In school, I've been reading the Crucible by Arthur Miller, and learning about the Salem witch trials in History. The Crucible is a play based upon the Salem witch trials and is also an allegory for McCarthy and the accusations he made on "communists". If you don't have a single clue about the Salem Witch trials, i'll paint a little background for you. Basically in the late 1600's, Salem, Massachusetts was taken a storm by numerous trials and hearings on witchcraft. This town which was originally planned for freedom from religious prosecution became a prison and town full of paranoia. 19 people were killed as a result of false accusations claiming that they were witches. 19 innocent people...killed. Sure, 19 doesn't seem like that much, but in a small town like Salem, 19 is a lot, and 150 were accused and put in trial. People were being accused for witchcraft even when they were innocent. Here's somethings that are very ironic in these trials...
1. If you were telling the truth and denied being a witch you were hanged
If you confessed to being a witch you were spared
Isn't that just awful, these people had to lie, and say that they were practicing witchcraft just to live...
2. Salem was a theocracy (ruled by church) and the town was filled with Christians, more specifically, Puritans. Puritans lived a strict life, with many rules and if you didn't go to church or you didn't do good works, you were considered to be a witch or not a "good Christian". Note: They also believed in Predestination (where God has already decided whether you will be saved or not) and to show that you were saved you needed to do good works to make sure everyone knows that God has saved you.
That is one of the things that really anger me about some of the sects of Christianity. They instill upon their members that you have to do this and that to prove your salvation and be accepted by god. That is absolutely, 100% FALSE. To gain salvation, all you have to do is believe and accept that Jesus was you're savior and that he died for your sins, that's pretty much it. You don't have to do confirmation, or go to church every Sunday. In our English class we read some sermons and poems by the Puritans about God. Many of the poems were very dark and sinister; describing God as this awful man who hates humanity and thinks we're all doomed, who's holding you by a thread and ready to throw you into the pits of fiery hell. (Isn't that lovely!) Once again.... that is so not true... Our God is loving and ready with wide arms to welcome us into the kingdom of Heaven, waiting for us and ready to embrace us. He always forgives you and loves you so much. I can now understand why people lived such miserable lives if they believed in this...
3. In Salem, people were accusing each other left and right of witchcraft. Abigail Williams, the main antagonist, is evil I tell you, PURE EVIL! (No spoilers, don't worry) She performs witchcraft to kill the wife of a man she had an affair with (who happens to be in his 40's and she's 17 in the story, gross right?) and to cover up what she has done she blames others of witchcraft. She fakes being attacked by spirits and does these awful things to make sure people get executed.
Shouldn't we as Christians refrain from doing those things? Abigail Williams wasn't the only person in town who falsely accused people but as believers we should never retaliate and be vengeful. We need to be forgiving and loving. Most of the accusations were attacks of revenge and eventually leads to the victim's death.
To wrap things up, I just wanted to share a piece of History and literature to you guys, because this has been on my mind a lot lately and it angers me a lot to see of this happening. I just encourage all of you to show love and forgive one another, no matter how hard it is. (I could write an entire post about forgiving... I might one day) And remember that God loves you and you can't buy or work your way to heaven.
-Teenager of God
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
My First Christian Concert; The Struggle Tour - Tenth Avenue North
Hiya!
Last night, I went to the Tenth Avenue North concert.. and boy was it amazing. I always liked Tenth Avenue North and they were on my top 5 list of Christian artists with Chris Tomlin and my lovely IHOP artists like Matt Gilman and Jaye Thomas. But after going to their concert, they're probably my favorite Christian artist. Mike (lead vocals) was amazing on stage, he was so energetic and the message he shared was really inspiring. Just seeing them "jam out" on stage was contagious, haha, soon everyone was jumping and clapping our hands until they bled. The passion and the story behind the songs spoke to my heart. Lately I've been struggling a lot and I've been so broken. I constantly asked God, "Why are you letting me struggle so much?" Mike told the audience that through this struggling... God is bringing something huge... and bigger than ourselves. My God is with me and he loves me. :)
All in all, I think I've became a fangirl of Tenth Avenue North, and I wanted to meet them so badly.. and when I found out my friend met Jason, the drummer and got an autographed CD, I literally cried... But, who knows maybe one day I'll meet them. It's all in God's timing :) And if Tenth Avenue North reads my post I think i'll sob, because they probably have no idea who I am and what an impact their songs have made in my life and it brought me hope in times of my struggling and pain... I guess I can't give them the glory but I will give the glory all to God.
