Had I not done a study on manipulation and intimidation, I might have been tempted to doubt what the Lord has been telling me on many subjects.
God showed me, that much of what rebellious people do, is more based on intimidation and manipulation than it is truth. One of their favorite tactics is to call us names while calling into question our heart.
The very people who love their sin will accuse us of things we are not doing, but they are doing. The devil is very cleaver in this, if a person is not strong in the Lord, they can become impotent at the barrage of attacks leveled against them almost daily.
Mark 13:9
"But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them."
While we are not delivered up to the authorities at this point, as the apostles were, we do undergo continual attacks for speaking what God has commanded us to speak.
The very people who walk among us in the gatherings, will argue with us or even avoid us to cover up the guilt they sense in their hearts over the sin that they love and refuse to reject.
Proverbs 28:13
King James Version (KJV)
"13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
Some of us have been accused of being unloving for coming against sin. That could not be farther from the truth. Those who will not attempt to rescue their brother and sisters from the jaws of sin, or even defend the evil deeds of friends and family are not loving. It is also not loving to speak only continually flowery words in a time of great apostasy in the gatherings.
Isaiah 30:1-5
"“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
That they may add sin to sin;
2 Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
4 For his princes were at Zoan,
And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them,
Or be help or benefit,
But a shame and also a reproach."
Proverbs 29:25
"25 The fear of man brings a snare,
But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe."
Proverbs 29:5
"A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet."
Proverbs 1:24-28
New King James Version (NKJV)
24 Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
We are in the last days, this is what those days look like, even in the gatherings.
2 Timothy 3:1-9
"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was."
If you love your brethren, then you will be warning and admonishing those in the fellowship, even challenging them to ask God if they have ever been born again, because the days are evil and many will not know Christ but think they are saved.
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"
What a frightening thing to realize that someone can get before God on judgement day, thinking they are going to walk into heaven and being declared wicked, only to have our Lord say to them, "I NEVER KNEW YOU."
What a frightening day that will be for many who have loved their sin, refused to submit to Christ and all the while thought they were going to heaven.
