Saturday, March 26, 2022
What is Humility?
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is thinking of yourself less" than you think of God and others.
Friday, March 25, 2022
Reasoning with the Devil is Foolish
When you attempt to give a good reason why you did something the narcissist will call it an excuse. Because narcissists often blame others for their own actions or attitudes, they claim every explanation of ours is just an excuse.
Claiming our explanations are excuses is a way of demeaning their target. Narcissists cannot and will not have a rational and reasonable conversation without diminishing the character of the one they fight against.
When we attempt to be rational with a narcissist their go-to tactic is character assassination, rarely remaining on topic they go after us to cause emotional flare-ups.
It is nearly impossible to get a reasonable answer from a narcissist when we ask a question to clarify what they are saying. We hear things like; "you never listen", when we are attempting to get them to talk openly so we can listen they use personal attacks and never answer the question posed to them.
When we see this tactic employed we know it is time to end the conversation, nothing said after that will calm the narcissist. They use every response as a springboard for more arguing and fighting.
These tactics are demonic, the narcissist is controlled by devils, if not possessed they are controlled by the devil's thoughts. We know the devil places thoughts into people because of what he did with Eve in the garden.
The devil spoke lies to Eve to turn her against God and to motivate her to sin. He is using the same tactic today that he did in the garden. He made Eve question God's motives even suggesting that God was withholding information, even lying to her.
Narcissists today are using the tactics of the devil. He attempts to get us to doubt our stand for righteousness by getting people to come against us, using language like; "that is not kind or loving" when we desire to obey God.
The devil has convinced people to pressure others to disobey God's principles and ways as though it is wrong to do so.
I have even had people pressure me to be friends with people God clearly told me to avoid. When this happens we need to state without reservation that God told me what to do and no pressure from others will make me change my mind. In some cases, we may need to do what Jesus did with Peter, tell the devil this; "get behind me Satan." We need not speak to the person who is being used of the devil, we can speak to the devil in the name of Jesus Christ and silence him.
Just recently the devil spoke through a man to my husband. The man didn't like the truth my husband was speaking so he told my husband to "shut-up", in a threatening voice, twice.
When we encounter rage such as this when the truth is being spoken we know it is a devil using the mind and mouth of the person speaking.
Proverbs 22:24-25 "24 Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25 or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.…"
Proverbs 29:22
"An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression."
This is God's answer to the problem of men and women who are full of anger. We are to remove ourselves from them, with the understanding that we cannot reason with them or fix them. We must leave them to God. Pray if you like for their salvation, but do not think that you can influence them.
Proverbs 21:24
"Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath."
2 Corinthians 6:14-17
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
It is clear that if we attempt to reason with an angry person we will ultimately end up shouting back the way they shout at us. We will become like those who hate us. Our goal is to remain Christlike no matter what others are doing, in order to do this we must get away from them if we do not our flesh will emerge at some point and the devil will have won that round.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) 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."
James 1:12. "12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
Claiming our explanations are excuses is a way of demeaning their target. Narcissists cannot and will not have a rational and reasonable conversation without diminishing the character of the one they fight against.
When we attempt to be rational with a narcissist their go-to tactic is character assassination, rarely remaining on topic they go after us to cause emotional flare-ups.
It is nearly impossible to get a reasonable answer from a narcissist when we ask a question to clarify what they are saying. We hear things like; "you never listen", when we are attempting to get them to talk openly so we can listen they use personal attacks and never answer the question posed to them.
When we see this tactic employed we know it is time to end the conversation, nothing said after that will calm the narcissist. They use every response as a springboard for more arguing and fighting.
The arguments of the narcissist are irrational and vindictive, but sadly over nothing. They will take a sentence and blow it so out of proportion that it leads to frustration in us, this is their purpose. The narcissist wants to cause confusion, frustration, and anger in their target, they poke and poke until the bear finally growls.
These tactics are demonic, the narcissist is controlled by devils, if not possessed they are controlled by the devil's thoughts. We know the devil places thoughts into people because of what he did with Eve in the garden.
The devil spoke lies to Eve to turn her against God and to motivate her to sin. He is using the same tactic today that he did in the garden. He made Eve question God's motives even suggesting that God was withholding information, even lying to her.
Narcissists today are using the tactics of the devil. He attempts to get us to doubt our stand for righteousness by getting people to come against us, using language like; "that is not kind or loving" when we desire to obey God.
The devil has convinced people to pressure others to disobey God's principles and ways as though it is wrong to do so.
I have even had people pressure me to be friends with people God clearly told me to avoid. When this happens we need to state without reservation that God told me what to do and no pressure from others will make me change my mind. In some cases, we may need to do what Jesus did with Peter, tell the devil this; "get behind me Satan." We need not speak to the person who is being used of the devil, we can speak to the devil in the name of Jesus Christ and silence him.
Just recently the devil spoke through a man to my husband. The man didn't like the truth my husband was speaking so he told my husband to "shut-up", in a threatening voice, twice.
When we encounter rage such as this when the truth is being spoken we know it is a devil using the mind and mouth of the person speaking.
Proverbs 22:24-25 "24 Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25 or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.…"
Proverbs 29:22
"An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression."
This is God's answer to the problem of men and women who are full of anger. We are to remove ourselves from them, with the understanding that we cannot reason with them or fix them. We must leave them to God. Pray if you like for their salvation, but do not think that you can influence them.
Proverbs 21:24
"Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath."
