This hit home!!!! I am no longer worried about anyone treating me badly for standing up for truth. Perhaps we have been trained by trials to be strong in the face of foolishness. Since we have Jesus Christ and He is all we need, we are not concerned with keeping friendships with terrible people who cause trouble by their disrespect and dishonor of us. When others rage irrationally to intimidate and control, we can stand strong, speak truth and let them walk on down the road if they do not like it.
May the Lord bless others through discernment about truth!
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Ephesians 6:12 "12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
We are encountering these people more frequently as the world grows more wicked before the Holy Spirit is taken out.
When we encounter those who act in ungodly ways to control their target, we know we are watching a devil who is influencing the person they dominate.
Matthew 26:22-24 "…22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” 23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me."
Peter was not a devil, he was a man who loved the Lord but did not have the Holy Spirit to be able to resist the devil when the devil influenced his thinking.
When Christ was taken to a high hill to be offered the kingdoms of the world he is God able to resist because He is God. After Christ died and rose from the dead He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in His children. It is by the Holy Spirit that we can be discerning, recognizing good from evil and manipulation from authenticity.
Those who are pretenders, claiming to be Christian but do not possess the Holy Spirit, do not have this discernment. They do not have the ability to see things in truth or to resist the twisted thoughts the devil places in their heads.
When we have been trained by the Holy Spirit we can more easily see when a diabolical individual is working their evil. The signs become obvious over time. The more we resist the ploys and plots of the devil the worse the narcissist becomes.
The narcissist is continually compelled by their god, that is themselves, to follow any and all feelings that drive them to their evil acts. When someone is dedicated to self worship they will be also controlled by devils. Worship of self is the gateway to the demonic world. The devil will inculcate much disordered thinking into the defenseless minds of narcissists.
This is the reason we see so much evil today, discord everywhere, in families, work, churches etc. Most people are more heavily influenced by demonic forces than ever before. This has infected the entire world, being the sign of the end.
2 Timothy 3
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, 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 men as these.
6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.
9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,
11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!
12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
We see from this passage that every believer will encounter wicked people who wish to draw our attentions away from God. The devil will use their weaknesses, through their thoughts to attack us in some way, even if only diminishing our walk.
If possible it is good to get away from them as 2 Timothy 3:5 tells us to do. Keep in mind it is not a suggestion that we remove ourselves from them, it is a command.
Those who practice lawlessness will attempt to and succeed in changing us into their likeness if we do not guard against it.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.…"
Far too many believers spend too much time with ungodly family members. They are pressured by the culture that we are abandoning family if we "come out from among them." The truth is that we are always to place God above any human being.
Luke 14:26-27 "26“ If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters— yes, even his own life— he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.…"
When we want to walk with Christ we must leave behind all those who hate Him. Our loyalties are always with Him over anyone else.
Matthew 10:21-23 "…21 Brother 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 on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved."
Luke 12:52-54 "…52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 54 Then Jesus said to the crowds, “As soon as you see a cloud rising in the west, you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and that is what happens."
In verse 54 of the passage in Luke we see that the mentality of hatred toward the people of God will be a major sign that Christ is coming soon. "A shower is coming" tells me that when we see the darkening of things in the world, evil prospering while righteousness is persecuted, then we will know the time is short before Christ comes for His church.
That darkness is here and growing darker every day. But then God says this:
Luke 21:27-29 "…27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 29 Then Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees."
Believers do not hang your head in sorrow as we see these things, be expectant and joyful. When we do not take these events or mistreatment personally as though it is unique to us, then we will be far less affected by it. Yes it hurts, yes its ugly, but its not about you, its about your devotion to Christ that angers and perturbs the devil and his angels. The narcissist is nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the devil.
Be like a rubber ball, when something hits you between the eyes let it bounce off. Admit that its the problem but do not let the problem stick to you.
Hallelujah: Knowledge is power, knowing God sees it all and is in control, brings us power to resist becoming like those who work against us.
