Interesting isn't it, brain washing has been going on in this world for a long time.
God's word has been used in the same way a college student uses "Cliff" notes. The student in life skims over the Word, finding the things they like, interpreting them according to their traditions rather than evaluating their traditions according to the Word. Even more sadly, these people interpret the Bible according to others in their gathering instead of seeking Christ on their own.
Most people fall into this category of superficial believers. They are more interested in pleasing the people in the building than they are pleasing God.
The "new traditions" have become acceptance of divorce and remarriage, softening everything so people will not be offended, intimidating people into believing that a one man pastor is the authority and that everything he says must be obeyed, even if it is not Scriptural.
Even more disturbing is when we ask questions or bring up thoughts in opposition to the thoughts of one who has been trained in the institutions, we are met with arrogance that we dared to disagree with them.
One does not become an expert in life by going to the right school. We become wise by reading God's Word, believing Him and practicing what we believe. Yes, and believe it or not one can actually progress faster in wisdom as they seek God alone without teachers. Far too many teachers these days are bringing false doctrine corrupting their students. It is better to seek Christ Who lives in you than to run after others.
Never pay much attention to the arrogant teachers who had to be trained by man to gain knowledge and who refuses to discuss anything because they think they have all knowledge.
Pay every attention to God's Word, the Holy Spirit that lives in us and actually obey what He tells you. If what you think He is telling you does not match with the Word of God, then ignore them and even get away from them.
1 Corinthians 8:1-2 "1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.…"
There is much knowledge false in our Christian churches but very little wisdom.
Proverbs 19:8 " 8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good. 9 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish.…"
Christ is love, He never forced anyone, He loved sharing and caring. I am a strong believer who has also been abused by superficial and mean spirited legalists.
I left the organized churches because there was a lack of love, a legalism in things God never commanded. There was an attitude of forcing through intimidation and exclusion when we didn't think exactly the way they did. I desired everything to be done according to the Word of God, but was never allowed to speak of it, nor what it the desire of most of the people in these places.
The saddest part for me was that no one would discuss anything rationally and calmly, they raged when I differed with them and excluded with harsh gazes while they enjoyed one another and disapproved of me.
They didn't see us as having a disagreement, they saw me as a target to be diminished because I didn't think as they did. There is no doubt there is a lot of cliquiness in the organized churches today, with little love in them.
I am born again, but will never return to the organized church as long as I am walking with Christ. I love believers who love Christ, but many really don't, they just love themselves more than God and more than people. We attend a little gathering of about 10 people right now, the people are loving and kind but mostly they seem to be dedicated to everything according to the Word of God.
I have some wonderful Christian friends who do not intimidate, exclude and mock, but they are not all in one place, they are all over the world and some have also left the church, but have not left Christ. They love Him as I do and demonstrate love and kindness toward everyone.
Christ is love, He never forced anyone, He loved sharing and caring. I am a strong believer who has also been abused by superficial and meanspirited legalists. I
left the organized churches because there was a lack of love, a legalism in things God never commanded. There was an attitude of forcing through intimidation and exclusion when we didn't think exactly the way they did. This is spiritual abuse, merely to elevate human beings as special. In my estimation, no one is special only Christ and no one has anything to boast about or elevate self over what they think they are.
The saddest part for me was that no one would discuss anything rationally and calmly, they raged when I differed with them and excluded with harsh gazes while they enjoyed one another and disapproved of me. Questioning them was taboo, as though any questioning was allowed. I question all things, even God. I am so thankful that God does not rage at me for expressing myself, He just gives great and perfect answers.
Controllers and manipulators didn't see us as having a disagreement, they saw me as a target to be diminished because I didn't think as they did.
There is no doubt there is a lot of cliquiness in the organized churches today, with little love in them. I am born again, but will never return to the organized church as long as I am walking with Christ.
I love believers who love Christ, but many really don't, they just love themselves more than God and more than people. I have some wonderful Christian friends who do not act like this, but they are not all in one place, they are all over the world and have also left the church, but have not left Christ. They love Him as I do and demonstrate love and kindness toward everyone. In fact their relationship with Christ improved when they left the places where personal aggrandizement was rampant.
When we follow hard after Christ we will not be accepted in any organization, we will be rejected because we do not walk in lock step with them, we walk in lock step with Christ.
