What Does God Think of the Pretense of Love?

Narcissists do not know how to pretend to care or be concerned.

Have you ever been asked how you are doing only to have the response to your answer a sort of grunting sound as though the person does not believe you or thinks you are making too much of your problem?

When we encounter those who wish to have information about us so they can diminish us we are dealing with a narcissist. They don't want to know how you are doing because they care, they don't know how to care, they want to know so they can complain about you.

Narcissists see the problems of others as a bother to them but want the information anyway.

The best way to handle the gaslighting narcissist is to withhold as much information from them as you are able. In these last days of elder abuse, we see more adult children disrespecting their parents to the point that they see their parent's infirmities as an affront to them. Since they do not want to help others they see the illness of others as a personal inconvenience.

Those adult children who don't dare to physically abuse their parents will emotionally withhold love and affection and even needed attention to be able to feign innocence in their abuse. Subtlety is the way of the covert narcissist, discussing things to help resolve them is impossible with those who use covert plausible deniability as a regular tactic.

I have seen adult children who favor one parent over the other showing much concern for their favored parent while dismissing the other parent. They want to hurt the parent they dislike so they show no concern but want to pamper their favored parent to show the unloved parent they are not wanted.

I have also seen parents show favoritism to one child in the family over the others, indulging the one child with much praise while ignoring the other children. This is narcissism at its worst. Often this favored child takes priority over the other parent in the mind of the favored parent and the child can see it acting likewise.

Children can sometimes become jealous over the attention one parent gives the other parent and will work to pit the favored parent against the hated one.

I communicate every day with people of my generation who are encountering all these attacks on the parents of their narcissistic children. Thankfully the aging parents are waking up to the manipulation and learning the ways to deal with it Biblically. They have become so tired of the nonsense that they are happy to let go of these nasty vulgar adult children.

After all, it is far better to be alone with Christ than to be cared for by children who want to harm you or wish you were dead?

Here are the passages that tell us what it is like in these end times. Remember it isn't about you at all, it is the way of the end times happening in the heart of nearly all human beings with rare exceptions.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Difficult Times Will Come

"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."

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"

You will feel compelled to speak the truth to your children but most likely you will be spurned and rejected for caring enough to spare your children and grandchildren from the sins that ruin them emotionally and Spiritually. They don't want your advice and will punish you for sharing it.

2 Timothy 4:1-2 "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine."

We must keep speaking as led by the Holy Spirit until He tells us to give up on those who will not listen. We must remove ourselves from these people so that our silence in their presence will not be interpreted as an endorsement of their disobedience against God.

All of us can endure anything in the strength of Christ, I know because He said so.

Hebrews 10:35-36

"35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised."

James 1:12

"12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

James 1:2-4

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Ephesians 6:10-18

The Whole Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,"

Hallelujah!!! Hang in there loved ones it is almost over!

Our Calling Only God Knows What it is!

Every believer must do what God calls us to do even if others do not understand. And, we must not judge those who are doing something different from us.

Romans 12:6-8"6 However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if prophecy, in proportion to one’s faith; 7 if service, in the act of serving; or the one who teaches, in the act of teaching; 8 or the one who exhorts, in the work of exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."
We cannot know what God is calling someone else to do. They must be led by Christ in them to discern their personal calling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDY2ZsixLqY

Idolatry can be very subtle.

I find it almost amusing the painting by Da Vincci of a man depicting Christ sitting around that long table with the apostles.

First, Christ and the apostles reclined on pillows, they did not sit around tables and secondly, those men depicting Christ and the apostles were not them, they weren't even a picture taken with a camera.

There were no pictures of Christ or the apostles. I become agitated when I see people pretending things, even fake pictures of people who are not those people.

Besides all that, God told us not to make images of God, it's sort of like lying when someone depicts a man as Christ who was not Him.

What if I pondered a picture of a man in a photo who was not my husband and claimed that it was, I know my husband would be frustrated with that.

We walk by faith, not by sight, we do not have to have a picture to know Who Christ is and that He lives in us.

A picture cannot accurately demonstrate God's glory. Pictures diminish His glory bringing Him down to the level of man.

One woman said she has a picture of a man depicting Jesus and she looks at it longing to remind her of her Savior. This is a form of worship of the depiction rather than worshiping in faith without a sign.

We do not know what Jesus Christ looked like except that He was nothing someone would desire physically. God did not want us worshiping a man because of His good looks or beauty, He wanted us to worship Him because He is God.

2 Corinthians 5:7

"7 For we walk by faith, not by sight."

All I need to worship and love Christ is His Word. I do not need to see Him, that will come later when we have been changed into His likeness.

1 John 3:2

"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

If you have a strong faith you have no need for a physical object to look at to strengthen your faith. We think continually in Spiritual terms as believers, not earthly terms, therefore we need nothing to look at to build faith within us.

How could we need to see a statue or picture when Christ Himself lives in us intimately every moment? It ought to disquiet the Spirit of God in us at the sight of these idols.

Cults, are you really free from them?

The definition of a cult is very clear when we see them in operation.