I really encourage you guys to buy their newest album, "The Struggle". To be honest, listening to it on a CD can not compare to listening to them live it really doesn't compare at all...But, I recently bought it on iTunes and anyone who knows me knows that I don't buy songs, haha. They're really great people and doing some awesome work for the kingdom of God.
-Teenager of God
p.s. I'm listening to their new album right now as I type this up.
Here's some of my favorite songs from them. (If you dont have a Spotify, then go look it up on Youtube! )
By your Side (Really got me through some tough times)
Healing Begins
You are more
Don't Stop the Madness (That's the song that made me cry last night... It talks about suffering)
Losing
Strangers Here
Worn (sad song that totally speaks to my heart)
Shadows
Struggle
You do all things well (PRAISE SONG!)
HECK, I LOVE ALL OF THEIR SONGS ON THEIR NEW ALBUM!
Here's some pictures I took on my itouch.
:) I love Mike.
ENCORE!!
We are free to struggle, but we are not struggling to be free...
Last night, I went to the Tenth Avenue North concert.. and boy was it amazing. I always liked Tenth Avenue North and they were on my top 5 list of Christian artists with Chris Tomlin and my lovely IHOP artists like Matt Gilman and Jaye Thomas. But after going to their concert, they're probably my favorite Christian artist. Mike (lead vocals) was amazing on stage, he was so energetic and the message he shared was really inspiring. Just seeing them "jam out" on stage was contagious, haha, soon everyone was jumping and clapping our hands until they bled. The passion and the story behind the songs spoke to my heart. Lately I've been struggling a lot and I've been so broken. I constantly asked God, "Why are you letting me struggle so much?" Mike told the audience that through this struggling... God is bringing something huge... and bigger than ourselves. My God is with me and he loves me. :)
All in all, I think I've became a fangirl of Tenth Avenue North, and I wanted to meet them so badly.. and when I found out my friend met Jason, the drummer and got an autographed CD, I literally cried... But, who knows maybe one day I'll meet them. It's all in God's timing :) And if Tenth Avenue North reads my post I think i'll sob, because they probably have no idea who I am and what an impact their songs have made in my life and it brought me hope in times of my struggling and pain... I guess I can't give them the glory but I will give the glory all to God.
I really encourage you guys to buy their newest album, "The Struggle". To be honest, listening to it on a CD can not compare to listening to them live it really doesn't compare at all...But, I recently bought it on iTunes and anyone who knows me knows that I don't buy songs, haha. They're really great people and doing some awesome work for the kingdom of God.
-Teenager of God
p.s. I'm listening to their new album right now as I type this up.
Here's some of my favorite songs from them. (If you dont have a Spotify, then go look it up on Youtube! )
By your Side (Really got me through some tough times)
Healing Begins
You are more
Don't Stop the Madness (That's the song that made me cry last night... It talks about suffering)
Losing
Strangers Here
Worn (sad song that totally speaks to my heart)
Shadows
Struggle
You do all things well (PRAISE SONG!)
HECK, I LOVE ALL OF THEIR SONGS ON THEIR NEW ALBUM!
Here's some pictures I took on my itouch.
Rueben rockin that bass!
ENCORE!!
We are free to struggle, but we are not struggling to be free...
Friday, September 7, 2012
Tenth Avenue North Concert!!
Heey!
There's a Tenth Avenue North concert next friday (Sept 14th) at 7:30pm! I'm really excited because this will be my first Christian concert :). I invited some of my friends and it's going to be a great time. Even if you don't live in New Jersey, you can still go to their concerts, because they're touring. The concert I'm going to is about 10-20mins away from me in Middletown.
Cost is $20 if you pay online and $25 at the door. You can order online from here : Buy Tickets HERE
Address is...
