Growing in Holiness

People in the church are only confused because they depend on their pastors to tell them what to believe instead of seeking Christ through their Bibles and prayer.

It is human nature for people to want someone else to make their spiritual decisions for them. I am a former Catholic and because of this, I can see the same mentality of placing the "pastor" or "priest" above others as though they are the person who has all the answers.

Many pastors promote this by not allowing correction from the "pew people" as though they cannot hear from the Holy Spirit.

Also, pastors have a propensity to go with the wisdom of their seminaries and Bible colleges instead of praying and studying on their own through the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who lives in them.

If anyone is confused about the definition of morality it is only because they are not seeking God on their own through prayer in seeking Christ Who lives in them.

Many pastors are going with the secular culture so as to not be seen as strange, they want to be acceptable to the people of the culture far more than they care about truth from God's Word.

Every born-again believer ought to be growing and changing all the time. Stagnation is not a real thing, only regression when one stops learning and stops seeking God they always without a doubt regress..

Romans 12:1-2

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.."

What Is A Helpmate? (what Genesis 2:18 REALLY Means)

The Oracle of the Last Days

Amir Tsarfati: The True Meaning of Rosh Hashanah

Shake off the Human Rituals and Follow Christ

Since there are no prohibitions in the bible concerning cremation we have chosen that route, if we go home before the rapture, because it is very inexpensive, no need for a burial plot, and there is no mandate in scripture to avoid cremation. We can spread ashes anywhere we like and it's done in one day.

I do not subscribe to the "closure" idea for people to have to see a body, see the casket going into the ground, etc. I am a firm believer in allowing people to grieve their own way without cultural rules. Some people actually give formulas on how a person is to grieve and the rituals they must do for that ever-coveted "closure."

I don't even know what is meant by "closure", am I destined to never get over something I am going through unless I use that word; "closure." In my estimation it is psycho-babble that has little if any meaning.

When we have Jesus Christ we have no need for human rituals or formulas to get us through hard times, the Holy Spirit goes through with us, He is all we need. Complicated rituals and rules wear me out, and make me frustrated and discouraged, the simpler the better.

When we place rituals at the forefront of all our interactions we have placed burdens that do not help they only prevent healing and moving on with our lives.

It is wonderful to have a good friend to talk to about our trials and even more wonderful when we have Christ in us to guide us through anything. This is different from cogitating and massaging the sad feelings to perpetuate them ad-nausium.

All we need to discuss our trials is our good friend and Jesus Christ, no one else who is a stranger can know us well enough to help us through hard times. Psychological counseling more often than not keeps people ill, a sort of job security for the psychologist.

Also in the testimonies of friends down through the years, I hear that they never seem to get over anything and are even told they never will conquer their losses.

Perhaps this is true for unbelievers who have no hope other than life experiences they wish they could have. But we have Christ as born-again believers, we do not grieve as the unsaved grieve and we have a counselor who created our own bodies Who knows us infinitely more than any human could know us.

We have a hope far greater than anything we might want in this life.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Those Who Died in Christ

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words."

We can depend on the Lord because He knows what we need before we ask. There is no need to continue to grieve over a loss when we know that Christ has a purpose in all things. Our rituals have no value in the sight of God, they are dead rituals, only evoking feelings without substance. Doing things because the culture expects it is vanity.

Matthew 6:1 “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Mankind does not have the answers, they only have meaningless rituals that message temporary feelings. The real substance that has meaning is God's Word which gives us all the instruction we need without human religiosity.

The day we seek Christ ignoring the cultural rituals is the day our freedom sours to new heights.

Judging Based on Reaction is not Wise

We can never judge the reaction of others when we speak the truth about God or about what they are doing, based on the delivery.

They killed Christ and the apostles for telling the truth and they will hate us too. Did Christ and the apostles not deliver the message correctly?

Matthew 10:22-23 "Matthew 10:22-30

22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."

We are not responsible for the reaction and the Holy Spirit is responsible entirely for the delivery.

The delivery may be different for different people based on what the Holy Spirit knows that person needs. We cannot know what a person needs to hear or at what intensity, but the Holy Spirit does.

