Genealogies will Distract Us!

Our culture is very interested in genealogy, the records and the study of ancestry. Did you know that born-again believers have no Spiritual connection to their biological family unless someone from that family is born-again?

Genealogy is a form of necromancy, the desire to stay connected to dead people who no longer have any input into our lives other than a name on a line in a tree. When a person desires to have a connection with a dead person they have in their heart the wish that they could speak to the dead, so they pretend the dead can hear them and speak to their grave.

Many people now go to the graves to look at the stones of those who have passed, as though there is some value or connection to them by that visit.

In the Catholic church when I was still in that cultic system, rituals, statues, and amulets were important, they made people feel safe and connected to the person who was supposed to be the representation of the person they wanted to connect with. Sadly many traditions and rituals that "protestants" do come from the Catholic church.

It is entertaining to visit a grave, but I cannot see any spiritual value that brings someone closer to Christ. And, the dead cannot hear us, they are gone never to return.

Any relationships we connect with should be in this life while people are still walking this earth.

Most of the people in the genealogy tree we have never met and will not ever meet. We have no way to know what their life was like, whether or not they loved Christ. Most people do not love Christ, in the past or the present. We know this because Christ said "few will find the narrow way", and "most will reject Christ."

Isaiah 43:18-19

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Philippians 3:13-14

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

So what are people doing honoring those who may have hated Christ after they are dead.? To honor a person who did not love Christ is to dishonor Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

When we take the time to find out where a ritual originates and whether or not God commanded it in the Bible we realize how many rituals and practices we follow that come against the Bible.

If the Bible is our source for all truth and wisdom then we ought to be seeking the Holy Spirit and His Word the Bible to find God's heart and desire for us.

Those who have left behind all humanistic and paganistic rituals are the freest people you will meet. They have no compulsion to do things God never commanded just because others expect it of them.

There is bondage associated with rituals, the sense that if we do not do something we will not be safe, or that others will not like us and we will lose the love of family and friends who want us to do what they do. Titus 3:9
"But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless."

Genealogy is a distraction to the walk of Christ and even paganistic.

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Christ is not pleased with the rituals we do and claim God is pleased with them. He is only pleased when we seek Him and obey what He tells us from His Word.

Did you know Jesus Christ is the very essence of His Own Word? When we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the truth we are hearing from the heart of Jesus Christ.

Think about it!

Finding Jesus in the Book of Joel

Want to live your life for God? Make this one shift. #shorts

The Lost in the World and the Lost in the Church

Do not be surprised when you are mocked, demeaned, rejected, ignored, and gossiped about as a born-again believer. Not only by the world but also by others who say they are Christians but lack the fruit of the Spirit.

Matthew 7:15-20

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 1

6 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits."

What is the fruit of the Spirit?

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."

The fruit of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us are the character qualities of Christ. A believer can discern these qualities in another believer easily.

We are only confused in our culture because we have been indoctrinated that we should not judge, which is unbiblical.

Many people who say they are Christians have never been born again, this is why they act and speak no different from the world. They are superficial but attend churches every week. These people rarely speak of Christ outside the building they call a church.

Pretenders want to feel safe and protected by God but want nothing to do with His Word. Some read the Bible to feel superior to others but care little about obeying its principles, even twisting His Word to say what they want it to say and not what God intended.

In fact, in our day of apostasy, those who attend church gatherings disobey more of the word than they obey and claim they believe the Bible is the Word of God.

I find the hearts of learned pretenders more difficult to reach for God than a non-believer who does not profess Christianity. They are both the same, that is unsaved, but one is proud because of how much they think they know and the other just doesn't know much if anything.

Someone once told me I was "preaching to the choir", I reminded that person that most people in the choir can't sing."

Remember to pray for salvation for both the lost in the world and the lost in the church.

Where is the Peace and Joy?

Romans 12:2 "Romans 12:2

"2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We transform our minds by reading the Word of God and allowing it to change us on the inside. Just knowing it is not enough, we must seek it for the purpose of being changed by Christ into His image.

There are many people who seek to "appear" good on the outside without any real change in their hearts. This is the reason they may say the right things at times but are constantly falling back into worldly thinking.

It is not enough to attempt to follow right principles, we must seek Christ to change our hearts so that how we act and what we say is led by the Holy Spirit without manipulation to impress others.

What rejoicing there is when we can be free to walk in Christ-likeness without the worry if others will like us. If He is pleased with us it does not matter if anyone else does.

John 15:18-25

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Seek to please God not people, there is where the peace and joy reside.

Days Gone By

Just recently I have been watching videos of old photos from the early 1900's and before with the old buildings and people of the time.

They seemed like fascinating interesting times that one might want to go back to what would appear to be a simpler time. As I enjoy the photos I try to remember that nothing has really changed in mankind, perhaps more cultural manners and stringent rules on behavior back in the day existed but people were still basically the same.

Sin was just as rampant although much more hidden, appearances were everything in those days. Protecting the family name was first and foremost, in other words, hypocrisy was rampant.

The cultural Christianity of our time existed back in those "good old days" just as it does now. The church was a remnant then and is a remnant now.

Mark 7:13 "

13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

This scripture was written in the time of the apostles 2 thousand years ago. What would make us think humankind has changed?

We have always been a remnant in all societies, that is, those who love to know God's Word and actually live by it.

