THE DEVIL INFLUENCED EVE TO SIN:
Genesis 3:3-5 "…3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."…
THE DEVIL INFLUENCED PETER TO SIN : Notice Christ addressed the devil while talking to Peter!
Matthew 5:22-23 "…22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” 23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
THE DEVIL INFLUENCED ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA TO SIN.
Acts 5:3 "3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?"
The devil spends more time influencing people to rage and rail at believers in an attempt to get them to sin than any other way. He tried to get Eve to believe God lied to her, he influenced Peter to question God's purpose and he influenced Ananias and Sapphira to feel the need to impress others, pretending they gave all their earnings when they held back a portion. It was interesting that this couple was not required to give all but they wanted to be seen by men as doing a good thing, so they lied. It was the lying to the Holy Spirit that did them in, literally.
Satan places unclean thoughts in the heads of people to cause them to believe things that are not true. If he can get us to think certain things he can break up relationships, remove support systems and cause rebellion in children.
When he knows he cannot get them to sin through mere temptation, he can cause them to sin by using the mouths of others to falsely accuse or frustrate with mocking and demeaning, then watch their reaction to defend themselves in anger.
Do not fall for the tricks of the devil. His favorite tactic is to arouse frustration in believers so they will become angry, then he can point his bony finger of accusation that we are the evil ones.
Revelation 12:10 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them day and night before our God."
It is interesting how the accuser feels justified in their hateful tactics when we respond to them. When we do not respond they exit quickly because they only have themselves to see. Their goal was thwarted so they remove themselves.
The attacks on believers are increasing, if we know the tactics of the evil one we can be prepared to allow the Holy Spirit to control us so that we are not controlled by the devil.
God warned us many times in the Word about the tactics of the devil, in every case He tells us to remove ourselves or we speak the words of God and the devil will flee.
James 4:7-8 "7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.…"
Revelation 12:11 "11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.…"
There it is, the answer to the attacks, the devil has been conquered by the blood of Christ, he has no power unless we give it to him.
Ephesians 4:27 "…26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. "
Because Christ is in us we can exercise self control when we are under attack. No need to explain ourselves or attempt to reason with the devil. Simply state truth as needed or refuse to answer at all.
Proverbs 26:3-5 "…3 A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools. 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him. 5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.…"
Remember the attacks do not reveal anything about us, but they do reveal much about the attacker. However if we become angry and exact revenge, then our response does reveal that our heart needs more work.
No one does Christmas to the glory of God or they would dispense with the bobbles, the trees, the gifts to one another and all the entertainment at that time of year. Then they would speak of the Lord throughout the whole day. But no, I have been in many "Christian" households over the years at the holidays and Christ is never mentioned except in a prayer over the food. In fact when I would bring up the name of Christ there would be embarrassment as though I was rude and then treated with dissmissiveness the entire rest of the day. NO, Christmas is pagan through and through. Tacking on the name of Christ at the meal does not make it about Christ. It began from pagan roots and remains there.
Christ said that if one remarries they commit adultery, the reason it is adultery is because the first spouse remains living.
It is clear to those who want truth, that remarriage is forbidden by God.
We can also see the devastation in our country that all these broken families have caused. There are more babies born out of wedlock than in marriage now.
Those who devalued God and marriage have produced children who have no respect for righteousness and have taken the next step, that is shacking up.
Why not? Their parents were living in serial adultery, many more than once, what difference is there in just shacking up. And the parents cannot chastise their adult children for shacking up because they did the same thing openly but calling it by a different name, they called it remarriage after divorce, but it amounts to the same mentality, disobedience to Christ and rebellion against His principles.
Narcissists love to get information to bend it to their way of thinking and pass it on as fact. They will ask questions to get you to say things they can use against you.
The most wicked form of gossip is when we tell information privately about the things we have encountered with others and the gossip goes to those people with that information.
Sadly the gossip never relays the information in the spirit it was given, they always make it mean and hateful so that the person they are talking to will hate you, even when you shared something innocently and without guile, they relay it as an attack against the hearers.
Anyone who tells you what others say about you is not your friend. You can count on the information being twisted in some way to make the shared information seem bad or evil.
Proverbs 16:27-29 "…27 A worthless man digs up evil, While his words are like scorching fire. 28 A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends. 29 A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.…"
It is one thing to share what happened to you, it is quite another to share what others have said to you about others. That is moving into the realm of gossip.
If you do not like being gossiped about, then don't gossip yourself. Our personal encounters are one thing, but the encounters of others is their business.
There are far too many wrong judgments made by those who have heard things second hand, they almost never go to the person who made the statements they are angry about. In most cases they just believe the worst about the statements, as if the statements are accurate and treat their target with contempt because of the gossip they believed.
There is a gossip in our family who digs for information and then relays that information to those people they think will be angered by it to cause division. The gossip is a narcissist, he asks questions, skews the conversation when visiting with others and the others have elevated him to the position of "special", so they believe every thing they say.
Get away from the gossip, it is better for him to make up a lie than pass on a half truth.
Wow, that sure is true. They are so full of their own form of righteousness that they have nothing but contempt for those who love the Bible that they claim to believe but do not obey.
President Trump has declared on a couple of occasions that Norman Vincent Peale was his mentor.
Norman Vincent Peale believed that all ways lead to heaven, that faith in faith and faith in prayers were ways to make things happen.
God says: John 14:6
"6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Peale was deeply invested in the power of the mind to get what one wants from life. There was never any preaching to submit to Christ or become born again.
Peale said this: "change you thoughts and change your world."
God says: 1 Corinthians 2:16 "16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ."
God says: Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Peale said this: "Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."
God says: Psalm 118:8-9 " 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes.…"
God says: Proverbs 28:25-26 "…25 An arrogant man stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the LORD will prosper. 26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered."
Peale said this: "Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful."
God says this: Colossians 3:15 "15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
God says: Galatians 5:22 "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,"
God says: 1 Peter 5: 7 "7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Peale says: "“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.”
God says: "Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Recapping the point here: Peale teaches us to trust in ourselves, live for happiness and be positive all the time.
On the other hand Christ teaches that we should trust in Him, seeking Him to obey and glorify Him.
Peales way is opposite of God's, it is self glorification, self indulgence while rejecting God's Word as the source of all wisdom and power.
As believers we trust in Christ, those who love Peale's false wisdom believe only in themselves. Self is on the throne of their own heart instead of Christ.
It's simple, if we know the word of God and believe Him, we will see the foolishness of people like Norman Vincent Peale.
