Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Twisted Thinking
Why do so many people act entitled to forgiveness no matter how much they remain in sin? The answer is simple, they have been trained to believe that everyone has to forgive them no matter how wickedly they act.
It's a lie from the devil and manages to enable the evil man, even allowing the culture as a whole to beat up on the victim, guilting them into forgiveness, even though no recompense has been made toward them.
The victim is bludgeoned while evil wins when it is not thwarted!
Yes, you heard it here, I am against the evil doers and for the victims of those evil doers.
Satan loves it when the innocent people are ruined by the wicked and the wicked get away with it freely.
Forgiveness without confession is an abomination, it brings the wrong message that God winks at sin and no one gets punished. This mentality only serves to bless and facilitate evil, while burdening the victims. The victims are not comforted, but the evil doer is, how sick and twisted is that? VERY!
It's a lie from the devil and manages to enable the evil man, even allowing the culture as a whole to beat up on the victim, guilting them into forgiveness, even though no recompense has been made toward them.
The victim is bludgeoned while evil wins when it is not thwarted!
Yes, you heard it here, I am against the evil doers and for the victims of those evil doers.
Satan loves it when the innocent people are ruined by the wicked and the wicked get away with it freely.
Forgiveness without confession is an abomination, it brings the wrong message that God winks at sin and no one gets punished. This mentality only serves to bless and facilitate evil, while burdening the victims. The victims are not comforted, but the evil doer is, how sick and twisted is that? VERY!
Let's Obey God
So many "Christians don't even read the Bible and those that do, develop false doctrine by twisting or removing from it's context to make the words say what they want them to mean.
The psychology of forgiveness is a good example. Many people believe the false doctrine of forgiveness without confession. They have labeled others as "unforgiving" , when the offender is not sorry, as though forgiveness motivates the offender to feel sorry. There may be rare instances when someone feels guilty when we forgive them superficially, however that is an anomaly, very different from the normal response.
Mankind tends to feel empowered to continue in evil when others enable them by requiring nothing of them. God requires confession of the sin to be forgiven, He operates this way with mankind and expects us to do the same with one another.
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."
All we have to do to see this principle, is observe what has happened to our culture as a whole. As a culture we have been taught to "let it all go", as though pretending the sin does not exist will make it just go away, a sort of burying our head in the sand, if we don't see it, perhaps it really doesn't exist.
The idea that if we just keep forgiving the offender over and over again, they will suddenly see how awful they are and begin to be nice. The problem with that theory is that it is not Biblical and does not produce anything good in the offender.
Albert Einstein once said this: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
The forgiveness referred to by Christ, 70 X 7, did not mean we forgive unconfessed sin. Christ said, "if they come" to ask forgiveness, that was the condition.
Luke 17:3 " 3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and IF HE REPENTS, forgive him"
All of Scripture must be interpreted in terms of the rest of the Bible. Christ does not forgive those who will not confess, and we do not do any sinner a favor by allowing them to believe they can get away with anything without challenge, it merely perpetuates the sin and even empowers them to continue more deeply into that sin, they even begin to indulge in other sin.
The reason we have jails and prisons is to show the criminal that their behavior is not acceptable. This is also the reason we do not forgive unrepentant hearts, their sin is not forgiven by God or us, unless they have confessed it and want to be changed by God. We have no right to forgive a person of a sin God has not forgiven them.
God has a standard that is best for everyone, He requires confession, it is a form of cleansing, and ultimately leads to a change of attitude that leads to changing behavior. If someone will not confess they remain stubborn. One who confesses is the one who has a true heart toward growing and changing and most of all, it is a show of love toward the one they confess to. No confession, no love, that's how it works.
It is easier to forgive others without confession, easier for us and easier for the offender, no one learns anything and we feel peaceful, basically nothing good comes out of it.
It is disturbing to me when Christians apply pressure to an innocent party to forgive someone who is not sorry and continues to torment them.
It is good to take things to their logical extreme when deciding right from wrong. How many of you would release a serial killer because we should forgive him. That would be ludicrous wouldn't it! Anyone who has murdered many people cannot be trusted to refrain from doing it again just because the innocent parties were silly enough to forgive him. If the killer is repentant, then he will want to serve his time and pay the debt. The killer who is not repentant, will without doubt continue their sin, forgiveness toward them is nothing, it doesn't change him nor does it do anything for his victims.
