Just quickly:
I do a blog count just to see if anyone reads these. And surprisingly they do!
In 10 months 1500 people have read my lil blog, which is nice.
So a massive thank you to all of you who have read my blog, whether it be for the first time or you are a regular.
Thanks once again.
x
Monday 30 March 2009
Friday 20 March 2009
Prosperity...a load of....
Hey.
I am suppose to be writing an essay but I thought I would quickly write this. quickly I promise.
Prosperity Gospel. I hate the prosperity gospel. I hate that people think the prosperity gospel is correct. I hate that the prosperity gospel is being taught in churches across the UK. God hates the prosperity gospel. But God loves those who are following this so called "gospel".
Hate is a strong word to use so many times in one sentence, but I genuinely struggle with the idea that people think its is correct. There is NO teaching about the prosperity gospel in the bible, it is all man's conceived idea that they will adapt the gospel to reach their own potential and their own ideology.
The prosperity gospel is the idea that God wants us to prosper in success, whether this be in money, healthy, safety etc. As much as this is a lovely idea it is wrong. We all want to be successful, and we all want to make something of ourselves but sometimes this won't happen. This is not because God loves our richer friends more than us, this is simple down to God having a different plan for each individual.
If we look closely at 2 Corinthians 12 it says this:
1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I know it is a big chunk but there is so much to take from this, that simply disqualifies any fundamental "facts" about the prosperity gospel.
1) 'I will go on boasting although there is nothing to be gained"
Paul is clear that he knows that boasting about Christ is not about him and not about his gain. He knows that it is all for God and the advancement of God's kingdom. He is not boasting in himself and he is not for his own gain but he is boasting in CHRIST and for CHRIST'S GAIN.
2) I will not boast about myself- There is nothing that we can do here on Earth that is going to gain our salvation. There is nothing we can do that can better ourselves that will glorify God, which is something we should be aiming for.
3) My grace is sufficient enough for you, my power is made stronger in your weakness- This is the biggest fact. God' grace is enough. We do not NEED anything else but grace. When we are weak God is stronger. Why is that appealing? Through that we can be stronger but not through material things but through faith.
4) For Christ's sake I delight in my weakness- Through our weakness he is made strong. We delight in our weakness because it enables us to be clear and thankful for what God has already done.
Prosperity gospel is not evident in this at all. There is no place in God's kingdom for prosperity gospel. We are not saved so we can advance ourselves, we are saved through God's mercy and love. Nothing else.
If anything we should be asking God to be satisfied in him, as John Piper said God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. When we are most satisfied in him and not the progression of our successes.
Please take a couple of minutes to watch this quite harrowing, hard-hitting video on the prosperity gospel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGzqIcbvARw
If this is something that you in believe in then maybe you should consider looking back into the word and really try discover for yourself the true meaning of self-sacrificing faith.
Til next time
xx
I am suppose to be writing an essay but I thought I would quickly write this. quickly I promise.
Prosperity Gospel. I hate the prosperity gospel. I hate that people think the prosperity gospel is correct. I hate that the prosperity gospel is being taught in churches across the UK. God hates the prosperity gospel. But God loves those who are following this so called "gospel".
Hate is a strong word to use so many times in one sentence, but I genuinely struggle with the idea that people think its is correct. There is NO teaching about the prosperity gospel in the bible, it is all man's conceived idea that they will adapt the gospel to reach their own potential and their own ideology.
The prosperity gospel is the idea that God wants us to prosper in success, whether this be in money, healthy, safety etc. As much as this is a lovely idea it is wrong. We all want to be successful, and we all want to make something of ourselves but sometimes this won't happen. This is not because God loves our richer friends more than us, this is simple down to God having a different plan for each individual.
If we look closely at 2 Corinthians 12 it says this:
1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I know it is a big chunk but there is so much to take from this, that simply disqualifies any fundamental "facts" about the prosperity gospel.
1) 'I will go on boasting although there is nothing to be gained"
Paul is clear that he knows that boasting about Christ is not about him and not about his gain. He knows that it is all for God and the advancement of God's kingdom. He is not boasting in himself and he is not for his own gain but he is boasting in CHRIST and for CHRIST'S GAIN.