Romans 9:27

"And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,"

Romans 11:1-36

"I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace."

You might say, "but no one is trying to kill us now", it seems that way but anyone who hates us and the Word of God has murder in their hearts. They do not kill us physically but attempt to exclude us, mock and demean us a form of killing our soul through isolation. God said hatred was the same as murder.

1 John 3:15-17

'15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

When someone desires bad to happen to another person they are practicing murder in their hearts. When someone hates a person enough to discourage them any way they can from doing what God loves, are in their heart, murdering the object of their hatred.

We live in a hostile world now which is attempting to silence all the people of God from speaking the truth. We know this is also present in the churches when we ask for Biblical evidence to be brought to bear on any subject we are ignored and even asked to leave having been labeled trouble makers or called divisive.

We need not let this upset or unnerve us, it is to be expected in these last days. The devil loves nothing better than to remove our witness of strength in the face of trials. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, so that we do not become like the world. Our witness is only good if we are different from the world. Notice I said "different", not "appear different" but actually "be different."

Our minds do not think the way the world thinks, we are polar opposites. Those who see us operating as Christ-filled Christians may want to know why we are different, why we are not frightened or frustrated by what is happening all around us.

When they inquire we can share that it is Christ Who changed us into a new creation, we do not fear anymore.

Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

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Authentically Born Again Believers Grow, they do not Regress!

There are many people who claim Christianity but have no fruit, I was once one of these people. At about age 12 I made a profession of faith out of an emotional response to the gospel at church camp but there was no change in me that lasted.

I thought of Christianity as something you tried real hard to become, you are sorry about your sin and never sin again, but I couldn't stop my sin and even leaned into it until my early twenties.

I used sin to pacify my heart of sadness rather than turning to Christ for the pain. I turned to the sin to relieve what only God could cleanse permanently.

When I became born-again out of sheer brokenness over my sinful nature I no longer wanted the sin I turned to in an attempt to relieve my pain. There were no authentic Christians who could guide me, they had no interest in me. I thank the Lord for this fact because I came to Christ completely on my own without any human support. From that time on I have trusted only in Him always. Even "Christians" had no time or interest in being a part of my new life experience led by the Holy Spirit, they preferred to believe I was the same person I was before I had been changed by Christ.

I noticed over the years that the "Christians" who had no interest in me and my new faith tended to regress as they grew older. Some even walked away from the faith while others continued in their superficial superior attitudes, remaining rude and obstinate as though I had never been born-again and as though their rudeness was somehow going to cause me to want their God.

The closer I got to God the further away they became. It was as though they hated to hear "God-talk" from me because they wanted to view me as the old person. The gossip grew, the hatred and contempt grew and then came the permanent rejection.

The more I told the truth the worse the pretenders became. They had no interest in accurately obeying the Bible and were incensed that I dared to use the scriptures to bring truth to a discussion. They loved their cultural Christianity and false beliefs cloaking everything in "Christian" language while defying the commands of God.

After many years of walking with Christ I realized that perhaps those superficial, prideful, and superior acting Christians had not regressed really, I just grew and my eyes were opened to their infant-like walk that never progressed.

When a believer has the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness and self-control, they have a heart for the lost, and compassion for those they believe are lost. These fruitful Spirits are excited when Christ changes someone into a new creation, they embrace the one who has come to the light.

The mentality of superiority, a sense that they are better than someone else as though they never had to repent in their own life, comes from a cultural Christian who elevates themselves for how good they think they are and the others they look down upon are not.

The superior acting "Christian" does not understand that they were once as filthy and hell-bound as the one they look down upon. Anyone who thinks they deserved salvation because of the absence of certain sins in their lives are not born-again. They could never have come to Christ "crushed" as He said we must come in order to be changed by Him.

Those who have come to Christ crushed under the weight of their own sin, confessing it and desiring to be changed by Him, will be the ones He changes.

If anyone thinks they were never deeply sinful like those others they demean, then they have never been born again but engage in pretending continually. Every visit to the church gathering is one of play-acting to impress others. Their lives are full of arrogance and self-exaltation to prove to men how wonderful they think they are, but it has no substance, it is a fantasy of the worst kind to maintain a false persona of goodness.

Matthew 13:1-9 "13 On that day Jesus had gone out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately because they had no depth of soil.

6 But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

8 But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.

9 The one who has ears, let him hear.”"

When we see hostility on the part of a Christian because we brought Scripture to bear in a conversation you can be sure the angry person does not know the scriptures and does not want Christ, if they did they would love His word and bring their own scripture in context, to support the truth or to lovingly clarify it.

Only those who know they do not know and can't answer become angry when the truth is manifest. They do not love the Lord or His Word, they merely love their religion, its cultural rituals and ideas that make them enjoy their own version of Christianity.

We are living in the end times in which most people who claim Christianity have little interest in the Bible except to rearrange the Words of God to say what they want to believe.

These people also form opinions about authentic believers to justify their hatred of them. They attack their character when they cannot prove their scripture wrong. They leave the rational discussion based on Scripture to engage in character assassination. The devil convinces them that if they attack the character they can justify the hatred. It's all smoke and mirrors to intimidate into silence those who love the truth of God.

DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM, GOD SEES IT ALL AND YOU CAN REMAIN OPEN, HONEST AND STRONG NO MATTER WHAT TRICK THEY PULL.

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