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False Judgments Based on the Desired Belief that is not True

Some people notice our strength and call it defiance. They will see our independence and label it arrogance. Ignore them!

Many times we are judged as stubborn because we follow the principles of Christ that are offensive to those who want to make up their own idea of Christianity not based on the Bible but on the culture in which they live. 

We are surrounded by people who think they can make up any doctrine that pleases them even if it defies God. These are those who play at religion, thinking merely because they want to believe it, or it sounds good to them, it must be true.

The pressure to follow people is intense in our culture. The group-thinkers make up rules for their followers to adhere to the doctrines of men rather than following Christ and all His teachings in the Bible.

These same people will attempt to apply the Old Testament Law to Christianity, which Christ delivered us from when He made all things new because of His death and resurrection. 

Now, as born-again believers, we don't "follow" the commandments as so many attempt to do; we live them; they are a part of our being because Christ lives in us. The Law-Giver, Jesus Christ lives in us and He is convicting to those who are attempting to be good people on their own because of the pride that dwells in them.

Those who have been changed by Christ love Him and all His principles, they should not add anything to His Word nor should they ignore any of His Word. 

Pride is at the root of every person who attempts to make God's principles and commands fit their own cultural idea. These people are in rebellion against God but will claim those who follow the Word are the ones in rebellion against their culture. 

We are living in a time as it was in the days of Noah, when there will be few people who love God's Word but many who play at Christianity, justifying their sin of rebellion while accusing those who follow Christ of legalism. 

Let us remember that legalism is what these pretenders do, they make rules for others that God never made. God is looking for those who obey what He gave us in the Bible, without changing it to fit the culture. And, these same people who make up their own rules will rage and malign anyone who will not obey them or adhere to the group-think.

We recognize those who make up their own rules because of their stubbornness in refusing to discuss their assertions while using the Bible as the standard bearer for everything discussed. It is not possible to have a reasonable and rational discussion with pretenders, mostly because they are very proud of how much they think they know and will never tolerate any correction. 

Our only recourse is to avoid the pretenders, they are continually angry and full of malice toward others driven by their pride and need to dominate and control others. 

2 Timothy 3:1-5
Difficult (ragingly insane)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."

Notice how fragile these pretenders are, so much so that they cannot bear to even hear so much as a different opinion, they must bludgeon, and discredit anyone who does not bow to them. 

Notice too that the pretenders have a form of religion but not according to God. They make up their own religion while throwing in a little Bible to make it sound credible. Unless we know the Bible well we could be deceived and intimidated by them. 

Let's not be intimidated by those who bring a false Christless religion while claiming to be of Him. They can be discerned by their lack of all the fruit of God's Spirit. They have no love, they are an irritating gong full of malice. Making trouble everywhere they go they revel in their ability to instigate and provoke others to make themselves feel superior. 

Proverbs 14:7: "Stay away from a fool, for you will not find knowledge on their lips"
Proverbs 18:2: "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion"
Proverbs 29:11: "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back"
Proverbs 12:16: "A fool is easily upset"
Proverbs 14:15: "The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps"

Those who are pretenders are unregenerate fools being led by the devil not realizing they are his tool to ruin godly relationships. This is why God tells us to stay away from them and expose them as led by the Holy Spirit. 

May the Lord give us strength to maintain our walk with Christ and preserve our resolve to follow Him. 

Gossip Ruins Relationships

Don't pick sides until you know the full story...
Some people are really skilled at making others look bad.

A Narcissist's Worst Instinct

The devil uses narcissists to attempt to create frustration in us, do not allow them to do it. Ignore them and avoid them as much as possible.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 2
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."

Authentically Born Again or a Cultural Christian?

An authentically born-again believer would not refuse to believe God, after all they had to "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO BE SAVED." If they do not believe the Bible then they never believed in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the very essence of His Own Word.

John 14:15 "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"

1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,"

2 John 1:6
"And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love."

Those who have the Holy Spirit have His fruit:
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."

This fruit is Spiritually discerned by other believers in Christ.

Giving Up Something for Christ Except Our Lives Makes No Sense

When we were Catholic it was the practice to give up something in sacrifice to Christ hoping to earn a few more graces to gain heaven.

I have to laugh when I remember this time of year when we as Catholics gave up something for lent.