2) I will not boast about myself- There is nothing that we can do here on Earth that is going to gain our salvation. There is nothing we can do that can better ourselves that will glorify God, which is something we should be aiming for.
3) My grace is sufficient enough for you, my power is made stronger in your weakness- This is the biggest fact. God' grace is enough. We do not NEED anything else but grace. When we are weak God is stronger. Why is that appealing? Through that we can be stronger but not through material things but through faith.
4) For Christ's sake I delight in my weakness- Through our weakness he is made strong. We delight in our weakness because it enables us to be clear and thankful for what God has already done.
Prosperity gospel is not evident in this at all. There is no place in God's kingdom for prosperity gospel. We are not saved so we can advance ourselves, we are saved through God's mercy and love. Nothing else.
If anything we should be asking God to be satisfied in him, as John Piper said God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. When we are most satisfied in him and not the progression of our successes.
Please take a couple of minutes to watch this quite harrowing, hard-hitting video on the prosperity gospel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGzqIcbvARw
If this is something that you in believe in then maybe you should consider looking back into the word and really try discover for yourself the true meaning of self-sacrificing faith.
Til next time
xx
Tuesday 17 March 2009
update on facebook loss....
I'd like to say that I am still not on facebook!!!
I have not once logged in. My status and picture changed because my housemate is running for union president, so my other housemate changed it for me to help Wood out!
Only a few more weeks to go!!!
Its going ok! woop!
Also, this updates my profile automatically without me logging on!!!
I have not once logged in. My status and picture changed because my housemate is running for union president, so my other housemate changed it for me to help Wood out!
Only a few more weeks to go!!!
Its going ok! woop!
Also, this updates my profile automatically without me logging on!!!
Sunday 1 March 2009
Lent...facebook....power in his name.
Hey Guys,
Firstly, I can not believe it is March already!!! Its mental. I know people say it a lot but time really does fly. Gosh! I really need to crack on with my uni work. Essays...dissertations (actually singular...imagine plural dissertations!!) its all crazy times.
So, its lent....I usually don't do anything for lent because it doesn't really have any significance in my life. However, I had decided that this year I would abstain from chocolate, swearing and fast food. Thus far, I am doing very well in the chocolate region...the others not so much. I ate Domino's last night (for a justified reason) and I swore when I hurt myself!! Bad times.
As I was in church this morning the sermon was on Acts 19, this is when they reach Ephesus and there is the chaos concerning the Goddess Artemis.
So, basically in short they are really worshipping this Goddess, practicing occults etc and when they see the power in the name of Jesus when it rids a demon, they publicly burn their stuff associated with the occult and Luke says 'in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew power'. (Act 19:20).
This got me thinking about my Lent actions and things that are in my life that can sometimes override the power of God in me. Unlike these people I am not bounded my witchcraft, occults or the worship of idols but there are things in my life that take up my time, effort and focus when it could be used something that is more beneficial. I am not necessarily saying that I am going to use this time to read my bible, pray etc, all of which I should do more of. However, I am very blessed to be at uni, getting a degree etc. Sometimes we think if we wasting our time we should be reading our bibles etc, which of course (I cannot stress enough) that we do need to be doing; but we need to look our lives and think am I putting in the effort in my school, uni, work that I should do. We are all so blessed to be where we are, in the west, with a house, food, clothes, job, education etc then why do we find it hard to get rid of things that aren't good for us?? Why do we put so much time in other things that distract us from reaching our potential that God has for us?
