Its important to define legalism. It is not legalism to obey the principle of God in His Word. It is legalism to place pressure on others to obey man's rules that are not in the Bible. So many people place pressure on others to do things their way when their way is not outlined in the Bible.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Narcissists in the Church
I have met many people who are narcissists who go to church, however they act as though He is subject to them.
They change His word to say what they want it to mean rather than humbly seeking Him to learn His heart and mind. These people are always fighters and arguers who always have an excuse or good reason to defy the principles of God.
They fight bitterly to defend their sin even when it is proven that they are offending God. Narcissists love to pretend they love God only to elevate themselves but never to submit to Him or anyone else. Submission is anathema to the narcissist. They fight and argue to defend the sin they engage in while always pointing their finger at others for not adhering to their legalistic rules that are not in the Bible.
These people have false man made morals and standards that God never commanded, their goal is to appear superior to others.
The goal and aim of the narcissist is to prop up their false sense of superiority.
When a narcissists cannot adhere to the truths of the Bible it is strong evidence that they have a god in their own image according to their own desires.
These people are dedicated to outward rituals to appear religious.
Matthew 23:24-26 "…24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.…"
1 John 4:20 "20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
1 Peter 2:16 "16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves."
Galatians 6:3 "3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves."
Luke 6:46 "46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"
Mark 7:6 "6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
Yes, sadly there are my hypocrites and narcissists in the church. The reason is quite simple, we are living in the last days of 2 Timothy 3. Men will become worse and worse as time passes, moving toward the rapture of the church.
This is our great hope as born again believers, soon we will be out of here, God's wrath will be on those who are rebellious and at the end of it we will come back with Christ when He will rid the world of the evil upon it.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."
Revelation 16:1
Six Bowls of Wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior now is the time to ask forgiveness and confess your sinfulness and trust in Christ Who paid the price for your sin. No one can be saved unless they have confessed to be forgiven.
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
They change His word to say what they want it to mean rather than humbly seeking Him to learn His heart and mind. These people are always fighters and arguers who always have an excuse or good reason to defy the principles of God.
They fight bitterly to defend their sin even when it is proven that they are offending God. Narcissists love to pretend they love God only to elevate themselves but never to submit to Him or anyone else. Submission is anathema to the narcissist. They fight and argue to defend the sin they engage in while always pointing their finger at others for not adhering to their legalistic rules that are not in the Bible.
These people have false man made morals and standards that God never commanded, their goal is to appear superior to others.
The goal and aim of the narcissist is to prop up their false sense of superiority.
When a narcissists cannot adhere to the truths of the Bible it is strong evidence that they have a god in their own image according to their own desires.
These people are dedicated to outward rituals to appear religious.
Matthew 23:24-26 "…24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.…"
1 John 4:20 "20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
1 Peter 2:16 "16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves."
Galatians 6:3 "3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves."
Luke 6:46 "46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"
Mark 7:6 "6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
Yes, sadly there are my hypocrites and narcissists in the church. The reason is quite simple, we are living in the last days of 2 Timothy 3. Men will become worse and worse as time passes, moving toward the rapture of the church.
This is our great hope as born again believers, soon we will be out of here, God's wrath will be on those who are rebellious and at the end of it we will come back with Christ when He will rid the world of the evil upon it.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."
Revelation 16:1
Six Bowls of Wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior now is the time to ask forgiveness and confess your sinfulness and trust in Christ Who paid the price for your sin. No one can be saved unless they have confessed to be forgiven.
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
The Liberals are Wearisome
I am weary of liberals making the determination that a child born in poverty will automatically stay in poverty when they grow up to make their own choices.
Nearly all the children of immigrants end up doing better than their parents. My grandparents were poor when they came to this country, but their children ended up making more money than their parents, as is common. We had more opportunities than our parents and did better financially than they did. As if money is the measure of all things anyway, its not!
Liberals are narcissists, they think they know everything and its all based on their mindset not on reality.
Liberals are like little children who make up stories in their heads based on little to no information and pass it all off as truth.
Liberals isolate themselves because they think they know better than everyone else. They refuse to entertain the ideas of those far wiser than they are, leaving them in a state of infancy emotionally and educationally all their lives.
