Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Next time we feel compelled to fight against a person, it might be good to remember that the person who does evil is merely responding to the promptings of demons.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 "And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith."
It is only those who have the Holy Spirit who have the ability to resist the devil. Non-believers have no strength, ability or inclination to resist the devil they are completely at his mercy.
James 4:7 "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
We are either at the mercy of the devil or the mercy of Christ. Satan's mercy is deepest evil at best, his hate knows no bounds, his ruinous activities destroy everything he touches.
Christ's mercy is life and an eternal paradise with Him Who possesses perfect and lasting love.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Self Love God Satan Thrown Out of Heaven
Psychologists see the truth about narcissism as described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, however they don't have the correct answers to why it happens or how to cure it.
God says that man kind is predisposed to these traits of self love that leads them to self worship and disregard for Him and others.
Those who are deeply narcissistic, are that way because they have not trusted Christ to cleanse them of their sin of self love.
Of all the sins that exist, this is the foundational sin that got the devil thrown out of heaven and destroys all relationships.
May those who are steeped in this sin of self love be deeply convicted, confess their sin, asking God to change them into a new creation.
It is my belief that no one who is born again will be deeply narcissistic, because when we have trusted Christ, He changes us into a new creature. When He does this we are no longer comfortable with the sin of self love.
1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Timothy 3
There is only one hope for someone in the condition of self love and that is to be deeply broken over this sin, asking Christ to change the heart to desire what Christ desires, total surrender to Him and a deep love of others.
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 [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
God says that man kind is predisposed to these traits of self love that leads them to self worship and disregard for Him and others.
Those who are deeply narcissistic, are that way because they have not trusted Christ to cleanse them of their sin of self love.
Of all the sins that exist, this is the foundational sin that got the devil thrown out of heaven and destroys all relationships.
May those who are steeped in this sin of self love be deeply convicted, confess their sin, asking God to change them into a new creation.
It is my belief that no one who is born again will be deeply narcissistic, because when we have trusted Christ, He changes us into a new creature. When He does this we are no longer comfortable with the sin of self love.
1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Timothy 3
There is only one hope for someone in the condition of self love and that is to be deeply broken over this sin, asking Christ to change the heart to desire what Christ desires, total surrender to Him and a deep love of others.
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 [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Do Not Pamper A Wicked Man
Someone who uses the excuse that "I am not perfect", is doing two things, first they are saying they don't care that they are offending God and secondly they have no intention of seeking God to change them. When a believer is confronted with bad or sinful attitudes, an authentic believer will be ashamed, confess and desire to go on to be better with God's help.
This attitude of confession and turning from sin, is what will sustain them in the future, preventing them from repeating the same sin over and over. When someone will not confess their sin, they are not repentant, their desire is to be forgiven without ever changing their behavior.
We live in a culture that rewards the evil person and punishes the righteous. There have been times when I have rebuked a believer for a wrong action or attitude and their response was rage and retaliation. Many believers experience this frequently, which is the reason they often hold back advice, they expect others to rage and exact revenge when they point out a flaw in need of repair.
Isaiah 26:10 "Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord."
The reason so many people believe that we should bless a wicked man, is because our culture has taught for the past 50 years they Paganistic and psychological idea that evil people do evil because they have had some trauma in their life, that they are basically good and no one is truly evil. This is patently wrong, the Bible teaches that the heart of man is wicked and can only be different when man trusts Christ.
This excuse of past trauma does not fly in light of Biblical teaching for many reasons, but we only need one reason, that is that Adam and Eve had the perfect environment with the perfect parent, the Father in heaven, for their example and companionship and they still chose to disobey, lie about it and blame others for their sin.
Genesis 3:8-13 "8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
The verses that are often used to justify blessing an evil man are taken out of context as a mandate to go out of our way to give good things to evil men, when we do this, we solidify and justify the evil in a man's heart. The heart of man does not change because we gave someone something they want, it only changes when they see their own evil heart, desire to be changed by Christ and then He comes into man to change their heart.
An evil man can act and appear as though he has changed, when nothing has in his heart, just to keep the "blessing" coming. It is the heart man that needs the change not the outer appearance. The best blessing we can give a evil man is to show him that he is evil, tell him the remedy, the Gospel and support him when he has become broken over his sinfulness.
