Anything to add here?
Catholic Ping.
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.
Now, having said this, I can say that many things I planned have happened - but not in the way I expected.
And to be honest, some of the things that happened differently than I expected I can now see as gifts from God.
When I plod along seeking God’s blessing on what I hope to offer to Him as my gift - submitting what I do to Him to use as he sees fit and acknowledging that I have no idea how to please Him but that I will move forward trying my best to serve Him - that is when I have “prospered”.
I blame Star Wars. “Use the Force, Luke!”
In a way the faith teachers are correct. Faith is a powerful force for life and living. That no one can deny.
Some of these teachers (not all) though, take a sharp left to crazytown when they accuse the ill of having insufficient faith. Part of faith is acceptance of God’s will and of your own responsibility.
If you are sick, you are sick. If you are suffering from the various ailments of age (hoo boy, that is a massive list) it does not mean your faith is weak. It means you are getting old and your body is breaking down, as intended. You accept the aches and pains and give thanks that you are still alive and able to praise the Lord.
The wealth thing? Sorry, I got nothing. Always figured the Lord and Our Saviour owe me precisely nothing. The debt goes entirely the other way. Christ died to give me eternal life. I can live with a permanently empty wallet.
Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
Well, Wine with water and no laying on of Hands. Hmmmm.
Prosperity gospel will >NOT work in the Catholic Church. All are called to join their sufferings with Jesus Christ. All are called to help Jesus carry The Cross. A Corpus of Christ on the Cross emphasizes Christian suffering.
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The prosperity-gospel is preached with an >empty Cross. I’ve heard ‘prosperity gospel’ preachers say >something like this,
‘You want your own children to be: successful, rich & happy. We are all children of God. & As such, God wants us to be RICH TOO! But first, you MUST MUST MUST plant seed like a farmer plants seed to get a bountiful crop.’
‘As it is promised by our Lord Jesus, the seed you plant can come back a hundred times.’ The prosperity-gospel preacher than says, ‘It’s time to cast your bread on the WATERS of our ministry. Became a faith-partner now! Go to the phone with your credit-card, write a check or buy a money order. God loves a willing giver.’
The choir starts singing, ‘Send us your money! Send us your money! Send us your money!’
The minister then says, ‘for a $100 gift, we’ll send this miniature prayer-shawl just like the one Lord Jesus wore.’
The choir again: ‘send us your money! send us your money! send us your money!’
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The Catholic Church has lasted for 2,000 years because it teaches >true Christianity. We are ALL called to >suffer with Jesus. Our sufferings can >NOT be a complete mirror of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. But we are called, to see the face of Jesus on >ALL those who suffer.
Knelling before a Crucifix with God’s only begotten Son hanging >dead on the Cross, convicts us, that Rich or Poor, we all called to contemplate the last four things in life:
1. Death, 2. Judgment, 3. Heaven, or 4. Hell.
Good Catholic prayers: ‘Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have Mercy on us.’ & ‘Look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church.’ >Everyone can get to Heaven & God provides the grace necessary to reach Heaven.
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
“Lord have Mercy!”
you forgot about Jesse Duplantis — the guy who visited heaven and comforted Jesus. Jesse is also the guy who said that God does not have the power of life and death...