Living in a Fantasy World

We live in a world filled with fantasy and a people who will only tolerate their own ideas.

Those who are truth tellers will be shunned and mocked by many around them. Since the world doesn't want truth, only "happiness", there is a tendency to feel agitated when someone speaks boldly with authority.

We are encountering more people who have a tendency to rage when told they are wrong about something, because they will only tolerate an "opinion." When we say "God says this" or "no you are wrong because of this", the hearers become incensed that we dare to speak without doubt.

Many people want everyone to have a measure of doubt in their belief system. When we speak with a measure of doubt about out own beliefs then the hearer feels justified in believing their error. Personal validation is more important to the people than truth or evidence. Being validated in our beliefs is more important to our world than knowing truth.

Truth tellers will be mocked, excluded and demeaned whenever they speak with authority from the Bible. The truth is a threat to those who are unsure of their own reality.

So maybe we could say that we live in a world that fears truth rather than values it.

If you see things in truth and declare that truth, then you are a threat to the culture as a whole and will frighten people. Yes, I said that, the most frightening people to our culture are those who see truth and declare it.

Since truth is not very important in our culture we can conclude that neither is integrity. How can we even know what integrity is if there is no absolute truth. How can we know what honesty looks like when there is no absolute truth.

I have been noticing that even the idea of honesty is skewed in a world that values fantasy above truth. As long as you say you are being honest, there is no need to evaluate if we really are walking in honesty. As long as someone says they are sincere, they think this validates their assertions.

One person will say "I have been honest", when in fact they embellished the truth, left half of it out or changed it a little to fit their desired outcome. And, yet they will say they have been honest. We live in a world full of half truth and lies while calling it all "honesty." The interpretation is that honesty is based on how we "feel" rather than reality. If we "feel" something is honest then it must be so.

Our culture runs on feelings more than it seeks facts. When feelings are the focus then facts can be manipulated to fit the desired feelings.

Feelings are facts to those who are not very interested in truth. This is the reason the Bible is offensive to most people we meet.

We are living in an irrational world filled with people who love their elevated status of godhood based on their fantasies. Let me ask this culture, "how is that self esteem teaching working out for you"? I can tell you that it is not working, but because so many people like how it feels, they would say it is working.

We have more teen suicides than ever before, there are school shootings that never happened when I was a teen. The worst thing that happened when I was in school was those who smoked or chewed gum in class. Now we have school shootings, irrational and out of control young people who feel so entitled that they have no conscience about murdering someone just because they have been bullied, as though shooting others is not bullying.

Adult children are more disrespectful than ever before and yet they think they are respectful. I guess they think that if they don't kill their parents then they are respectful. Mocking, dismissing and demeaning parents is disrespectful, but since this culture see it as normal, then they are counted as respectful for not killing their parents. But wait a minute, doesn't God say if you have hatred, contempt, in your heart for someone that is the same as if you had murdered them? Yep, many adult children treat their parents with a great deal of contempt.

We have based so much on "feelings" that we have managed to give excuses to people for their bad behavior, calling it "an addiction", instead of calling it what it really is, and that is sin.

When the culture lives in a fantasy world of make believe there is no longer accountability for evil behavior, only excuses that have few if any consequences.

Young people are out of control because their parents are indulging themselves in divorce and remarriage, even their parents cannot learn how to get along in a marriage, while demonstrating to their children how to act when things get rough, and that is to throw away or mock and intimidate the people who are bothersome.

Is anyone still scratching their head about what has happened to America? I'm not, it is clear that sin in the lives of the parents who are selfish is causing this mess, and, some grandparents are culpable too for coddling the bad decisions of their adult children.

When an entire culture lives in fantasy every day, they will interpret everything in terms of their momentary feelings rather than truth and we will end up with what we have right now, the 2 Timothy 3 problem of self love.

That's the truth, there is only one fix for the mess we find ourselves in, that is to tell the truth and take our lumps, perhaps someone will listen, see their need for Christ to be changed by Him and that person will see victory over sin and lies in their own live.

I do not see the entire culture changing, only individuals as we plod along obeying the Lord, telling the truth and remaining faithful to Christ as we go.

Brothers and sisters we are going home soon, our job of truth telling is not over until the Lord comes for us. May we be encouraged to "keep on keeping on" in our walk with Christ, even if we find no one to listen.

The anti-christ will exalt himself above Christ, his minions are in the world today working on the minds of the culture to exalt themselves above God. their rebellion against truth is evidence of this. The world is ready to receive someone who tells them exactly what they want to hear, the very tactic of the devil in these last days. The world is believing so many lies right now that the really big lie of the anti-christ will be easily and readily received when he reveals himself.

Truth is truth even if no one believes it.

2 Thessalonians 2
"1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,
2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but [n]took pleasure in wickedness.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."

We can be thankful to the Lord that we have one another to encourage and build up in the faith in these very trying times. Our joy remains full even with the chaos around us, because we have the Creator of the Universe living inside of us. Hallelujah!

Only Confession of Sin Brings Cleansing

Sanctification means cleansing, 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, that is believers, He is faithful to cleanse us from that sin. Without confession we do not get cleansed and we suffer His consequences for them.