Getting a wicked man to like us does not help him come to the Lord, it only lets him feel comfortable in his sin.
Many times I have experienced people who grow deeper into their heart of wickedness because there were no consequences for their sinful behavior. It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we see that all our evil didn't bring us anything but misery. To continue to pamper a wicked man is to help him remain in his sin, AND THIS IS NOT LOVING!
Of course I am not saying we should treat people in a mean way, that doesn't work either. We are to handle their evil with appropriate Biblical consequences, speak truth and if they will not listen or learn then we are to remove ourselves and allow the consequences from God to teach them.
Remaining friends with a wicked man who refuses to repent, is only becoming a part of their evil, a help to their evil lifestyle.
Acts 17:30 "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,"
John 8:24 "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Psalm 37:1 "Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
Psalm 37:1-40 "Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ..."
2 Thessalonians 3:2 "And that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith."
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,"
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 13:4 "For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Psalm 73:1-28 "A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind."
Hebrews 13:6 "So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
1 Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from every form of evil."
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"
Isaiah 1:16-17 "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"
The remedy for a wicked man is to hear the Gospel, repent of his sinfulness and trust Christ. When this is done in truth and sincerity, then the man will become born again and Christ will begin to work miracles in his heart. He changes the heart of stone and evil into a heart of flesh and righteousness. When someone becomes born again they don't have to work at hating sin, they will take on the new nature of Christ by His hand and never want to return to the old man.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
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."
This attitude of confession and turning from sin, is what will sustain them in the future, preventing them from repeating the same sin over and over. When someone will not confess their sin, they are not repentant, their desire is to be forgiven without ever changing their behavior.
We live in a culture that rewards the evil person and punishes the righteous. There have been times when I have rebuked a believer for a wrong action or attitude and their response was rage and retaliation. Many believers experience this frequently, which is the reason they often hold back advice, they expect others to rage and exact revenge when they point out a flaw in need of repair.
Isaiah 26:10 "Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord."
The reason so many people believe that we should bless a wicked man, is because our culture has taught for the past 50 years they Paganistic and psychological idea that evil people do evil because they have had some trauma in their life, that they are basically good and no one is truly evil. This is patently wrong, the Bible teaches that the heart of man is wicked and can only be different when man trusts Christ.
This excuse of past trauma does not fly in light of Biblical teaching for many reasons, but we only need one reason, that is that Adam and Eve had the perfect environment with the perfect parent, the Father in heaven, for their example and companionship and they still chose to disobey, lie about it and blame others for their sin.
Genesis 3:8-13 "8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
The verses that are often used to justify blessing an evil man are taken out of context as a mandate to go out of our way to give good things to evil men, when we do this, we solidify and justify the evil in a man's heart. The heart of man does not change because we gave someone something they want, it only changes when they see their own evil heart, desire to be changed by Christ and then He comes into man to change their heart.
An evil man can act and appear as though he has changed, when nothing has in his heart, just to keep the "blessing" coming. It is the heart man that needs the change not the outer appearance. The best blessing we can give a evil man is to show him that he is evil, tell him the remedy, the Gospel and support him when he has become broken over his sinfulness.
Getting a wicked man to like us does not help him come to the Lord, it only lets him feel comfortable in his sin.
Many times I have experienced people who grow deeper into their heart of wickedness because there were no consequences for their sinful behavior. It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we see that all our evil didn't bring us anything but misery. To continue to pamper a wicked man is to help him remain in his sin, AND THIS IS NOT LOVING!
Of course I am not saying we should treat people in a mean way, that doesn't work either. We are to handle their evil with appropriate Biblical consequences, speak truth and if they will not listen or learn then we are to remove ourselves and allow the consequences from God to teach them.
Remaining friends with a wicked man who refuses to repent, is only becoming a part of their evil, a help to their evil lifestyle.
Acts 17:30 "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,"
John 8:24 "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Psalm 37:1 "Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
Psalm 37:1-40 "Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ..."
2 Thessalonians 3:2 "And that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith."
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,"
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 13:4 "For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Psalm 73:1-28 "A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind."
Hebrews 13:6 "So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
1 Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from every form of evil."