I praise the Lord that He found us a place to attend with very few people but who are dedicated to truth and love the day of His appearing. I have sense only love in this place and hope that they feel love from us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [b]prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."
1 Corinthians 13:1 "1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal."
When God commanded that those who are considering marriage to someone, He was very clear that we are not to be unequally yoked.
When there are two oxen yoked together pulling a wagon, they must pull together. They must be going in the same direction with the same purpose.
When the team of oxen are commanded to turn to the right, one of the oxen will lead in that direction, when the oxen are commanded to turn in the other direction the other oxen takes the lead.
The pair work together, both leading as they pull in a straight line and each taking their turn to lead in the terns.
A marriage is a team, the wife has been assigned to be the keeper of the home, while the husband is the protector, each submitting to one another as there is need.
No one person in a marriage has all the answers or insight necessary to make a marriage successful. Each must be able to speak openly and honestly to one another with out anyone walking on egg shells fearing the response of the other.
If one person is intimidating to manipulate the other into submission continually, then the one who intimidates is sinning and the couple do not grow in righteousness and holiness, they both remain stagnant.
Each person in the marriage must take their roles very seriously, each one communicating their need to one another without fear of reprisal.
There are those in cults who are teaching that the woman is a second class citizen and should be treated as an underling rather than a partner in life. This is sinful and damaging to any marriage.
Both parties in the marriage must give and take, listen and speak to make the marriage and household run smoothly.
Yes, the man is the head of the household, but he should never be a dictator, he should lead by the way that he serves and he should lead with loving concern about those he has been charged to protect and encourage.
I have known selfish men who think leading is merely barking orders in a range boss tone of voice to intimidate the family members into whatever he wants, this too is sin.
Women should take seriously their duty to care for the needs of the household. She runs the household the way a CEO of a company would do it. The job was given to her by God, her husband should not dictate how she does that job, nor should he micromanage her job.
He makes requests according to his need and others in the household and the woman works to please him. The wife works at the pleasure of her husband but she does not take orders.
Proverbs 31 is a good place to start for the role of the woman.
1 Peter 3:1-12 gives standards for the husband and wife relationship.
"3 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right [b]without being frightened by any fear.
7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
8 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
10 For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
11 “He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it.
12 “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Remember every one should submit to every one else, that makes for an harmonious family life. No one will do this perfectly, if you see a family who looks perfect, sort of the poster children for the perfect family, then there is a lot of hiding going on. Every family has troubles and trials, pretending perfection serves only to deny truth leaving no room for learning from mistakes or growth spurts.
Wives are told to submit to husbands, it is their choice, no one forces or intimidates them into submission.
Ephesians 5:21-30
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones."
Let's not forget that people generally learn far more through watching the example than they do by words. It is easy to see a hypocrite who acts selfishly but demands of others what the hypocrite would not do themselves.
There is an old saying that goes like this; "your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word your saying.
There are those who demand that their families submit to their authority but the hypocrite will not submit to anyone else. When we have love in our hearts it is not our desire to force everyone to do things our way, we appreciate the diversity of gifts in each family member and rejoice in their accomplishments.
When there is love there is room for negotiation so that often there can be a "win win."
We ought to be thanking the Lord every day, that we do not need the validation of people to feel fulfilled and joyful. Christ does that in us continually, no matter what we endure in this life.
A Sister on another post shared this, I thought it was a good example of the unseen damage that is done by those who are injuring us a little at a time, death by a thousand cuts, thinking that their actions and attitudes are really just little things, most of the time they don't even think about what they are doing, they become habits.
"Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before." ~Jacob A. Riis
Trust is removed over a long period of time in which the friend or relative have engaged in mocking, minimizing and devaluing their target. When trust has been destroyed over a period of many years, there is very often no way of getting it back.
Perhaps it would be good to evaluate how we treat people, before we engage in attitudes of superiority that causes us chip away at the relationship.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
"9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."
Micah 7:5-6
"Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house."
When we find a friend who can be trusted we have found a great treasure. Their desire is to help us be the best that we can be, accepting us as we are, even enjoying our talents and gifts.
May we be this kind of friend to those the Lord brings in our path.
"34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?"
Zephaniah 3:14-16 "14 Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. 16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: "Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp.…"
