2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness?"
Authentically born-again believers have the character qualities of Christ. It is not only the leaders who are wolves in sheep's clothing it is all anyone who claims to be a Christian but has never been born-again, changed into a new person by Christ.
Matthew 7:15-20
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
The fruit of the Spirit is as follows:
Galatians 5:22-23 " 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.…"
This fruit comes from the love of Christ Who lives in us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
This world of sinful and hateful people we will encounter these qualities of Christ less frequently than ever before. In fact, many people will claim ot be Christians who do not have the fruit of the Spriit and even display the opposite of what Christ said a believer would look like.
Worldly pretenders will lie by omission, take truth our of context, out-right lying, manipulate people to believe the opposite of the truth, and much more as they attempt to convince others they are people of the light when in fact darkness is their persona.
Those who belong to Christ have no fellowship with those who serve the devil. We must be evangelists in the salvation message with the unsaved but they cannot be our constant companions or close friends. Those who do not love our God but pretend to will work at demeaning our walk as well as isolating us from others to diminish our witness.
Matthew 5:16
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Narcissists who are pretenders hate our light, they hate Christ while pretending to be of Him.
Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"
Let it be clear, there are more pretenders in the church buildings today than there are authentic believers. We know this because of their lack of fruit, their propensity to rage when confronted with their sin and their tendency to isolate those who want to follow the Bible for their standard of living.
Do not be shocked when you are rejected and isolated from gatherings that are playing a game of "religiosity" but have no love for Christ.
We are living in days that are just like the days of Noah, when everyone is lost and few desire Christ.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these."
Anyone who would become angry at this article is most likely one of those who have a fake religion based on their own desires rather than on Christ.
Those who can identify with this article are most likely those who want Christ above all else and have experienced the rejection of family, the false church and most everyone else.
John 15:20-21 "… 20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
21 But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me."
James 1:2-8 "2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We have no excuse for lacking wisdom, God gives it generously to those who want it. Those who do not want it will regress and become child-like in their walk if they are born-again at all.
James 1:5-8
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
Choose not to be "double-minded and unstable", seek Christ in everything all the time.
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