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"
Isaiah 1:16-17 "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"
The remedy for a wicked man is to hear the Gospel, repent of his sinfulness and trust Christ. When this is done in truth and sincerity, then the man will become born again and Christ will begin to work miracles in his heart. He changes the heart of stone and evil into a heart of flesh and righteousness. When someone becomes born again they don't have to work at hating sin, they will take on the new nature of Christ by His hand and never want to return to the old man.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
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."
Friday, February 19, 2016
The Peace Keeper
As I pondered today, situations that I have encountered over the past few years, I was struck with the fact that so many people in our families and churches have succumb to the belief that godly peace is something we manufactured in our flesh to keep others happy with us.
In an effort to keep everyone happy we have minimized the scripture to the level of "feel good reading, when life is hard" rather than the source of wisdom for the daily living of our lives. When the Scriptures are not taken seriously, any good book on happiness will do for us.
This reminded me of an article I once read, that differentiated between the "peace keeper" and the "peace maker." I was intrigued by the title of the article because it seemed to practically scream out at me, "this is what you have been seeing, but couldn't put into words." So I read the article and was pleased to discover that I had been observing in relationships, whether in church or in family, just what God had been saying to me and now confirmed in writing by someone else. Sometimes we don't trust the inklings of the Holy Spirit, when we feel we are the only ones aware of the problem.
First let's see what a peace keeper looks like in terms of actions, then we will be more able to discern the attitude involved in peace keeping. The peace keeper is someone who seeks to smooth things over when a wrong has been committed. They pride themselves in keeping everyone feeling good and happy, while at the same time winning friends by ignoring or glossing over an ongoing problem.
Peace keepers are hopeful that the problem will go away on it's own and then everyone will get over their hurt and be friendly to one another again eventually. Neglect never is a solution to a sore or injury in physical terms, why would we think that it would be a solution in emotional or spiritual terms? Not to mention that it is unbiblical.
The use of flattery, is one of the main techniques of a peace keeper. They think if they flatter in some way, the truth will not be exposed about them.
What does God say about flattery? Proverbs 29:5 says "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."
I know a woman, we will call her Zelda, who was so much of a peace keeper that it was difficult to hold a conversation with her. When she visited with anyone, she would continually nod her head in agreement with an occasional "oh yes" to show that she was listening. Once in a while during the conversation, if one could call it that, she would get real chatty and say, "that's nice." It was like pulling teeth to get her to offer a comment longer than two words or an actual opinion about what was being said. I wondered if there was anything happening inside her head. If this had been only one encounter with her over a life time of visits, I would have thought something was on her mind, or that she was overwhelmed with another concern. I had encountered this woman several times myself and watched her with other women too, so I knew that it was not just me, but a pattern in her life.
Zelda, never confronted anyone about anything. Everyone loved her because she was like their faithful dog, Bowzer, who just accepted whatever anyone said or did, without the challenge. She laid at their feet offering nothing but friendly short platitudes and adoring looks. She was the first one other ladies flocked to when they had a problem and needed someone who would listen, but remain silent and accepting. Her face was frozen in a permanent smile as her head swayed to and fro in total agreement with all that was shared.
Zelda was very careful to come across as in agreement, no matter what was being said. One day something unusual happened that confused me. Zelda was not herself that day. I witnessed her blow up in anger at someone who had confronted her about a sin in Zelda's life. Zelda shrieked in anger, stomped off while shouting as she left the room that she never wanted to see or speak to this woman ever again. Wow! What happened to our mild mannered shrinking violet?
From the book "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
" we find this quote, "For some, healing has been short-circuited: Jesus' precept, 'the truth shall set you free,' has been replaced by man's precept, 'to be nice is better than to be honest' and 'keep (false) peace at all costs."
This is entirely unbiblical not to mention useless in resolving misunderstandings.
Zelda, having been confronted about an offense she had committed against this woman, seemed to not be able to handle criticism to such a degree that she was willing to lose a friend to maintain her facade. She had evolved instantaneously from that dog eyed adoring puppy into a ravenous wolf. How could this be? Perhaps Zelda was never the adoring puppy dog at all, but inwardly has always been the wolf in sheeps’ clothing. Perhaps that waving head and sweet smile were nothing more than acting to manipulate perceptions.
