When two people are made one by God when they marry, exchange their vows, God melds them into one spiritually. They are no longer two but one in purpose and bonded in their spirits. This can only be done by God and cannot be undone by a piece of paper by the laws of a government.
When these people divorce, they are still one; when they remarry, they remain one with the first spouse and are in adultery with the second. The government may accept that form of adultery, but God does not.
It is interesting to me that most people have no problem accepting divorce from the first spouse, but have a problem with divorcing from the second spouse. The second spouse is not a divorce in God's eyes, it is the stopping of the sin of adultery. God says, "If you divorce, you must remain single or be reconciled to the first spouse."
Our government does not decide God's principles and His truth. The Bible is our instruction book we read it to seek Christ for His perfect will.
Sunday, June 28, 2026
When Mockers Come Rejoice
Have you noticed those laughing emojis that show up when we write about something serious and important? I have gone to the pages of those who mock us; they are clearly unsaved people the devil is using to intimidate us into silence.
What those mockers do not know is that their ridicule only strengthens us. We see it as an opportunity to become more loyal and committed to Christ than ever.
Don't be afraid of the mockers; they merely reveal their character and show us we are on the right path.
Foolilsh people lack good sense in noticing that mocking others does not change our character or stop us from doing what God has given us to do.
Proverbs 29:9-10 "…8 Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger. 9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life."
Ecclesiastes 10:13 "The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness."
Ecclesiastes 7:6 "For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile."
Matthew 7:6 "Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."
Count it all joy when others revile and mock you; it strengthens our resolve.
What those mockers do not know is that their ridicule only strengthens us. We see it as an opportunity to become more loyal and committed to Christ than ever.
Don't be afraid of the mockers; they merely reveal their character and show us we are on the right path.
Foolilsh people lack good sense in noticing that mocking others does not change our character or stop us from doing what God has given us to do.
Proverbs 29:9-10 "…8 Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger. 9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life."
Ecclesiastes 10:13 "The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness."
Ecclesiastes 7:6 "For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile."
Matthew 7:6 "Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."
Count it all joy when others revile and mock you; it strengthens our resolve.
The Tribulation the World Brings to Followers of Christ.
I have experienced several times in my life narcissists who ghost me, hoping I will chase. When I do not chase, they come back again to have another shot at me with rude comments and disrespectful tones.
This phenomenon is growing as we near the end of the church age.
Wicked people cannot stand that we are not hurting; they hate our joy and peace and must do something to disrupt it. Just as they hated Christ when all He ever did was good for mankind, sacrificing Himself to save them, their response to Him was to murder Him. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for our good.
Just as Joseph's brothers threw him into a well and sold him into slavery, families will wish they could do the same thing to those who live authentically and with great joy.
In the case of Joseph, God used it for good and eventually elevated Joseph to second in command of all of Egypt.
When Joseph's brothers were in desperation and came to Egypt for help, they didn't know Joseph was so high-ranking. They were repentant, and Joseph's response to them was, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
We may never see on this earth any repentance from those who harmed us, but in heaven we will be blessed beyond any evil anyone did to us on earth.
God is shaping us into people who are strong enough to ignore the insults without anger or bitterness. We bless those who curse us when in their company, but avoid them if possible.
Everything that happens to us in this world has a purpose if we are followers of Christ. We can be content in our tribulation, bringing glory to God in all our responses or non-responses.
Romans 5:3-5 "3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Hallelujah!
This phenomenon is growing as we near the end of the church age.
Wicked people cannot stand that we are not hurting; they hate our joy and peace and must do something to disrupt it. Just as they hated Christ when all He ever did was good for mankind, sacrificing Himself to save them, their response to Him was to murder Him. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for our good.
Just as Joseph's brothers threw him into a well and sold him into slavery, families will wish they could do the same thing to those who live authentically and with great joy.
In the case of Joseph, God used it for good and eventually elevated Joseph to second in command of all of Egypt.
When Joseph's brothers were in desperation and came to Egypt for help, they didn't know Joseph was so high-ranking. They were repentant, and Joseph's response to them was, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
We may never see on this earth any repentance from those who harmed us, but in heaven we will be blessed beyond any evil anyone did to us on earth.
God is shaping us into people who are strong enough to ignore the insults without anger or bitterness. We bless those who curse us when in their company, but avoid them if possible.
Everything that happens to us in this world has a purpose if we are followers of Christ. We can be content in our tribulation, bringing glory to God in all our responses or non-responses.
Romans 5:3-5 "3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Hallelujah!
