Character is the at the Root of all Actions

One cannot compartmentalize character! One can hide it for a time for a purpose, but the character will come out eventually in devastating ways.

Whatever is hidden will emerge eventually when there is no longer a need to hide it.

Think about it!

Character Matters in our Choice of Friends and Leaders

Character matters, it is what drives us to either keep our word or tell lies to win an argument.

Character matters, it is what motivates us to do the right thing or the wrong thing.

Our country ignores monstrous flaws in character as long as the people are getting what makes them feel safe.

Words are almost nothing, only 7 percent of communication is words, that leaves 93 percent body language, facial expressions and actions that express the true self.

The public persona is almost nothing, it is fabricated to fit a given situation or a group of people.

It is the private life of someone that reveals the true self. This cannot always be seen by others but a discerning believer can see character flaws or blessings because of Christ Who lives in them.

Matthew 7:15-20

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 So then, you will [c]know them by their fruits."

God also said this;

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

The fruit of the Spirit are the character qualities of Christ and every believer can see them in other believers. Those who say you cannot know the heart of a man are ignoring all the scriptures that warn us to watch the walk of brothers and sisters so that we will not be drawn into their errors and become like the false believers.

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.…"

We can discern false Christians by the way they live their life, the things they say, and their ignorance of scriptures with no desire to know the heart of God. Those who do not love God but claim to be believers will fight and argue against the Word of God. A born again believer does not argue against God's word they love it, embrace it, and go to it for instruction to obey it.

John 14:15 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "

John 10:27-28

"27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand."

A born again believer does not fight against correction from the word of God. The born again believer has a great love for God first and then for others. They never walk in pride to be superior, they have a heart for the lost and a deep love of the brethren.

True believers understand the nature of love, they do not fall into the trap of cultural superficial love that has little to no value.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

If we live for Christ we will love God first and then our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment.

39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Final thought!

How could any born again believer love God with all His heart, soul and mind and still fight against His Word? Its not possible, only those who are pretenders do this.

Seeking Christ in this Election

I must preface this by saying that I am not telling anyone not to vote or for whom to vote, I am saying it is dangerous and reckless to idolize a person merely on their promises and public persona. Seek Christ is this so that you will fulfill God's Will, whatever that may be.

In an effort to find out if my sense of things was correct about our president I began reading his book. My suspicions were right, the deception is calculated and targeted toward those who often believe what they wish to believe while missing all the clues that would warn them something is not right.

Judge for yourselves!

A quote from "The Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump

"“I play to people’s fantasies,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 memoir, The Art of the Deal. “I call it truthful hyperbole,” he explained. “It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.” Copywritten in 1987

Notice He often uses grandiose language like; "doing a wonderful job" or "big things are going to happen", "the greatest economy", everything is cloaked in flowery exciting language to make us feel that we would miss out on all these wonderful things if we did not vote for him. This is a typical and common tactic, even modern-day preachers do it, God calls it ear tickling to disarm. It causes people to believe whatever is said without evaluating any of it.

With multiple divorces and remarriage as well as an abortion advocate for many years except in very recent years, there has been a calculated change to accommodate a run for the presidency. There seems to be a disconnect between evangelical Christians and the truth when they rely on words and a public persona more than factual information about someone's life.

I have always been suspect when a person is a life long Democrat, even financially supporting Democrat candidates but at the eleventh hour before running for office they change parties and take on views that are opposite of what was embraced for many years.

I have seen this time and time again in politics, having been politically involved with candidates in past years I know how they think. It is not possible to make it all the way to the presidency in any campaign without seriously compromising one's views and telling half-truths to win the votes of people who might not like you at all if they knew the entire agenda.

I can hear the verbiage in those back rooms where people plot and plan their strategy. They might say things like;

"We must reach that voting block of people who have stopped voting, that is the Evangelical Christians. In order to win them, we will have to pretend to be one of them."

The problem is that someone who pretends to be a born again believer will make very big verbal mistakes because they don't know the Bible and they don't know the expectations of a true born again believer.

Trump clearly said "I don't believe I have done anything to be sorry for. If I make a mistake I just try to do better next time." He doesn't believe two divorces, and affairs and third adulterous marriage is a problem, they were just mistakes, no big deal.

