The Poster Family Lie

Never judge a "poster family" as wonderful, there may be things going on in the home that are not only ugly but verbally and emotionally abusive.

It is very hard for emotionally and verbally abused children to listen to outsiders praise the very people that are abusing them.

Anyone can get the outside world to love them, judge them as great people, all that is needed is big smiles, lots of joking and pats on the back. Most people are vulnerable to this sort of manipulation.

There are many who get angry when we judge something a politician or famous person does or the way they live, however these same people feel free to judge someone as good and wonderful when they really know nothing about them except the one or two public appearances they have observed.

Any family can dress up, get in a picture and smile, that is not an indication of the condition of the family. There is a lot of pretense that has invaded our world. As long as someone can display a persona for the public that is aesthetically pleasing, everyone loves to pretend that image is the reality.

In my humble opinion it is better not to judge anyone as bad or good without strong evidence of what we are saying. Notice I didn't say we shouldn't judge, judging is a part of every day life if we are to protect ourselves from predators. We are to judge when we have enough information and be cautious when we don't know a person.

We can never judge anyone based on a photo or one or two things we see them doing. We must know the lifestyle of someone along with many other encounters to be able to determine the truth. It's called discernment, and it is always based on God's truth, not our emotions.

Most people are happy to judge good things about anyone, but they refuse to admit the ugly sin they see. Assuming someone is a good person based on their appearances leaves us vulnerable to lies.

The serpent who spoke to Eve, was the devil himself but he came as a beautiful entity with great swelling and pleasing words, but he was deadly, literally deadly.

Any time someone smiles all the time and cracks jokes frequently, we are looking at a showman, someone who is attempting to disarm those they wish to manipulate.

Car salesmen and prosperity preachers are like this. These people use two kinds of manipulation, one is to tell you how wonderful you look, flattering about nothing, the other tactic is to make you feel you would miss out on something if you didn't do what they want.

"The sale ends tomorrow, you need to buy today." or "you don't trust me" when we require more information to clarify things. The really difficult people will rage at us to take the focus off the fact that they don't know what they are talking about.

Guilting people into submission is a favored tactic of the one who loves to control others. They rage, they cut off conversations, they withhold information hoping you will make a wrong judgment so they can accuse us of judging wrongly. The tactics are endless, what is clear is that they always accuse rather than discuss.

Setting us up to believe lies and then accusing us of believing lies is a common tactic of today's manipulators.

When we run into people who are not open and honest, constantly working on their appearance rather than substance, we have met deceitful person a counterfeit. These people are likely hiding themselves, there is something in themselves they know is a problem or sin. The more we interact with artificial people, the more we can spot them.

The next question we might ask is, "am I an artificial person?" We want to be authentic, compassionate and empathetic human beings led by the Holy Spirit. This is what we should all be praying for. There is bondage associated with fakery. The truly free person is the one who is authentic and led by the Holy Spirit.

Do we want to be free from the bondage of a counterfeit personality that is always hiding, the way to do that is confess the sin of pretense and begin to seek the Holy Spirit to be our guide and our voice.

When we do this we will be free and blessed, while growing in holiness continually.

Our Enemy is the Devil

Our battle is against the devils that influence people. When we see the people we think it is them but it really is the devil who controls them that we must pray against.

Ephesians 6:11-13 "…11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.…"

It's The Devils Who Are Our Enemies

The demons have stepped up their attack against believers. Their method is to place irrational thoughts into the minds of those who have no defense against them. Their targets are those who love Christ and desire to walk with Him.

We must keep praying and seeking Christ leaving the attackers to God to deal with, knowing it is devils who are the culprits in these battles.

Popularity is a Character Killer

In order to be loved by the world one must relinquish truth to be accepted.

I have an aversion to popularity, it generally means giving up our personality, our principles and our devotion to the things of God merely for our fifteen minutes of fame in the clique.

Godly friends hold one another in high regard no matter who our brothers and sisters are, no matter how high position or how lowly one. We are all loved by God and equal in His eyes.

Popularity means someone must be higher and better than others. In God's economy we are loved and we love one another, everyone of our brothers and sisters equally.

John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

1 Thessalonians 2:8
"We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us."

1 John 3:13-15 "…13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.…"

Romans 12:10
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another."

Insanity is the Rule of Today

Injustice reigns in our world today, up is down and down is up.

I know someone may chastise me for this but the word "dreamer" ought to be replaced with another D word, that is "derelict." Go ahead, pummel me, that's alright, I am tired of people looking at these homeless people as victims. They are drug addicted, when given a chance to stop they continue, refusing to get themselves cleaned up. There are needles all over the yards of the neighbors who have to put up with their trash. Someone needs to be down their preaching the gospel every day, they will either become saved or they will leave because they hate righteousness.

The tax payers pay big bucks to live on their own land and these drug addicted free loaders ruin neighborhoods. I heard a news story yesterday in which a man was telling his story. He walks around his own yard picking up drug needles, his own children cannot play in their own yard, they will be in danger.

This is the condition of Portland Oregon, a filth pot of debauchery. Sorry, this is a hot button for me, because it is so unjust and the media is acting like these are just people down on their luck. If they were decent people down on their luck they wouldn't be leaving garbage anywhere and they would be an asset to the community, but they bring fear and destruction everywhere they have a homeless camp.

Proverbs 13:19-21 "…19 Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil. 20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm. 21 Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.…"

The Rule not to have Rules

I think about past generations, in which fear was used a lot to get young people through their stubborn years. Once they began to become mature they didn't want the things that could get them in trouble.