Trusting in Christ Through the Trials
It is rare in our day that we can trust people with our innermost feelings and thoughts. Everyone is interpreting what we say according to their own attitudes without desiring to learn why you think and feel the way you do.
If we don't think like others they tend to take it as a personal attack, not because you did anything that was unkind but because they didn't like your attempts at connecting with them in a deeper way.
The good news is that we can always share our deepest thoughts and feelings with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing we can say or feel that He has not already felt.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
We need not worry that God is going to condemn us for the things we tell Him because He already knows our hearts better than we know ourselves, before we ever express ourselves to Him.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. / He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit."
All the heartbreak, all the sadness, and every other experience of our hearts, the Lord Jesus Christ has already known and understands them.
Hebrews 4:14-16 "14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
If you are experiencing weakness and discouragement right now, God sees it and understands.
Isaiah 53:4 "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted."
Psalm 103:13-14 "As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust."
To fear speaking in our hearts to God all that we think and feel is to forget that He already knows and He always has the answer, all we have to do it speak to Him seeking Him for the solution. Even if the solution is just trusting in Him more as He strengthens us.
We are not all cured of our troubles, but we can have the strength of the Holy Spirit to get through them.
Never worry about finding someone to trust with your feelings; trust in Christ Who knows us perfectly and already knows what is to be done, not by us, but by Him.
Satan will try to derail your faith just as He did with Eve in the garden and Christ in the wilderness. Eve failed because she trusted in herself, but Christ did not fail because He is God.
Matthew 4:1-11 "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. / The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
The One Who did not fail, Jesus Christ, lives in those who have trusted in Him. We have within us His power to overcome. Nothing of ourselves but all of Him.
If we don't think like others they tend to take it as a personal attack, not because you did anything that was unkind but because they didn't like your attempts at connecting with them in a deeper way.
The good news is that we can always share our deepest thoughts and feelings with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing we can say or feel that He has not already felt.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
We need not worry that God is going to condemn us for the things we tell Him because He already knows our hearts better than we know ourselves, before we ever express ourselves to Him.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. / He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit."
All the heartbreak, all the sadness, and every other experience of our hearts, the Lord Jesus Christ has already known and understands them.
Hebrews 4:14-16 "14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
If you are experiencing weakness and discouragement right now, God sees it and understands.
Isaiah 53:4 "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted."
Psalm 103:13-14 "As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust."
To fear speaking in our hearts to God all that we think and feel is to forget that He already knows and He always has the answer, all we have to do it speak to Him seeking Him for the solution. Even if the solution is just trusting in Him more as He strengthens us.
We are not all cured of our troubles, but we can have the strength of the Holy Spirit to get through them.
Never worry about finding someone to trust with your feelings; trust in Christ Who knows us perfectly and already knows what is to be done, not by us, but by Him.
Satan will try to derail your faith just as He did with Eve in the garden and Christ in the wilderness. Eve failed because she trusted in herself, but Christ did not fail because He is God.
Matthew 4:1-11 "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. / The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
The One Who did not fail, Jesus Christ, lives in those who have trusted in Him. We have within us His power to overcome. Nothing of ourselves but all of Him.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Without Christ There is no Love
In another thread, I read about the sad relationships between in-law children and their in-law parents. There is no love in most relationships today; everything is transactional. The only kindness shown is when people are getting their own way without regard to how their attitude and actions affect others.
Since those in our adult children's generation, there was little taught about loving sacrifice and honoring anyone. They were taught to love themselves; the focus was mainly on themselves, so they do not understand what empathy toward others looks like.
Exodus 20:12 "12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
I have seen this too in my own life. Once I realized there could be no discussion or resolution, I let them walk away and got on with my life.
People who mistreat others to have power over them cannot be reasoned with; the only solution to our peace is to remove ourselves and walk with those who love Christ as we love Him.
We can pray for those who love to hate us, but a relationship cannot happen until there is repentance and a realization that the way they think and act is not Biblical and does not honor God.
John 13:35 "35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
born-again
1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
Most people in our adult children's generation have no idea what love looks like or whether or not they are acting with dignity and kindness.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1 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."
Unless adult children have repented and trusted in Christ, there can be no relationship. Those who claim to be Christian but walk in anger and contempt will never understand what love and honor look like. They don't honor God, nor do they honor anyone else.
Keep looking up, we are going home soon!
Here is what love looks like that is absent in most people these days, including Christians.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
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 someone consistently displays a lack of the fruit of God's Holy Spirit, they are not born again. This fruit defines them, and is evident to every other authentically born again believer.
Perhaps when we encounter the worldly mistreatment from family we ought to be praying for their salvation whether or not they attend "church."
Since those in our adult children's generation, there was little taught about loving sacrifice and honoring anyone. They were taught to love themselves; the focus was mainly on themselves, so they do not understand what empathy toward others looks like.
Exodus 20:12 "12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
I have seen this too in my own life. Once I realized there could be no discussion or resolution, I let them walk away and got on with my life.
People who mistreat others to have power over them cannot be reasoned with; the only solution to our peace is to remove ourselves and walk with those who love Christ as we love Him.
We can pray for those who love to hate us, but a relationship cannot happen until there is repentance and a realization that the way they think and act is not Biblical and does not honor God.
John 13:35 "35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
born-again
1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
Most people in our adult children's generation have no idea what love looks like or whether or not they are acting with dignity and kindness.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1 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."
Unless adult children have repented and trusted in Christ, there can be no relationship. Those who claim to be Christian but walk in anger and contempt will never understand what love and honor look like. They don't honor God, nor do they honor anyone else.
Keep looking up, we are going home soon!
Here is what love looks like that is absent in most people these days, including Christians.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
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 someone consistently displays a lack of the fruit of God's Holy Spirit, they are not born again. This fruit defines them, and is evident to every other authentically born again believer.
Perhaps when we encounter the worldly mistreatment from family we ought to be praying for their salvation whether or not they attend "church."
Why America is Losing its Grip on Truth
One of the reasons I believe America is going down for the count is that it is too easy and safe here to be called a Christian. The devil does not bother the churches because they are already in his pocket. He is afflicting those who have left the institutional churches and those who stand up against the sin in the institutional churches.
Satan has deceived many in all forms of false doctrine that make people feel good bout themselves and excuse their sin.
Even those who do not commit the big, obvious sins indulge in gossip, rage at disagreement unnecessarily, and are unkind in many ways that they have justified and normalized.
The Corinthian church coddled the sinning man who was sleeping with his father's wife, justifying it by claiming to do it out of love for the one committing grievous sin.
So many thiings done in the name of God in the modern churches are aginst Him. So many people who say they are "Bible believers" think just saying so makes it true, but they have no desire to search the Scriptures to evaluate themselves and become obedient to His Word.
The organized church system has become the tool of the devil, making people feel safe when they should be ashamed.
Jermiah 6:15 "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They were not ashamed at all, nor did they know even how to be ashamed. Therefore, they will fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord."
In the matter of divorce and remarriage, we see most people accepting it as normal when it is full of destruction for families and the culture as a whole.
The same mentality that existed in the Corinthians church, thinking they were loving the sinner by accepting his sin as normal, is the same mentality we have in the churches today as people think they are being loving by not exposing divorce and remarriage.
The Corinthians church accepted sin and even encouraged it, believing they were more noble by loving the person in their sin. They were, in fact, promoting sin within the body by not rebuking it. At the end of the story, they finally obeyed God, chastised the sinning man, put him out of the gathering and eventually he repented, stopped his sin, and returned to the gathering cleansed of that sin.
The ultimate good was done by putting the sinner out of the body, not only for the one who repented and was restored but as an example to everyone else to repent from their sins and work toward holiness within the gathering.
People in the modern churches are becoming harsher, unloving, and judgmental toward the one who calls out sin while promoting the sin by accepting it as normal.
Those who accept the sin call others judgmental while they judge those who come against the sin.
This has been a favorite tactic of the devil from the beginning, to accuse the one doing right of something to make the one doing wrong seem like the victim.
Satan did this with Eve in the garden. He convinced Eve that God was wrong in withholding something from her and that God was the mean one. She listened to him because she placed her desire to have the fruit above God Who created her. God never lied to her but the devil did.
This is what divorce and remarriage are all about! The devil has used lies to convince people that God is withholding pleasure from them by expecting obedience to His Word, which is for their protection.
Because Eve chose to believe the devil instead of God, she got what she wanted, a taste of the forbidden fruit, and it cost her paradise.
God's design for marriage gives us protection, blessings, and security that broken marriages cannot have. It is a lie that second marriages after divorce can be "blended families." It is the same lie the devil used in the garden, that God didn't mean what He said or that He meant evil in His commands and principles. The devil convinced Eve of the opposite of God's ways, and it destroyed all that she had.
One of the terrible consequences of divorce and remarriage in our day is that the children learn to bail out of problems instead of working through them. The example the children learn is that no one is worth fighting for or struggling to save.
