Demographics

According to blogger statistics, if you are reading this there is a very very good chance that you are in the UK....or if not, there is quite a good chance you're in the USA. There is also a good chance that you're using Windows, or perhaps a Mac. There's also a good chance that you're using Internet Explorer...followed closely by Google Chrome. If you're on IE, switch to Chrome - I love it.

If you're from another country, and don't know me. Why not leave a comment with where you're from...then I might be able to understand my audience a bit better...not by much, but a little bit may go a long way.

If you're from the UK, let me know. Do you know me? Do you not know me? Where are you from?

Wherever you're from, are you a regular? or have you just stumbled upon this page because you searched for a picture and it came up here...or you wanted to find the music to Brad Paisley's Cliffs of Rock City, and it led you here...perhaps to your disappointment.

Just let me know, I am intrigued as to who you are!

NWA + HBC

Anyone know what these acronyms stand for? Yes...well done. NWA is New Word Alive, and HBC is Holiday Bible Club.

Last week, I spent an amazing week in Pwllheli at New Word Alive, a Christian conference full of great teaching, worship and friendships. I can't quite describe how much I enjoyed last week, and can't quite describe the intricacies of the emotions I experienced there when I realised...again...what a horrible sinner I am, and when I realised...again...how loving a God I have, and how he sent his son to pay for the sins of mine which I am so ashamed of. He has paid the price for me - one atoning sacrifice...and now, it's not about what I can do to achieve salvation, but it's what God has already done. With this in mind, God is bigger than any sin (compared to God, our sin is nothing) and he is gracious and glorious, and not only has he already saved us, but he helps us to live for Him by giving us his Spirit! What a gift! I am so undeserving of it, yet, God has graciously given me this gift to help me live for his glory. Fantastic. This is a brief description of my emotions, if you'd like to know more, talk to me. I'm going to get on with the next section of this post...

HBC. Holiday Bible Club. This is an amazing opportunity to tell kids about the above! The thing is that children can understand and know what they need to do to be saved...yet, I still think I can earn my salvation? As adults, we can often twist and over complicate the gospel, when it's actually a very simple message. Last week was a great week to help me remember the glorious gospel, and this week helps me to remember the simplicity of the gospel. I'm so thankful that I can serve God in this way by doing HBC...I'm so thankful that God saved me. One of the questions that was on the worksheet today was what do we see in the world that makes us remember that God is amazing - the kids were giving great answers like the countryside. The countryside, the mountains, the sea...I often take for granted. I've seen them so many times, it's like they're just a part of my thinking -- and I can often forget that it had a Creator. I had a moment last week where I did the whole 'Gladiator' thing, and picked up some sand from the beach...and just looking at each tiny grain of sand was created by God - and it just struck me as brilliant.

It's been one day of HBC so far, and enjoying it so far. The kids understand it, they don't try to extort it - the gospel is simple, and God is amazing. Easy stuff. It's great to be reminded of it by the kids. The memory verse is Romans 5:8, 'But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: Whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' - such a great verse, it's our one memory verse for this week....it'll not only be good for the kids to understand this verse really well, but for me too.

I'm up early tomorrow again ready for another HBC day! So I'm going to be off - check you later.

America's Most Hated Family in Crisis

The BBC description,

"Following up on his 2007 documentary, The Most Hated Family in America, Louis Theroux returns to Topeka, Kansas, for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church."

Watching this documentary made me feel a vast array of emotions, sadness, anger, fear, amongst others. I can't quite explain my feelings in a written format, so I'm attempting to write a blog with a lot of inspiration, but lacking in being able to explain what I'm seeing and hearing.

This family preach that God hates sin...and the sinner. They don't only preach this at church, but they picket events in which to proclaim their belief with huge signs reading 'God Hates Fags', and 'Thank God for Cancer'. This is simply not Biblical.

In one of the most famous verses in the Bible, it reads,

'For God so loved that world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' - John 3:16

and

'But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' - Romans 5:8

God loves us...but he hates sin...and rightly so. He created the universe and everything in it, and man rejected God. This rejection is inbuilt within everyone, and we are all sinners. However, God's infinite love for us saw him send Jesus, his son, to Earth to die for us. Jesus, the sinless one, the only perfect man, died. Taking our sins and putting an end to them. Taking our punishment on the cross, and being the one atoning sacrifice for us. This is AMAZING news. Not only this, Jesus rose again three days later - no man can do that...only God can do that. This is AMAZING news. Through Jesus' blood, our relationship with God is restored. We can come to Him, whatever we've done in the past...whether it be a little white lie, a lustful thought, murder, pride, theft, greed...etc etc. We can ask for forgiveness, and come to Him who saved us from death. We can ask Him to turn our lives around, that we would want to turn away from sin and live for Him. This is the gospel. Isn't it BRILLIANT?!