So many people these days are judging someone as "having done it wrong" because someone became angry. The mantra in our day is "we must say it in a way that it will be received", if that were true then all we have to do is tell the gospel the right way and everyone hearing would become born again. This is nonsense when we know the Bible clearly says that most will not receive the truth, that only a few will be saved.

In our day people get angry that you didn't give them the right gift they wanted, they will rage at the silliest things and blame others for their own bad attitude and anger. The devil will make the person with the gospel think they did something wrong in even speaking the gospel, intimidating them into silence, a win for the devil if he can do this.

There are many deliveries of the gospel, as many variations of delivery as there are personalities. We must be generous in assuming believers obeyed the Holy Spirit in their delivery no matter what the hearer's response.

Matthew 10:26-30

"26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered."

Hallelujah!!!!

Human Ritual or God's Commands Which do you Choose?

It is really quite astounding how many rituals are in the church that God never commanded. The one-man pastor system, the collection plate, the building, the holidays, and many other rituals that God never told us to perform.

One of them is the funeral ritual, nothing in the scriptures tells us to buy people in the ground, if we are to do the same thing as happened to Christ we would be in a cave, even then it is not commanded by God.

Then there is the marriage ceremony, the church was never given direct instructions on how this was to happen. We are free to choose how we do these things but we ought never to have expectations of others on following the rituals we have chosen.

God said to "worship in Spirit and in Truth", that's the only direction for worship.

The day I asked the Lord to reveal to me anything I do pertaining to my faith that was not true, was the day my eyes were opened to how far from the scriptures nearly all denominations have come. In fact, denominations are disobedience against God. Choosing one principle over another to identify a group of people makes no sense, we are to observe all the principles as given to us by God.

What amazing freedom we have to express ourselves when we are not in bondage to human rituals disguised as Christianity.

Just saying!

Emotions Lie

Have you ever watched a sad or touching movie and found yourself weeping over what is going on in the movie? If you have then your feelings just lied to you.

The story in the movie wasn't really happening, the people weren't real and there is nothing to do about the problem because it is a fraud.

It is my belief that our sub-conscience doesn't know the difference between reality and fiction. We cry at sad movies because our brain is recording the event on the screen as real and we are manipulated by our feelings to cry over something that isn't even really happening.

The same is true of "false" or "alternative" news. The stories in the news are spun to evoke a particular emotion in us causing a sort of allegiance to the news story that we are unable to vet or prove.

Romans 12:1-3 "1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you."

News stories often cause pride to well up in those who think they have special information. Repeating these news stories resemble gossip because there is no way to prove anything except based on the word of someone else. We trust the person speaking because they have labeled themselves by a label we think we can identify with. Some people we can believe but not everyone who claims they have the truth is born-again even if they claim they are a Christian.

Some people will call me trite or "having a pat answer" when I say we must stop trusting the media liberal or conservative and begin trusting only Christ Who lives in us.

Tracking the news all the time will cause us to trust the news instead of Christ.

Matthew 13:22

"The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."

In these last days, God said "even the elect will be fooled", and so it is that many believers are addicted to conservative news, spending more time on those sources than they do reading God's Word and praying for wisdom.

If we are going to neglect something let it be the news sources. We ought to be so immersed in God's Word that we neglect news sources. Glancing once in a while to see what is happening in the world that proves prophesy is far different from searching out the fake news to hear all the filthy garbage that cannot be proven and only rots the mind.

Philippians 4:7-9 "7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think on these things.

9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.…'"

Feelings will Mess You Up Every time!

When we allow the devil to manipulate our feelings to think things are bad when they are good or when things are good that they are bad, we are allowing the devil to have a foothold in our lives. Anyone depending on their feelings will be easily manipulated.

Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"

If we are well read in the Word of God we will not be influenced by the devil's schemes. We will see where they come from, either the devil or our flesh, and reject them.

The more we know of God's Word the more we will be able to stand against the devil. Sometimes the devil uses ungodly people to use pressure to influence us against the word of God.

