God's Way is Opposite of the ways of the Devil

Narcissists cannot think in terms of inclusivity with everyone having their unique gift and individuality. They cannot love anyone who is different from them.
God relates the members of His body with the physical body to help us learn to appreciate one another's uniqueness as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26 "14 For the body is not one part, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. 

16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 But now there are many parts, but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
23 and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable,
24 whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.
26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it."

Romans 12:3-8 "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.
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."
9 Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor,
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."

In a cult, there is a leader who dictates everything and everyone else must follow, and those who do not follow that leader are treated with contempt and isolated.
In God's church, there is one Leader, that is the Holy Spirit Who lives in every believer, and He is the One everyone follows. No human being takes the place of the Holy Spirit in that leadership position. Everyone in the body is treated with love and deference no matter their calling or gifts.

 
God's system is wonderful, beautiful, and cooperative with one another. Satan's way is divisive oppressive and depressive.

 
God's way is the way of freedom, joy, peace, and lovely teamwork, but Satan's way is repressive and tyrannical, lacking in love and restraining spiritual and emotional growth.

 
God's way promotes Spiritual and emotional growth through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, no one lacks companionship and encouragement in the body of Christ because Christ is the focus not human beings.

 
Superiority has no place in Christ's church because only the Holy Spirit is superior to everyone. He is the One those in the body look to for their gifts, for their instruction and protection against false brethren and the false teachings these false leaders bring to keep the people under their control.

 
False brethren love control over others and hate that someone may be submitting fully to the Holy Spirit. Those who submit to the Holy Spirit will never allow any human being to become a priority over the Holy Spirit.

 
Have you ever noticed that when a "false leader" walks into the room all the joy is sucked out as though it is replaced by a sense of sadness and fear? I have witnessed this many times over my 70+ years of life.

 
There were times when I could sense a lack of love and even an angry spirit entering the room, but could not put words to what I felt. It was only as I grew in wisdom and knowledge of the word that I could put a face to this entity that loomed large over family gatherings, it is the face of devilish pride and intimidation. There was no love, only pretense and a sense of mocking.

 
When we are full of God's love and have removed ourselves from this devilish intimidation for a time, we can see it much more clearly and it is intense.

 
When we compare what we see in these devil-controlled environments with God's love it is easy to spot and it is unpleasant even obnoxious. The sense of wanting to flee is strong within us because it is like being in the presence of demons.

Here is what God's love looks like, far different from the worldly demonic gatherings of arrogant and self-righteous people who love themselves more than they do anyone else.

 
God's love!!!

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."

If we are to ponder each godly trait of love we will see that gossip has no place, rudeness has no place, arrogance has no place, lies have no place, boasting has no place and provoking others has no place. Truth in God's gathering takes the highest priority with the desire to help edify one another to become more Christlike.

 
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 "…16 What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” 17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”…"

6 RED FLAGS that REVEAL the PERSON next to you is EVIL | C.S. Lewis Serm...

When Family Members Isolate You

Have you ever had family members isolate you from them while remaining loyal to the rest of the group? This is not only present with bio-family but also with church family.

When man's thinking becomes more important than the principles of God in His Word, we find those who are determined to be faithful to the Word of God will be treated with contempt in subtle ways.

 
They will be excluded, gossiped about, dismissed as insignificant and even misinterpreted deliberately, enabling those who are full of hate to believe they have a good reason for their intense disrespect.

 
These things happened to Christ everywhere He went and also to the disciples.

 
Matthew 10:21-23 "…21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 23When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next."

Notice that those who will be disrespectful the most are the members of one's own family. It is a joy to remember that our bio-family is no longer our family when we belong to God. They only fit into "family" when they also follow Christ.

 
Many people who say they are Christians do not follow Christ, they follow the traditions of men and even punish authentic believers for asserting freedom from those human traditions.

 
The believers may not even discuss with others their choice to ignore the traditions, they just simply live their own lives while ignoring those traditions. This alone is enough to cause anger in those who demand compliance with the human family system.

 
Those who are worldly cannot follow what they personally believe, they must follow what the culture believes so that they are sure to fit in and have many friends who support them.

 
When we follow Christ we will not fit into the human family system or the cultural Christianity so many are bound to, we walk the narrow path and do not bend to the culture, this will make many people angry and vindictive against us.
Our families do not "put us to death" physically, but they would if they could. They treat us as though they wish we were dead and, even worse enlist others to do the same.

 
Mark 13:13
"You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved."

2 Timothy 3:12
"Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,"

It hurts less when we know what is happening and eventually, it no longer hurts at all because those who treat us like this are not our real family. Our real family are those who love Jesus Christ as much as we do and who will be loving and loyal to us because we love Christ.

 
Bio-family who do not follow Christ have no place in our lives. When we have witnessed the gospel to them and they resisted then we are to avoid them and move on to others who might listen.

 
Also, we are about the business of edifying the saints to help one another grow in holiness. Wasting our time with bio-family who have already been indoctrinated into cultural Christianity and will not listen to the truth is not where God wants us.
Cultural Christians will work at diminishing our walk with Christ through petty conflicts and arguments. One-upping one another is the goal, self-exaltation is continual in these groups.

 
We are not to engage with those who only want to win in an argument. 2 Timothy 3 tells us to get away from those who wish to have a form of religion but deny Christ by their traditions based on their own self-exaltation.

 
Keep pressing on toward the goal of holiness seeking Christ every day, removing from yourselves all those who would attempt to bring you down into their "religiosity" based on their personal happiness and not on Christ.

 
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Godlessness in the Last Days
"3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

1 Peter 4:12-14
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

May this encourage anyone who has been treated with contempt by those claiming to be Christian but has no fruit of the Spirit of God. The first fruit is love which they do not exhibit. Every act of friendliness has an ulterior motive for those who want to appear spiritual but lack the very essence of Christ in their lives.

 
Here is what we should notice in all born-again believers, as the Spirit of Christ connects with others who also have His Spirit.

 
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."

Love is the first fruit that drives all the other fruit. Without love the other elements of the fruit will be missing.

 
Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

False Believers Misuse the Bible To Prop-up Themselves

One of the most common evidence of a false believer is their misuse of the Word of God to fit their desired belief which allows them to sin and feel no remorse for it.

This will be one of the very first signs of a false believer. They will be mean, rude, and disrespectful and justify it by thinking they are superior.

Because false believers need to be superior they will have to demote anyone else who does not follow them and they must take others with them to discredit the one who dares to walk their own walk according to the Bible.

The Pharisees were of this sort, I guess we could say that there are many modern-day Pharisees within the church gatherings who think they have authority over others in violation of the Word of God.

These modern-day Pharisees demand that those in their gathering follow them without question. They refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to work in each believer, negating that it is the Holy Spirit Who leads each one according to His will and purpose.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

Many churches bring in unbelievers to enhance their numbers while turning those converts into snobs just like them. They embrace new people readily, but will not enhance their walk with Christ, they only seek to influence the new converts to become just like them, superficial and superior using flatter instead of teachings that promote holiness.

When we speak the truth of the Bible openly and with conviction we will not be accepted in these apostate gatherings.

May the Lord strengthen every truth-teller who seeks Christ!!!

Proverbs 4:26-27 "Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil."