Unbelievers can sense the Holy Spirit in us, they think something is wrong with us because we make them uncomfortable but it's not us, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit in us that intimidates them.
This is why many unbelievers, even pretenders in the church feel disquieted in our presence, they must make up an evil story about us to justify their hatred toward Christ in us.
This man who claims to be a Christian acts angry all the time, is nice to everyone but me, and is very uncomfortable around me.
We disagreed on a Biblical principle once and I reminded him that we must trust the Holy Spirit. He leaned his head back and laughed as though I said something foolish. My only guess was that he thought I was trying to seem spiritual and that the Holy Spirit is just an idea we throw out there when we want to sound superior.
This man walked into the room looking angry before we even spoke. He sat in a chair across from me and folded one leg over the other. His face was turning red and he folded his arms over his chest. When he spoke he said: "you seem angry." I was clearly not angry and thankfully my husband saw this too. The man in the chair with red face, folded arms and crossed legs accused me of what he was and I was not.
I never figured out why he was angry or why he wanted to accuse me of being angry, except that the mention of the Holy Spirit in an earlier discussion upset him greatly. He had to make me look mean and wrong because of his discomfort toward the Holy Spirit.
Those who are pretenders often think everything is just ideas or concepts in the Bible not worthy of obedience. They often act as though they think the Bible is a book of suggestions that we are free to ignore. Often they use the excuse that principles of God "were for back then" but do not apply now. I cannot count the number of times pretenders have used this excuse to disobey God. They believe love is accepting all ideas no matter how much they dishonor God. These people choose what they like and ignore and even spurn those principles they don't like.
I have met many people just like this pseudo-Christian who like the love concepts but are irate when we suggest the Bible is the Word of God to be followed, all of it because we love Christ.
Another thing that is obvious to me in my many encounters with pretenders is that they will never hear us all the way out, to be able to learn why we think as we do. They cut us off, mock us, rage at us and will not listen to anything that may make them feel threatened.
No matter how calmly and politely we say something if it bothers their demons they refuse to discuss it. They only dominate and exclude but never discuss anything to be able to come to an agreement or to be able to learn something.
Born-again believers love to listen and to learn. We enjoy calm lovely conversations even if we might disagree. Did you know God commanded us to agree? Hard to believe isn't it?
1 Corinthians 1:10-11
"I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers."
How is it possible to come to an agreement over a discussion when there is disagreement? It's really quite simple, we should be going to the scriptures together, praying together for God to show us the truth. And, above all standing firm on the things He shows us while letting go of the things that He has proven wrong.
There are very few disagreements among those who love the Lord. And the conflicts are not over vital matters, but small ones that do not make a difference in our salvation or our walk.
There are only fights and arguments among those people who feel a need to be superior to others, dominating conversations and raging to shut down those who want the truth. More people hate the truth than love it these days. Most people want their own way and despise anyone including God to instruct or teach them differently from what they want.
2 Timothy 4:3
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
So, what should our response to this "end times world" be?
We must keep speaking the truth but not to the same people over and over. We must tell it once and if we are rebuffed and rejected we must shake the dust from our feet and move on to new people. You will find that there will soon be almost no one left in your sphere of influence who wants to hear because we are in the end times.
The way Christ was treated with such disdain we also will be treated.
Isaiah 53:3-4 "3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4 Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.…"
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.
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant[a] above his master.
25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign[b] those of his household."
James 1:2-8
Profiting from Trials
"2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Personally, I am grateful for all the lessons I have learned about dealing with those who hate God and love to be superior. I need not be intimidated by them or coerced into submission to cultural norms or false teaching.
Our freedom in Christ brings confidence and love that no devil can overpower.
Jeremiah 17:7, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”
Hallelujah!!!!!
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