Straight From Pastor Ey

SEVERE FLOODING. Residents of University, Potrero Malabon city evacuates their home for their safety. Image and caption credit Expect to be inundated with fresh appeals for help in the aftermath of tropical storm Mario. According to Rappler ,  404 evacuation centers are serving 45,004 families or 205,304 persons in areas affected by Mario. At least 132,850 families or 600,606 persons from Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Central Visayas, Bicol Region, and the National Capital Region were affected by the tropical storm that hit land Friday morning. …at least 133 areas in the 6 regions and in the Ilocos Region were flooded due to the tropical storm. At least 4 areas were placed under a state of calamity. As of this writing, so far 6 people died and 1 person is still missing because of the storm. We pray that the body count won’t go up anymore.  Image credit How could we respond in the midst of this apparently overwhelming need? Proverbs 3:27-28 tell us ...

Read Part 1 Victoria Osteen’s worship-to-be-happy declaration stirred up the evangelical hornet’s nest. Though she gave an apparent lip-service that worship is for God, her words plainly conveyed what she really thought of worship: “It’s not really about God. It’s about us.” When we obey God, we’re not doing it for God. I mean, that’s one way to look at it. We’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. … When you come to church, when you worship him, you’re not doing it for God really! You’re doing it for yourself , because that’s what makes God happy.” (Source: YouTube . Emphasis mine.) No, Victoria Osteen, that’s not one way to look at worship. That’s the only way you look at it. For you, it appears that God is only happy when we are happy. His happiness is not the end but the means to an end, that is, our happiness. Televangelist and best-selling author, Joel Osteen, right, and his wife, Victoria, left. Image and caption credit  ...

That, in a nutshell, was what Victoria Osteen, wife of best-selling author and prosperity preacher Joel Osteen , declared in a worship service of their Lakewood Church, reportedly the biggest church in America. Her husband was with her when she proclaimed,  When we obey God, we’re not doing it for God. I mean, that’s one way to look at it. We’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives him the greatest joy this morning. So I want you to know this morning, just do good—for your own self. Do good ’cause God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship him, you’re not doing it for God really! You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. (Source: YouTube . Emphasis mine.) Yes, “God takes pleasure when we’re happy.” God really wants us to be happy. Of course, worship and obedience make us happy, too. However, ultimately, it’s not about us. It’s about Him. The focus of worship is n...