They allow others to tell them how to think rather than evaluating things according to truth and evidence. They also evaluate things in terms of what they want to happen but not on the numbers or the facts.
Proverbs 18:1-3 "1 He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment. 2 A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in airing his opinions. 3 With a wicked man comes contempt as well, and shame is accompanied by disgrace.…"
Abortion is a shame on this culture, the liberals hail it as a right and a reasonable choice as though killing babies should be a choice at all, this is just how irrational are these feeble minded ones.
Homosexuality and transgenderism are irrational to anyone who has learned the science of anatomy in high school 50 years ago. The liberals proclaim "feelings" as more important than truth, even if those feelings make no sense at all.
In order to force society to accept their depraved lifestyle they must attempt to make others believe their irrational and immoral choices are reasonable and acceptable. They are like a bratty child who screams loudly, "But I want to" as their arms and legs flail about in protest.
Sadly though we are living in a culture now that is caving to the intimidation of these insane ones as though because they make strange choices everyone else must endorse their choices. They are having a tantrum it must be important, is the thinking of simple minded people.
Another irrational aspect of these lifestyles and the intimidation to accept them is that just because they can make people fearful to speak against their choices this will cause the people to accept them. They know something for sure, when the society as a whole has become fearful of retaliation if they speak against a lifestyle, the society will cave and remain silent.
When a society remains silent the people will eventually endorse through capitulation. We will soon see family members attending same sex weddings just as we see so many family members attending and endorsing divorce and remarriage which also used to be considered a sin against God.
Why would anyone think that the culture would not cave to the homosexual agenda when it has already caved to shack up couples and remarriage after divorce?
Many things that were considered sins to be avoided by most people in the culture are being accepted today followed by every excuse in the book as to why we should not be mean spirited enough to speak against them.
Those who speak against sin are treated with contempt as though they are the ones doing something wrong.
If you are rational, thoughtful and do your own thinking based on the Bible you are the rare and reasonable person.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Proverbs 1:7 "7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Nearly all the children of immigrants end up doing better than their parents. My grandparents were poor when they came to this country, but their children ended up making more money than their parents, as is common. We had more opportunities than our parents and did better financially than they did. As if money is the measure of all things anyway, its not!
Liberals are narcissists, they think they know everything and its all based on their mindset not on reality.
Liberals are like little children who make up stories in their heads based on little to no information and pass it all off as truth.
Liberals isolate themselves because they think they know better than everyone else. They refuse to entertain the ideas of those far wiser than they are, leaving them in a state of infancy emotionally and educationally all their lives.
They allow others to tell them how to think rather than evaluating things according to truth and evidence. They also evaluate things in terms of what they want to happen but not on the numbers or the facts.
Proverbs 18:1-3 "1 He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment. 2 A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in airing his opinions. 3 With a wicked man comes contempt as well, and shame is accompanied by disgrace.…"
Abortion is a shame on this culture, the liberals hail it as a right and a reasonable choice as though killing babies should be a choice at all, this is just how irrational are these feeble minded ones.
Homosexuality and transgenderism are irrational to anyone who has learned the science of anatomy in high school 50 years ago. The liberals proclaim "feelings" as more important than truth, even if those feelings make no sense at all.
In order to force society to accept their depraved lifestyle they must attempt to make others believe their irrational and immoral choices are reasonable and acceptable. They are like a bratty child who screams loudly, "But I want to" as their arms and legs flail about in protest.
Sadly though we are living in a culture now that is caving to the intimidation of these insane ones as though because they make strange choices everyone else must endorse their choices. They are having a tantrum it must be important, is the thinking of simple minded people.
Another irrational aspect of these lifestyles and the intimidation to accept them is that just because they can make people fearful to speak against their choices this will cause the people to accept them. They know something for sure, when the society as a whole has become fearful of retaliation if they speak against a lifestyle, the society will cave and remain silent.
When a society remains silent the people will eventually endorse through capitulation. We will soon see family members attending same sex weddings just as we see so many family members attending and endorsing divorce and remarriage which also used to be considered a sin against God.
Why would anyone think that the culture would not cave to the homosexual agenda when it has already caved to shack up couples and remarriage after divorce?