Are we willing to do things God's way, even if it means we will lose friends and family over it? Who comes first, Christ or man?
Our culture has done away with all forms of spanking, calling it bad. Using the rod to train a child is God's way, but our culture condemns what God said was good. Just as our culture demands forgiveness before confession, the opposite of what God teaches. In the last days people will come against God's principles and actually believe it is good.
Feelings are less than nothing, but our culture elevates them to special status. Just because we feel better that we "say" we forgive someone, does not mean we have solved anything. Bitterness is not predicated on how we feel, it is a choice. We do not have to be bitter because we cannot forgive a perpetrator. He is not forgiven because he is not sorry, it's all on him.
Believers pray for the unrepentant, but we cannot have a relationship with them, until the Lord changes their heart and they are deeply grieved over their sin. That may not take away their consequences, but it does take away their sin. A killer who has repented and trusted Christ will go to heaven, but he should still pay his debt to society, through the death penalty. If he is a believer and dies in the chamber, then he will go straight to heaven. That's why we want those on death row to hear the gospel, that when they leave this life they will go to God.
Isaiah 5:20 "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! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!…"
Psychology has done more to harm the understanding of Biblical principles than any other single entity. I say entity because it is the devil behind these deceptions, they have managed to pervert the ways of God in favor of human methods that are either of little value of of negative effect.
Isaiah 35:8
"A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it."
Sadly the modern church has thrown out the ways of God in favor of the perverted and ineffective ways of man, orchestrated by the lies of the devil.
1 John 2:6
"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."
Psalm 27:11
"Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes."
Each believer must ask God to show them truth, ALL truth, willing to toss aside everything they were taught by man to obey Christ.
Yep, it's quite a challenge, that most will disregard and discard.
The psychology of forgiveness is a good example. Many people believe the false doctrine of forgiveness without confession. They have labeled others as "unforgiving" , when the offender is not sorry, as though forgiveness motivates the offender to feel sorry. There may be rare instances when someone feels guilty when we forgive them superficially, however that is an anomaly, very different from the normal response.
Mankind tends to feel empowered to continue in evil when others enable them by requiring nothing of them. God requires confession of the sin to be forgiven, He operates this way with mankind and expects us to do the same with one another.
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."
All we have to do to see this principle, is observe what has happened to our culture as a whole. As a culture we have been taught to "let it all go", as though pretending the sin does not exist will make it just go away, a sort of burying our head in the sand, if we don't see it, perhaps it really doesn't exist.
The idea that if we just keep forgiving the offender over and over again, they will suddenly see how awful they are and begin to be nice. The problem with that theory is that it is not Biblical and does not produce anything good in the offender.
Albert Einstein once said this: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
The forgiveness referred to by Christ, 70 X 7, did not mean we forgive unconfessed sin. Christ said, "if they come" to ask forgiveness, that was the condition.
Luke 17:3 " 3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and IF HE REPENTS, forgive him"
All of Scripture must be interpreted in terms of the rest of the Bible. Christ does not forgive those who will not confess, and we do not do any sinner a favor by allowing them to believe they can get away with anything without challenge, it merely perpetuates the sin and even empowers them to continue more deeply into that sin, they even begin to indulge in other sin.
The reason we have jails and prisons is to show the criminal that their behavior is not acceptable. This is also the reason we do not forgive unrepentant hearts, their sin is not forgiven by God or us, unless they have confessed it and want to be changed by God. We have no right to forgive a person of a sin God has not forgiven them.
God has a standard that is best for everyone, He requires confession, it is a form of cleansing, and ultimately leads to a change of attitude that leads to changing behavior. If someone will not confess they remain stubborn. One who confesses is the one who has a true heart toward growing and changing and most of all, it is a show of love toward the one they confess to. No confession, no love, that's how it works.
It is easier to forgive others without confession, easier for us and easier for the offender, no one learns anything and we feel peaceful, basically nothing good comes out of it.
It is disturbing to me when Christians apply pressure to an innocent party to forgive someone who is not sorry and continues to torment them.
It is good to take things to their logical extreme when deciding right from wrong. How many of you would release a serial killer because we should forgive him. That would be ludicrous wouldn't it! Anyone who has murdered many people cannot be trusted to refrain from doing it again just because the innocent parties were silly enough to forgive him. If the killer is repentant, then he will want to serve his time and pay the debt. The killer who is not repentant, will without doubt continue their sin, forgiveness toward them is nothing, it doesn't change him nor does it do anything for his victims.
