If a "Christian" comes to you angry that you exposed their false doctrine, then we can say that they hate truth.
When someone loves truth they are glad when they are warned about false doctrine, they do not get angry they embrace the truth, confess their wrong thinking and pray to be cleansed of anything they believe that might be false doctrine.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 "…9 The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, 10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11 For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie,…"
Those who love the truth grow in holiness and true knowledge. Those who refuse the truth remain ignorant and grow worse in their rejection of truth. They may have lots of knowledge, but that knowledge is twisted to fit their own ideas rather than to come in line with Christ.
They will even quote the Ephesians passage about "speaking the truth in love", claiming that your delivery was not loving. A common tactic to take the focus off of the rest of the verse that says "we are to grow in all aspects."
Those who love truth will not notice the delivery, they will focus on whether or not they are wrong and go to prayer to correct themselves.
Rebellious people almost always divert the attention to the delivery rather than the truth, even if there was nothing wrong with the delivery. And, there is no evidence in the Word as to how the delivery should sound since it is the Holy Spirit Who speaks through believers.
The love that is mentioned in this verse is the speaking the truth to those who need it, and everyone needs it.
Ephesians 4:15
"15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,"
If the devil can water down the gospel to the level of "friendliness", then many will come, flocking in but few if any will become born again. There are more people who attend church today who are not born again than those who have been changed by Christ into a new creation.
When people are looking for comfort, protection or personal aggrandizement, but not for Christ, they will learn all the right words, keep out of trouble but never know Him or become saved from their sin or hell.
Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
Many people are coming to the church because of the pleasure and perceived safety but are not being broken over their sin and they are not trusting Christ. If they do not hear the real gospel of repentance they will not see heaven, but instead they will see hell.
Romans 10:16-18 "…16 But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 18 But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”…"
No one is born again by "becoming a Christian", a sort of club mentality. People are saved by realizing they are a helpless sinner who needs a Savior Who can save them from their sin and from hell. Christ did not come to make everyone feel better, He came to offer Himself completely, not only as the sacrifice for our sins, but also as the Helper to live in us to be our righteousness and holiness.
None of this we can do ourselves, only Christ in us can make us what we should be and only if we want Him to. Christ will never force anyone, He offers Himself and the truth, but we do not receive it unless we want Him to change us into a new creation.
Anyone who is trusting in their "methods" to win others to Christ, they need to stop that immediately and begin to trust Christ in them. If they are not born again, they need to ask God to save them, change them and guide them.
If your prayers seem to drop to the ground not being answered, perhaps the problem is that you were never born again.
James 4:3 "3 When you do ask, you do not receive because you are asking for a wrong purpose, so that you may spend it on your fleshly desires."
Isaiah 59:1-3 "1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness.…"
All we have to do to hinder our prayers is refuse to listen and obey God.
We are living in an age when so many people are using extra-Biblical evidences, other books written by modern men to justify believing something that is against the Bible.
Satan is very clever, he will come as an angel of light to appear to be wonderful, pleasing and comforting, when in fact he is attempting to draw believers away from truth. If he can discredit God, while claiming he is from God, then he can fool and has fooled many believer to indulge in pagan practices that God hates.
Satan hates God, he will do whatever he can to destroy the faith of believers, causing them to place their trust in the physical world while negating Christ.
When a believer warns another believer about a book, movie or action, the response ought to be to go and pray about it. Most often we see those who claim to be believers become agitated and vengeful to discredit and mock the one who is seeking truth.
Psychology has been in the churches and Bible schools for more than 60 years now without very many noticing it. It comes under the guise of loving but in fact it is not loving at all. Love never diverts another person from Christ toward pagan practices. Love always directs people to the truth of the Bible and the principles of Christ.
It is the principles of psychology that brought the idea of "Lifestyle Evangelism" into the church. Other forms of psychology include, "we must present the gospel in a way that it will be received." This teaching is not from God but from secular humanism. God never said to be careful what we say so people will listen. Here is what He did say;
Luke 12:12 "12 For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.”
We are to know the word of God and let the Holy Spirit use our mouth as we submit to Him.
He also said this;
1 John 2:27 "27 And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught. "
Matthew 10:21-23 "…21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.…"
No where in the Word does God say, if we say it just right the people hearing will automatically accept it. In fact, when Jesus Christ spoke to the people they rejected it. Are we to infer from this that Christ said it wrong? NO, Christ also rebuked the Pharisees and called the "white washed tombs", was this not very nice or wrong? Christ never did or said anything wrong, there were no formulas written in the Word about our delivery, there were only admonitions to obey the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:14-15 "14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”…"
Romans 8:26-27 "26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. 27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.…"
If we are being careful what we say, figuring out the best way to say something, then we are walking in the flesh. It is Christ in us Who speaks through us, if we are still walking in the flesh, full of fear about sharing the gospel, then we are more concerned about the acceptance of men than obedience to Christ.
Proverbs 29:25-26 "25 The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted. 26 Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.…"
When being accepted and loved by man or "appearing" to be spiritual is more important than Christ or "actually" being righteous within our soul, then we have lost the battle to the devil.
We ought to be seeking Christ no matter how much we lose because of our dedication to Him. We hope than others will listen, we love them and want them to submit to Christ, but if they will not then we must be willing to let them go and move on to someone else who will listen.
Mark 16:15-16 "15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.…"
2 Timothy 4:3 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"
https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/stars/a-further-examination-of-the-gospel-in-the-stars/