4 Cherry Tree Farm Rd.
New Monmouth Baptist
Middletown, NJ 07748
New Monmouth Baptist
Middletown, NJ 07748
I really love Tenth Avenue North and they're one of my favorite artists. Here's the complete touring schedule that spans across the country, if you happen to be around one of those locations, I definitely encourage you to go, here's the link! If you don't know they're songs go look some up on youtube like "By Your Side" , "Healing begins" , "You are more" and they just released their album Struggle and the tour is called "The Struggle Tour" so I also encourage you to listen to their new album; it's really amazing.
-Teenager of God
Sunday, September 2, 2012
We have power!
Today during breakfast, my little brother who's only 4, said something.
"Did you know that God gave us power? The bad guys don't have any power."
And my parents were shocked, and my dad said
"Wow Zachary, that's really... profound and deep of you, who taught you that?"
God did.
It really got me thinking, it's so true! We have power and authority over those "bad guys" I don't know about you, but my family believes in spiritual warfare and so does my church. Just because we're Christians doesn't mean the enemy doesn't mess with us. In Ephesians 6:10, Paul talks about the armor of God, and he's directing it to ALL Christians. As Christians, we get attacked the most! The enemy wants us to believe that we never get attacked. Chances are that you're getting attacked daily. Lately our family has been getting attacked a lot. I've been getting random allergy attacks where my nose starts running and I can't breathe or I'm breaking out into rashes. It's sporadic and random, and its because of the enemy. We just bind the evil spirits and throw him to the foot of the cross (in Jesus' name). Spiritual warfare is such a broad topic that I could write a book about it! But if you're interesting in learning more there's an event coming up in October called College of Prayer. They hold this event twice a year and it goes from Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. (I plan on finally missing school to go after years of waiting) This year's theme is... Spiritual Warfare. It's going to be great and for more details click on this link I really encourage everyone to go, but beware it is a bit charismatic.
For the rates and registration click here
Note: This is in Nyack, NY, although I live about 2-3 hours away ( I think) our church still makes it.
Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
~Teenager of God
"Did you know that God gave us power? The bad guys don't have any power."
And my parents were shocked, and my dad said
"Wow Zachary, that's really... profound and deep of you, who taught you that?"
God did.
It really got me thinking, it's so true! We have power and authority over those "bad guys" I don't know about you, but my family believes in spiritual warfare and so does my church. Just because we're Christians doesn't mean the enemy doesn't mess with us. In Ephesians 6:10, Paul talks about the armor of God, and he's directing it to ALL Christians. As Christians, we get attacked the most! The enemy wants us to believe that we never get attacked. Chances are that you're getting attacked daily. Lately our family has been getting attacked a lot. I've been getting random allergy attacks where my nose starts running and I can't breathe or I'm breaking out into rashes. It's sporadic and random, and its because of the enemy. We just bind the evil spirits and throw him to the foot of the cross (in Jesus' name). Spiritual warfare is such a broad topic that I could write a book about it! But if you're interesting in learning more there's an event coming up in October called College of Prayer. They hold this event twice a year and it goes from Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. (I plan on finally missing school to go after years of waiting) This year's theme is... Spiritual Warfare. It's going to be great and for more details click on this link I really encourage everyone to go, but beware it is a bit charismatic.
For the rates and registration click here
Note: This is in Nyack, NY, although I live about 2-3 hours away ( I think) our church still makes it.
Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
~Teenager of God
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman
I've been really into this song lately and it's just so beautiful :) My mom actually led this song for worship quite a couple times at church. Even my 4 year old brother has been singing this song nonstop, haha.
Teenager of God
Hi!
I've been thinking about making this blog for a while but never pushed myself into doing it, but I feel like it was time. I'm a believer in God and I lovee him! I'll post stories I have of my "god experiences" and songs that have been on my heart and other great things. I'm really excited to start this blog. :)
-Teenager of God
I've been thinking about making this blog for a while but never pushed myself into doing it, but I feel like it was time. I'm a believer in God and I lovee him! I'll post stories I have of my "god experiences" and songs that have been on my heart and other great things. I'm really excited to start this blog. :)
-Teenager of God
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