Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Our Hope is in Christ Alone

I heard a wonderful motivational speech tonight, that anyone could love, sadly I heard nothing about abortion, homosexual sins or any other sin that America should be repenting from. Trump is a master at manipulation, flattery and showmanship, this speech had it all, right down to the happy sob stories of some of the people in the audience.

The president's speech was lovely to listen to, too lovely. These are the kinds of things the anti-christ will promise that will cause the populous to be all atwitter about, peace and safety, just as we heard tonight from our president.

I heard nothing of repentance for the sins of pornography, abortion, adultery or any other sin that is prominent in our culture today. The speech was designed to make us encouraged about all the things we can obtain, prosperity and safety, sounded a lot like the "Health, Wealth and Prosperity" televangelists.

1 Thessalonians 5:3 "…2 For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.…"

It is clear how easily the "elect" will be fooled by the cleverest of promises and flattery that are a part of the rhetoric of every motivational speaker.

Proverbs 29:5
"A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."

Psalm 5:9
"For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue."

Proverbs 27:6
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy."

We must look to Christ, keeping focused on His principles to be able to discern those who are using manipulation to flatter us into believing whatever they say.

Our hope is not in our president nor is it in this country, our hope as believers in Christ Jesus is in our Lord alone.

John 14:1-3 "1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

This is our hope brothers and sisters!

Standing For Christ in the Family

So much is being said about standing for God in the government and the community and that is good, however, how can that happen when these same people who assert this, will not stand for righteousness in their own families.

It seems that our culture will demand things from the community that they don't practice in their own homes.

So many people will claim to follow the Bible but ignore and minimize divorce and remarriage when it is their children, parents or close friends even extended family who are engaging in the sin.

The favored sins of divorce and remarriage are being ignored and even embraced by those who would claim they love the Bible.

It has been my experience in recent years that those who tell the truth to bring righteousness and holiness to situations in the family, are the ones who are devalued and mocked, even lied about, while revenge is exacted against them.

The favorite mantras used against truth tellers are as follows:
1. You don't know my heart.
2. You should not judge.
3. You are mean spirited.
4. You have sin in your life.
5. Your too sensitive.
6. You are self righteous.

Notice the absence of focus on themselves when dealing with a sinning brother or sister. It is common for those who have been told they are in sin or even corrected in minor ways, to flip the script for the focus to now be the truth teller. There is almost never an admission that the sinner needs to change or is saddened by their own sin, they must blame others or change the focus to another, in order to take the spot light of truth off of themselves.

The response of a humble person when told they may be in sin or error, is to feel ashamed and admit they need to change their behavior or attitude even asking forgiveness for their offenses.

A prideful person rages, blames and accuses others, but what they never do is admit anything.

This is now the world we live in, mankind has progressed to the point of no return, even those in the church, with the exception of a small handful who are tender hearted toward God and others.

Those who speak truth to help another human being will be accused of starting trouble, when those who refuse to listen are the trouble makers. Even when we expose a mean actions toward us or others, we are accused of trouble making. The trouble maker and his flying monkeys expect everyone to remain silent while they work their evils toward others. In their mind we are mean for exposing their evil.
Sadly often those looking on, believe the real trouble maker because he is more bombastic in his response.

Psychology has caused this mess by asserting that the response was caused by someone, therefore whoever confronted the evil doer was unkind by correcting or confronting him.

I heard a news caster today say that the Presidents speech tonight will be judged on style as well as content. Since when do we judge a speech on style, it is the content that matters. This is typical of narcissists, no matter whether the content is true or not they will accuse our delivery.

Laughing Out Loud....I was once told that "it was the way I said it", on facebook when most of what I wrote was scripture to answer their assertions. This is insanity!!!

When we attempt to bring the accuser back to the content to answer the validity of that content, they refuse to address it and continue the attacks to mock and demean. These people refuse to engage in dialogue about the issues, preferring to focus on how we made them feel, but even that is not about what we said or how we said it, it was about how they felt about it. Remember when I have written many times about "feelings" being inaccurate based on our perspective rather than truth? Those who hate to be seen as wrong or sinful will fight tooth and nail to defend their stance by demeaning and devaluing the one who confronts them.

The bottom line is this, those who hate truth will fight not against the truth itself but against the messenger. The purpose is to discredit the messenger in order to feel justified in rejecting the truth. It is not possible to count the number of times I have encountered this very thing, even when it wasn't I who spoke, only me repeating what God said.

When we know these tactics we do not have to experience false guilt for the reactions to our attempts to help someone enjoy freedom from sin and guilt by repenting.

Galatians 5:1
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

1 Peter 2:16
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."

Galatians 5:13
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

John 8:32
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

2 Corinthians 3:17
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

2 Timothy 1:7
"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

When we discover that those who are in sin will not listen, we have no recourse except to walk away leaving that person to Christ to deal with. We are not responsible for the results as we seek to help others, only obedience to Christ.

Then, after our attempts to encourage in the way of righteousness have been rejected, pray that the Lord will work in that person's life as we remove ourselves to allow God to do what He knows best to do. This frees us from the responsibility of remaining with those who will continually combat us, even resent the life we choose for ourselves because it is a conviction to them, even if we say nothing, they hate what we are. Until God works in their heart, we must leave them alone.