Allegiance to God Alone

In these last days of apostasy, we need to be aware of the wiles of the devil, he will use those close to us to hamper our fervor, while destroying our enthusiasm for Him, through covert means, we don't have to let him do this.

When we know the devil's tricks, we can ignore them and continue on in the Lord with whatever He has for us to do. When we have the opportunity to excuse ourselves from those who negate our calling, we must move on.

It is a sin to continue wallowing in agony over the loss of someone who does not love the Lord, simply because they have our blood running through their veins.

I recall God rebuking David for mourning the loss of his son, when his son was evil, attempting to destroy his own father and mocking God in His actions.

When we defend the wicked person who is a relative, while caring nothing about the victims of our children, then we are acting in arrogant pride, based on blood rather than righteousness. We ought never to defend wicked people merely because they are relatives. We must always take the side of the victims and innocence no matter who they are. If we lose the love, attentions and companionship of wicked relatives then we are better for it. May our actions be always toward God and not human companions, no matter what the cost.

2 Samuel 18:33 "33 Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”

2 Samuel 19:1-8 "19 And Joab was told, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”
2 So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.” 3 And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
5 Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines,
6 in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well.
7 Now therefore, arise, go out and speak comfort to your servants. For I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now.”
8 Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, “There is the king, sitting in the gate.” So all the people came before the king.
For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent."

The Choir Has Many Pretenders

I meet many people who know the Bible, claim to be believers but hold contempt in their hearts for anyone who will correct them. The church as a whole is apostate, wanting to "appear spiritual" without actually having a relationship with Christ, while spurning His Word, twisting it, using it to suit themselves. There is no real love for the brethren, only a deep sense of desire to control others, dwells in their hearts. Their mentor is not Christ however their mentor is the devil.

These people say they are Christians, but you will never hear them say outright, "I love Christ." They will never use terms like "I follow Christ", "I am born again by the blood of Christ" or "I was once evil and lost but have been changed into a new creation by Christ."

When we see generic descriptions of what people think they are, the same terminology the world uses, without a fervor for the Savior, I always wonder about their salvation.

These people seem embarrassed at the mention of Christ and are deeply offended when challenged according to His Word. They argue, fight and demean others to remain superior to them, never seeming to admit they need growth like all of us, they have an elevated opinion of themselves, showing a lack of humility or desire to learn beyond what they already think they know. They never apologize nor do they ever admit their sin or error.

Someone challenged me that I was always speaking to the "choir", that may be true, but my view is that many in the choir are not the choir at all, but pretenders, they need to hear the gospel all over again because they have heard, but not received.

John 1:12; 3:14-16, 36; 5:24; 6:40-47; Acts 16:30, 31; Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8, 9.

Matthew 21:43; 22:10-14; 24:45-51; 25:1-20; Luke 12:42-48; 19:11-27; Galatians 5:19-21; Hebrews 2:1-4; 4:1-11; 6:1-6; 10:25-31; 12:14-17; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-29; 3:5, 12, 21; 19:7-9.

Do Not Neglect Truth

If we will not obey the Lord in the things we know, then not only will He not give us more wisdom, He will remove what we have. God will not allow us to retain knowledge we refuse to implement and clearly will not give more to anyone who rejects what he has been given.

Matthew 25:28-30
"…28'Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.'
29"For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
30"Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

There is a regression that occurs when a believer begins to neglect the things of the Lord in favor of friendship with the world. So many believers are disobeying God in major ways, choosing to believe God winks at their personal choices, or twisting Scripture to enjoy their own desires.

When we see that we or someone we know are beginning to accept things they never would have in the past, or begins to fight against the truth when corrected, then we will be able to observe a reversal in the spiritual walk.

This is also the reason we become confused, people who appear to be on fire for God, after many years of capitulating to the whims and desires of people around them, begin to falter in their walk and seem to even give up all desire for the things of the Lord, having a psudo-Christianity that has no power.

Matthew 13:12 "For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whoever does not have, from him shall be taken away even that which he has"

Do not think for one moment that we can neglect the principles of God, ignoring them, while expecting to retain the knowledge we have. Our life will go down the path that is most traveled, the easiest for us. As we continually fill our souls with the Word, obeying what we know, God will heap more wisdom upon us. However if we neglect Him, His principles, remaining disobedient, we will regress, perhaps so much so that we barely appear to be Christian anymore.

For those who find themselves feeling flat in their walk, having lost joy and excitement about the Lord, it would be prudent to get back on your knees confessing your apathy, asking the Lord to revive your spirit to begin to walk uprightly again.

If there is no confession, no sorrow over this condition of regression, then there can be no healing, things will continue the downward slide to complete apostasy, then is when we have to ask ourselves if we were ever born again.

Those who are born again should be sensing the prodding of the Holy Spirit until there is that confession.

1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The Devil is the Enemy

The real enemy is the devil himself. He is messing with the minds of people, because so many are not born again, they are defenseless against his tricks and manipulations of the evil one.