Many things that were considered sins to be avoided by most people in the culture are being accepted today followed by every excuse in the book as to why we should not be mean spirited enough to speak against them.
Those who speak against sin are treated with contempt as though they are the ones doing something wrong.
If you are rational, thoughtful and do your own thinking based on the Bible you are the rare and reasonable person.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Proverbs 1:7 "7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
The Bully Who Wanted to be Superior
If a parent over emphasizes their own appearance the child will become obsessed with their appearance while neglecting to develop their character.
"More is caught than taught" is an old saying that attests that children will be more influenced by the behavior of their parents than they are by their words.
Our actions must match our words. Children seem to be able to recognize a hypocrite. Another old saying I heard growing up; "you actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you are saying." Children tend to emulate what they see their authorities are modeling every day.
If there is a narcissistic parent in the family who flatters too much or focuses on outer appearance or personal accomplishments more than character then the children will make these things more important than character.
When the child is trained to be accomplished and look good on the outside while neglecting their inner character the child will not see character as important.
The parent who is attempting to teach character qualities will be ineffective if the narcissistic parent continually ignores the good teaching while dominating in the area of fun, games and praise.
Sisters and brothers it is important that you choose a spouse who understands the value of building character in a child over and above any personal accomplishment or flattery.
Psalm 12:2-3
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;
Psalm 55:20-21
He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.
Proverbs 28:23
He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue.
There is a difference between flattery that builds pride and encouragement that helps build character. Encouragement includes training, instruction and correction to lead in the right direction. Flattery does nothing more than disarm someone to focus on self and superficial vain glory, rather than their growth and improvement.
It is good to tell a child they did a good job if they really did. It is good to tell a child they could have done better when you knew they were capable of more but were acting lazy. Both of these things are encouragement. One says, "that's good, keep going", the other says, "begin again that wasn't your best."
Flattery is not encouragement nor is praising a child who was lazy just for getting a job done when it was not done right. God will not give rewards in heaven just for participation in life.
Flattery is condemned by God, it brings ruin rather than improvement.
Our goal in raising children ought to help them with the skills that will build their character to get along in this life with integrity.
Never, never, never praise a child for doing better than someone else. Encourage a child for doing his best but never in comparison to someone else.
I have known many people who were raised to glory in how much better than someone else did in sports or some other competition. These people transferred their competitive spirit to being better than others in every area of their lives. They compared themselves, bragged about themselves and even treated contemptuously those they considered to be beneath them because they were not as proficient in something as the one who was competitive.
Competition with oneself can be productive, competition with someone else builds arrogance and destroys relationships.
Do your best at whatever you do while paying little attention to comparing yourself with someone else.
2 Corinthians 10:12 "12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance."
Competing with someone else is the same as hoping that other person loses so that you can win or be superior. We see a lot of this in our culture today.
Sadly so many children are taught these days to focus on being better than others rather than on just being better themselves today than they were yesterday, this brings improvement and personal growth.
As a child I remember a young man who beat up a "bully" on the bus on the way home. His family praised that young man for being stronger and bigger and able to beat up the bully.
Sadly the family assumed the young man was telling the truth that the other guy was a bully. The truth was that the young man was working his mouth in disparaging ways that upset the "bully" so this person who was called a bully was provoked into a fight by the young man and was not the real bully at all.
The young man bullied with his mouth and provoked a fight. But because the family did not have the sense to realize the young man framed the whole thing as the fault of the other person they automatically took the word of the favored son encouraging him to believe his wicked words were alright as long as he didn't throw the first punch. Golden children are always enabled to be bullies by their narcissistic parents.
God never tells us in His word to be better than someone else, He instructs us to grow in holiness ourselves and leave the others to God.
When Christ is our focus we can hardly think we are good or better than anyone. When we compare ourselves to Christ we see the need for continual improvement. When we compare ourselves with others we will always find others we perceive as less than us, not necessarily true but our perception is powerful, it drives us to focus on diminishing others to elevate self.
It is good to do our best and get a prize for it. It is also good to hope that others do their best and also get a prize too. Prizes are not for those who lose in competition, but the graciousness of the winner will show their compassion and love for their opponent. Losing motivates us to improve ourselves not to hope that the other person fail in some way so we can win.