Some will give up bacon or meat on Fridays as a sacrifice. So they give up one thing they like for six weeks and eat a ton of other lovely foods they do like. It is not possible to understand the word "sacrifice" when it involves no real suffering at all.

Is it unlikely that God is going to care about our silly little "sacrifice" of giving up something that doesn't hurt at all when we ponder all that Christ gave up to pay the price for our sins?

He came to earth as a suffering lamb, tortured, mocked, and bled out on that cruel cross for the sins of others when He did no sin of His own, but our giving up meat on Friday means anything at all to God the Father? Are we kidding!!!!!

Those who are martyred for Christ will see a real reward in heaven and we know it was the Holy Spirit in them Who gave them the strength and faith to do what they did in loyalty to Christ.

Matthew 7:21-23 brings a new perspective to our feeble and meaningless sacrifices. Many think they are really doing something big and are proud of themselves for it, by giving up bacon or meals at restaurants for lent, while they dine at home in comfortable rooms with lavish foods they enjoy eating, only to be able to boast of it to others.

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

I can just about hear the exchange between God and Catholics, "But God didn't we give up bacon for Lent.?" "But Lord didn't we stop watching TV for six weeks?"

The world's idea of sacrifice is so ridiculous it is hard to swallow thinking about it.

the

Hebrews 12:4 "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;"

Notice it took the shedding of blood of the Perfect Son of God to pay for sin, but some think their meager and silly sacrifices can do anything that pleases a Holy God?

Nothing we can do to earn heaven would have any significance at all because we are fallen and wicked beings without hope and only the Shed Blood of the Perfect Son of God could pay for our sin.

It is incredible arrogance and foolish pride to think that we could add anything at all to what Christ did that would count for anything.l

Isaiah 64:6

"6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean,

And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;

And all of us wither like a leaf,

And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away."

It is pride that makes anyone think that something they do would gain them heaven. It is when we realize God expects obedience to His word that pleases Him. Even our obedience to His Word does not earn us heaven, we obey because we love Him and because He has changed us into a new creation.

1 John 5:3

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,"

1 John 2:3-5

"By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:"

Our obedience is the proof we belong to Him not a means to salvation. The only way to salvation is through believing Christ when He died for us on the cross to pay our debt of sin. When we believe He comes to live in the one who trusted Him and He begins the process of cleansing to the end of our lives.

When we have trusted in Christ His Holy Spirit placed in us is the promise of our salvation.

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

When we fail Christ and sin we have an advocate with the Father, that we belong to Christ.

1 John 2:1 "

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;"

God does not throw away His children when they fail Him, He disciplines them to bring them back to obedience.

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

We are cleansed when we confess to God our sin. If we fail to confess we lose rewards in heaven.

1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

When we are stubborn and will not confess to be cleansed we will lose rewards in heaven.

1 Corinthians 3:13-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"

Those who claim to be Christians but remain continually in a lifestyle of sin even defending their sin, were never born again.

1 John 3:9. "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God 's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God."

When we are sealed with the Holy Spirit we belong to Him FOREVER. Christ's blood paid for our sins and we are called saints, no longer referred to as sinners.

Our Real Self

Yes, our real self emerges when there is a disagreement. It is easy to remain calm when someone agrees with us. Those who remain calm all the time are those who have a loving spirit.

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." Eric Hoffer

Kind and loving people do not change their spots for different people, they remain calm, loving and honest all the time with everyone because they have the fruit of the Spirit of Christ.

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

Those who live in the realm of anger continually will pretend to be calm and loving until someone challenges them, this is when we see the real character of a person.

When we love and respect someone we are interested in what they think and we are understanding in disagreements. Anger is nothing more than the devil's tool to control the emotions of others. Anyone using this tool is of the devil.

Proverbs 22:24 "Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,"

James 1:20 "For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

Ecclesiastes 7:9 "Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools."

The angry person will accuse us of anger to make us appear to be the one who starts trouble. The purpose for their anger is to cause it in us so they can accuse us of something.

A loving calm kind person never rages, they do not have it in them to do it. The manipulating person will use quiet calm rage as they engage in rude language, Snarky remarks and disapproving grunting sounds while attempting to appear calm, but inside they are seething with exasperation and the desire to control others.