Those who want us to follow them instead of God will use intimidation, mocking, and exclusion to cause bad "feelings" in us. The more we trust God the fewer feelings we have when someone attempts to manipulate us. All our actions must be based on truth not on feelings.

People pleasers are easily manipulated, everything they think and do is based on whether or not someone else will become enraged. If someone rages because we told the truth it is they who are sinning not us. No one can make another person angry, if there is anger over hearing the truth then the anger came from within, it is not on us. We must confront out of our love for the sinner and the others looking on who may be influenced by the sinful behavior or attitude.

In these last days, we will see more and more angry unteachable spirits who are stubborn and full of fury toward God.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these.

6 For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres."

This is the picture of the end times church, full of drama and troublemakers. God said; "they will have a form of godliness but not of God." They are trouble makers divisive over silly things God never commanded and disobedient to the Word of God in many ways, in other words, they are self-willed and self-indulgent. Stay away from these people and be bold enough to tell others just as Paul did when he exposed Jannes and Jambres.

Do not allow others to intimidate you into silence when troublemakers begin their nonsense. Speak out, if no one will discipline them and endorse their bad behavior by their silence then it is time to leave.

When the evil person is allowed to take the lead by the silence of others, that evil person will influence those who are young or weak in the faith. We endorse bad behavior merely through our silence. We are admonished to rebuke in public when the sin was in public. Allowing the sinner to have their say without challenge is the same as endorsing the sin they do.

We are living in a world that denies the need for correction and even exclusion when someone claims to be a Christian but denies Christ in their attitude and lifestyle. We need to stop being "sensitive" about being hated for speaking truth. See it as a calling and do not allow it to intimidate or influence us into sheepish and groveling responses.

We must speak the truth boldly without emotion and receive the response without emotion.

Remember that emotions are the shallowest part of our being driven by stimuli, not rational and reasonable thinking. People in our day are unreasonable and manipulative, they can make a rock feel guilty about being a rock.

Jeremiah 17:7

"7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose trust is the Lord."

Don't Become Like our Persecutors

Matthew 24:11-13

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

All born-again believers endure to the end. The fact that they endure to the end is proof they belonged to God all along.

The proof that someone was never born again is that they do not endure to the end.

When someone has been changed into a new creation by Christ they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of their inheritance.

Ephesians 1:13-15 "…13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is the pledge (guarantee) of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

5 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,…"

Those who love Jesus Christ having been changed by Him will have a deep abiding love for all other believers. There is a connection between every born-again believer that can only exist between those who have the Holy Spirit.

1 John 3:13-15 "…13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer."

When we do not experience love from those who say they are Christians it is possible we are encountering a pretender, someone who has never been born again but chooses to call themselves a Christian. There are many people who fit this profile.

We are to treat all people with love and respect whether or not they treat us that way. However, we are free to choose our companions, those who love the Lord and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit ought to be our close friends.

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Romans 12:10

"Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

1 John 3:14

"We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."

Those who express continual angst, causing drama wherever they go do not abide in love. When we love others we seek to do what is best for them and what is most helpful.

May the Lord help us to respond correctly in the power of the Holy Spirit as we watch the foolishness that those who love drama embrace and execute on others.

We cannot change those who act badly and without love and grace but we can make sure we do not take on their ways by responding in kind. The devil loves to cause us to exact revenge ultimately becoming like the ones who do not love. His purpose is to make us fall into hatred and revenge like our persecutors. Our clear conscience is far more important than making sure we have our pound of flesh or that we are proven right. God sees everything, their heart, our heart, and all the circumstances, that's all that is important to us, what our God thinks of it all.

God commands us to avoid those who claim to be believers but have no fruit of the Spirit and reject the Bible as their standard for living.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these."

We are now living in a world full of hatred and anger toward God, His ways, and His people. Let us resist becoming like the world by seeking Christ every day for everything. May our responses be those of the Holy Spirit and not our own emotions.

Let the Holy Spirit reign in your hearts so that the world will see Christ in us and not us!!!!

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease."