A cult has very strict and dominating leaders who require everyone in the group to think the way the leader dictates the rules.

Often the leaders of cults require unquestioning loyalty to them as well as to their doctrine much of which is false.

The first evidence of the false doctrine is that a leader dominates others, using shame and manipulation to keep the followers in line.

The cult leader demands that those in the cult have no contact with anyone outside the cult. They condemn anyone who disagrees with the principles of the cult.

When Christ comes to live in the born-again believer we no longer depend on a man to be our mediator, Christ is that for us. The cult leader, in subtle ways, determines that he is the mediator between God and the leader's followers. In other words, the followers are not following Christ, they are following the cult leader.

Cults hate that anyone depends on Christ because that means we have freedom from men who love to control others.

Sadly those who live under cult rule are lied to. They have been brainwashed to believe they must think exactly like their leaders and their leader is a man.

Galatians 5:1

Follow the Spirit

"5 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

When we must obey a man we are living under tyranny to the rule of that man rather than to the principles of Christ. When someone is in bondage to a human leader they are not free to do as the Holy Spirit would lead and they are not free to be taught by the Holy Spirit.

It is better to be completely alone with the Holy Spirit than under the domination of a ruthless, loveless leader who wishes to be seen as a god. Even though the leader will not say they are god, they will act as though they are one.

John 8:32

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Learning to be led by the Holy Spirit is the greatest freedom of all. He will only tell us pure truth and lead us into wonderful wisdom and knowledge. He never oppresses those in whom He lives.

Cult leaders withhold information they don't want their followers to have and feed them only that which he want them to believe. Using mocking, intimidation, and punishment in the form of silent treatment as well as gossiping to others against their disobedient followers to bring them back into submission to them.

The cult leader lives in fear and anger that someone outside the cult will influence their followers, this is an unwelcome challenge for the cult leader.

Christ imparts wisdom as we ask for it, as much as we want, and all that we want when we have chosen to follow Him.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

Cult leaders do not want their followers to think on their own or differently from them or make their own choices, they demand complete allegiance to them alone. And, they encourage others in the cult to diminish those who dare to think for themselves.

Psalm 51:6

"Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

Proverbs 2:6

"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."

Proverbs 3:6

"in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

No man can do what God has promised to do in these passages of His Word. The cult leader wants their followers to get their wisdom from the leader, they want their followers to understand what they believe not what God says, they want their followers to acknowledge the cult leader in all the follower's ways. The cult leader wants unrelenting devotion to them.

I understand that we live in a culture where these elements of cults are subtly present in the churches today. The people in the pews want to follow their preacher, their one-man-paid pastor to tell them what to believe, what to say and what to do, in other words he has replaced the Holy Spirit. After all, isn't this what the people in the pews pay him for, to give them what they want, which is freedom from having to think and pray? Just saying!

Perhaps this is true because most people in the pews are not born-again and do not possess the Holy Spirit to be able to turn to in prayer, and most do not desire with all their hearts to hear from God.

I knew of a woman who had been in the church for 60 years of her life who told me it was alright to worship angels. She told me that we should not correct others as she corrected me for correcting others. This woman gave me fashion advice to wear my skirts shorter to show my calves because it was the prettiesst part of our legs and criticized me for enjoying long skirts, even laughing at me when she saw me in one. She also was seen often showing cleveage immodestly and treated me like a prude when I became born again and stopped dressing immodestly.

When we depend on the words and pressures of others in our Christian walk we will not only be led astray into false teachings we will never trust in the Holy Spirit for our wisdom.

I had to leave organized religion based on cultural norms in order to fully follow Christ. There have only been two gathering in my lifetime that were seeking the word of God as congregations and they were very small, the people were old and they literally passed on to glory. I couldn't find any more of these lovely Christ honoring gatherings, if they exist we cannot find them.

Those who rely entirely on what the preacher says week after week without opening their Bibles at home and without seeking the Holy Spirit WILL be led astray into all the nuances of the modern "Christian" church that have no basis in Scripture.

When people become comfortable in their indoctrination and brain-washing they are very difficult to be convinced of the truth, mostly because they don't really care if it's the truth they believe as long as they are happy and comfortable.

Just to be clear and encouraging, everyone and anyone who wants to be led by the Holy Spirit and consults Him in prayer will grow in holiness and all the lovely 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."

It is this fruit that will guide us in worship, conviction of the truth and every manner of good works. Without this fruit, there is deadness, dead works, fake kindness based on self desires and everything else that is motivated by self-exaltation.

Let us be those who seek the Holy Spirit setting aside all the human worthless traditions that keep people in bondage and lacking in Spiritual growth.

Do not be one who has not changed in all your years of pew sitting. Be someone who grows rapidly and joyfully in the principles of God through the working of the Holy Spirit. This is open to everyone, they just have to want Christ more than they want their tradition and the praise of men.

John 12:42-43 "42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. "

If you say you believe in Christ living in you, then stop seeking and praising men and begin praising and seeking Christ.

Choosing SELF-DELUSION | Hosts: Tim Moore & Nathan Jones