Once the play acting was over and Zelda's inner being was discovered, she now was impervious to spiritual growth as long as she was too prideful to admit her sin and be reconciled to those she had wounded. Her "peace keeping" was not so peaceful after all. It was only peaceful until she had to be accountable in some way to others. Then all that peace keeping unfolded into a war that would cause more devastation in the lives of others.
Peace keeping promotes a spirit of deception and lying. Showing forth a face of kindness to convince others that we are a spiritual person, is lying.
Pretending to love, when we really are indifferent to the needs of others is the worst kind of fakery. We can get others to trust us and then use what they have said against them later, or worse, use what they have said to manipulate them into serving us in some way, even if it is only our egos that are stroked. This is spiritual blackmail.
Peace keepers lack integrity, they are self absorbed while attempting to deceive others into thinking they are deeply concerned. The concern does not reach a depth greater than the end of their lips. They withhold information for the purpose of maintaining their personal appearance. They do not say what they mean and they do not mean what they say. They are in a sense hiding themselves for their own advancement.
Jude 1:16 "These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage."
Another very disturbing trait of the peace keeper is their uncanny ability to cover up the sins of the people they like. I say "like" instead of "love", because it is not loving to cover up the sin of an unrepentant person. It is not love of the sinner and it is not love of the victim.
There are rare occasions when the peace keeper may point out a flaw in another person, but only to defend themselves when they are approached about their own sin. The focus is still themselves.
In short, the peace keeper is playing a role, they are not authentic, they appear warm and gentle on the outside, but inwardly they are deceitful and contentious. They leave a wake of frustrated people where ever they go.
I knew of young woman we will call, Bunny, who was so jealous of another woman that she concocted lies and exaggerations about the object of her jealousy to the point where the victim lost friends and family, who believed the lies. Her tactics were to distort the events to the point that they were barely recognizable. This woman too, was a Zelda type, always appearing to others as the victim, when she was the perpetrator. When confronted with her sin, she, like Zelda, stomped off and isolated herself from anyone who required her to be accountable.
Had Zelda and Bunny reacted with humility and sadness at the discovery of their sin, we could have concluded that they were truly sorry for the trouble they had caused. But since there was violent anger, we can be sure there was guilt also.
When a person is humble, they are embarrassed, not mad. When a person is not guilty, they are humble and not angry. The explosion of anger in Zelda and Bunny was evidence that they were guilty and would fight in an effort to convince others they were not guilty when they knew they were. It is also an attempt to make the accuser look like the bad guy.
The peace keeper does not seek God honestly for their direction, but for justification of their sins. They may even use scripture to support and validate their sin, but it is taken out of context and misused.
The peace keeper is a person who seeks to smooth things over for superficial peace that does not only mask the problem but exacerbates it in the long term, causing greater turmoil. As an author once stated "throwing a rug over a gasoline spill next to the fire only causes an explosion." Would we cover cancer with a band-aid, or a gapping head wound with a cap.
The peace keeper relies entirely on their own desires and feelings, to evaluate life and friends. They are almost entirely motivated by self interest. This is a picture of a narcissist and a manipulator. In short, they do not make peace, they create devastation by ignoring God's principles of friendship and resolution of problems, to maintain an appearance. When that appearance is exposed as a sham, then they must put out of their lives anyone who knows the truth, rather than repenting.
Zelda is of this sort, she never offers lasting help to anyone. She never instructs, corrects, rebukes or teaches. She is nearly worthless in terms of a valued friendship to anyone. Zelda would put a band-aid over cancer. She would pretend there wasn't a gapping wound in your head that needed stitches, but would help you on with your hat to keep the blood off her floors while pretending that it was to help you. Or worse yet, she would shout at others to come and help with something that she could have done. Doing, being and saying nothing is the trademark of the Zelda's of the world. If they say, do and be nothing, then in their mind they can be accountable for nothing.
Our church culture as a whole are peace keepers. They look to the fast food fix, the quick easy answers and those that are pleasurable. In short, our church culture does not care deeply about people, but only about pleasure, materialism and financial gain.
After all the bad news concerning the peace keeper, we need to reflect on the principles of the peace maker.
Peace makers desire a cure to the problem and are willing to walk the hard road to get to the place of safety.
