Many of these death experiences for people who claim to have gone to heaven never have the gospel message. They also assume everyone is going to heaven when they die. We know that people do not become converted to Christ by happy thoughts and feelings, they are converted by confronting their sinful nature, confessing it and wanting to be changed by Christ.
Luke 24:47
"and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."
Matthew 26:28
"for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins."
Hebrews 9:22
"And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
Acts 2:38
"Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
One thing that strikes me, is that demons can do mind control miracles that make us think we have gone some where so vividly that we believe we have been there. Non-believers have no defense against this deception. The only people who seem to have these dreams are non-believers who claim to be converted by them. But the question is what are they converted to?
I have never heard of a non-Christian mentioned in the Bible who went to heaven. It makes more sense that God only showed heaven to those who were godly.
Those who have had these vision often are non-believers who come back from their experience as "believers in heaven", but there is no mention of how their life really changed after the event.
Also we have many people who claim to have been abducted by aliens and gone into a space ship. There is never any evidence of it, except their own testimonies. I believe these things are happening in the brain not reality, by the power of demons. The anti-christ will do "false miracles and lying wonders." I believe most of it will be in the mind, many will believe the miracles but they never actually happen, their minds have been convinced by these visions from demons.
Also, in the last days deception the anti-christ will do false miracles making people think he is the savior of the world. It will all be happening in their minds.
When a brain surgeon is working on someone's brain and the person is awake, the surgeon can touch a part of the brain and make someone taste their favorite ice cream. They are not having ice cream but they think they are tasting it. The surgeon can touch another part of the brain and make someone re-live some event they did in the past. I am convinced that demons can and do manipulate people's brains to see and believe things that are not true.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 "…10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11 For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, 12 in order that judgment will come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.…"
I am also convinced that right now demons are causing thoughts in the minds of those who are not walking with Christ, to make others believe their family and friends have attitudes and actions that do and did not exist. He loves to cause chaos and mayhem, especially against believers and followers of Christ Jesus.
When we are accused of things that we know didn't happen, or thoughts we didn't have, we can be sure that something is messing with the minds of those the devil is using to debilitate us.
1 Peter 5:7-9 "…7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…"
I have actually witnessed people who say something that is evil or mean, when I address it seconds after they say it, they proclaim they never said that, even when I use exactly the same words they used. They really believe they never said it, causing me to believe someone else used their mouth, being the reason they don't have the words recorded in their brain to recall.
Please brothers and sisters, stay in prayer over everything, remembering that the devil is working to manipulate people against us to demean, mock and diminish the Word of God. If he can turn people against us, he then can discredit anything we say in the eyes of those who once loved or appreciated us.
We don't have to live under a cloud all the time, worried that someone is working the devil's antics. We can live free from the effects of his wiles, at the same time growing in holiness, only as long as we keep our eyes on Christ and truth. We need to remember not to react to the evil around us, that's what the devil wants. We must respond in the Holy Spirit while remaining steady.
Proverbs 4:24-26 "…24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth And put devious speech far from you. 25 Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. 26 Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.…"
2 Corinthians 4:3-5 "…3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.…"
Isaiah 33:15-16 "15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; 16 He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.…"
Friday, December 23, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Keep Your Eyes on Christ
There are many who are experiencing rebellion of children or spouses who will not walk with Christ and resent those who do.
The devil is ramping up his efforts to divide families and isolate believers. Let's remember to pray often for believers who are in this situation.
The non-believers in families can do great damage with their gossip and judgments out of context and willful misunderstandings to discredit the one who loves the Lord.
Even more disturbing are those households who claim to be Christian but employ the tactics of the devil because of their own anger, resentment and refusal to hear anything from the Word of God.
Those who endure this persecution can live in it just as Noah had to live in Sodom before God took him out. They can live in it just as Noah had to endure the abuse while He was building the ark in obedience to God.
It is not easy but God can make us stronger, bolder and more resolute in seeking Him no matter what our trial.
1 Peter 5:10
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
James 1:12
"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."
Romans 12:12
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
1 Corinthians 10:13
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
John 16:33
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Exodus 14:14
"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Focus on Christ not the circumstances, focus on the wonderful boot camp training that leads to spiritual strength, rather than the actions of those who refuse to obey God.
Romans 5:3-5 "…3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…"
The devil is ramping up his efforts to divide families and isolate believers. Let's remember to pray often for believers who are in this situation.
The non-believers in families can do great damage with their gossip and judgments out of context and willful misunderstandings to discredit the one who loves the Lord.
Even more disturbing are those households who claim to be Christian but employ the tactics of the devil because of their own anger, resentment and refusal to hear anything from the Word of God.
Those who endure this persecution can live in it just as Noah had to live in Sodom before God took him out. They can live in it just as Noah had to endure the abuse while He was building the ark in obedience to God.
It is not easy but God can make us stronger, bolder and more resolute in seeking Him no matter what our trial.
1 Peter 5:10
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
James 1:12
"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."
Romans 12:12
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
1 Corinthians 10:13
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
John 16:33
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Exodus 14:14
"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Focus on Christ not the circumstances, focus on the wonderful boot camp training that leads to spiritual strength, rather than the actions of those who refuse to obey God.
Romans 5:3-5 "…3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…"
Gratefulness is the Evidence
Where there is envy, strife and division there is ungratefulness. The more grateful to God we are, the more we love Him and seek Him.
Psalms 118:24 - This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Colossians 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Psalms 127:1 - (A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.
Psalms 118:24 - This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Colossians 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Psalms 127:1 - (A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
It's Not the Messengers Delivery, It's the Heart of the Hearer
Exactly, it is not the delivery of the messenger, but it is the heart of the hearer.
