Provocation Reveals the Heart

Provocation does not shape the character of a person, it only reveals it.

Arguing with the devil hoping he will stop his behavior is down right silly. The best thing to do is remove ourselves from those who have no interest in truth, but love to argue. Ignoring God's principles of "not answering a fool according to their folly", is folly itself!

Those who are self righteous and arrogant really believe they can win in an argument with someone merely by beating up on them a little more. It shows a great deal of maturity to walk away from silly arguments when we know no one is going to change their mind.

We can tell when someone is stubborn and combative, there is no excuse for remaining in a contentious argument with a fool.

Proverbs 26:20-22 "…20For lack of wood the fire goes out, And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. 21Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.…"

Galatians 5:15
"But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another."

Proverbs 13:10
"Through insolence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel."

Psalm 120:7
"I am for peace, but when I speak, They are for war."

Psalm 140:2
"Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars."

Proverbs 15:18
"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute."

Proverbs 17:19
"He who loves transgression loves strife; He who raises his door seeks destruction."

Proverbs 18:6
"A fool's lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows."

Proverbs 26:21
"Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife."

Walking By Faith

NO picture of a man depicting Christ is Him, they are all idols because those who look at them wish it were Him.

When I became born again I cleansed my house of all pictures that depicted Christ. When I was "religious" I thought I was being spiritual by having a picture, it was after I became born again I was appalled by them.

In the days gone by, movies about Christ never showed the face of the man portraying Him.

Those who practice "religion" love articles they can look at to maintain their faith, they are actually faithless without idols.

John 4:24
"24 God is [a]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Matthew 16:4 "4 A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away. "

Those who lack faith must see things with their eyes and touch things with their hands to have faith, but it's not faith at all.

Hebrews
"11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

"Things not seen", when we trust Christ and believe His Word, we don't need to continually see something to maintain strong faith, just the opposite, we walk by faith every single day whether or not there is anything unusual happening.

Angels are Not Dead People

God looks at our heart even more than the sin we do.

Matthew 15:17-19 "…17“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.…"

When someone stands at the grave of a loved one and speak to them, they are practicing necromancy, it is forbidden by God. Even if they do not expect for them to speak back, they are attempting to connect with the dead in some way.

Our culture has accepted this practice because of the influence of the Catholic church that teaches speaking to the dead.

Isaiah 8:19-20

"And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn."

1 Timothy 4:1

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,"

1 Timothy 2:5

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"

People do not intercede for anyone, they are dead and have no power, it is only Christ Who intercedes for believers. Non-believers have no advocate with the father.

Leviticus 20:6

"“If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."

God considers it adultery against Him when mankind turns to dead people or angels for their advice. And, let me inform you, people do not turn into angels when they die. Angels are a completely different species to humans, also created by God, they are not gods themselves.

1 Corinthians 6:3 "3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! "

I found it a wonderful release to ask God about every tradition and remove from my life all those things I was taught that were not Biblical. Some traditions are not evil, such as an home town ball team and it's colors. However there are many traditions that are opposed to God even though they seem harmless.

Many believers are being deceived by our culture to believe that we can worship angels, that people become angels when they die and that dead people hear us when when we speak to them at their graves. These things are deceptions that diminish God and violate His Word.

May we evaluate every thing we have learned in our culture with the purpose to remove from our lives anything that disobeys God.