I guess the evangelicals do not care about character as much as they do their finances and their freedom. But who am I to talk I voted for him both times. My thinking was that I went purely on what he says he will do and the other candidate has a murderous attitude in his abortion stance as well as a socialist bent. My honest assessment of things is that it doesn't matter who wins, America is going down for its monstrous sins, that's it!

Notice there were no questions on the abortion issue in either debate, interesting!

A politician might say things like this, I have heard verbiage like this over the years, it is not a stretch to believe this could happen.

"This group of people will accept all our flaws when we say we are one of them." "We will even pretend to be for all the things they are for, their advocate while blasting the other side but never being absolutely clear about our agreement with their desires. "

For years there was a block of people who were not voting, that being those who didn't like voting for the lesser of two evils. They needed to be courted, schmoozed by hearing everything they like to hear. These were the people that put our president over the tipping point to win the election.

I hope I will not lose good friends for saying these things. I hope my good friends who might disagree with me will go and pray to be discerning. Make no mistake I vacillated back and forth several times in the past four years wondering if I was seeing things that were not there. I wasn't hallucinating, I was given discernment only God could give because I prayed about my misgivings.

When all we have is the media coverage and what the candidate says we cannot possibly accurately judge the character of a person.

Often people will take the side of the "underdog", the one who is attacked every day by the media simply because they don't like those attacks, without realizing that even though the attacks are ruthless and wrong, it does not absolve the candidate of all the other clues we see that show a wicked side.

I have heard stories of people who lived with narcissism every day, seeing the carnage of their evil behavior in their own homes. When these victims were in the world, school, church and other venus they observed people who admired and nearly worshiped those who never showed them the evil side of themselves. When the victims would tell on the narcissist the world would not believe the victim.

Far too many people base their assessment of someone on what they can see in the moment and the words they say. This is truly very little information to evaluate someone.

Narcissists are deeply adept at hiding the wicked person inside only exposing their victims in private. They know their reputation in public is so revered that if the victims come out to expose them they will not be believed.

Since most people are predisposed to believe whatever people say to them when they are courted and flattered, they cannot possibly exercise discernment. The clues are there that something is off, in the case of our president the clues are not hard to see but they will deny them in favor of believing what they want.

The Evidence of a Born Again Experience

If there has not been a complete change in the way you think after becoming a Christian then you have not been born again.

When we become born again we are a completely new creation, nothing we think is the same as it was. Everything we desire has changed from worldly to desiring the mind of Christ.

No change, no salvation! But remember you do not change yourself, it is Christ Who makes us into a new creation when we confess our sinfulness and desire to walk with Him.

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 …16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"

Ephesians 2:10

" 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

There should be an initially evident change of character in everyone who becomes born again. The evidence that we have a changed heart is in the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

No change, no fruit equals no salvation! Just saying you are a Christian is not the evidence that you have been born again.

God's Model for the Church

The church gathering does not need to pay for a preacher, the men of the church should preach, teach, and lead without being paid, this is the Biblical model. The Biblical model is a plurality of elders led by the Holy Spirit, not a seminary educated by man.

No one should be paid in the local church gathering and all local gatherings should be autonomous from all the others even though they can work together at times. Each gathering should have a plurality of leadership, no one seen as more special than anyone else.

Every believer in all the gatherings has the Holy Spirit, all should listen to one another as the Holy Spirit leads. You see, the Holy Spirit is our leader not men.

The modern church committing to a paid pastor educated by human seminaries leads to all the compromises and false doctrine coming out of the churches today. In short, it leads to apostasy.

The following passage was given to all born again believers.

John 16:13

"13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."

Yes, if we are wise we listen to the wisdom of others and we share ours because we are a family who cares about one another.

2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."

The 2 Timothy verse was given to all believers. We are to be ready all the time to handle every discussion according to the Word of God. Some people have a special calling to preach but that does not mean that all others are excluded from sharing what the Holy Spirit has imparted to them.

Galatians 5:26 “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another”

If we walk in humility we do not seek to be superior to others. We love to discuss the things of God, everyone allowed to express what is on their heart as well as being attentive to hearing others who have something to share.