Helping the Wicked Remain Wicked
Romans 1:29-32
"29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [a]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
If we embrace those who are living wickedly, then we are sending the message that we approve of their lifestyle and their rejection of God. We need to be warning those who walk in evil, then removing ourselves when they will not listen.
Isaiah 26:9-11 "…9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 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. 11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.…"
An evil man who rejects the Word of God and goes away from us, knows where to find us if he changes his mind. In the mean time we can pray and keep ourselves from being touched by the evil through abstinence from their lives. God can do a better job of reaching them than we. When they are ready, God can bring us back into their lives or He can send someone else in our place.
When we cannot let go of someone because of emotional ties, then we have an idol and we have elevated ourselves to god status by thinking that we have to be there, no one else nor God can help this person.
When we have done what the Holy Spirit told us to do, even walking away at the ordained time, then we can depend on Him as our guide. The freest person on the planet is one whose mind is stayed so completely on Christ that lose of a person or rejection by someone does not altar our obedience to Christ.
James 4:8-10 "…8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.…"
"29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [a]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
If we embrace those who are living wickedly, then we are sending the message that we approve of their lifestyle and their rejection of God. We need to be warning those who walk in evil, then removing ourselves when they will not listen.
Isaiah 26:9-11 "…9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 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. 11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.…"
An evil man who rejects the Word of God and goes away from us, knows where to find us if he changes his mind. In the mean time we can pray and keep ourselves from being touched by the evil through abstinence from their lives. God can do a better job of reaching them than we. When they are ready, God can bring us back into their lives or He can send someone else in our place.
When we cannot let go of someone because of emotional ties, then we have an idol and we have elevated ourselves to god status by thinking that we have to be there, no one else nor God can help this person.
When we have done what the Holy Spirit told us to do, even walking away at the ordained time, then we can depend on Him as our guide. The freest person on the planet is one whose mind is stayed so completely on Christ that lose of a person or rejection by someone does not altar our obedience to Christ.
James 4:8-10 "…8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.…"
Do We Really Care?
Let me describe what I have seen many believers are feeling;
They are full of joy and boldness, continually rejected by rebellious hears, accused of "negative" attitude as they are compelled by the Holy Spirit to expose evil because of their love for Christ first and then their love of those to whom they speak.
Believers have a deep concern for the spiritual growth of their brothers and sisters in Christ as well as an even deeper concern for those who are unsaved and on their way to the fires of hell.
Our hearts leap with joy over our hope of going home, when all this mess we live with every day torments our souls as it tormented the soul of Lot.
We rejoice at what God has made us, where we are going and the joy of our love for Christ, while simultaneously grieving over the dying and evil world all around us.
2 Peter 2:6-8 "6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—…"
Those who would accuse a believer being too negative, perhaps does not understand the world they live in, the working of the Holy Spirit or the depth of depravity he or she is surrounded by.
These same people hate correction and instruction themselves, so they interpret these necessary elements of Christian life as saddening, rather than things that could bring joy to anyone who heeds the warnings and become born again because of it.
Anyone who cannot face truth, will never lead anyone to the Lord. Should we make people feel comfortable in their wickedness, or would it be better to warn them and watch them seek God because of the conviction they have toward their sin?
Romans 1:21-22 "21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,…"
Anyone who hears the "negative" truth of hell and damnation and heeds its' warning will be excited and blessed that they have been saved out of it and on their way to heaven.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 "8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time. 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.…"
The reality is this, those who avoid sounding negative while living in the dilution that everyone should be happy happy all the time are negating the Word of God and the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit to show us our sinful nature after which we become joyful that Christ provided a way out of sin and hell.
Would we rather a person go to hell for eternity, so that others will like us, or do we grief over evil and attempt to convince others to turn to Christ for their salvation?
"Romans 1:26-27
"26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [a]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [b]indecent acts and receiving in [c]their own persons the due penalty of their error."
They are full of joy and boldness, continually rejected by rebellious hears, accused of "negative" attitude as they are compelled by the Holy Spirit to expose evil because of their love for Christ first and then their love of those to whom they speak.
Believers have a deep concern for the spiritual growth of their brothers and sisters in Christ as well as an even deeper concern for those who are unsaved and on their way to the fires of hell.
Our hearts leap with joy over our hope of going home, when all this mess we live with every day torments our souls as it tormented the soul of Lot.
We rejoice at what God has made us, where we are going and the joy of our love for Christ, while simultaneously grieving over the dying and evil world all around us.
2 Peter 2:6-8 "6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—…"
Those who would accuse a believer being too negative, perhaps does not understand the world they live in, the working of the Holy Spirit or the depth of depravity he or she is surrounded by.
These same people hate correction and instruction themselves, so they interpret these necessary elements of Christian life as saddening, rather than things that could bring joy to anyone who heeds the warnings and become born again because of it.
Anyone who cannot face truth, will never lead anyone to the Lord. Should we make people feel comfortable in their wickedness, or would it be better to warn them and watch them seek God because of the conviction they have toward their sin?
Romans 1:21-22 "21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,…"
Anyone who hears the "negative" truth of hell and damnation and heeds its' warning will be excited and blessed that they have been saved out of it and on their way to heaven.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 "8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time. 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.…"
The reality is this, those who avoid sounding negative while living in the dilution that everyone should be happy happy all the time are negating the Word of God and the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit to show us our sinful nature after which we become joyful that Christ provided a way out of sin and hell.
Would we rather a person go to hell for eternity, so that others will like us, or do we grief over evil and attempt to convince others to turn to Christ for their salvation?
"Romans 1:26-27
"26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [a]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [b]indecent acts and receiving in [c]their own persons the due penalty of their error."
The Subtle Things Reveal the Heart
If you think no one is noticing an attitude of disrespect and contempt, remember that Even just the rolling of eyes and shifting of the head can be a sign of contempt.
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