Are we willing to do things God's way, even if it means we will lose friends and family over it? Who comes first, Christ or man?
Our culture has done away with all forms of spanking, calling it bad. Using the rod to train a child is God's way, but our culture condemns what God said was good. Just as our culture demands forgiveness before confession, the opposite of what God teaches. In the last days people will come against God's principles and actually believe it is good.
Feelings are less than nothing, but our culture elevates them to special status. Just because we feel better that we "say" we forgive someone, does not mean we have solved anything. Bitterness is not predicated on how we feel, it is a choice. We do not have to be bitter because we cannot forgive a perpetrator. He is not forgiven because he is not sorry, it's all on him.
Believers pray for the unrepentant, but we cannot have a relationship with them, until the Lord changes their heart and they are deeply grieved over their sin. That may not take away their consequences, but it does take away their sin. A killer who has repented and trusted Christ will go to heaven, but he should still pay his debt to society, through the death penalty. If he is a believer and dies in the chamber, then he will go straight to heaven. That's why we want those on death row to hear the gospel, that when they leave this life they will go to God.
Isaiah 5:20 "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! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!…"
Psychology has done more to harm the understanding of Biblical principles than any other single entity. I say entity because it is the devil behind these deceptions, they have managed to pervert the ways of God in favor of human methods that are either of little value of of negative effect.
Isaiah 35:8
"A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it."
Sadly the modern church has thrown out the ways of God in favor of the perverted and ineffective ways of man, orchestrated by the lies of the devil.
1 John 2:6
"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."
Psalm 27:11
"Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes."
Each believer must ask God to show them truth, ALL truth, willing to toss aside everything they were taught by man to obey Christ.
Yep, it's quite a challenge, that most will disregard and discard.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Did You Get That From God?
A lot of things the modern church believes is simply false, they have been taught these things all their lives by nearly everyone, so they will not listen when someone comes with Biblical proof they are false.
When we are deeply committed to truth, we will scramble to the Bible to find out what God says. It is He that we should be seeking, not the next popular saying that sounds right.
So many things that "sound right" are patently wrong. They are not what God says, they do not convey His truth, but are loved by most people who claim to be Christian.
Want a really great challenge? Here it is, think up all the things you were taught, write them down on paper and then systematically search the Bible to find out if they are actually Scriptural. You may be in for the shock of your life.
Acts 17:27
"that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;"
1 Chronicles 16:11
"Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually."
When we are deeply committed to truth, we will scramble to the Bible to find out what God says. It is He that we should be seeking, not the next popular saying that sounds right.
So many things that "sound right" are patently wrong. They are not what God says, they do not convey His truth, but are loved by most people who claim to be Christian.
Want a really great challenge? Here it is, think up all the things you were taught, write them down on paper and then systematically search the Bible to find out if they are actually Scriptural. You may be in for the shock of your life.
Acts 17:27
"that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;"
1 Chronicles 16:11
"Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually."
Righteous Practices Bring God's Blessing
There are some principles in God's Word, that help determine a nations course. For instance, there are natural consequences that come from acting rebelliously, families are destroyed, diseases come, the economy is ruined, war breaks out, all because we ignored and even spurned God's principles for righteous living.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Fleshly Spirituality is Worth Nothing
There are people who attempt to be "spiritual" in their flesh, ultimately becoming phony, in order to exude a "holier than thou" mentality. These people tend to be hyper judgmental, harshly assessing the flaws of others while refusing to look at their own.
When we equate spirituality with overly sweetness all the time, we have a wrong view of God's Spirituality.
God is all about transparency, His desire is for us to grow in holiness, most often through acknowledging our weakness to be able to ask the Lord for cleansing.
Those who think they have no need to face their flaws, will not grow in holiness. They are deeply invested in "appearing" righteous to others, far more than they are invested in actually "being" righteous through the power of Christ.
When we encounter those who cannot admit to their flaws, even believing they have none, we are looking at someone who struggles continually with hiding their real selves. These people are enraged when anyone manages to expose a flaw that they worked so hard to repress in their hiding.
Want to find out what's really inside of a person? Just correct them or disagree with them, what comes out of them will give us a clue and it will reveal themselves to themselves.
Those who will confess will be cleansed, those who refuse to admit will not confess and will not be cleansed, it's really that simple.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
If we want to grow in holiness, it is imperative that we confess quickly, even the slightest flaw. It is interesting how speaking about our flaw openly helps us to move forward in resolving what is wrong.
