Group, Independent or Wise Thinker, Which are You?

Group Thinker: One who chooses to think like the group to be accepted by it no matter how wrong the group might be in their decisions. There is a fear of being excluded or rejected, this think operates from fear.

Independent Thinker: One who deliberately thinks differently from others in fear of being controlled by others, this person also operates from fear.

Rational/Wise Thinker: a rational wise thinker decides what makes sense according to the evidence and as a believer in God's word will use God's Word to determine a good and righteous decision.

Group thinkers and independent thinkers are controlled by others. The group thinker is controlled by the group and the independent thinker is controlled by others through the fear of being controlled by others.

The wise rational godly thinker is the only one who is free from fear, free to make decisions based on God's Word and righteous thinking rather than being controlled by others.

Nothing the wise thinker does is based on the actions or reactions of others but rather on the principles of God.

Psalm 19:8-10

"8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold;

Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb."

Everyone is controlled by someone, either the people around them, the devil or their own fleshly heart except the born-again believer, who are controlled by the Holy Spirit with the choice whether or not to obey Him. The wise man obeys God because he knows God is perfection and anything He tells us will be for our best and His glory.

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever."

John 14:21

"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."

1 John 2:3

"By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments."

Those who live by the culture will not be able to live by the Holy Spirit. Those who live by the Holy Spirit will not be able to live by the culture.

That's how it all works!!!!

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How Did We Get in this Mess?

1 John 3:1 "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not."

1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

Hebrews 2:11

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,"

1 Corinthians 1:26

"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;"

1 Corinthians 1:10

"Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment."

2 Peter 1:10

"Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;"

1 Peter 5:9

"But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world."

God also referred to believers as "disciples of Christ."

Matthew 28:19-20

“ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Nowhere in the Scriptures do we see anyone being referred to as any of these phrases to describe followers of Jesus Christ:

Baptists: Founded on the belief that man is saved through Baptism

Calvinists: Those who follow Calvin, even quoting him more than Christ.

Pentecostals: Named after a one-time event in Scripture.

Presbyterian: Founded by Calvin focused on hierarchy

Methodist: Based on Methods of worship

Lutheran: Followers of Luther

Reformed: Followers of Calvin

Apostolic: foundedon the conversion experience of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich

Hussites: Followers of Jan Huss

Quakers: George Fox started the "Society of Friends" in England

These are terms assigned to people based on a particular belief system usually reactions to difficult times in the world and even the church.

Often down through the ages "Christians" would disagree on a particular doctrine within the church they would begin a new group naming that group after their favored preacher or doctrine.

There was never a need to begin new groups assigning a man's name or favored doctrine to the group. The best thing to do is to begin a Christian group without naming it after a doctrine or preachers, rather naming it as God did; "the church at Corinth", in other words calling us the "believers at Longview" or the "brethren in St. Lewis", whatever location where there were brethren.

The church is not divided as many of these groups might think. Authentic born-again believers do not divide up into groups based on preachers or doctrine, they remain faithful to the Bible and acknowledge all born-again believers as their brothers.

There are many unbelievers who think they are "Christians" but are not born again in all the denominations now. Because people identify with their group far more than they do Christ leaves us with strong evidence that the club mentality has overtaken the church.

Consider for a moment asking someone who attends church if they are born again. Most of the time the answer that comes back will be which church they attend. They will say; "I go to the baptist church down the street" or "I am Presbyterian." Rarely do they say I am a born-again follower of Christ because it is not the way they think.

Those who think in club terms will tell you which church they attend. Those who think in Spiritual terms will tell you they follow Jesus Christ.

I have heard people say; "I follow Calvin", or "I follow Luther", in direct violation of the scriptures that say this: Gods words not mine:

1 Corinthians 3:3-5 "…3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4 For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.…"

So now that we have seen how far we have fallen, perhaps we will resist becoming like this if we are not already and if we are already we can repent from it.

Now see how many people think in Spiritual terms, you will find few. This is a sign of the end times when most who attend churches have never been born again.

For many years in this country, we have experienced a cultural Christianity in which people attended church because; "it was the decent thing to do", not because they loved Jesus Christ and wanted to become holy. The cultural standard was better than an ugly life but it was not based on a relationship with Christ, therefore it was easily discarded when the rules relaxed.

We see now why we are in the mess we are in today. The Bible was not the standard even though parts of it were used to create the standard. The dedication was not to Christ but the standard.

We got here because we liked to feel safe and happy, not because we loved Christ with all our hearts.

Pentecostalism the False Christianity

The problem with the modern Pentecostal movement is that it teaches that if a thought comes into your head it is always God speaking.

If they have a dream, any dream will have meaning. They believe all you have to do is say things and that brings the words into events.

The sad thing is they negate the work of the devil in the hearts and thoughts of men. They deny that dreams and visions can be from the devil and that he often permeates the thoughts of those who are not protected by the Holy Spirit, in other words, those who claim Christianity but have never been born again.

It is blasphemous to say that man can do what only God could do, that is speak things into existence. I have seen people claim someone is healed and the person doesn't get healed, so they say it will be gradual. When Christ healed it was instantaneous, not gradual.

