We will be Hated for Christ's Sake

If someone deletes or blocks us because of the gospel we will do as God said; "shake the dust from our feet.

I am not upset when God reveals the heart of a friend when they walk away because of Christ. Even when they gossip against me, I count it a blessing that those who gossip and those who listen and judge based on that gossip are revealed as ones I have no interest in being friends with, I let them go and don't look back.

Unless, they come to me at some later date and confess their sin of gossip and change their behavior, which I have never witnessed in my entire life.

I have actually had gossips come to visit me either by phone or a visit to my home merely to ask questions compelling information to twist and gossip to others.

I have had gossips come to my Facebook page to attack and then gossip, always distorting my answers and reactions. A gossip is a liar, revising what was said and done to make their target to be the bad one, even though they have no evidence we are what they wish we were.

If you are innocent of the wrongdoing you are accused of then feel free and blessed to remove those who wish to harm you, from your lives. They will keep gossiping out of frustration that they cannot control you or antagonize you. When they cannot control your emotions they will attempt to control how others view you. Anyone who listens to them is one of them and cannot be trusted.

Never give a narcissist gossiper any information and never give those who listen to the gossip any information. Do not answer questions, reveal information or inquire anything of them. They soon will get the message that you will not communicate with them and lose interest in trying to gather fodder for their gossipy friends.

Proverbs 13:20 "One who walks with wise people will be wise, But a companion of fools will suffer harm.'

Make your close companions those who love you, agree with your choice to walk with Christ, and depart from those who want to ruin you in the dust.

Matthew 10:14 "And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet."

When the Narcissists Gossip about You!

When narcissists gossip against you count it all joy that they are exposing who your friends are and who loves you or not. Those who believe the narcissist are themselves gossip mongers, not the kind of people we want anything to do with.

When we know the truth and Christ in us knows the truth we have nothing to fear. And, there will be justice in the end of this life. Also, God said it would be like this for those who love the Lord.

The devil wants to ruin our reputation and isolate us thinking being alone will break us down. The truth is that we have Christ living in us and no one can break us down to turn away from God.

Matthew 10:21-23 "…21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 23When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. "

When we have been rejected by family and friends we are free to leave them permanently, unless they are a spouse, then we can learn to deal with the attitudes while still living for Christ.

Proverbs 29:27

"An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked."

It is better to remove ourselves to be alone than to be surrounded by those who want our walk to be destroyed. Remember, we are never alone as long as we have Christ. We are not co-dependent with human beings, we are completely dependent on Christ.

Psalm 62:5-8

"5 My soul, wait in silence for God alone,

For my hope is from Him.

6 He alone is my rock and my salvation,

My refuge; I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my glory rest on God;

The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

8 Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your hearts before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

Psalm 62:11-12 "11 God has spoken once;

Twice I have heard this:

That power belongs to God;

12 And faithfulness is Yours, Lord,

For You reward a person according to his work."

There is no better friend than Jesus Christ and He knows the truth about everything. Hallelujah!

The Statistics Show a Problem

The statistics show that 75% of marriages are more likely to divorce if they have friends who are divorced.

The reason some divorce rates have decreased in certain areas is that the couples are not marrying at all, so they split but there is no divorce on record.

Marriage is not valued in our region of the country. The divorce rate goes down when people are not even marrying, to begin with, but breakups are more likely among couples who shack up, even if there are children.

80% of all shack-ups end in splitting up even after they marry. If people live together before marriage their chances of remaining married are much higher.

The mentality of cohabitating before marriage shows a lack of commitment and a lack of love. There is the continual sense in the shack-ups that if things don't work out the way they want they will just walk away without the hassle of divorce. There can be no love involved in this mentality.

The world's wisdom teaches that ease of life is the ultimate goal rather than the heroism of working through difficult things to become a better person.

Weakness and selfishness motivate couples to use one another rather than sacrifice for one another. There is no love in lack of commitment, there is no love in bailing out of difficult situations, no heroism, no sense of noble actions in giving up something we want for the sake of another person.

When "Christianity" becomes a means to an end, which is safety for self, it is not Christianity at all but a false and empty religion. When the standard is based on human desires and comfort there can be no dedication to Christ or anyone else.

Sadly many people attending church gatherings today have no interest in knowing Christ let alone obeying His principles. These people are beggarly and weak in their form of "religious Christianity", which is claiming to be something they are not, that is born-again.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"

Revelation 3:17-18 "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 only solution for this problem in the church is repentance, cleansing through confession of sin, and the change Christ brings when we admit our sin of indifference to Him.

Walking with Christ in Truth

If we are walking with Christ the unsaved will not influence us into becoming like them. If we find ourselves beginning to act like the unsaved then we are spending too much time with them.

It is astounding how many things in our lives are much like the culture around us. We are so accustomed to the things around us that we forget that most of it is not of God.

The more we walk with Christ the more of these useless things drop from our lives. They become distasteful to us, so much so that we are appalled by them.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

"21 Test all things; hold fast what is good."

When we ask God to expose everything that is not of Him, we will be shocked at how much the church has accepted that God actually hates.

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.”

The more we ask God to show us the truth the more our eyes are opened to everything. It is shocking how distant the church as a whole has moved away from the Bible.

As others have said, the Bible has become a book of suggestions to be ignored when someone does not like something that is written in its pages. The church as a whole has removed scriptures from their context to make the verses and words say what they want them to say rather than asking God what He meant in order to obey Him.

Many Christians are claiming to believe the Bible while at the same time negating much if not most that is written in it.

Amir Tsarfati: The Tree of Life

Amir Tsarfati: All Will Be Made New

Confession is the Way to Cleansing through Christ

Did you know it is blasphemy against God to claim to be a Christian but not be interested in His Word, the Bible? Using God's name and His word as a manipulation to impress others is a sin and evidence that there has never been a born-again experience.

The idea that "I'm not so bad because I am like everyone else is a backslidden and lukewarm mentality. We do not compare ourselves with others, we compare ourselves with Christ leaving us feeling like nothing to be proud of.

Revelation 3:15-16

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

God wants us to be either hot, on fire for Him, or cool, a refreshing drink of cold water. Both of these things are for God in a very good way, refreshing the saints and paying close attention to God's Word so that we would live as Christ lived.

2 Corinthians 10:12

"12 For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding."

When we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ we have reason to feel humble and ashamed. At no time in our Christian walk can we claim to have arrived at the perfection of Jesus Christ. We are growing in holiness only in proportion to how often we confess to be cleansed. Those who never confess their sins will not grow until they do.

Many people are busy impressing others with a fake persona to appear spiritual who remain weak and beggarly because they are more invested in "appearing" holy than in actually becoming holy.

Deuteronomy 23:14

"Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.:

Our holiness comes from God not from what we do with ourselves. We must confess sin, and obey the Holy Spirit, and then we will grow in holiness.

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

Notice the "IF", it is only if we confess that God will forgive and cleanse us from that sin we confess. Those who will not confess will not be cleansed or forgiven.