When we equate spirituality with overly sweetness all the time, we have a wrong view of God's Spirituality.
God is all about transparency, His desire is for us to grow in holiness, most often through acknowledging our weakness to be able to ask the Lord for cleansing.
Those who think they have no need to face their flaws, will not grow in holiness. They are deeply invested in "appearing" righteous to others, far more than they are invested in actually "being" righteous through the power of Christ.
When we encounter those who cannot admit to their flaws, even believing they have none, we are looking at someone who struggles continually with hiding their real selves. These people are enraged when anyone manages to expose a flaw that they worked so hard to repress in their hiding.
Want to find out what's really inside of a person? Just correct them or disagree with them, what comes out of them will give us a clue and it will reveal themselves to themselves.
Those who will confess will be cleansed, those who refuse to admit will not confess and will not be cleansed, it's really that simple.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
If we want to grow in holiness, it is imperative that we confess quickly, even the slightest flaw. It is interesting how speaking about our flaw openly helps us to move forward in resolving what is wrong.
Superficial Relationships Do Not Last
Job 28:18
"Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls."
Job 12:12 "12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?"
It has been diabolical that the devil managed to isolate grandchildren from born again believing grandparents. I see this all the time, those who love the Lord, walking hard after Him, are being seen as boring and a little crazy, so that the grandchildren are not interested in these grandparents.
I see the grandparents that are deeply worldly getting some attention, as long as they are giving their money, their homes and constant praise to the children who have been trained to think that pleasure and accolades are a normal life experience, that it is owed to them.
This modern generation of grandchildren are invested in the idea that everything must be enjoyable. Sitting around on the porch in a rocking chair learning things from their grandparents is not very interesting to them. In fact the grandchildren actually believe they know more than their parents and grandparents, it would be laughable if it were not so sad.
I never knew my grand parents, they died when I was very young. Now many, if not most, grandchildren have living grandparents.
I had the sense when I was growing up that my grandparents might have loved me, the love that was missing in my home growing up. It may or may not have been true, but I indulged the fantasy as a way of grasping at love that was absent.
This generation of millennials and younger know their grandparents well, have even been raised by them. Since the mentality has been that life is all about making sure they enjoy themselves, they cannot tolerate moments of reflection and learning unless it is personally enhancing.
Of course there are exceptions to this phenomena, however, it seems to be the norm these days. Back in the day, when I was growing up, we didn't have all the continual pleasures that we see today. There were far fewer distractions in our lives.
The electronics keep young people in a catatonic state, they have difficulty focusing on a task without checking their phones every few minutes to see if they are missing something. People standing right in front of them seem less interesting than the people on the other end of the phone whom they cannot see. And, the foolishness in the texting is beyond idiotic, nothing important, nothing edifying or informative, just foolishness.
Again, back in the day, there was no "call waiting", when we received a phone call from someone, we were excited to get it, the phone didn't ring all that often. When it did, we visited with one person until we were finished and if anyone was calling us during that visit we didn't know it. Our phone would give a busy signal to the caller telling them we were on the phone and they would have to call back later when the phone was no longer busy.
Relationships seemed more valued then, because all our attention was on the one we were visiting with. The visit was more honest, open and full of personality. In our day now there seems to be more phoniness, impression management and disinterest in the other person than I have ever seen.
I had to laugh at a recent phone call in which the caller asked me a myriad of questions concerning my family, what they were doing, where they lived and on and on. Not one question was about me, no questions about what I was doing, what I enjoyed, what I thought, only about "what was going on." Whenever I get a call like this from someone who has demonstrated for years they had no respect or sense of affection for me, I have to wonder if this was an information only call, to be able to gather tidbits for the purpose of gossiping.
In the superficial phone conversations those speaking will not reveal things about themselves, they are very guarded so as not to give any negative or difficult information. When I see this happening I realize that those who are this guarded are afraid to reveal anything real, because they know what they are going to do with our information and think we will do the same with theirs.
When I get a call like this, I like to choose a Biblical topic and run with it, talking on and on about that, soon ends a probing phone call, because these things are not of interest to these callers.
