sin – Page 13

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.

discernment, Uncategorized

Sexual sin: it wants you

Posted on October 3, 2016October 3, 2016 by elizabethprata

Sexual sin is a biggie crouching at the door, waiting to capture you. Do you believe you’re immune to it? Do you believe it won’t happen to you? Do you think it’s not possible because you’re so strong, or so wise, or so Godly?

Samson was the strongest man in the Bible, and he fell to sexual sin.

David was the Godliest man in the Bible, and he fell to sexual sin.

Solomon was the wisest man in the Bible, and he fell to sexual sin.

The Bible’s warnings about sexual sin are clear. What are the protections we should take?

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24).

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. (Luke 9:23-24).

It’s very clear. Sexual sin wants you. You don’t want it.

encouragement, Uncategorized

TV, Movies, the Conscience, and Entertainment

Posted on September 4, 2016September 8, 2016 by elizabethprata

I just wanted to watch a nice movie. It had been a long and stressful week. I’d worked all of Saturday writing and by Saturday night I wanted simply to turn my brain off and watch something enjoyable without having to think to much.

I searched for a nice movie like Up. Despicable Me. Babe, Lassie 1997. Eddie the Eagle. Something nice. Children’s movies from this summer didn’t interest me. I am over Nemo, so Finding Dory wasn’t in the cards. She can stay lost as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like Rudyard Kipling so Jungle Book was out. Already saw Secret Life of Pets.

I looked up “faith based movies” and was depressed at the list. There were so many false doctrinal movies on it, and I’d seen the one or two that were good. After having resisted it all this time I tried Mom’s Night Out. Nope, terrible. I was soooo right to resist it. I tried Risen. Nope, terrible. Platitudes and mushy love talk but no Jesus as risen God and no Gospel. Also, it was agonizingly slow.

Sinking Sand seems to have emerged for a nanosecond and disappeared from every radar known to man. I spent a good half hour looking for it online or on any streaming video service. Nope.

Sigh. Continue reading “TV, Movies, the Conscience, and Entertainment” →

Uncategorized

Kay Cude poetry: The Character of Sin

Posted on July 26, 2016November 15, 2020 by elizabethprata

Right-click to open larger in new window. Published with permission

Artist’s Statement:

I was compelled to say something that spoke encouragement for “the saved to continue on,” even while recognizing and knowing the true character of sin, the taste and its aroma. Our efforts to reach the lost becomes harder each day; the news-media ridicules Christ’s redeemed, and with deceptive words, demands we not speak Gospel Truth. But we must “continue on.” I must keep fresh in my mind that previous centuries of the lost hated Christ, and that this present century of the lost will hate us (even as we the “saved” seek their rescue).

encouragement, Uncategorized

The sin struggle of summer

Posted on July 22, 2016July 22, 2016 by elizabethprata

I work in education and that means summers off! Mind, my salary covers employment for 190 days, so I’m not paid for the days off summers off, but at this point of my life I’m happier to have the time.

I had 9 weeks off, all in a row. Sixty-four days from May 27 to August 1, I’ve had a blissful time here in what I call The Hermitage. It’s so dubbed because I like to spend copious amounts of time indoors in my small apartment. Alone. Never lonely.

Like everyone else, during the seasons when I’m working, there are always lots of other things I’d like to do, but the fact that I’m committed elsewhere for 9 hours a day (longer if I work AfterSchool Program) means I don’t have time to do all that I want. I like to read, study, surf the web, watch movies, write, and do crafts. Erm, I can’t squeeze all that into a day that is also dedicated to doing my best job at school. Add errands and cleaning to that, and like everyone else, time is short. Continue reading “The sin struggle of summer” →

prophecy, Uncategorized

Rapturous thoughts

Posted on July 16, 2016July 16, 2016 by elizabethprata

All the events of this month have certainly given many people pause for thought. This man, a policeman in the Midwest, said the following on Twitter the night of the attempted coup in Turkey, which was the day after the terrorist attack in Nice, France-

The following were my own thoughts on the matter:

The true church will be raptured, and then Jesus will unleash His anger on the earth. This time is known as the Tribulation, though the actual name in the Bible is called The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.(Jeremiah 30:7). This name refers to the fact that the Lord’s anger is aimed at Israel, they will be punished for their rejection of Him. Unbelievers will not be unscathed either. Jesus will unleash His anger on them too. The whole world will see His glory in wrath, His punishment for sin. Believers, the true Church, will not. We will be safe in heaven.

Speaking of heaven, we read this: (Revelation 11:15-19).

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, 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 shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.

“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple.

What these elders are saying is that from that moment the Lord is soon going to return to earth to set up His millennial kingdom on earth. Revelation 11 marks a turning point in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble in that it sets in motion the final Tribulation events. The elders are praising the Lord for his sovereignty, omnipotence, and power.

You know, we are going to see this. We will be there, in heaven, when the Lord on His throne begins to take back the earth. These verses are not merely to be read, or even better to be studied. They are in the Bible to remind us also that these are verses we’re going to LIVE.