Like, this people we don't understand the power in the name of Jesus so we target our attention on other things. We forget the blessings we have around us and try our attention elsewhere. For me, its Facebook. I am terrible!!! I am literally on it all the time, for example I am logged in now and have been for the last three hours. Its not that I am logged on but when I am not doing anything I'll just look around!? This is not such a massive issue but when I am suppose to be doing uni work I'll open facebook every other minute...to the point its a little ridiculous. I need to metaphorically burn this addiction....it literally is an addiction. It sounds so trivial but I need to work hard at uni but something such as facebook is that hinderence. In Colossians 3:23 it says this
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"
And to be honest, I am not doing that. So going back to Acts 19: I am not understanding the power of Jesus' name and I am in uni for a reason and I need to achieve something that is good, like I am giving God a thanksgiving. So what I have decided to do is give up facebook!! Just at least til Easter just to see if I can do it. Its not biggy if I don't but I really want to work hard and test my self-control. It will start as of tomorrow (Monday 2nd) and I will only change my status if I do another blog so people can read it.
If you're reading this and a regular visiting of my facebook profile please continuing writing on it and tagging me in pictures but I won't reply until its Easter or I've cracked. If you want to contact me then email me hollincross@gmail.com or just text me haha! I don't know how I am going to get on with this but who knows!
I'll try and write another blog but I do have a lot of work to do!!! Please think about what I'v said
Till next time
.
Firstly, I can not believe it is March already!!! Its mental. I know people say it a lot but time really does fly. Gosh! I really need to crack on with my uni work. Essays...dissertations (actually singular...imagine plural dissertations!!) its all crazy times.
So, its lent....I usually don't do anything for lent because it doesn't really have any significance in my life. However, I had decided that this year I would abstain from chocolate, swearing and fast food. Thus far, I am doing very well in the chocolate region...the others not so much. I ate Domino's last night (for a justified reason) and I swore when I hurt myself!! Bad times.
As I was in church this morning the sermon was on Acts 19, this is when they reach Ephesus and there is the chaos concerning the Goddess Artemis.
So, basically in short they are really worshipping this Goddess, practicing occults etc and when they see the power in the name of Jesus when it rids a demon, they publicly burn their stuff associated with the occult and Luke says 'in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew power'. (Act 19:20).
This got me thinking about my Lent actions and things that are in my life that can sometimes override the power of God in me. Unlike these people I am not bounded my witchcraft, occults or the worship of idols but there are things in my life that take up my time, effort and focus when it could be used something that is more beneficial. I am not necessarily saying that I am going to use this time to read my bible, pray etc, all of which I should do more of. However, I am very blessed to be at uni, getting a degree etc. Sometimes we think if we wasting our time we should be reading our bibles etc, which of course (I cannot stress enough) that we do need to be doing; but we need to look our lives and think am I putting in the effort in my school, uni, work that I should do. We are all so blessed to be where we are, in the west, with a house, food, clothes, job, education etc then why do we find it hard to get rid of things that aren't good for us?? Why do we put so much time in other things that distract us from reaching our potential that God has for us?
Like, this people we don't understand the power in the name of Jesus so we target our attention on other things. We forget the blessings we have around us and try our attention elsewhere. For me, its Facebook. I am terrible!!! I am literally on it all the time, for example I am logged in now and have been for the last three hours. Its not that I am logged on but when I am not doing anything I'll just look around!? This is not such a massive issue but when I am suppose to be doing uni work I'll open facebook every other minute...to the point its a little ridiculous. I need to metaphorically burn this addiction....it literally is an addiction. It sounds so trivial but I need to work hard at uni but something such as facebook is that hinderence. In Colossians 3:23 it says this
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"
And to be honest, I am not doing that. So going back to Acts 19: I am not understanding the power of Jesus' name and I am in uni for a reason and I need to achieve something that is good, like I am giving God a thanksgiving. So what I have decided to do is give up facebook!! Just at least til Easter just to see if I can do it. Its not biggy if I don't but I really want to work hard and test my self-control. It will start as of tomorrow (Monday 2nd) and I will only change my status if I do another blog so people can read it.
If you're reading this and a regular visiting of my facebook profile please continuing writing on it and tagging me in pictures but I won't reply until its Easter or I've cracked. If you want to contact me then email me hollincross@gmail.com or just text me haha! I don't know how I am going to get on with this but who knows!
I'll try and write another blog but I do have a lot of work to do!!! Please think about what I'v said
Till next time
.
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