This is the motivation of the narcissist, they desire the failure of their target to be able to be superior rather than evaluating themselves to improve on their own character.
Guard against the lies of this culture that we should strive to be better than others and go on to focus on Christ to become more like Him as we confess needed changes in ourselves.
"More is caught than taught" is an old saying that attests that children will be more influenced by the behavior of their parents than they are by their words.
Our actions must match our words. Children seem to be able to recognize a hypocrite. Another old saying I heard growing up; "you actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you are saying." Children tend to emulate what they see their authorities are modeling every day.
If there is a narcissistic parent in the family who flatters too much or focuses on outer appearance or personal accomplishments more than character then the children will make these things more important than character.
When the child is trained to be accomplished and look good on the outside while neglecting their inner character the child will not see character as important.
The parent who is attempting to teach character qualities will be ineffective if the narcissistic parent continually ignores the good teaching while dominating in the area of fun, games and praise.
Sisters and brothers it is important that you choose a spouse who understands the value of building character in a child over and above any personal accomplishment or flattery.
Psalm 12:2-3
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;
Psalm 55:20-21
He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.
Proverbs 28:23
He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue.
There is a difference between flattery that builds pride and encouragement that helps build character. Encouragement includes training, instruction and correction to lead in the right direction. Flattery does nothing more than disarm someone to focus on self and superficial vain glory, rather than their growth and improvement.
It is good to tell a child they did a good job if they really did. It is good to tell a child they could have done better when you knew they were capable of more but were acting lazy. Both of these things are encouragement. One says, "that's good, keep going", the other says, "begin again that wasn't your best."
Flattery is not encouragement nor is praising a child who was lazy just for getting a job done when it was not done right. God will not give rewards in heaven just for participation in life.
Flattery is condemned by God, it brings ruin rather than improvement.
Our goal in raising children ought to help them with the skills that will build their character to get along in this life with integrity.
Never, never, never praise a child for doing better than someone else. Encourage a child for doing his best but never in comparison to someone else.
I have known many people who were raised to glory in how much better than someone else did in sports or some other competition. These people transferred their competitive spirit to being better than others in every area of their lives. They compared themselves, bragged about themselves and even treated contemptuously those they considered to be beneath them because they were not as proficient in something as the one who was competitive.
Competition with oneself can be productive, competition with someone else builds arrogance and destroys relationships.
Do your best at whatever you do while paying little attention to comparing yourself with someone else.
2 Corinthians 10:12 "12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance."
Competing with someone else is the same as hoping that other person loses so that you can win or be superior. We see a lot of this in our culture today.
Sadly so many children are taught these days to focus on being better than others rather than on just being better themselves today than they were yesterday, this brings improvement and personal growth.
As a child I remember a young man who beat up a "bully" on the bus on the way home. His family praised that young man for being stronger and bigger and able to beat up the bully.
Sadly the family assumed the young man was telling the truth that the other guy was a bully. The truth was that the young man was working his mouth in disparaging ways that upset the "bully" so this person who was called a bully was provoked into a fight by the young man and was not the real bully at all.
The young man bullied with his mouth and provoked a fight. But because the family did not have the sense to realize the young man framed the whole thing as the fault of the other person they automatically took the word of the favored son encouraging him to believe his wicked words were alright as long as he didn't throw the first punch. Golden children are always enabled to be bullies by their narcissistic parents.
God never tells us in His word to be better than someone else, He instructs us to grow in holiness ourselves and leave the others to God.
When Christ is our focus we can hardly think we are good or better than anyone. When we compare ourselves to Christ we see the need for continual improvement. When we compare ourselves with others we will always find others we perceive as less than us, not necessarily true but our perception is powerful, it drives us to focus on diminishing others to elevate self.
It is good to do our best and get a prize for it. It is also good to hope that others do their best and also get a prize too. Prizes are not for those who lose in competition, but the graciousness of the winner will show their compassion and love for their opponent. Losing motivates us to improve ourselves not to hope that the other person fail in some way so we can win.
This is the motivation of the narcissist, they desire the failure of their target to be able to be superior rather than evaluating themselves to improve on their own character.
Guard against the lies of this culture that we should strive to be better than others and go on to focus on Christ to become more like Him as we confess needed changes in ourselves.
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