Bottom Line: No one is superior to anyone else and everyone has something to share.

Pulpit & Pen Founder Says, "John MacArthur is WRONG..."

Here is the problem with the modern Church. The idea that there must be a one-man pastor paid as a job is not biblical. The idea that someone cannot be a pastor as their service unless they have some kind of degree from a human seminary is also unbiblical.

When these pastors who have been ordained by human means and receive a salary are challenged about the validity of their belief system they often attack the character of the one challenging them.

Rather than look at the Bible to see if they may have a wrong belief system.

It is clear to me that the model of the modern church with one man paid pastor comes from the Catholic Church a hierarchy system that God never commanded. This is why so many people who are born again have left these apostate churches.

They study the Bible and pray and seek the face of God far more than those hirelings in the pulpit these days. One of the most difficult things to deal with is tradition of men.

Once someone has been trained in a tradition that they're comfortable with it's very hard to point them to the truth. They just will not listen to it, they're discomfort level at another idea that might not be comfortable for them is too much to bear.

Seeking God not Man

One of the most damaging false doctrines in the modern church is the human tradition of a one-man hireling, someone paid to be over the others.

This has caused the men in the gatherings to become lazy, allowing the one man to do all the preaching, teaching and even taking a godly status over everyone.

"Pastor" is not a position or a title", we need to stop saying "pastor so and so" as though they are a pope or a king. We don't say, "giver so and so" but the giver is one of the gifts. We do not title people according to their gits.

Calling a man "Pastor so and so" is elevating that man who is supposed to serve above all the other men and women of the church as more special and anointed than the others. This is the nature of the Catholic church and many pagan cults.

Because of this false teaching of a "one man paid pastor" the congregations depend on this hireling far more than they depend on Christ. They rush to ask the pastor for guidance when they should be going to the Holy Spirit. Many pastors these days are steeped in psychology and bring horrendously bad counsel to those who are not adept in the Word of God. Then the pastors often intimidate the other believers in the group if they do not want to follow their particular counsel because it doesn't sound right.

Our counsel must come from the Holy Spirit. When a leader in the church declares something to be true then we are to take it to God to see if its true and even confront the leader if they are in error.

The hirelings have duped many Christians today into believing they have the ultimate and final authority and the "pew sitter" knows nothing.

People have a tendency to follow those who believe they are superior, it makes them feel safe and they don't have to do any thinking for themselves. This is spiritual laziness and condemned by God.

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"

This passage is referring to every single born again believer.

1 John 2:26-28 "26 I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His TRUE and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught. 28 And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming."

Those who place themselves in a superior position to Lord it over the people are not only in error but they are sinning.

Matthew 20:23-28 "23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.

25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave

— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”"

Our modern culture of one man pastorship fosters pride, arrogance, rude and unloving pressure for the "underlings" to worship that man in the pulpit because it is unbiblical.

Most church attendees today cannot wrap their minds around the Biblical standard ordained by God because they have been deeply steeped and trained in a false way for many generations. Anyone who comes along attempting to bring the Bible to bear on the nature of the first-century church gathering is mocked and then ignored. The very churches that say they are bible believing practice cultic Catholic governance and think they are Biblical.

Brothers and sisters do not be intimidated by those who would pressure you to be in one of these gatherings as though it is mandated by God. Many of these hirelings will intimidate others with the scriptures that they snatch from context to shame those who do not attend a formal gathering.

If you have fellowship with others during the week, if you share in conversation with other believers, even if only two or three you have fulfilled the scripture that says "not to forsake the gather together of the believers.

Matthew 18:20 "20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”"

Remember, paid hirelings have a vested interest in shaming people who do not come to their gathering for the sake of gathering their "tithes", another false doctrine, that pays their salary.

When you question all things, seeking the Holy Spirit and reading the Bible you will find much of what the modern church groups are doing is false. Little snippets of a sentence are snatched out of context as they develop an entire doctrinal rule around it. If the context is understood often the meaning God gave is not at all what the hirelings have devised.

Bottom Line: Seek Christ, remove all that is modern thinking including psychology and do what God tells you. Let no one intimidate you into following their way. If its not God's way discard and disregard it.