I place no trust in man. God can use anyone, even deceivers, but that doesn't make the deceivers alright.
We need to expose the wrong things people do and say while leaving their eternal destination to God. I don't know if Billy Graham was saved or not, it doesn't matter to me, I don't have to decide.
But that means that I will not decide that he was good or that he was bad, I will only expose what he actually said and then come against bad doctrine.
Why do so many people feel a need to decide whether someone went to heaven or hell? God will do His own will, we must trust Him. I have no desire to place any man so high on a pedestal that no one can criticize him.
We must be able to evaluate every man based on their teachings and their deeds. If we cannot face the truth about someone, then that someone is our idol.
Romans 3:4
"4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “That You may be justified in Your words,
And prevail when You are judged.”
Anyone who thinks we are obligated to defer to them or that we are obligated to give them more respect than they are willing to give to us, is a controlling and selfish individual.
Kind and loving people care about the needs and desires of others. They have no interest in being in control, or having more respect than anyone else. They do not elevate their importance above others. When we meet someone who is demanding respect, then we have met a person who does not respect others. Their demand of it gives them away.
Kind and loving people are introspective, they want to know their own inner motives to become a better person, their concern is about their own growth in righteousness, not in whether someone else is noticing it or praising them because of it. If someone wants praise all the time, then chances are they are not growing and they do not honor or respect others.
The controller does not introspect, they have elevated views of their own importance as well as grandiose ideas about their own achievements, none of which are warranted. Appearing special and above others is far more important to the selfish person than actually being Christ like. The reason they clamor to be elevated is because they know what they are, deficient in the things that matter, so the create a phony appearance to fool others.
They encourage a view of themselves, whether true or not, that takes presedence over anyone else. This mentality was taught in the public school system for years and aped in the churches, that "we should love ourselves first."
The lie was propagated that we cannot love others unless we love ourselves first. This was a lie from the devil coming out of the psychological community with it's basis and origins from evolutionary thinking. The lie that we are merely animals responding to stimuli is the school of thought that has been taught in every institution.
The truth is that we are not likely to love others when self is the focus.
Philippians 2:2-4 "…2 then make my joy complete by being of one mind, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Even in the seminaries where creationism has been taught, the concept that bad people are merely hurting souls, was spawned out of evolution. It is good sense to know that we do not poke at others when we have been poked by someone else. In fact if we are loving and kind, we seek never to do the evil to others that was done to us.
There are those who poke at good people hoping to get a negative reaction so they can feel justified in their contempt for them. Self lovers rarely care about others.
God never speaks about evil people as merely hurting souls being the reason they hurt others. Adam and Eve were made perfect and given a choice. No one hurt Adam and Eve, causing them to disobey and listen to the devil, that was a choice they made because of a heart that disobeyed God.
Evil people do evil things because their hearts are evil.
Matthew 15:17-19 "…17 “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.…"
I have known children who came out of wonderful home environments who went bad and I have known children who came from terrible environments that chose to follow Christ. Each person has a choice to be good or bad, no one forces them and no one is at fault except themselves.
Ezekiel 18:20 "20 The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
If there is anyone who is seeking revenge for either real or perceived slights, then that person has an evil heart. God does not give us excuses to be unkind to others because someone else was unkind to us.
When we find ourselves continually being poked by someone hell bent on ruining us, then we are not to do revenge, we are to avoid them, knowing that there is no way we can fix them, knowing that these kind of people never listen, they merely step up their hatred for being exposed.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Bottom Line: Expect hatred and contempt, this sort of treatment in these days of apostasy and rebellion is growing, while learning to walk away without response. Do not attempt to reason with those who love their sin. Any response at all is food for the wicked person, it is best to ignore them completely.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD."
In these days of apostasy, many others will be offended when we just do our own thing, they want us to be just like them, validating them by imitating them.
Merely going down your own road without them is enough to set off the anger of the narcissist. They cannot stand anyone who chooses their own road.
Romans 16:17-18
"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive."