Even marriages remained all their lives, many including my parents lasted 65 years and beyond. Now days there is no fear and young adults are still not mature enough to avoid the pitfalls of things that ruin their lives.

It was the liberals who thought it was bad to frighten people into avoiding bad things. The problem is that when we remove the consequences and the fear, more people's lives become ruined because they lack fear of consequences. Take away the fear and you remove inhibitions that protect us.

I remember a liberal professor who was speaking to me at a venue that I was working, he thought it was funny and a good thing that a child we both knew, had no inhibitions. My response was, "yes we need to work some in her." Her life has been a monstrous failure for lack of desire to please God. I have been praying for her for years, seeing little to no result. She has learned how to pretend goodness at times, but overall she has placed no restraints on her life that would keep her from trials.

Rules have value, they prevent us from doing things that harm us and others. When we throw out all the rules and principles of God, we see a society that is out of control and headed toward the cliff. This is the condition of our country right now. Many people become angry when we correct or instruct anyone. I was even told by an older lady who is now gone, that we shouldn't tell people they are wrong, even though she was telling me I was wrong for telling someone else they are wrong.

You see, liberalism cannot be consistent, they violate their own rules in order to say we shouldn't have rules. The liberal has a rule that we shouldn't have rules, LOL, think about that!

Proverbs 9:9-11 "…9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.…"

Keep Believing on Christ

Obedience to Christ is to believe on Him, after that He begins to sanctify us all the entire rest of our lives, until He takes us home. If someone falls away and stays away, they did not endure to the end because they were never in Christ to begin with.

Acts 16:30-31 "…30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.…"

1 John 2:19-20 " 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. 20 You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.…"

When we became born again, me first and then ten years later my husband we began to see the jealousy and anger in others in the family, as though we had done a strange evil thing. Often our households hate us when they no longer have control over our thinking. They love to hold past forgiven sins against us because they hate that we are a new person, they would rather have the old person back so they can continue to feel superior.

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"

Many years ago we were very sinful, during the beginning of our marriage neither of us were born again. We bought into many of the lies of the liberal culture in which we lived. Both of us were living in rebellion against the Lord and didn't even think what we were doing was bad.

When the Lord changed me into a new creation after confessing my sinfulness, the conflict in our marriage and among extended family began to grow worse. They liked me when I was sinful, but hated when I found Christ, even attempting to hold past sins against me as though nothing had changed. I was alone a lot in family gatherings as my husband sided with unsaved members of the family as they pummeled me with insults and the silent treatment. Even to this day family members judge me as being or doing things that are not true, based on their own imaginations about me, focusing on the memories of us from 40 years ago rather than seeing clearly the change in us.

To this very day extended family hate what we have become, born again, sold out followers of Jesus Christ. It offended them more when we became born again than when we were lost and in sin.

Sadly, some of these extended family are believers, or so they say. They have been judging me based on 40 years ago rather than rejoicing in the changed me, the one who no longer walks in those sins but has been faithful to Christ for the past 40 years. They choose me as the target because my husband has always been sort of silent, he was an accomplished engineer, politician and business owner, so they elevated him above me, the lowly homemaker.

However, I must add that I was a target as the scapegoat in my family all my life because of intense jealousy in the family. I never knew what the jealousy was about, but I know what it looks like when I see it.

Jealousy often manifests itself in exclusionary tactics, not commenting on things that are not sins or are not bad ideas, but even good accomplishments, just that I said them, therefore they are not worthy of attention. Narcissists get jealous whenever their target is happy and staunch about their own direction and beliefs. There may have been other reasons too, but it was clear from the treatment of me, that they could not bring themselves to validate me on any level even when what I was doing was a good thing. This is common among those who love to be superior to others.

There are those who are self righteous, they really believe they have never sinned and that they deserve prizes and praises for their perfect life. Of course it is not true, but their continual elevation of self has caused their walk with the Lord to deteriorate into trite mantra's and legalistic actions that make them appear spiritual, but have no power in the Lord for spiritual growth.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "2
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."

These legalistic and self righteous ones do not grow in holiness. They love to look at others with condescending eyes searching for reasons to diminish the character of others while towering over others spiritually, in their own minds.

These self righteous types have no love in their hearts, there is no room for loving others when they are too busy loving themselves. The loftiness of the soul can never bring one to humility, kindness, empathy and love.

Why do I write about this? The reason is simple, many believers live in circumstances where they were once in sin but have been born again, but continually endure the hate of those who love to maintain the idea they had of us when we were in sin. They love to interpret everything we do as sinful when it is merely obedience to Christ. These people walk in pride, know they have a problem with it, so they have to make the authentic believer appear worthless and helpless.

The good news is that the authentic believer is free from the need to be elevated in the eyes of others. They have been forgiven by God, they no longer walk according to their own ways, their joy is full and grows every day.

The solution; learn to ignore those who are elevated in their own eyes, continue on with Christ in confidence that He sees all and is all you need. Do not allow unspiritual, unscriptural nay sayers, who use many covert tactics, to influence your walk, they are to be removed and ignored. As God says in 2 Timothy 3:5, "from such turn away."

We are to either surround ourselves with those who love Christ and love us or we may have to remain alone with Christ to continue our walk without the hindrance of those who love to destroy what we have in Christ. Hallelujah!!!

"The joy of the Lord is my strength." Neh.8:10

"Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper..." Is.54:17

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Rom.15:13

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” James 1:2

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Ps.118:24
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Is. 55:12