The peace maker desires to do things God's way. They seek the scriptures for His principles to address the problems of life. They are deeply concerned about the well being of others. They are more concerned about the long term affect of a matter rather than immediate happiness.
If we love God first we will not fear mans' reaction to God's standard. We are merely the messenger who brings God's word for the solutions. When we will not speak the truth, we doom the hearer to a life of superficial phoniness that leaves them spiritual and emotional babies.
God says "By this we know if we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." 1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."
God's command to love our brothers is summed up in loving God's commands. The most valuable things we can do for our brothers and sisters in the Lord is to LOVE HIS COMMANDMENTS. If we claim to love our brethren but do not love God's commandments, then we do not love our brethren.
If we love God's commandments then we will use them to instruct our brothers and sister in the Lord. We will hold fast to them and plead with our family to follow what God says.
God has given us the ten commandments as a guideline for knowing His will.
When we are "peace keepers", this is what we do to the commandments of God:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
If we are a peace keeper we violate this commandment, because we are placing the approval of people above God.
2. Thou shalt make no graven images.
When we are a peace maker we are creating an image of God in our minds that is not truth.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.
When we are a peace keeper, we are emanating an air of godliness that is not true, we call ourselves Christians but do not
find God's word sufficient for all things, then we are vainly using His name as ours, in short we are "taking the Lord's name in vain", claiming to be a Christian while acting like a heathen.
4. Keep holy the Sabbath.
When we dishonor God in peace keeping, we are not concerned about holiness at all, let alone true worship. We can not worship what we do not know.
5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.
When we live a lie, based on selfish ambition we dishonor our parents with our lives.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
God says when we hate our brother, it is the same as murdering him. When we are more concerned about our personal comfort and being accepted than we are about God's truth, we are hating our brother.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
When we place other things and people above God we are committing adultery against Him.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
When we are peace keepers we are stealing the truth from our brother, keeping it from him that which would help him.
9. Thou shalt not lie.
When we are peace keepers we are telling a lie. We display loving kindness, when deep inside we have no love for others, only for ourselves.
10.Thou shalt not covet.
When we are peace keepers we are coveting the admiration of others rather than promoting the worshiping of God.
When we are peace makers this is what we do to the commandments of God.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
We love to honor God above everything and everyone else, he gets all the glory while we serve Him and others.
2. Thou shalt make no graven images.
We do not place our trust in images made by human hands.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.
We live a life dedicated to making God look good. We quote Him, we thank Him and we worship Him.
4. Keep holy the Sabbath.
We desire to worship with others collectively, keeping the day set aside for Him.
5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.
We have a deep reverence and love for our parents.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
We do not murder, nor do we hate. We love our fellow man to the point of self sacrifice
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
We do not betray a loved one. We honor those who love God.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
We do not take what is not ours and we do not have a sense of entitlement to anything. All things belong to God.
9. Thou shalt not lie.
We do not manipulate or lie to get our way.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
We do not want what others have, we are not jealous of others.
It must be said that all of us break the commandments regularly if only in our hearts. But as we grow closer and closer to the Lord, the more we hate dishonoring God. We hate the sin that we find in ourselves. We confess it and God begins a work of cleansing us. God will not do the work of cleansing if we will not confess.
How do we shed the life of peace keeping and become a peace maker? We confess what we are and ask the Lord to change us. He knows just what to do to help us change.
In an effort to keep everyone happy we have minimized the scripture to the level of "feel good reading, when life is hard" rather than the source of wisdom for the daily living of our lives. When the Scriptures are not taken seriously, any good book on happiness will do for us.
This reminded me of an article I once read, that differentiated between the "peace keeper" and the "peace maker." I was intrigued by the title of the article because it seemed to practically scream out at me, "this is what you have been seeing, but couldn't put into words." So I read the article and was pleased to discover that I had been observing in relationships, whether in church or in family, just what God had been saying to me and now confirmed in writing by someone else. Sometimes we don't trust the inklings of the Holy Spirit, when we feel we are the only ones aware of the problem.
First let's see what a peace keeper looks like in terms of actions, then we will be more able to discern the attitude involved in peace keeping. The peace keeper is someone who seeks to smooth things over when a wrong has been committed. They pride themselves in keeping everyone feeling good and happy, while at the same time winning friends by ignoring or glossing over an ongoing problem.