I have some lovely friends who do not call very often, they live a long way from me, even hundreds of miles, but when we talk we connect in openness and honesty, they are a blessing to visit with because of their interest in important matters. It's not that the call is all about me, it's about us and Christ. We share with one another for the purpose of support and information to work out problems and share blessings. Those calls seem valuable to me, they bless me because of the transparency of the conversation.
Authenticity is the key to close relationships. Superficiality has it's place but serves little for spiritual growth and greater wisdom, and the superficial relationships do not last, they are based entirely on impressing others, this does not build a relationship, it actually tears it down over time. There must be substance to a relationship, something of value that two people share.
Sharing wisdom, learning wisdom with our brothers and sisters in Christ is of far greater value than information about "what they are doing", unless it relates to gaining these things.
"Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls."
Job 12:12 "12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?"
It has been diabolical that the devil managed to isolate grandchildren from born again believing grandparents. I see this all the time, those who love the Lord, walking hard after Him, are being seen as boring and a little crazy, so that the grandchildren are not interested in these grandparents.
I see the grandparents that are deeply worldly getting some attention, as long as they are giving their money, their homes and constant praise to the children who have been trained to think that pleasure and accolades are a normal life experience, that it is owed to them.
This modern generation of grandchildren are invested in the idea that everything must be enjoyable. Sitting around on the porch in a rocking chair learning things from their grandparents is not very interesting to them. In fact the grandchildren actually believe they know more than their parents and grandparents, it would be laughable if it were not so sad.
I never knew my grand parents, they died when I was very young. Now many, if not most, grandchildren have living grandparents.
I had the sense when I was growing up that my grandparents might have loved me, the love that was missing in my home growing up. It may or may not have been true, but I indulged the fantasy as a way of grasping at love that was absent.
This generation of millennials and younger know their grandparents well, have even been raised by them. Since the mentality has been that life is all about making sure they enjoy themselves, they cannot tolerate moments of reflection and learning unless it is personally enhancing.
Of course there are exceptions to this phenomena, however, it seems to be the norm these days. Back in the day, when I was growing up, we didn't have all the continual pleasures that we see today. There were far fewer distractions in our lives.
The electronics keep young people in a catatonic state, they have difficulty focusing on a task without checking their phones every few minutes to see if they are missing something. People standing right in front of them seem less interesting than the people on the other end of the phone whom they cannot see. And, the foolishness in the texting is beyond idiotic, nothing important, nothing edifying or informative, just foolishness.
Again, back in the day, there was no "call waiting", when we received a phone call from someone, we were excited to get it, the phone didn't ring all that often. When it did, we visited with one person until we were finished and if anyone was calling us during that visit we didn't know it. Our phone would give a busy signal to the caller telling them we were on the phone and they would have to call back later when the phone was no longer busy.
Relationships seemed more valued then, because all our attention was on the one we were visiting with. The visit was more honest, open and full of personality. In our day now there seems to be more phoniness, impression management and disinterest in the other person than I have ever seen.
I had to laugh at a recent phone call in which the caller asked me a myriad of questions concerning my family, what they were doing, where they lived and on and on. Not one question was about me, no questions about what I was doing, what I enjoyed, what I thought, only about "what was going on." Whenever I get a call like this from someone who has demonstrated for years they had no respect or sense of affection for me, I have to wonder if this was an information only call, to be able to gather tidbits for the purpose of gossiping.
In the superficial phone conversations those speaking will not reveal things about themselves, they are very guarded so as not to give any negative or difficult information. When I see this happening I realize that those who are this guarded are afraid to reveal anything real, because they know what they are going to do with our information and think we will do the same with theirs.
When I get a call like this, I like to choose a Biblical topic and run with it, talking on and on about that, soon ends a probing phone call, because these things are not of interest to these callers.
I have some lovely friends who do not call very often, they live a long way from me, even hundreds of miles, but when we talk we connect in openness and honesty, they are a blessing to visit with because of their interest in important matters. It's not that the call is all about me, it's about us and Christ. We share with one another for the purpose of support and information to work out problems and share blessings. Those calls seem valuable to me, they bless me because of the transparency of the conversation.
Authenticity is the key to close relationships. Superficiality has it's place but serves little for spiritual growth and greater wisdom, and the superficial relationships do not last, they are based entirely on impressing others, this does not build a relationship, it actually tears it down over time. There must be substance to a relationship, something of value that two people share.
Sharing wisdom, learning wisdom with our brothers and sisters in Christ is of far greater value than information about "what they are doing", unless it relates to gaining these things.
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