If you have ever seen this it is quite interesting. Those who want to be able to deny their anger will say something rude and deny later that they did it. They are convinced if no one can prove they were angry because they didn't rage openly, they are golden and able to pretend the one confronting them was the one with a problem.

This is classic of covert narcissists, they love to act in rude mean ways and deny what they did.

Proverbs 29:22 "A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression."

Proverbs 14:29 "Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly."

This is one way we know someone is by their fruit. How they respond when they are corrected gives us clues. Whether or not they live a lifestyle of attempting to control others through intimidation or demeaning will give us important clues. The angry person is uncooperative unless they are getting something for themselves in the helping.

A loving kind person feels no need to manipulate and control others, they are content and happy to bless others, encourage others and be of help to others.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"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."

May those who are born-again remain faithful to the Holy Spirit in this matter of love, refusing to be baited into becoming like the one who has not trusted in Christ and lives to manipulate and control others.

The Myth of Devils Mating with Women

Devils have no seed. According to the Bible God created them all at once without propagation, they do not even mate with one another let alone a fleshly woman. Devils do not have a genealogy as humans do.

 
Mark 12:24-25 "…24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven."

God said that each species procreates after its own. Devils are a spirit species completely different from human beings. Cows do not mate with dogs, dogs do not mate with cats, humans cannot mate with animals and produce offspring. And, angels do not mate with humans, we are not of their kind.

Genesis 1:24 "24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so."

Assigning the ability to devils to be able to supernaturally and spiritually impregnate a woman says a devil can do what God the Father did with Mary when He placed Jesus Christ in her womb. No devil can do this, only God the Father could do this. To say that devils can do what only God can do is blasphemy.

 
Matthew 1:18 "
"Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit."

God never said the nephilim were the product of devils and humans, He only says there were giants (powerful men) in the land at that time.

Genesis 6:4
6:4 "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."

The text means that godly men took pagan wives, and this caused great wickedness on the earth as the families of this union brought about widespread evil in the children following these unions. This is why God flooded the earth because of the proliferation of widespread evil upon the earth.

 
The nephilim were powerful but nowhere does it say they were the result of devils impregnating women.

 
The original word "nephilim" means mighty men, not giants. They were giants in the sense of their strength, warrior status and influence.

These mighty men were wiped out in the flood, so there would be no one on earth today who are descendant of them. Only Noah's family was saved from the flood.
All this hype we are hearing about the nephilim returning is total nonsense. It only produces another fear and another prejudice against unsuspecting people based on lies.

The book of Enoch is the source of these ideas about nephilim, with no evidence whatever that Enoch of the Bible wrote it. Sadly many well known preachers are reading writings that were not from the Bible without evidence they were ever inspired.

 
It is a frustration to me that so many famous preachers have jumped on this bandwagon that only serves to distract people from Christ while promoting fantasy thinking.

 
These truly are the last days in which the deceptions being cultivated now are so outlandish those seeking sensationalism will not only believe it but pass it on to others.

 
The warning here is that we must evaluate everything deeply to see if the Word of God supports it. If there is a question that cannot be answered then it is best to leave it alone rather than ruin another believer's walk with nonsense, distracting them with things that wouldn't matter at best and are blasphemous at worst.

"Being" is Better than "saying"!

James 4:7-10
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

 
Why do so many Christians claim they are doing this but then argue against God when confronted with His words from the Bible?

 
Submitting to God is not just something we say, it is something we do because we love Christ. Just "saying" something has no power at all. Those prosperity preachers have had more influence than we realize when most of the population "say" more than they "do" because they are satisfied with pretending rather than "being."

The World Hates Who They Cannot Conrol

The world sees our confidence as a threat to them because they cannot control us.  Ignore them! Christ controls us, not men!

Those who want us to follow them, to become like them, will judge unimportant matters to discredit us, they are petty. Ignore them!

Some people notice our strength and call it defiance. They will see our independence and label it arrogance. Ignore them!

Putting Away Childish Things

1 Corinthians 13:11 "11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Those who live a lifestyle of pleasure remain in a child-like state living from adventure to adventure.

As they grow older when they can no longer have their adventures they slip into a sense of hopelessness, their adventures were their life and hope.

In between the adventures, there was emptiness and an expectation that one day soon they could dispel the emptiness with another adventure.

Those who are fixated on adventure into their old age and can no longer do them, talk non-stop about the adventures they used to have as though the mere speaking of them affords the missing adulation they once had in those "good old days."