In this mess, the children have learned to discard anyone who does not please or elevate them. They refuse to hear correction, punish those who do correct them, and worse, seek to turn others against the one who upholds God's standard.
We desire to uphold God's standard for the good of the person being corrected. We know obeying God is far better, fulfilling, and emotionally and spiritually prosperous than disobeying God.
These violations of God's Word have created a terrible culture of simplicity, shallow thinking, and vengeful people who will not tolerate sensible thinking.
We are living in the times of 2 Timothy 3:1-5. The only recourse is to keep telling the truth, learning to ignore the attacks and get on with those who understand and agree with God.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1 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."
So what is our response to all of this? We must just keep obeying God even if no one comes with us. We are only responsible for obeying, while everyone else is responsible to God for their own response.
Bottom line: Obey the Holy Spirit and ignore the response.
Satan has deceived many in all forms of false doctrine that make people feel good bout themselves and excuse their sin.
Even those who do not commit the big, obvious sins indulge in gossip, rage at disagreement unnecessarily, and are unkind in many ways that they have justified and normalized.
The Corinthian church coddled the sinning man who was sleeping with his father's wife, justifying it by claiming to do it out of love for the one committing grievous sin.
So many thiings done in the name of God in the modern churches are aginst Him. So many people who say they are "Bible believers" think just saying so makes it true, but they have no desire to search the Scriptures to evaluate themselves and become obedient to His Word.
The organized church system has become the tool of the devil, making people feel safe when they should be ashamed.
Jermiah 6:15 "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They were not ashamed at all, nor did they know even how to be ashamed. Therefore, they will fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord."
In the matter of divorce and remarriage, we see most people accepting it as normal when it is full of destruction for families and the culture as a whole.
The same mentality that existed in the Corinthians church, thinking they were loving the sinner by accepting his sin as normal, is the same mentality we have in the churches today as people think they are being loving by not exposing divorce and remarriage.
The Corinthians church accepted sin and even encouraged it, believing they were more noble by loving the person in their sin. They were, in fact, promoting sin within the body by not rebuking it. At the end of the story, they finally obeyed God, chastised the sinning man, put him out of the gathering and eventually he repented, stopped his sin, and returned to the gathering cleansed of that sin.
The ultimate good was done by putting the sinner out of the body, not only for the one who repented and was restored but as an example to everyone else to repent from their sins and work toward holiness within the gathering.
People in the modern churches are becoming harsher, unloving, and judgmental toward the one who calls out sin while promoting the sin by accepting it as normal.
Those who accept the sin call others judgmental while they judge those who come against the sin.
This has been a favorite tactic of the devil from the beginning, to accuse the one doing right of something to make the one doing wrong seem like the victim.
Satan did this with Eve in the garden. He convinced Eve that God was wrong in withholding something from her and that God was the mean one. She listened to him because she placed her desire to have the fruit above God Who created her. God never lied to her but the devil did.
This is what divorce and remarriage are all about! The devil has used lies to convince people that God is withholding pleasure from them by expecting obedience to His Word, which is for their protection.
Because Eve chose to believe the devil instead of God, she got what she wanted, a taste of the forbidden fruit, and it cost her paradise.
God's design for marriage gives us protection, blessings, and security that broken marriages cannot have. It is a lie that second marriages after divorce can be "blended families." It is the same lie the devil used in the garden, that God didn't mean what He said or that He meant evil in His commands and principles. The devil convinced Eve of the opposite of God's ways, and it destroyed all that she had.
One of the terrible consequences of divorce and remarriage in our day is that the children learn to bail out of problems instead of working through them. The example the children learn is that no one is worth fighting for or struggling to save.
In this mess, the children have learned to discard anyone who does not please or elevate them. They refuse to hear correction, punish those who do correct them, and worse, seek to turn others against the one who upholds God's standard.
We desire to uphold God's standard for the good of the person being corrected. We know obeying God is far better, fulfilling, and emotionally and spiritually prosperous than disobeying God.
These violations of God's Word have created a terrible culture of simplicity, shallow thinking, and vengeful people who will not tolerate sensible thinking.
We are living in the times of 2 Timothy 3:1-5. The only recourse is to keep telling the truth, learning to ignore the attacks and get on with those who understand and agree with God.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1 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."
So what is our response to all of this? We must just keep obeying God even if no one comes with us. We are only responsible for obeying, while everyone else is responsible to God for their own response.
Bottom line: Obey the Holy Spirit and ignore the response.
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)