If the thing does not happen, that they "claim" they have an out, they claim the one being healed didn't have enough faith. The one who did not receive what they "claimed" did not have enough faith.

God clearly commanded us to pray in His will, to ask for His will when we don't know what it is, and to accept His will when it is not what we had prayed or hoped. Never did the scripture ever tell us to pray or demand our own will.

Demanding from God is sinful and claiming things is playing God. There are no scriptures that say we should "claim" anything. These are principles God never gave that were added by those who thought they should be as powerful as God, a sort of like "Eve syndrome" when she thought she could be as God.

The name it and claim it false gospel came out of new-age metaphysical paganism. Just like many things the modern Christian believes that are not Biblical this added from paganism to false Christianity.

Beware of anything that sounds like you will be in control of your own destiny, it is a trap from the devil.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

Those who assigned powers to themselves are listening to devils. When we are born again we know all power is from Christ and we must seek Him for His Will.

"Helpmeet" the Counselor

The word "helpmeet" was given to one who would be a counselor that is the woman. When Eve neglected her job of helping the man in Spiritual matters and life principles she went out on her own to disobey God. Rather than discussing the matter with her husband she merely believed the snake allowing her emotions to carry her to forbidden actions. She counseled her husband to follow the snake and mankind became cursed because of it.

This ought to tell us how powerful the wife is in the life of a husband. She has been given that power by God, but in Eve's case she misused it to influence her husband to follow her and the snake instead of to follow God.

God knew that the man was spiritually incomplete without Eve's encouragement and counsel. To leave the husband alone to figure things out all by himself is like a ship without a rutter. What is more important, the ship or the rudder? They are equally important.

Adam was commanded to lead his wife, but instead, he chose to follow her. He could have taken the fruit from her hand and said no to her, but he chose to follow the wrong way. They both fell down on their God-given responsibility to lead and to counsel correctly according to God's commands.

James 3:4-5 "4 Consider ships as well. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot is inclined. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze."

In this passage we see how powerful the woman's words and guidance are, they are either a blessing or a curse to husbands.

Men can be deeply encouraged or deeply discouraged by the words and overall mentality of a woman. God said it was not good that man be alone, he needs the support and guidance of his wife.

In a cursory study of the word "helpmeet", we find that the woman is the completion of man, she is the other half of him that is lacking. He has attributes his wife does not have and she has attributes her husband does not have, they are the completion of one another.

Neither is above the other but each has unique qualities that the other one must have to be complete.

In our culture we often find men mocking women for thinking a certain way and women mocking men for thinking a certain way, this is contrary to God's design. To mock how God made men is to deny His purpose in the marriage. And to deny how God made women is to deny His purpose in the marriage.

Men and women were created for different tasks appropriate to their genders. One is not better than the other, both are needed, they are both equal and needed.

Sadly in our day women are refusing to admit their own gender roles. It is sort of strange that instead of women embracing their role and purpose they want to be like the man as though his role is better and preferable.

Ask any woman's libber which role is better she will avoid the subject. To want to be like the man she is declaring she is nothing unless she is like a man.

A woman's role as God has given to the woman is powerful, to step out of the role is to place the woman in a role that negates her natural bent.

To see her natural bent as worthless to the degree that she must be like the other person is to declare her own being is not worthy of acceptance.

The women's libbers are basically saying they are worthless unless they become like men. This is absolute foolishness flying in the face of the womans' natural, God-given and blessed abilities.

Families have been destroyed by self-denigrating women who hate their own bodies and their own abilities.

Wise women accept and love how God made them. They are an asset to their husbands because they have remained in the role God gave them and they excel at it because of their love for God first and their husband and children.

Those who have bought into the women's libber concept of accomplishment have denied themselves the joy and pleasure of their own God-given gender qualities. I feel sorry for them, they have destroyed their families, ruined communities, and ultimately frustrated their children.

The word "helpmeet" engenders the connotation of "the opposite", meaning the woman is the opposite of man and the man is the opposite of woman, making the two together complete. There is greater power in a team than there is in an individual.

Each gender in a marriage must be allowed to freely exercise their God-given roles with support from their spouse.

The man does not dictate to the woman her daily tasks and the woman does not dictate to the husband his daily task, they each support the decisions of the others' roles while counseling one another based on their gender qualities.

No man/woman is an island as they say, everyone needs counseling and everyone needs support. As we exercise our roles we take into account the desires and needs of our partners in life, those whom we have committed to in marriage. Because we love them we care what they think, how they feel and about their safety. But most of all we care deeply about their Spiritual well-being, this takes priority over every single thing.

Proverbs 3:5-7 "…5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.…"

Those who think they are wise in their own eyes will not listen to their spouse, will mock and demean those who care about them. The most destructive attitude in any relationship is the mentality that we are so wise we need not hear from anyone else.

May those who are born-again see the value of living out the marriage the way God intended that not only will the family be secure as far as they have obeyed, but also the Christian example will be seen by those in the community as one blessed by God.

Our greatest witness to the world is in the way we live our lives and the joy we possess because we trust Christ every day. Hallelujah!!!!