Christians who will not confess sin will remain spiritual babies, unable to deal with life in a Christlike way. They will only have appearances and pretense without substance.

1 John 1:9 "1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The Devil is on the March

The official title of the devil is "The Accuser", so do not be surprised when ungodly people accuse us of things that are not true. Be sure that it is the devil using their minds and their mouths to come against God's people.

Let God Worry About the Remote Jungles

Jesus Christ appeared after His death and resurrection to many people before He went into heaven.

God may have visited the remote jungles of South America or other countries. We do not know, but why do we need to know? God has that, no need for us to figure it out.

Just as many people feel a need to figure out who was saved and who was not after the death of those people, they also sometimes feel they need to explain whether or not the remote jungle people have heard or were saved. Why burden yourself with things like this that no one could possibly know!

Keep in mind that the argument that people who have not heard the gospel in remote parts of the world has been used to justify that they were saved simply by not knowing any better.

And yet the Bible teaches that people become born again by hearing and then by choosing through faith in Him.

The "remote areas of the world" argument to explain away the commands of the gospel to preach the word and that one cannot become born again unless they hear the gospel, serves only to undermine the faith of many.

Next time you hear someone use the argument that remote villagers around the world didn't have to hear the gospel to be saved, it might be good to speak the word for there to be clarity.

Romans 10:17
"17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

When we walk by faith we believe God, He said salvation is by hearing and then by faith in Him, that's all we need to know. Why must we stick our nose in His business to know who has died and gone to heave or not.

Romans 10:6-7 " 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”…"

We hear reports of Muslims in Arab countries having visitations of Christ bringing the gospel to them, in areas where there are no missionaries, if we believe this, then the question of the pygmies and cannibals of remote jungles is easily explained. God could have come to them just as He has come to some Muslims who have become born again because of visions.

Just because there are no writings that tell of the fate of the jungle people does not mean they never heard. God is greater than our own ideas of "missionaries sent". He can do the job Himself without humans in places where missionaries have not been sent.

Let's stop trying to do God's job for Him or deciding what He would do. Sure we must speak truth, warn about heaven and hell, even rebuke when necessary, but when someone has passed, our job of speaking so others will hear has ended for that person who is no longer with us. Where he went is God's business.

Emotions Over Understanding?

A.W. Tozer said this:
"The emotions have a wonderful time but the will has been untouched."

Cecil Andrews said this:
"The only thing that effects our will is our understanding."

One cannot be deeply concerned about appearances and superiority, leaning into emotions and still be submitted to Christ.

When we base our doctrine, our desires, or anything else on emotion, we can count on error dominating our lives.

How does appearances and superiority relate to emotions, simple, those elements of prideful people are based on emotions, feelings and desires rather than truth. Being concerned about how others see us rather than our inner substance will in time emerge for all to see.

When someone is satisfied with emotion and appearances, they will be unsatisfied with truth. Truth hardly ever elevates, but often convicts of sin and shames those who are in love with their own fantasy self.

If a person claims to have become a Christian, but the only thing that changes is a few outer activities, the attitude remains the same, ungoldy things don't fall off they are merely hidden from view, then we might be suspect that Christ changed their heart.

When the heart is changed by God, then the ungodly activities fall away. They do not remain as hidden but are no longer a part of the mind and life of the born again believer.

Those who hide their inner desire to be superior often give themselves away eventually, even without knowing, their hidden sin is evident to the discerning eyes.

Even if we are diluted enough to believe we are hiding from people, we can never hide from God. Which leads me to a interesting question; "if we think we can hide from people, isn't that a sign that we also think we can hide from God, or that we do not really believe in God or we would be more concerned about Him seeing us than we are about what people think of us?

Just a thought!

Yes we have a salvation by work, His Work!

Why did Jesus Christ have to come to die?

The answer is that the penalty for sin was death. Mankind was doomed to death because of the sin that dwells in every person.

Christ loved mankind so much that He came to pay the price for death for mankind because mankind was sinful they could not die for their own sin.

Christ is the Perfect Lamb, He was the only One, because He is God the Son, only He could shed all His blood to pay our debt.

Christ paid the price for the debt of mankind by shedding His own blood, but there is a catch, only those who believe in Him, who know they are sinful and cannot save themselves, will be made into a new creation by Christ.

No person can make themselves into a new creation, no person can pay their own debt by the shedding of their own blood.

Christ died to pay our debt for sin, when we believe in Him and what He did for us, then He changes us into a new creation. He does that, He changes the way we think, we could not do this, He has to do this in us, however, we have to want it.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 " Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"

Matthew 26:28 "28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. '"

Romans 3:23 "23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,'"

Hebrews 9:22 "And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

There are those who say they believed on Christ, became born again but continue to live as though they are being perfect in their own right, according to their own dictates. If one is still trusting in their own goodness, they are not trusting in Christ. These people need to ask God if they were ever born again.

The fruit of the Spirit does not come from our trying, it is a work of Christ in us, He does it!

Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

The Fruit is the Holy Spirit

The fruit is not good works although good works will come out of good fruit. The fruit are character qualities. And it is not "fruits" plural, but "fruit" singular. Every believer should have the Holy Spirit, He is the fruit and His qualities should be seen in all believers.

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."