I have had to block people from my Facebook and from my e-mail because they came to fight with me about truth from the Bible. I was criticized for blocking them as though it was unloving.
My response is that it is unloving for others to pressure me to spend time with toxic people who are trouble makers.
Proverbs 22:24 "24 Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25 or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.…'
One of the devil's favorite ways of silencing believers is to keep them fearful of speaking truth. Those who pressure us to remain friends with toxic people who do not discuss truth but hammer us to think as they do are defying the word of God.
There is no good that comes from silencing ourselves to accommodate a wicked person. All that happens is that the wicked person becomes further empowered to remain as they are. Our kindness to them does not change their heart, it hardens the heart.
When someone's heart hardens they lose the ability to sympathize, empathize and consider the plight of others. This is what we are seeing in the narcissist who cannot be influenced on any level to relent from their tactics and manipulations.
1 Corinthians 15:33 "33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
When we remain with toxic people we begin to respond in ways just like them without realizing it. The reason God wants us to make our primary close friends those who love Christ is so we do not expose ourselves continually to sinful ways that we become familiar with over time.
1 Peter 2
As Newborn Babes
2 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For this is contained in Scripture:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
“The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;
for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom, they were also appointed."
The devil uses wicked people to work to cause believers to fall into sin. The devil is jealous that we love Christ and that we walk in righteousness, so he uses people to accomplish his dastardly deeds to bring us down.
When we are acting badly from being influenced by the narcissist we are not acting Christlike. We are not glorifying God and we are not a witness to the world of the love of Christ. This is the devil's goal.
We cannot allow the devil to have a foothold in our life by allowing rebellious God-haters' continual access to us. If they want to repent and begin as a new creation then they know where to find us.
Hebrews 6:1
The Peril of Falling Away
6 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
It is a dead work to continue to remain with those who have rejected Christ. Our friends will either support us in acting badly or in acting Christlike. Those who choose to act badly must not be allowed to influence us against God.
Our close friends must be those who will rejoice with us in our walk with Christ.
Ecclesiastes 4:11-12 "…11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
As born again believers we are not alone, our influences who honor God help us in times of weakness. A wicked man can be no help to a born again believer, only a hindrance.
Proverbs 13:20 "20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm."
Proverbs 22:24-25 "24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, 25 or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared."
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