The Self-Esteem Nightmare

What is self-esteem?  The word explains the definition, we are to esteem ourselves.  Does this sound biblical?  Far from it.  The opposite is actually true.  We should see our utter helplessness and depravity which drives us to utterly depend on God alone and esteem Him for His goodness and not ourselves.  The self-esteem movement has become rampant in this age.  Here is an example from Joel Osteen's book, "Your Best Life Now":

He writes, “Every moment that we go around with that weak worm-of-the-dust mentality, we’re eating more cheese and crackers….It’s time to step up to God’s dining table. God has prepared a fabulous banquet for you, complete with every good thing imaginable. And it has already been paid for. God has everything you need there—joy, forgiveness, restoration, peace, healing” (84-85).

Just doing an Internet search on "Christian self-esteem" I found countless resources on how to improve your self-esteem.  Here is just one:

There is nothing negative about God. So doing what you can to eliminate the negative stuff in your life will go a long ways toward improving your Christian self esteem.  God has a specific plan for your life, but in order to start moving in the right direction, it's necessary to start focusing on positive things that will make you feel better about yourself.  Building Christian self esteem isn't as simple as just going to a website, reading the material, and presto....you instantly feel better about yourself and everything in your life. Unfortunately, it's a lot more complicated than that.

The reason it is complicated is because "Christian" self-esteem is unbiblical and demonic.  See the problem here?  Now compare this non-sense with a prayer of a Puritan:

Lord Jesus,
I sin --
Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never think I can reach a point of perfection.  Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self.  Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for thee and not for self, to copy thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into thy likness, to be consecrated wholly to thee, to live entirely to thy glory.

See the difference?  Which is more biblical?  I think it is obvious.  Kill your self-esteem and esteem God alone, for He will share His glory with no one.  Here is a video of Paul Washer on self-esteem.

What is your motivation for the things you do?

Cult of the month - Rastafarianism

Halie Selassie

Founded by Halie Selassie

• Former emperor of Ethiopia, crowned in 1930 and died in 1975. Reined for 45 years.

• This is not his real name but he took this name which means the power of the trinity. He also took names like: king of kings, lord of lords, the conquering lion of Judah. His actual name is Ras Tafari Maconan.

• Always decked out with many medals.

• He claimed to be 225th in a line of Ethiopian Kings descending from a union between Solomon and the queen of Sheba. He actual said that Psalm 87:4-6 predicted his coronation. It says:

Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush-- "This one was born there," they say. And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her. The LORD records as he registers the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah
(Psa 87:4-6)
• Now there are over 1 million people that worship him as god.

• He is believed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

• His worshipers are called Rastafarian’s.

• Rastafarians only believe in the King James version of the bible.

• If you are in the religion then you must have a personal relationship with Ras Tafari.

• They say he never died and he is coming back on the day of judgment to Africa.

• They only believe ½ the Bible has been written the other half was stolen from Africans by white people and is now hidden in the Ark of the Covenant.

• They believe that devout believers will not physically die.

• They believe that Ras Tafari is god the father and god the son and his followers are the holy spirit.

• During a Rastafarian service the worshipers smoke maharaja, singing, dancing, reading the bible and listening to their greatest prophet, Bob Marley.

• Bob Marley took the Rastafarian system and developed it into a form of music called Reggae.
• Dreadlocks are also associated with Reggae and Rastafarianism and they are the idea of going back to nature by never taking care of your hair, which is a play on the Nazarite vow.

This is a satanic religion that worships a dead Ethiopian that is now in Hell.

Paul Washer - Warning for Bloggers

Child-Sacrificing Incas vs Baby killing Americans

I thought this was interesting because it is about the Inca people of old in Cusco, which is where we are moving. I found this on Desiring God’s blog

The remains of seven children apparently killed in a ritual, and buried beneath a 500- to 600-year-old building in Peru’s Cuzco Valley have given scientists new glimpses of the sketchily understood Inca practice of sacrificing select children in elaborate ceremonies.

The children were buried at the same time, apparently after having been killed in a sacrificial rite that honored Inca deities and promoted political unity across the far-flung empire, say anthropologist Valerie Andrushko of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and her colleagues.

Chemical analyses of the bones indicate that at least two of the children came from distant parts of the Inca realm.

The findings lend credence to the accounts of Spanish conquistadors that described how children were selected for sacrifice from all across the empire, based on their physical perfection. We shudder at such brutal backwardness.

Today, using prenatal screening, we scour the empire for children with physical defects and sacrifice them to ourselves. 

Peru Video

Here is a short, 5 minute, video of our scouting trip to Peru. For the more of this trip go to our Mission blog and you can see our journal and longer video.