Galatians 4:16-17 "16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.…"
Have you used God's word recently to warn someone about preachers who teach false doctrine and then found your friendship suddenly dissolved?
Has the person who used to appreciate you gossiped against you, refused to discuss your disagreement, and began treating you as an enemy?
Some of us have experienced this many times because we made the mistake of believing we could openly share the Bible with those who said they were Christians.
It is a dead giveaway when love is withheld and anger replaces the friendship with contempt. This suggests to me that the person who rejected us never was truly our friend or they would be allowed us to share openly without fear of rejection.
Sometimes we experience more rejection from other Christians than we do from unbelievers. This has been a lifelong experience for me ever since I became born again.
I was in the Catholic church where God was not mentioned outside the building and only in spoken mantras read from a book without any sense of passion during the mass.
Then when I became born again I expected the congregations to have more fervor for the Word of God only to be met with contempt and hostility when I would want a Biblical answer for what was being preached.
Most gatherings now have become apostate, preaching a social gospel of works or "appearances" without understanding what it means to be born again.
Not only do the cultural Christians not want to hear from the Word of God but they exclude from their lives those who consider salvation through Christ a lifetime walk not just something we say.
I would be happy to explain what it means to be born again and why dependence on the Holy Spirit after salvation is so very important. You are welcome to message me and we can have a chat.
John 3:1-12 "1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
2 this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.
12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? "