Evaluating Yourself According to the Bible not the Culture

One of the tactics of the narcissist is to accuse others of what the narcissist is doing and the others are not. They make up in their mind what they want to believe about us and over time they actually believe it. they think just choosing to believe something makes that thing true.

Luke 6:6-7 "6 On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath."

The Pharisees were desiring to find something against Christ because of their rebellion against God. They were more concerned about outer appearances than they were about devotion to God. They were liars and manipulators attempting to discredit Christ so they feel justified in not listening to Him.

Matthew 23:5-7 "…5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.…"

The attitudes of the Pharisees is the same as the attitude of many pastors today. They love to be seen as special and superior, the very reason they refuse to be corrected and believe no one is led by the Holy Spirit except those who have been to Bible college or Seminary.

We must evaluate ourselves according to the Bible not according to the opinions of others who think they know us but are driven by their contempt for us because of our desire to follow Christ.

1 Samuel 16:7

"But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

We are living in a world almost completely hostile to God. Even those who say they are Christians often negate and resist the teachings of the Bible while at the same time claiming they believe in it. They do not understand that "saying" you believe does not make it so. When we believe in something we trust it to the point of actually obeying it.

Many will say they believe in Christ but they do not. They attend churches every week thinking the act of attending is the same as obeying all the scripture.

Our world is a world of fantasy now, many people are convinced that if they just say something that makes it true. They think if they just know something it is the same as doing something.

John 14:15-16 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

Just saying something, or just reading something is not the same as obeying what you say or what you read.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"

We must evaluate ourselves!!! We must evaluate ourselves according to the Bible not according to the culture. We must not evaluate ourselves based on feelings or the accusations of those who pretend to be Christians but have never had a born-again experience.

The culture will attempt to make us believe we are doing something wrong when we speak of Christ and His principles. We know this is true because of what happened to the apostles and to Christ Himself.

John 15:17-19 "17 This is My command to you: Love one another. 18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.…"

The greatest love we can give to the people around us is the truth. When we remain silent to avoid rejection we are only thinking of ourselves. As we are led by the Holy Spirit we must speak truth, not mincing words but straight talk, is what is needed in these end times.

If we believe God then we will not believe the world when it accuses us of dong wrong when we are obeying Christ.

Proverbs 29:27

"An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked."

Isaiah 66:5

"5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word:

Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you on account of My name, Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, so that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame."

Debated out of Calvinism?

The Narcissists Accusations are from the Devil

When a narcissist is accusing you of doing something kind to manipulate them, they are telling you something important. They are telling you that when they do a kind act they are manipulating.

Narcissists make it a practice of blaming others for their own bad behavior. When we encounter this it is best to ignore them without response or if we are led by the Holy Spirit we can state without reservation; "you are speaking about yourself" and leave it there.

Chances are good they will not listen but at least they know that you know and that you cannot be affected by their nonsense. Narcissists tend to run away when they can no longer control someone's emotions.

They may come back for another pass later but will not remain when their target continues in steadfastness and confidence without emotion.

Our emotions can be the death of us if we use them to evaluate life's experiences. Emotions are the shallowest part of our being and are based on stimuli, they have little substance and should never be relied on to direct our path.

God allows us the wisdom to ignore our emotions to carry on to do His Will. We never deny our emotions, they help us see what still needs work in us. However, we must never allow emotions to be the guiding force behind our decisions.

Our emotions ought to cause us to self-reflect evaluating our own hearts, they can be useful for that, but they cannot be trusted in determining our steps.

Notice in these end times forgiveness without confession and determining emotions as the guiding force behind what we do has destroyed our culture.

"Trust your gut" is the new religion. As born-again believers, we can trust what Christ in us tells us but it is not wise to trust our "feelings or emotional sense" about anything.

We need to be developing godly discernment based on the Bible, not our emotions or anyone else's reactions to us.

Hebrews 5:14

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Philippians 1:9-10

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"

Our wisdom must come from the Bible and not the prevailing cultural standard based on psychology and Darwinism. These worldly systems say the opposite of what God says and create chaos and misery in the world. God's discernment creates peace and love, as I said; the opposite of God's ways.

It's either God's way of peace or it is the world's way of misery and destruction.