Wednesday, April 5, 2023

A Narcissist and His Judgments

"A narcissist uses the severest form of judgment on others while demanding the strongest form of grace from others." AGW

Satan Loved Himself


Satan loved himself so much that he hated God. Someone above him was unthinkable so he tried to overthrow God but God punished him for his pride and rebellion against the Most High

Self Esteem? Yes!!!!

Ezekiel 28:16-17
16 By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, you covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was haughty because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I threw you to the ground;
I put you before kings,
That they may see you."
Those who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind do not think of themselves as special. How could anyone believe they are special when they are comparing themselves to The Perfect and Holy God.

Increasing Compromise with the World

Back in the 1970's nearly every single "Christian" I spoke to about the self-esteem teaching defended it as though it were the gospel. Now we see the results of this psychological teaching based on humanism in our culture today as we watch families being destroyed and children being disrespectful to their parents and all authority.
Way back when I was a new believer God told me how wicked the self-esteem teaching was and where it would lead. He was right, itis a wicked teaching that has ruined our families and our nation.
We can now see how society and even the world are becoming what God said it would as we read 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
And:
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"
If you find yourself feeling alone a lot, even among church attendees, you are observing the world in the church and the church a small remnant, even leaving the "religious" gatherings to become closer to Christ. There is little fellowship in church gatherings today because of the apostasy which is growing exponentially.
It is more common now to be hated for correcting wrong doctrine than to be loved for speaking the truth. The truth-teller is going to be hated, reviled and discarded for desiring to follow God's Word, the Bible.
Those who have many friends are likely to compromise their Christianity if they are even saved, in order to remain in good standing with all their friends.
Proverbs 18:24 "24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother."
2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
It is difficult to have godly friends in a day when the remnant of God is small and often hidden because they are so few in number.
Please do not be discouraged brothers and sisters, we may be alone in our communities but we are not alone in the world. There are others who love the Lord as much as we do, they are just scattered. God reminded Israel of this when He said the following;
1 Kings 19:18 "18Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel— all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
Romans 11:4
"And what was the divine reply to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
Psalm 2:12
"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

Self Esteem is Ruinous

An unhealthy love of self always turns into a hatred of other people" Self Esteem teaching has ruined our culture.

God Is Exposing a COVERT NARCISSIST to You If . . .

Hidden Behind the Lord Jesus Christ

When the Holy Spirit leads us to speak about the Lord we must obey. Remember if we don't obey God will send someone else.
There is a rumor traveling through the Christian church that people might not be saved if we don't tell them about Christ.
Thankfully my salvation did not depend on a particular person telling me about Christ. God will always send someone to tell others about Christ, those who will not do it will miss rewards but my salvation does not depend on them.
Psalms 62:6-9
"6 He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah."
Those who have been led to give the gospel to someone and don't will lose rewards and the ones who obey God and speak of the Lord will have rewards, but that person we speak to or don't speak to will be given the gospel one way or another. No one goes to hell because of someone else's neglect.
I don't know where this misunderstanding comes from; "that if we don't give someone the gospel they might go to hell because of us. That would presume if you do tell the gospel to someone and they trust in Christ, it was because of you that they were going to heaven. NO!, we are merely lowly messengers, no one goes to heaven because of us, if they go, they go because they have heard the gospel and received it while trusting in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:3-5 "…3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4 For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.…"
We ought not to be grateful to men for our salvation, we ought to be grateful to Christ Who lives in us. Christ is the One Who motivated the servants of God to obey Him.
When we have trusted Christ then we speak the truth of Christ to others just as those people did to us when we were lost. We are all the same, all servants, Christ is the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6-8
"6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor."
Because of our obedience, Christ gets the glory, not ourselves.
John 11:40
"Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
May the messenger always be hidden behind the Lord Jesus Christ. If no one remembers my name after telling them of Christ I am happy with that as long as they remember Christ.

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Laziness in Life

Because most people don't think very deeply they adopt phrases like; "don't judge" to avoid having to go beyond the superficial things in life. It's just easier to throw out a cliche without having a clear meaning than to have to explain anything in depth.
Then there is another form of laziness in relationships, which is to make things sound so complicated that it confuses the hearer.
Using unnecessary words as well as "word salad" often frustrates the hearer into giving up and giving in to whatever was said even if they don't know what was actually said.
Those who are guilty of hiding will be highly defensive rather than have to explain themselves. Those who care if someone else understands what they are saying are happy to explain themselves.
Using too many details in a conversation is a way of dominating the interaction so that others cannot question what is being said.
Those who are relaying lies, false doctrine and other deceptive ideas think excessive details make the story more believable.
Did you know the gospel is very simple, given to the average and even simple-minded people the ability to completely understand it? God did not make it complicated. As one preacher once said, the book of Revelation is not hard to understand, it's just hard to believe. Without faith, we cannot believe what God said in His word.
In our days of deception people are complicating things Ad nauseam to confuse, and guess who the author of that confusion is; the devil himself, working in the minds of most people to cause division and arguments over things that should be easily understood.
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
Paul’s Apostolic Ministry
1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in trickery nor distorting the word of God, but by the open proclamation of the truth commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants on account of Jesus.
6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."
How to become born-again? Confess your sinfulness and asked to be changed into a new creation by Christ. Admit that Christ paid your debt for sin on the cross, then He will come to live in you and begin the cleansing process in our lives.
All it takes is faith, believing what God said His Son Jesus Christ did and desiring what He wants for you.
After this read the Bible with the attitude of finding God's will for you and obeying what He says. This will be beneficial in our growth process as we move through the world, proclaiming what Christ did for us and will do for others.