Peace keepers are hopeful that the problem will go away on it's own and then everyone will get over their hurt and be friendly to one another again eventually. Neglect never is a solution to a sore or injury in physical terms, why would we think that it would be a solution in emotional or spiritual terms? Not to mention that it is unbiblical.
The use of flattery, is one of the main techniques of a peace keeper. They think if they flatter in some way, the truth will not be exposed about them.
What does God say about flattery? Proverbs 29:5 says "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."
I know a woman, we will call her Zelda, who was so much of a peace keeper that it was difficult to hold a conversation with her. When she visited with anyone, she would continually nod her head in agreement with an occasional "oh yes" to show that she was listening. Once in a while during the conversation, if one could call it that, she would get real chatty and say, "that's nice." It was like pulling teeth to get her to offer a comment longer than two words or an actual opinion about what was being said. I wondered if there was anything happening inside her head. If this had been only one encounter with her over a life time of visits, I would have thought something was on her mind, or that she was overwhelmed with another concern. I had encountered this woman several times myself and watched her with other women too, so I knew that it was not just me, but a pattern in her life.
Zelda, never confronted anyone about anything. Everyone loved her because she was like their faithful dog, Bowzer, who just accepted whatever anyone said or did, without the challenge. She laid at their feet offering nothing but friendly short platitudes and adoring looks. She was the first one other ladies flocked to when they had a problem and needed someone who would listen, but remain silent and accepting. Her face was frozen in a permanent smile as her head swayed to and fro in total agreement with all that was shared.
Zelda was very careful to come across as in agreement, no matter what was being said. One day something unusual happened that confused me. Zelda was not herself that day. I witnessed her blow up in anger at someone who had confronted her about a sin in Zelda's life. Zelda shrieked in anger, stomped off while shouting as she left the room that she never wanted to see or speak to this woman ever again. Wow! What happened to our mild mannered shrinking violet?
From the book "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
" we find this quote, "For some, healing has been short-circuited: Jesus' precept, 'the truth shall set you free,' has been replaced by man's precept, 'to be nice is better than to be honest' and 'keep (false) peace at all costs."
This is entirely unbiblical not to mention useless in resolving misunderstandings.
Zelda, having been confronted about an offense she had committed against this woman, seemed to not be able to handle criticism to such a degree that she was willing to lose a friend to maintain her facade. She had evolved instantaneously from that dog eyed adoring puppy into a ravenous wolf. How could this be? Perhaps Zelda was never the adoring puppy dog at all, but inwardly has always been the wolf in sheeps’ clothing. Perhaps that waving head and sweet smile were nothing more than acting to manipulate perceptions.
Once the play acting was over and Zelda's inner being was discovered, she now was impervious to spiritual growth as long as she was too prideful to admit her sin and be reconciled to those she had wounded. Her "peace keeping" was not so peaceful after all. It was only peaceful until she had to be accountable in some way to others. Then all that peace keeping unfolded into a war that would cause more devastation in the lives of others.
Peace keeping promotes a spirit of deception and lying. Showing forth a face of kindness to convince others that we are a spiritual person, is lying.
Pretending to love, when we really are indifferent to the needs of others is the worst kind of fakery. We can get others to trust us and then use what they have said against them later, or worse, use what they have said to manipulate them into serving us in some way, even if it is only our egos that are stroked. This is spiritual blackmail.
Peace keepers lack integrity, they are self absorbed while attempting to deceive others into thinking they are deeply concerned. The concern does not reach a depth greater than the end of their lips. They withhold information for the purpose of maintaining their personal appearance. They do not say what they mean and they do not mean what they say. They are in a sense hiding themselves for their own advancement.
Jude 1:16 "These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage."
Another very disturbing trait of the peace keeper is their uncanny ability to cover up the sins of the people they like. I say "like" instead of "love", because it is not loving to cover up the sin of an unrepentant person. It is not love of the sinner and it is not love of the victim.
There are rare occasions when the peace keeper may point out a flaw in another person, but only to defend themselves when they are approached about their own sin. The focus is still themselves.
