Evil in the Religions

I am convinced that the things written in the article below, didn't end! There is still a lot of wickedness going on in the Catholic church system and in the protestant denominations as well as the other cults. Men are hard wired to have wives, when unsaved men are forced into celibacy, we can expect every kind of perversion.

The Catholic church is all about outer appearances, there is little if ever anything said about the inner heart. When appearances are enough, then there is nothing stopping all kinds of evil as long as it is hidden.

Many people in our culture are not born again, they don't think in terms of God seeing all they do. If they can hide their evil from those who might disapprove, they are comfortable with their sin.

Recently however, sin is being celebrated openly, the more sin that is accepted the more it grows. Accepting of one sin in a culture is like fertilizer to the plant in which dwells all the other sins.

Our country legalized divorce and remarriage, then the restraints on pornography were lifted, prostitution became legal in some areas, gambling was legalized, abortion, same sex marriage and now we see the forced mandates that perverted men can use women's bathrooms. The floodgates to widespread sin of every form have been opened, there is no stopping anything anymore.

Galatians 5:9 "A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough."

1 Corinthians 5:6 " 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump,"

God wrote the verses above to the church, imagine how much worse the unregenerate world is without any standards or principles to follow except those they dream up in their own minds.

Romans 8:5 "5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,…"

Galatians 5:17
"For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."

Galatians 5:19
"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;"

Philippians 3:19
"Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things."

Trials Can Be A Growth Spurt

I was listening to a woman life coach today that shed some light on dealing with rejection, her name is Sheila Robinson-Kiss. I don't know much about her except that some of the things she said made good Biblical sense.

One of the things she said that struck me as valuable was one sentence, "Man's rejection is God's protection."

She went on to say that rejection is God's way of getting our attention so that we regroup and go a new direction. It might be a way of looking at the loss of people in our lives or the loss of anything really. When we lose someone because they are not walking the same path we are, then the loss may actually be a gain.

After listening to her, it made perfect sense to me that when we run into situations that we cannot work out, we can know that Christ is doing something new in our lives and hearts. We don't need to see these matters that we consider difficulties as bad that is happening to us, but as blessings redirecting our life. God has changed the direction of entire rivers, why would we not think He might change the direction of our lives?

Perhaps if we would think of our trials in this way, that every trial is producing of new challenge to make us better, stronger and eventually impervious to the storms that come at us, then we would take them less seriously. So often we allow trials and people to control our responses and emotions, when we ought to allow Christ to do that.

This thinking is right in line with God's Word that says this;

James 1:2-25
"2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and [h]without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does."

Remove the Splitters!

Recognize the "splitters", people who will attempt to divide relationships. These people know how to elevate certain people while devaluing others to gain advantage.

Often they will elevate someone for no other reason except that they know they can manipulate them. Those who use this tactic of splitting, desire to be near the person who is perceived as accomplished in one way or another, worthy of their respect, while devaluing the one who they perceive as less accomplished, unworthy of respect and honor.

Those who value one person over another depending on their accomplishments cannot have two people that they love in their life, they must have one person they love who measures up to their idea of valuable and the other they cannot love because they do not measure up to their idea of valuable. This value is often based on personality, career and appearance.

It is not always obvious what the splitter is doing, often there are subtle digs and ignoring toward the devalued one and blatant flattery and open attention to the valued one.

When we see this happening we need to exit the relationship. Even if we are the one being valued, we must learn to look past the flattery to the intent and become an ally to the devalued one.

Jude 1:16 "16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage."

When I was in elementary school, there were those who were devalued by the popular kids, they were picked on and ignored because they didn't measure up to the grandiose ideas of the special ones.

When I saw this I became angry, purposefully defending those who were being bullied, for no other reason than they were perceived as ugly, or didn't dress in style and other things that were superficial nonsense and may not have even been true.

I was what people called a "wall flower", basically meaning those who were wall flowers were invisible, no one paid much attention to them, they weren't picked on, just ignored. I always had one good friend or two, but never really fit into any group or clique.

Grateful today for what was my life, because I never was compelled to obey the group leanings, since they showed no interest in me anyway. I learned to walk according to my own mind. After I became born again it was easy to walk with Christ because I had already learned how to be alone, it was comfortable for me. Having been changed into a new creation by Christ enhanced the training He had for me before I was born again.