Ecclesiastes 7:10

"10 Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this."

Those who are walking with Christ and have learned wisdom enjoy every day in humble existence without the need for "an adventure" as the world sees adventure.

Wise people enjoy the simple things in life, the quiet things, the contemplative times that bring joy and peace. Their adventures are discovering a truth in the Bible that they haven't discovered before. Their prayers become more focused on Spiritual wisdom from Christ Who lives in them.

The life of an unbeliever bent on reliving their old adventures is one of emptiness and loneliness, but this is not the case for the born-again believer who lives for Christ contemplating His return and our home going.

Titus 2:13 "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ".

Rebellious People Hate the Truth

All the rebellious people I know will mock whatever we say no matter how reasoned or true because their purpose is to discredit what we say or to invoke a reaction from us that they can hold against us.

The tricks and manipulations of the devil are legion but if we have been paying attention he has only a few battle tactics that he uses with everyone.

He rages, lies, provokes for a reaction, removes our support system through gossip, attempts to disarm us through physical and emotional illness and repeats and rinses over and over again to break down the one who serves Christ.

The good news is that we can ignore our emotions about what he is doing and proceed to follow Christ anyway, speaking truth anyway and remain determined to walk through everything with Christ.

So many Christians lean into their physical and emotional misery that they forget Christ is more powerful than the devil and that our God goes through with us in everything.

Not only that but everything we go through has a purpose that we may not always understand but can trust Christ in it.

We may have tears, mourning, and feelings of helplessness but those are only feelings, our Spirit knows it will pass and we need not allow those feelings to dominate or control our choices.

The Bible is the instruction book for us, it does not change merely because our feelings influence us. We must allow the Bible to be our influence, not our feelings.

So many people operate from feelings and because of this they make many unnecessary mistakes because feelings lie to us. Feelings say things are bad when they are good, they say things are good when they are bad. We must admit our feelings but never allow them to dictate our actions.

Admitting our feelings is a sort of cleansing, when we face them and evaluate them according to the Bible we can actually expunge them through the truth of God's Light.

Many times my feelings were strong about something, but when I began to pray and recall God's Word the feelings dissipated and rational reasonable thinking replaced those feelings.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

When we do this the devil has no power over us and we become stronger than he while Christ fights our battles for us.

Hallelujah!

Let the Holy Spirit Lead

On another thread, I was told that the way Christians express themselves turns off atheists. The one writing the comment was mocking the answers of Christians as though because a fool would laugh at us this is reason to change how we say things. My answer was as follows:

I don't need to know the mind of anyone. They show us their mind by their deeds. One must know the bible to understand these things. Of course atheists laugh at believers because they are not able to discern the things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 "

"But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

It is foolish to determine our words to placate the one who denies Christ. Athiests know there is a God they just deny His existence. I know this because when these types of people are facing a disaster the first thing they do is find a Christain to pray for them.

We choose what we believe, someone who denies Christ is not someone to worry about in how we say or do things. We speak according to the Holy Spirit not according to what man wants to hear.

When Christians begin dumbing down their message to manipulate the unbeliever into accepting what we say we are not walking in the Holy Spirit. Whether or not someone accepts our words is not a measure of how well we did in the delivery.

All the rebellious people I know will mock whatever we say no matter how reasoned or true because their purpose is to discredit what we say or to invoke a reaction from us that they can hold against us.

Ignore those who give you formulas for delivery when speaking with others. Christ knows perfectly what each individual needs and how he/she needs to hear it. Christ was gentle with some and harsh with others when He walked this earth and He knows perfectly what is needed in each individual situation and with each person.

Man tends to like formulas and things they think will work. How is it that man always thinks they know better than the Holy Spirit what is needed based on their own ideas? This is foolishness, we must walk in the Spirit, as He speaks through us and leave the result to Him.

Christ said everything perfectly and yet they killed Him for what He said. The apostles spoke the truth and they were persecuted and some martyred.

Those who place pressure on others to follow man's formulas are foolishly placing man's ideas above Jesus Christ.

God told us to ignore the ignorant man and proceed to depend entirely on the Holy Spirit.

John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."

The Tests in Life

"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."

The tests of life are far more valuable than the tests in school. The tests in school give you information in your head but the tests of life give you practical experiences with all their nuances making us wiser if we learn from them.