Now I wonder why this family are proclaiming that God hates specific people. This shows that they consider their own sin nothing compared to the other sinners who practice homosexuality. Why are they comparing themselves with others? None of us are perfect, and 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23). We should be comparing ourselves to Jesus, and striving to be more like Him, not comparing ourselves with others to make ourselves feel better. Instead of picketing funerals of soldiers, burning flags and calling Obama the anti-Christ...evangelising with the family of the fallen soldiers, with homosexuals, with anyone...this gospel is for everyone. This is GOOD NEWS. We can't do anything to achieve salvation, as we are sinners, but thankfully God is merciful and gracious and has given us a way in which we can be saved - so let's proclaim that!

This family, this church, preach a false gospel. They are leading people into a religion built into hate...pure hate against others. This family has a daughter who decided to leave the church as she wanted a boyfriend [which is wrong apparently, as having a boyfriend obviously means having premarital sex, according to them - therefore I have no idea how you go from being single to married in their minds, but anyway...] and her church kicked her out, her family kicked her out of their home, no longer talk to her, have removed all her pictures from their home, and were thankful when she left. Her best friend was asked whether she was sad to see her go, she said "She wasn't my friend" I'm sorry - I would try and explain my thoughts on this further, but I could cry. Family and friends are a beautiful gift from God, to encourage us, to support us, to help us grow, and their false gospel shatters it...and makes family and friendship absolutely nothing.

Louis Theroux doesn't believe the Bible, and he makes it clear in this programme. He tells this family that what they say is offensive, and this family laugh. It's so sad that this guy has an opportunity to hear the gospel, and all he sees is hatred against everyone. They believe that natural disasters happen as it is judgment from God, that those who denounce their church die [a Muslim man denounced the church, and a week later his wife died] as judgment from God. They say that Hell is a scary thing - yes, it is - but they don't know that they are driving people even further away from God.

Louis interviewed this girl 4 years ago who was adamant she would stay at the church. When he came back to do this next programme, she had left the church and explained that after long tensions with the church, she felt a strong urge that she had to get out of the church. She is scared that she's going to Hell for what she did whilst in the church...I pray that she meets someone soon who is able to tell her the true gospel of grace and despite what she has done, Jesus has saved her. The church are not allowed to make personal interaction with people not in the church...how is evangelism possible this way? It's not.

The more and more of the programme I watch, the more and more saddened I am in how lost these people are. This guy spoke to one girl who came over, and there was no reference to Jesus, only how her parents raised her from the devil and that her parents hated her. This programme has made me angry, and I have judged these people, and I just pray that God works in their hearts to the real truth. The gospel of love, not hate. The gospel of Jesus, not religion. Please pray for these people.

"So how many are we taking out today then?"

Dentists.

I haven't had the best experience with them, to be perfectly honest with you.

I'm pretty sure the first teeth that grew in my mouth were wonky, and they continued to grow wonky. Very wonky. My two front teeth had a huge gap...not a Madonna gap, but a big gap that formed in the shape of a triangle. And the rest of my teeth were in there, but all over the place. I couldn't bite into an apple because of the shape of my teeth...this made apple bobbing one of the most difficult things to do in my childhood. I competed an apple bobbing relay race at my youth club once, and need I say, my team lost - very badly. But at the time, I loved the uniqueness of my teeth. But, the dentists did not feel the same way. I was told I need braces when I was about 12 years old, and they said that they'd send a letter with my next appointment. I seem to remember always falling ill on these appointment days...for about 3 years.

When I was about 15, the dentist set an appointment, and my mum got in on the fun too. My mum said I needed a filling, so I was like - ok. Let's go get a filling. I sat down on the dentist's chair ready for my filling...the chair goes back and as I was reclining, he turned around and said those fateful words. "So how many are we taking out today then?".......

I'm sure you can imagine my horror. Tricked into it! That day he took out 7 of my teeth. They were milk teeth that just didn't want to leave...I gave them a nice place to live, why leave? But, in order to have braces, they had to come out...and that's what happened. When you're 15, the last thing you want is a smile where teeth are missing...and that's what I had.

The problem? After the milk teeth came through, one of my adult teeth didn't want to come through. So, back to the dentist. They said that I needed an operation on my gum, and essentially, I needed a window in my gum...and that's what happened. I went to the hospital and had a window cut into my gum.

But, what? The tooth started growing the wrong way? Of course it is. Back to the dentist. He refers me to an orthodontist, and when I had just turned 16...I got my brace. I had the brace until the week before I came to uni. And despite the years of horror as explained above...and the fact that I don't trust anybody when it comes to my teeth, I am now happy with my relatively straight teeth. I still don't like going to the dentist, they're perfectly nice people, they play the radio, they ask questions they know I can't answer because their hands are in my mouth...but I don't enjoy going, just in case they say those words again...

"So how many are we taking out today then?"