarly-

U.N. appoints first-ever LGBT rights watchdog

The U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) on Friday announced it has appointed the U.N.’s first-ever independent expert who will specifically investigate anti-LGBT discrimination and violence around the world. Vitit Muntarbhorn is an international law professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. … The vote is the first time the U.N. has approved a resolution that specifically deals with issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The U.N. Human Rights Council on June 30 approved a resolution that created Muntarbhorn’s position. The event was the highest-level meeting on LGBT rights that has ever taken place at the U.N.

Saudi Arabia, a nation in which homosexuals are murdered, other Muslim countries, and Russia were disapproving of the creation of a LBGT Investigator. The said they will not cooperate. The United Sttes, however, was effusive n its approval. US Secretary of State John Kerry, US Ambassador to the UN and the Director of Human Rights Global were approving of the measure.

The Bangkok Post reports on the reaction to the installation of a LGBT “Czar”

The appointment of renowned human rights expert and social commentator Vitit Muntarbhorn as the UN’s first independent expert to investigate violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has won widespread approval around the world. … Ty Cobb, director of Human Rights Campaign Global, was quoted on washingtonblade.com as saying Mr Muntarbhorn’s appointment was “a huge step forward for LGBTI human rights worldwide”.

Mr Muntarbhorn’s duties will include

assess the state of LGBTQ human rights, liaise with LGBTQ advocates and allies around the world and engage with governments and civil society to make recommendations for combating violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people. In addition, the expert will serve as a bridge between the U.N. Human Rights Council and the organization’s General Assembly, and be empowered to issue private communications to governments, including in emergency situations.

One might imagine an “emergency situation” similar to the incident that occurred in Orlando Florida where a gunman had targeted homosexuals in the nightclub Pulse, and killed many attendees there. As a matter of fact, it was in reaction to that specific articular event that the United States called on the UN to

not only condemn the terrorism that resulted in the mass killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida over the weekend, [June 12, 2016] but also to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from such attacks. … Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. David Pressman, speaking at the election of Fiji Ambassador Peter Thomson to the post of 71st General Assembly president, said protecting the dignity of all human beings should be at the heart of the General Assembly’s work going forward. He said outrage at the killing should be directed at protecting members of the LGBT community “not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them.”

The matter was referred to the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations on July 1, the next day after the shooting, and after four hours of debate, the HRC voted to create the position. Muntarbhorn was tapped and his three-year term began September 1.

HRC member countries voting YES on the resolution to create a Gay Czar were-

Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Macedonia, the U.K., Venezuela and Vietnam. (23)

Countries voting NO on the resolution were-

Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Togo and the United Arab Emirates. (18)

Countries abstaining on voting the resolution were-

Botswana, Ghana, India, Namibia, the Philippines and South Africa. (6) Even though South Africa has strong constitutional protections for homosexuals, so strong that are dubbed “The Rainbow nation”, their abstention was on the basis that the HRC was moving “too fast”.

Countries which co-sponsored the resolution were-

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay.

The NY Times reported that the move was a “a bold step toward recognizing that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people fighting for equality are pursuing fundamental human rights.”

The world believes that L(esbian), G(ay), B(isexual), T(ransgender), I(ntersex), Q(uestioning) or whatever alphabet letter you want to include in the ever-growing list, is a basic right. As far as it is a basic right to sin, they are correct. Homosexuality is a sin, as the Bible makes clear. (Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9). If homosexuals want to sin with impunity, that is their basic right, but there is a dire consequence individually (hell upon death) and collectively (judgement upon a nation, Romans 1:26-27). The Romans passages tell us that specifically that homosexuality is a result of denying and disobeying God. When a nation has been given over as the verses in Romans describe, widespread societal homosexuality or approval of it is the result. Once again, What does it mean when the Bible says, God gave them over?”

God’s giving over sinful mankind has a dual sense. First, in an indirect sense God gave them over simply by withdrawing His restraining and protective hand, allowing the consequences of sin to take their inevitable, destructive course. Sin degrades man, debases the image of God in which he is made, and strips him of dignity, peace of mind, and a clear conscience. Sin destroys personal relationships, marriages, families, cities, and nations It also destroys churches. Thomas Watson said, “Sin … puts gravel in our bread [and] wormwood in our cup” (A Body of Divinity [Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1983 reprint], p. 136).

In a second, direct sense God gave … over rebellious mankind by specific acts of judgment. The Bible is replete with accounts of divine wrath being directly and supernaturally poured out on sinful men. The flood of Noah’s day and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, for example, were not indirect natural consequences of sin but were overt supernatural expressions of God’s judgment on gross and unrepented sin

We know that the time is coming when God will give over the world to its choice, sin, and then directly pour out His judgment. The Man of Sin (antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:3) will appear and promote and allow any and all manner of sin one can dream of. Man is inventive in ways to sin, (Romans 1:30) and thus it will be a horrific time. That future time will be a period when God sends down His direct judgment for sin. Until that Day, one can easily see the progress that global sin is making in the world.

Specifically, what does it mean that the reprobate mind has reached the highest levels of government? Subsequent to the US Supreme Court’s 2015 Ogberfell v. Hodges decision regarding approval homosexual marriage in all the land, John MacArthur preached a sermon called “We Will Not Bow“. In it, he remarked about what happens when such sin permeates the highest levels:

Get ready folks, the reprobate mind has now reached the highest levels. And that level will demand the reprobate mind everywhere else. And where that mind dominates—the end of Romans 1, where there is a depraved mind—then everything that’s improper begins to happen. “All unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, and though they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

There is no higher level on earth than the United Nations … Praise God that the highest levels for the Christian has no limit because its upper reaches are Jesus Christ, in whom our minds are no longer darkened by sin but are illuminated by His righteousness, glory, and holiness.