Spirituality: Self-Promotion and Spiritual Effects

"A friend of God seeks to hear God's truth for the purpose that as soon as he or she knows that it is God's truth, the person realizes that God is speaking directly to him/her and abandons everything and everyone else to follow with God." Reference John 4:23-25, John 15:14-16

The Truth Seekers' Motive

What Is Self-Promotion?

Self promoting is doing things to deliberately draw the mind, heart or affections of people to you! The Bible says, in Proverbs 31, that a holy woman will allow her manner of living to speak, causing others to admire her and therefore desire God. This spiritual principle applies also to men confessing holiness.

Our hearts must be for people to turn their minds to Jesus Christ, not to you or to me for praise. All secret inner thoughts and efforts on your part to get someone to admire YOU, praise YOU, compliment YOU, lift up YOU -- fall under "self-promotion".

The key words in the matter of self-promotion are "efforts on your part". God has designed that if you do right, people will notice -- that is inevitable. Even if they hate you for it, they cannot help but see godliness. It is a light. It is one thing for people to notice, it is a completely different thing for you to ask them to notice or command them to notice.

This is why, although I have been well taught how to optimize this blog for search engines to find it, I have chosen not to. All things that I believe fall under the category of self-promotion have been removed. The Spirituality Blog will be drawn to because of the content of messages from Christ -- no networking, backward links, etc..


Yes, God does want people to notice the character of person that Satan had made us into, then the much better person you or I became after following Jesus Christ. Yes, God does want people to notice what He has done to our status of living on earth compared to what Satan had done to our physical lives. God announces to us, in His written word, that the reason for his loving and merciful dealings with each of us is so people will see HIM and desire HIM. In this manner, He will lovingly be able to rescue as many as possible from the awful grip of the Evil one.


Here are some examples of where God tells us his purposes:

Deuteronomy 8:18

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Deuteronomy 8:17-19 (in Context) Deuteronomy 8 (Whole Chapter)


Proverbs 18:16

A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
Proverbs 18:15-17 (in Context) Proverbs 18 (Whole Chapter)



Psalm 75:5-7

5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.



All scriptures taken from www.Biblegateway.com (King James Version)

Self-Promotion Destroys Being Like Christ

It is not possible to participate in self-promotion and also to become a spiritual person. The two activities are opposed to one another like darkness and light. Two different kinds of hearts are involved. Two different kinds of motives are being pursued. Two different kinds of love are being indulged in. Two different kingdoms are being advanced - a kingdom of pure love (Jesus' love) versus a kingdom of self-love.

The Kingdom of Self-Love

The source of all self-promotion began when God's created angel, Lucifer, started out content with what God had made him and thankful to God for it. At some point, Lucifer began to admire what he was, what he knew, what effect he was having on the other angels (all things that God did for him). At that point, he stopped being thankful to God and began to desire to be thought of and treated with respect, like God was. He was no longer content to be submitted under God, but wanted to be "equal".

From that point, he started thinking new suspicious thoughts about God, accusing God of being arrogant and desiring all praise to himself. So he started talking against God to the other creatures. Each time, he was becoming more arrogant and obsessed with admiring himself. So, God had to kick him out of Heaven. His name was changed to Satan and we have been suffering his evil presence ever since.







ISAIAH CHAPTER 14


9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.



Some of the lying works of self-promotion that I have witnessed with my own eyes during my travels amongst the churches include:

Getting friends to park their vehicles on a church lot so there is the appearance of a large crowd of attendees, so people will think my church is sound because lots of people are there- credibility by numbers.


Getting a famous singer or speaker to come to my church so that people will think my church is a big deal because the famous singer came to us - Credibility by association.


Creating and marketing my books and other wares within the church so people will remember my name, versus other messengers of Christ - Credibility by reputation.


Preachers refusing to minister the Word of God to small churches because their "fee" cannot be paid and, instead, demanding that a small church organize a bunch of other churches to bring that preacher to town - with a fan fare of flyers, radio and television advertising -Credibility by networth.

Two fascinating things about a heart of self-promotion are:

1. Onlookers cannot always disern it and

2. Once it is accepted practice, people forget how sinful it is and do not realize they are doing it!


Sometimes what looks like self-promotion is only getting Christ's message out! Other times, it's getting yourself out! Only Jesus knows for sure AND the person who is doing it.

Let us come out of these methods of the Christian System and return to the simple worship of loving God and people through living a holy life. This will expose, purify and purge the Evil one's touch upon our hearts and our deeds of self-promotion.