I have said to others in recent years, the best thing that could happen to your children is to NEVER be popular. Popularity breeds pride, compliance to worldly ways and often destroys ones ability to turn to Christ. It prevents individual thought while compliance to the clique keeps those entrenched in bondage to everyone else in the group.

When peer pressure has chains on us, we need to break free, willing to be rejected to obey Christ. The chains can only be removed by devotion to the principles of Christ no matter what!

Never allow rejection to dominate your feelings, it is our friend, it teaches us to walk alone with Christ even when we will lose everything, or what seems like everything, but is really most people.

In these last days we can expect to be rejected more than accepted when we are sold out to Christ. Glory in that, enjoy Him and walk free from the dictates of ungodly people.

James 1:2-3 "2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Mark 13:12-13 "…12"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13"You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."

John 15:18-25 "John 15:18-27
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause."

Notice verse 25 "they hated Me without a cause."

When they hate us but we cannot see what we did to cause it, very often it is because you do not dance to their drummer, nor are you easily manipulated by them, they cannot stand your freedom and peace.

Don't allow them to control who you are in Christ, let Christ control you.

Pray For Discernment

Jeremiah 12:6
"“For even your brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you, Even they have cried aloud after you. Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”

Developing discernment in this day and age is a valuable tool. So often we are more concerned about being liked by someone than we are about building quality relationships and honoring God, that we ignore the subtle signs of problem relationships.

Psalm 37:30 "30 The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just."

Proverbs 1:7 '7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Proverbs 3:7 "7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil."

When our gut tells us that something just isn't right but we can't identify it, then we need to go to prayer asking God to show us.

Often we ignore that sense that things are not as they should be because we don't see anything blatantly. We walk around on egg shells. When the person walks into the room we have an uncomfortable feeling as though something is wrong, when nothing has happened yet. Perhaps that sense of doom has to do with past encounters when this person has been consistently rude or jealous, sometimes it is a spirit within the person that emanates from them.

We had a German Shepherd dog several years ago, who was friendly and loving to everyone, he never demonstrated any hostility toward anyone ever, except one person.

I was at a laundromat to wash a large quilt that wouldn't fit in my washer at home, the dog came with me. As I was sitting in a chair waiting for the quilt to be finished, a man walked up to me, stood for a moment and just looked at me, he did nothing else except look. The dog got up from his laying position, the hairs went up on his back and he growled a low but intense growl to warn the man. After 12 years with this dog I had never seen him growl at anyone.

There were other people sitting a few chairs away, after the man walked away, they turned to me and said, "your dog didn't like that man, something must be wrong with him." They new my dog was not a mean dog because he had wagged his tail at them and they petted him, he showed no hostility toward the others in the room.

I have lived with animals all my life, one thing I have learned is to trust the instincts of a dog. They can sense things that we would not notice as evil. We might sense something but brush it off as unimportant.

We cannot be as astute as a dog can in many cases, but I am convinced we can train ourselves to be discerning by understanding body language, facial expressions and verbiage that are indicators that we need to be wary of someone.

A dogs sense of smell is 100 times more powerful than ours, perhaps their assessment of spirits is also that much stronger than ours.

I have heard stories of animals that could feel an earthquake long before a human can, their senses are far more sensitive than ours.

As I grew in the Lord over the years I began to be able to hear the Lord when He speaks, often when it comes to the attitudes of people. There have been a few times when God has warned me intensely about someone before I knew anything, only to find out later why God warned me.

God can tell us something is wrong without our ability to see it yet. When this happens it is wise to believe Him, walk away and pray that He re-enforce what He told you. I am always second guessing myself thinking "Lord did I hear you right?" I am never sorry when I do that, it is then that God usually shows me why He warned me, I discover over time what was evil about the person I was warned about.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 "21"But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil."

Ephesians 4:14 "14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;"

These verses are speaking about discerning right from wrong concerning doctrine, however when we become discerning in this it develops wisdom in many others things pertaining to relationships.

Proverbs 15:21
"Folly is joy to him who lacks sense, But a man of understanding walks straight."

Philippians 1:9-10
"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;"

Hosea 14:9
"Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them For the ways of the LORD are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them."

Leviticus 10:10
"and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,"

Proverbs 28:11
"The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding sees through him."

1 Kings 3:9
"So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

1 Corinthians 12:10
"and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the DISTINGUISHING OF SPIRITS, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues."

The two foundational principles in all this is to be in continual communication with Christ Who lives in you, while knowing His principles as written in His Word. He will tell us these things when we want to know.

James 1:4-6 "…4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.…"