Pretenders and Their Fate

For those who think they are born again but are living out a form of Christianity in the flesh rather than the Spirit of Christ, are not born again and will hear some very fearful and terrifying words:

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Imagine getting to heaven expecting to enter only to be turned away into hell. There is nothing more frightening than that.

Dawn Martin

April 3 at 12:38 PM

I’m not going to sugarcoat the truth. To put it bluntly, you’re going to have 7 years of hell on earth if you reject Christ!

Pride of Good Works

There is a measure of pride involved in believing someone must "do" something to be a good person as if they actually could be good enough.

And there is a lack of faith in not believing Christ could make us into a new creation, doing away with the old and replacing it with the new person.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.…"

Which deeds are good enough to keep us out of hell?
Which deeds will gain us heaven?
Which deeds will keep us saved?
How big do the good works have to be?
How many good deeds must we do to make it into heaven?

God does not tell us these things because none of it would earn us heaven.

Perhaps we should ask the thief on the cross to explain why he got into heaven without any good deeds at all.

All the thief on the cross did was believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ proclaimed; "This day you will be in paradise with me." That thief wasn't even baptized!

When we believe in Christ as our only way to heaven He then changes us into a new creation.....He does that, we do not.

2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

When we believe in Christ as our only way to heaven He sends His Holy Spirit to come and live in us as our promise that we will be taken to heaven when we die.

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"

When we believe in Christ as our only way to heaven He begins the cleansing process. He disciplines us when we stray, He instructs us, He gives us wisdom and tells us what to say when to say it and what to do and when to do it.

One way we know we are walking in the Spirit is when our deeds glorify God and not ourselves.

One way we know we are walking in the Spirit is when we have the fruit of that Spirit. What is the fruit?

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."

When we walk in the Spirit we don't have to work at these character qualities, they will be automatic, we are these things within our very bone and sinew. These qualities go to the very core of who we are, not just temporary and superficial but a continual way of life.

When we fail we hate what we have done and come back to obedience.

1 John 3:9 "9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. "

Anyone who fights to defend sin and refuses to reject it without conscience about it cannot be born again. They have not lost the salvation they never had it in the beginning.

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

Born again believers who have trusted Christ hate to sin, when they do they return to obedience. Those who are not born again love and defend their sin.

Our culture is only confused about salvation because so many people who claim to be "Christians" do not walk with God nor do they want to, they are pretenders amongst the sheep.

Some People Have Gone Crazed with Conspiracies!

Overwhelmed by Conspiratorial Hype?

No one seems to be embarrassed about having a broken leg. They go to the doctor to have the broken leg set and are careful with it for a few weeks until it heals.

But what if we had a broken spirit, a spirit that has been deeply in sin for many years leaving discouragement and scars that seem impossible to heal? Or how about a broken spirit because of the people around us who do not love God.

Did you know that your spiritual condition is far more important than your physical condition?

Who do we go to when our spirit is broken? When we have a broken spirit the best place to go is to Jesus Christ.

We might be able to go to a trusted friend, but it is only wise to consult with a friend if that friend understands you and is Christ-minded to encourage you in the way of righteousness.

There are few of these kinds of people around who believe we need Christ. Most friends these days would point us to psychology to deal with the condition of the mind. They might even give bad advice for us to go against the principles of God to alleviate our bad feelings.

What's wrong with this? Only Christ can know our heart and our mind. The psychologists only have guesses based on what they can see and what we tell them. Often friends only have bandaide solutions that make things worse but relieve our hurt feelings.

We are very clever in sharing with people what we want them to see, our good side, or what we believe about ourselves rather than what is real about us.

We tend to have a higher opinion about ourselves than God knows about us. It is human nature to believe we are good and everything we do is right.

The reality is that we deceive ourselves often, justifying what we do based on what we believe rather than on the deepest truths within us, the truth God knows about us.

We do not know our own hearts, this is why we must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us our hearts. If we cannot be honest about ourselves or ask to be revealed then we will not grow in holiness.

Psalm 139:23-24
"23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way."

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Isaiah 40:31
"o wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

When we think too highly of ourselves we tend to focus on that which does not need fixing or that which is not even real in us. It is best to focus on what needs fixing and ask the Lord to heal our spiritual ills.

Romans 12:3
"For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

Being satisfied with ourselves does not bring about strength in us. When we are satisfied with ourselves we tend to camp on how great we think we are and neglect the leaks, the flaws and the weaknesses that only God can repair.

Perhaps all that is going on in the world now are distractions that keep us focused on safety, self-preservation and the social and economic problems that we can do nothing about. When we are talking about these things we will not be talking about Christ.

Recently I found myself searching for news on various things going on in the government, I felt lost, as though nothing I could ever do or say would make anything better. Even worse I cannot believe anything I see on the internet, liberal or conservative.

God brought to mind that the best way for me to survive this was to pray, do what He tells me to do and leave the rest of the mess to God.

Back in the day before the internet, we didn't have access to so much information. All we had was the radio and the evening television news. It wasn't possible to see all that was going on in the world. Or at least someone else's version of what was going on. Truly, I doubt most of what I hear but so many people are convinced about what they hear. What's wrong with me?

Perhaps Ignorance is bliss? We are living in a world filled with disinformation on every side. There are a million theories out there but very little hard evidence for most of what is seen on the internet. We have testimonies of those who are supposed to know but we don't know them, we only have what they say and what their friends say.

I have come to the conclusion with the help of the Holy Spirit that it would be best to hear no theories, hear no hype and to keep focused on Jesus Christ, His principles and His commands.

Remember the old adage "take everything with a grain of salt"? Unless it is the truth from the Bible and clear end times prophesy being fulfilled, it is not worth spending energy over.

It is not bad to know some things going on in the world but to know too much is to worry about too much. You might say I am overwhelmed and distrusting of so much that is called "information."

Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Our faith is not in this world or its system, our faith is in Christ, His principles and the future He has for us.

2 Corinthians 1:9
"Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."

Psalm 119:66
"Teach me good judgment and knowledge, I believe Your commandments."

Romans 15:14
"Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another."

2 Corinthians 10:5
"casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,"

Seven Types Of Narcissists

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God does not divorce the born again believer even when they sin. This is our example in marriage. God does not leave His bride, nor can we be separated from our spouse, no matter which papers you sign. Even when we are apart because of the violence of divorce we remain one with that separated spouse. Marrying another during that separation is adultery. 

"And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” Mark 10:11-12

"So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man." Romans 7:3

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