In short, the peace keeper is playing a role, they are not authentic, they appear warm and gentle on the outside, but inwardly they are deceitful and contentious. They leave a wake of frustrated people where ever they go.
I knew of young woman we will call, Bunny, who was so jealous of another woman that she concocted lies and exaggerations about the object of her jealousy to the point where the victim lost friends and family, who believed the lies. Her tactics were to distort the events to the point that they were barely recognizable. This woman too, was a Zelda type, always appearing to others as the victim, when she was the perpetrator. When confronted with her sin, she, like Zelda, stomped off and isolated herself from anyone who required her to be accountable.
Had Zelda and Bunny reacted with humility and sadness at the discovery of their sin, we could have concluded that they were truly sorry for the trouble they had caused. But since there was violent anger, we can be sure there was guilt also.
When a person is humble, they are embarrassed, not mad. When a person is not guilty, they are humble and not angry. The explosion of anger in Zelda and Bunny was evidence that they were guilty and would fight in an effort to convince others they were not guilty when they knew they were. It is also an attempt to make the accuser look like the bad guy.
The peace keeper does not seek God honestly for their direction, but for justification of their sins. They may even use scripture to support and validate their sin, but it is taken out of context and misused.
The peace keeper is a person who seeks to smooth things over for superficial peace that does not only mask the problem but exacerbates it in the long term, causing greater turmoil. As an author once stated "throwing a rug over a gasoline spill next to the fire only causes an explosion." Would we cover cancer with a band-aid, or a gapping head wound with a cap.
The peace keeper relies entirely on their own desires and feelings, to evaluate life and friends. They are almost entirely motivated by self interest. This is a picture of a narcissist and a manipulator. In short, they do not make peace, they create devastation by ignoring God's principles of friendship and resolution of problems, to maintain an appearance. When that appearance is exposed as a sham, then they must put out of their lives anyone who knows the truth, rather than repenting.
Zelda is of this sort, she never offers lasting help to anyone. She never instructs, corrects, rebukes or teaches. She is nearly worthless in terms of a valued friendship to anyone. Zelda would put a band-aid over cancer. She would pretend there wasn't a gapping wound in your head that needed stitches, but would help you on with your hat to keep the blood off her floors while pretending that it was to help you. Or worse yet, she would shout at others to come and help with something that she could have done. Doing, being and saying nothing is the trademark of the Zelda's of the world. If they say, do and be nothing, then in their mind they can be accountable for nothing.
Our church culture as a whole are peace keepers. They look to the fast food fix, the quick easy answers and those that are pleasurable. In short, our church culture does not care deeply about people, but only about pleasure, materialism and financial gain.
After all the bad news concerning the peace keeper, we need to reflect on the principles of the peace maker.
Peace makers desire a cure to the problem and are willing to walk the hard road to get to the place of safety.
The peace maker desires to do things God's way. They seek the scriptures for His principles to address the problems of life. They are deeply concerned about the well being of others. They are more concerned about the long term affect of a matter rather than immediate happiness.
If we love God first we will not fear mans' reaction to God's standard. We are merely the messenger who brings God's word for the solutions. When we will not speak the truth, we doom the hearer to a life of superficial phoniness that leaves them spiritual and emotional babies.
God says "By this we know if we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." 1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."
God's command to love our brothers is summed up in loving God's commands. The most valuable things we can do for our brothers and sisters in the Lord is to LOVE HIS COMMANDMENTS. If we claim to love our brethren but do not love God's commandments, then we do not love our brethren.
If we love God's commandments then we will use them to instruct our brothers and sister in the Lord. We will hold fast to them and plead with our family to follow what God says.
God has given us the ten commandments as a guideline for knowing His will.
When we are "peace keepers", this is what we do to the commandments of God:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
If we are a peace keeper we violate this commandment, because we are placing the approval of people above God.
2. Thou shalt make no graven images.
When we are a peace maker we are creating an image of God in our minds that is not truth.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.
When we are a peace keeper, we are emanating an air of godliness that is not true, we call ourselves Christians but do not
find God's word sufficient for all things, then we are vainly using His name as ours, in short we are "taking the Lord's name in vain", claiming to be a Christian while acting like a heathen.