Just knowing information in one's head cannot measure up to experiencing the real thing.

Gossip is a Relationship Killer

Repent Before the Ark Door is Closed

The way we think influences how we act and how we process information when we hear it.

Christ came to die for our sin and rose from the dead proving He is God. When someone accepts that and confesses their sinful nature wanting to be changed by Him, He will come and live in them changing them completely. Their mind no longer thinks the way it used to think.

When we become born again we are changed into an entirely new creation in our Spirit and He does the work in us. If our mindset has not changed and nothing in our life has changed it is likely there has been no salvation experience.

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."

It is not possible to change the heart of someone who has a worldly mindset that has not been changed by Christ. This is why when speaking with superficial pretending Christians and other unsaved people it is foolishness to tell them all the right things they should do or think. They do not have the ability to think right merely because we are explaining things to them. Arguing with an unregenerate person over behavior is futile.

I like that some preachers are using the ten commandments to show people they are hopelessly lost because of their inability to follow the commandments of God. The commandments are the Law that show us our need to trust in Christ for our salvation, not trusting in self but in Him alone.

Galatians 3:24-27

"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

1 Corinthians 2:14 "

"But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Those who are not changed by Christ must first have an encounter with the gospel to understand their fallen and depraved state. Then if they choose to listen further their mind may grasp that they are sinners in need of a Savior because they cannot change or save themselves.

Sadly too many people have been convinced they need Christ but have never come to terms with their depraved mindset. They have joined the church system to become acceptable to men but their spirit has not been changed so their efforts at becoming right with God are stymied, delayed or blocked entirely because they have been taught that all they need are words to be saved. Once someone has learned the false gospel of works it is very difficult for them to understand their need to repent and trust in Christ.

If there is no brokenness over their sin and no desire to be changed by Christ, there is no salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ""Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new".

Ephesians 2:9-11 "…9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life. 11Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—…"

When someone enters a modern church they are not questioned as to their walk and what they understand about salvation in Christ. The mere utterance from their mouths that they have decided to be a Christian is enough for most "Christians" today.

It is almost considered rude these days to question someone who is in the church gathering about their salvation.

I have asked young people in the past who attended church all their lives if they were born again. In every case, they told me which church they attended. In every case, they could not explain how they became born again and the name of Jesus Christ never proceeded from their mouth.

Cultural Christianity is the norm now and growing worse. If you are politically conservative and attend all the gatherings and the potlucks you are considered a Christian. If anyone dares to ask about your salvation experience the person asking is treated as though they have been rude for the inquiry.

In these last days of spiritual and emotional rebellion, any challenge to evaluate oneself is met with angst not only on the part of the one being questioned but also by those observing.

Because the one who brings the truth of God's Word is widely dismissed the gathering tends to push out the one who seeks Christ, leaving the influence of the gathering as a whole that of a Christless Christianity based on political leanings and personal choices rather than the principles of Christ in His Word.

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

We are living in difficult times in which it is not popular to tell the truth no matter how gently and lovingly it is told. If it is told at all it is considered violence against those who are convicted by it.

We ought not to be too discouraged by this because God said it would happen and we are watching it all play out right now right before Christ takes out His church.

The Ark door is about to close and the flood waters of God's wrath are about to be unleashed. In that flood of God's wrath will be many family members, even those who said they were Christians will be caught in the Tribulation storm.

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

I consider this to be the most frightening passage in the Bible, warning people that many who think they are going to heaven will be going to hell instead because they refused to humble themselves and repent.

May this warning reach the hearts of those who have not yet repented and cause them to trust in Christ before the ark door is closed.

Narcissists Reveal Depravity As They Crush Your Dignity

In my experience, narcissists attack those who are confident and kind. They cannot tolerate strong people who know who they are and who love treating people with respect. Their goal is to poke at good people until they blow up so they can feel justified in their attack. They never see their attack as bad, they only see the response of their target. Also, when they are not able to get us to blow up they run away and gossip against us.

Practical Experience and Examples Teach More Than Book Learning

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

Weak People are Rude, Strong People are Kind

How Much Do We Love Christ?

My heart grieves often as I watch so many people playing church without commitment to God's word! Elevating self takes priority.

Those Who Justify Rudeness are Foolish!

Don't Worry, Trust in Christ

As in the Days of Noah