2 Corinthians 6:14-17
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
It is clear that if we attempt to reason with an angry person we will ultimately end up shouting back the way they shout at us. We will become like those who hate us. Our goal is to remain Christlike no matter what others are doing, in order to do this we must get away from them if we do not our flesh will emerge at some point and the devil will have won that round.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) 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."
James 1:12. "12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
The Stinging Locusts of Revelation
Sister Celeste and I were discussing how terrible it is going to be in the tribulation for those who have not trusted in Christ.
Yes, people who are not born again have no idea how terrible the world will be. Especially those in our country where we have had relatively easy lives compared to other countries.
The creatures I think about the most are those "stinging locusts", they are demons attacking people in their minds and bodies. There are no defenses against them because they are spirit beings, no way to kill them or fight against them in any physical way. The attacks are spiritual and illusional in nature even though they torment the body too, there is no defense against spirit beings who cannot be killed.
The people attacked by them will want to die but cannot die. Revelation 9:6, not only because of the stinging scorpions but also all the other terrible things upon the earth will cause people to want to kill themselves.
Revelation 9:1-11 "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."
The Condition of the Apostate Churches
To blame everything on the devil is to make God powerless and the devil more powerful than God.
Some people think they can control the devil by invoking the name of Christ against him. While God said if we resist the devil he will flee from us, it did not mean that we can stop all the antics of the devil in the world. I say this because God has given the devil permission to carry out the end times events.
We can resist the devil in our hearts by refusing to allow him to influence us to do evil. God said that believers have Christ living in them Who has power over the devil.
The devil cannot do anything without God's permission. Job 2
Reading the book of Job shows us that everything the Lord allows the devil to do has a purpose for the world and the believers will have victory over him.
In these last days God has allowed the devil to influence wicked leaders and those who are not born again, to punish them in their evil and to perhaps devastate them to the degree that they might seek Christ.
In the account of Job, the devil was allowed to torment Job only proving Job's faithfulness to God and teaching Job as he sought God for help.
Hardship on someone reveals their heart, it does not cause them to sin, it reveals the sin that was already in there that no one could see but God.
Sometimes we do not know what is in our heart until we are faced with hardship, then we see what comes out as evidence of our true heart.
1 John 5:19
"19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
1 Peter 5:8
"8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
The devil cannot destroy a Christian or the Christian's salvation, but he can ruin the witness of the believer if the believer succumbs to the devil's tricks.
The only way to be strong and able to thwart the attacks of the devil is to be walking closely with Christ in obedience. If we know God's word and obey it Christ will be strong on our behalf.
However, if we do not know His word and do not obey Him, the Holy Spirit will go silent and we will be left to endure the attacks of the devil. So many Christians are bent on having their own way, figuring things out for themselves that they do not seek the counsel of or listen to the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:19
"19 Do not quench the Spirit,"
Quench: Meaning to extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit. Or to silence Him allowing us to be without His help for a time and without His comfort until we repent of our own ways.
I have seen in churches over the years the people succumbing to the lies of the devil, holding fast to worldly wisdom drawing in unbelievers who love their sin and their own ways, causing a serious dilution to occur. Many are completely apostate now and others are very sick and weak because of their allowance of false doctrine.
1 Corinthians 11:29-31 "…29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.…"
These people have a form of religion but have no desire to walk with Christ in obedience. In fact, many are hostile when someone comes and attempts to use the Bible for instruction. They fight against the truth while holding onto their own false version of Christianity.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
Sadly most churches are in this condition but think they are doing well.
Revelation 3:16-18 "…16 So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.…"
The churches must repent before they can be a witness to the rest of the world, if they do not all they do is bring a false doctrine and false gospel to those they infect.
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Christ is Always the Focus in the Born-Again Believer
The sin of pride in those who believe they have never done anything big will keep that person out of heaven. Pride of goodness must be expunged from a person before they realize their need for Christ.
So many people who decided to be Christians have never been cleansed from their sin to become born again. They act as though they have joined a club and are going to live their life in their own effort better than they did before. This mentality fosters and grows arrogance.
These people decided for one reason or another a Christian association would make for a better life, but they were never "contrite" in their hearts. They were never crushed over their sin, as the word contrite conveys.
These people begin to build pride in themselves as they believe their choice to associate with Christianity gave them special status in the community, conveying a pius mentality, a superior attitude, often creating an "us versus them" frame of mind leading only to a false and even destructive Christian witness.
I have met many of these people who judge others as inferior to them, even though the people they judge have been cleansed and free of past forgiven sins that the pius ones wish to hold over their heads the rest of their lives.
There can be no attitude of superiority in the heart of a Christian when they know they had to be broken themselves at one time in order to be cleansed by Christ.
Those who think their sins were not so terrible and that they have earned their way through their pretense of a good person, will be chastised by God if they are born-again, if they are not born-again they will see the fires of hell.
Yes, it is sad and very true that there are some born-again folks in the church who elevate themselves as though they have always been good. No one has always been good, no one has always been Christian, everyone had to come to Christ in brokenness over their sin, knowing it is only Christ Who saves, they cannot save themselves. They are not special because they have become a Christian, only Christ in any believer is special. It is only by His grace that He changes us into a new creation when we confess our sinfulness and trust in Him to change us into what we should be, an ongoing work of Christ in our lives all of our lives.
Hallelujah, what a joy when we let go of pride, we have no need to be special or above anyone else, we are happy and content to be nothing while Christ is everything in us.
John 3:30-31 "30 He must increase; I must decrease. 31The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all."
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