4. Keep holy the Sabbath.
When we dishonor God in peace keeping, we are not concerned about holiness at all, let alone true worship. We can not worship what we do not know.
5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.
When we live a lie, based on selfish ambition we dishonor our parents with our lives.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
God says when we hate our brother, it is the same as murdering him. When we are more concerned about our personal comfort and being accepted than we are about God's truth, we are hating our brother.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
When we place other things and people above God we are committing adultery against Him.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
When we are peace keepers we are stealing the truth from our brother, keeping it from him that which would help him.
9. Thou shalt not lie.
When we are peace keepers we are telling a lie. We display loving kindness, when deep inside we have no love for others, only for ourselves.
10.Thou shalt not covet.
When we are peace keepers we are coveting the admiration of others rather than promoting the worshiping of God.
When we are peace makers this is what we do to the commandments of God.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
We love to honor God above everything and everyone else, he gets all the glory while we serve Him and others.
2. Thou shalt make no graven images.
We do not place our trust in images made by human hands.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.
We live a life dedicated to making God look good. We quote Him, we thank Him and we worship Him.
4. Keep holy the Sabbath.
We desire to worship with others collectively, keeping the day set aside for Him.
5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.
We have a deep reverence and love for our parents.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
We do not murder, nor do we hate. We love our fellow man to the point of self sacrifice
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
We do not betray a loved one. We honor those who love God.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
We do not take what is not ours and we do not have a sense of entitlement to anything. All things belong to God.
9. Thou shalt not lie.
We do not manipulate or lie to get our way.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
We do not want what others have, we are not jealous of others.
It must be said that all of us break the commandments regularly if only in our hearts. But as we grow closer and closer to the Lord, the more we hate dishonoring God. We hate the sin that we find in ourselves. We confess it and God begins a work of cleansing us. God will not do the work of cleansing if we will not confess.
How do we shed the life of peace keeping and become a peace maker? We confess what we are and ask the Lord to change us. He knows just what to do to help us change.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Showing Off is Sin!
Next time you see a video of someone giving to the poor, taking a selfy giving someone shoes or food or a place to live, please don't praise them! Anyone who makes sure others are watching their good deeds, even to the point of putting it on the internet, we can be sure that they are showing off while violating the Scripture that tells us not to do it.
Matthew 6:1-4
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with... your Father who is in heaven.
2 “So when you [a]give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3 But when you [b]give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
Matthew 6:1-4
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with... your Father who is in heaven.
2 “So when you [a]give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3 But when you [b]give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
We Will Know Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ
When we die, I am convinced that we will know those whom we knew in life who were born again, when we leave this life and go to heaven.
1 Corinthians 13:12 "For presently we see through a glass in obscurity; but then, face to face. Presently, I know in part; but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."
Matthew 17:3 "…2And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."…"
Peter seemed to recognize Moses and Elijah, even though he had never seen them in real life, they existed centuries before Peter was alive.
We will be able to see the nail prints in Christ's hands. After His death when He appeared, He still had the signs of the crucifixion, the means of our salvation.
John 20:25 "So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
1 Corinthians 13:12 "For presently we see through a glass in obscurity; but then, face to face. Presently, I know in part; but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."
Matthew 17:3 "…2And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."…"
Peter seemed to recognize Moses and Elijah, even though he had never seen them in real life, they existed centuries before Peter was alive.
We will be able to see the nail prints in Christ's hands. After His death when He appeared, He still had the signs of the crucifixion, the means of our salvation.
John 20:25 "So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
His Will Not Ours
When we ask the Lord, we must ask in an attitude of humility, ready to accept whatever His answer is going to be, whether it is our desire or not .
Only those things that are within His will, He will answer. I will not have the power to do everything I want that is not in His will. I could APPEAR to be getting what I want, demanding things from God and get myself into trouble for not consulting Him.
James 4:3 "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."
Isaiah 30:1 "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:"
When we arrogantly proclaim that we can have our own way no matter what and that God has to comply, we are showing contempt for God's will. When our will becomes more important than the heart of God, we are pretending to care about Him but in fact are showing disregard for Him.
Rebellion comes in many forms, often cloaked in possitive attitudes and actions, but in fact are out and out rebellion, "doing it our way", rather than seeking God for His answers!
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