1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

How does the devil do his dastardly deeds? I am convinced he places thoughts in the minds of people, when we are believers we fight the thoughts away through knowing God's Word and His principles.

Those who are controlled by their emotions through the thoughts of devils, are not able to fight against the evil that floods their minds, they simply roll with them, allowing them to control their actions and attitudes, ruining relationships, often for no reason whatever, except that the devil made them think they should be offended, made them think they have a reason to do vengeful things, when there is no valid complaint.

It is through prayer and the inculcation of God's principles into our hearts that prevent us from leaning into the temptations.
One of the favored tactics of the devil is to prevent communication to take place between two people. If the devil can keep the angry man from hearing the whole truth, then there can be no solution or resolution to the dilemma. The devil is all about pride, the very thing that got him thrown out of heaven. If he can cause a person to be too prideful to come to the table to talk, then he has won the battle to destroy a relationship.

When we attempt to talk something out, but those who are angry refuse, it suggests that they are guilty. When we are not guilty we want to know what is wrong, even delighting in knowing so that things can be resolved.

A humble man or woman who meant no harm is not afraid to hear the grievance but looks forward to a discussion to resolve a matter and restore a relationship.

It is my contention that the devil is working everyday to ruin as many relationships as he can in these last days. He is also working to bring about loneliness and fear in the hearts, keeping people off guard, frustrated and in a continual one down position, struggling to catch their breath.

Depression has become commonplace among the youth now, they sense that there is no hope, they are lonely, discouraged and often ignorant. Their only hope is to trust Christ, be cleansed by Him and seek Him for every circumstance in life.

Acts 17:27
"that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;"

1 Chronicles 16:11
"Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually."

1 Chronicles 22:19
"Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD."

Psalm 14:2
"The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God."

What Does Love Look Like

Galatians 5:13-26
"13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another."

The Narcissist Hates Knowledge and Wisdom

The apostate church only loves knowledge to impress others, not for the purpose of personal growth and change. Their goal is to know more than others, the knowledge doesn't have to actually flesh itself out in their lives, pretending is the goal. The distorted reality that narcs live in, prevents them from seeing their true self. They are working hard everyday to "appear" to be something, as long as they can appear to be something they are satisfied, they don't have to "be" anything.

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

There can be no wisdom when there is only knowledge without a desire to obey what we know. Often the knowledge is twisted to fit the culture, the life style and to be accepted by others. There can be no love for one another if there is no love and respect for God's Word. Love always fleshes out, it is not love to say it, or write it, "love" is an action word. When we love, it will be evident through attitudes and action.

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid."

1 Corinthians 8:1 "Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies."

We know the knowledge in many is for show because when they are challenged to dig deeper or that they may be wrong, they become enraged, refusing to listen while negating the challenger.

I probably would not be able to count the number of times I heard someone say "I am a Bible believing Christian" or "we are a Bible believing church", only to realize at closer inspection, there is very little about the Bible that these people obey. There really is no determination or love for God's Word, only that they love "appearing" that they do. And, there are extra rules and traditions tacked onto the lifestyle to manipulate and control others. Control is not love, instruction and correction is love. God never forces through meanness, but through instruction and circumstances He compels us to learn.

We live in a church culture that says one thing and does another. Divorce and remarriage has been accepted almost completely among church goers who say they believe the Bible. Many of these professing believers negate all the teachings of hospitality, empathy, love of the brethren and much more.

Our culture has sadly bought into the idea that saying something is enough, there doesn't have to be any action or evidence of what we say, only that we say it. While patting one another on the back for all they know, there is a conspicuous lack of action to back up the words.

Anyone who dares to confront or challenge these apostates, are maligned, demeaned, dismissed and ignored as non-entities unworthy of notice or love.

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Pray Before Giving

May I suggest that anyone in another country who continues to argue and beg after being told plainly that we cannot give to their cause, is being rude and disrespectful.

Manipulation to extract funds from us is not a Christian tactic. Christians don't have "tactics", we have honesty and straight talk.

Begging is not Biblical. If we need something we are to pray to God, asking Him, telling no one else and accepting His answer, which will be either "yes", "no" or "wait."

When someone tells me their need, then I will choose to respond or not, if they beg, that is childish, disrespectful and most of all, lacking faith that God can do it without us.

It is Christ Who leads me to give to the things He chooses for me. If I respond to begging merely to get someone off my back or out of guilt then I am not hearing God, I am responding in the flesh.

When God tells me to be a part of a ministry through the use of our money then He will clearly show me and I will have been seeking Him about where to give, before He even presents it to me.

God places it in our hearts to give, giving all by itself is not necessarily good, if it is done without the direction of Christ in us.

There are many good things to give to, but we have no idea God's purposes in withholding to a particular organization, perhaps he wants them to stop begging and start praying, then we come along, give in to human manipulation and remove their important lesson by succuming to human pressure.

Let's seek God for where our money goes, let's get a back bone and be willing to say "God never told me to give to that."