Sunday, May 6, 2018
Pressured by Ungodly Family Members
This is very common, when families place pressure on another family member to be with people who are not only bad for them, but do not honor God. Cognitive dissonance is an interesting concept, basically it is when we go against our own beliefs to please others. Sometimes its hard to obey God when we know entire families will judge us for not doing what they do or showing up where they show up. We live in a shame based culture in which there will be punishment on the part of family members for daring to walk our own walk on a different path.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Wants are not Needs
Women who have remained in the home all their lives might relate to what I am about to say.
Narcissists are not satisfied with doing their own thing, they must intimidate others into accepting them and even doing what they do. The feminists have managed to brainwash many women into thinking they are without value unless they are bringing in an income to supplement their husband's earnings.
The world is getting worse because we are in the end times, that's why it is so important to know what the 2 Timothy 3 crowd looks like.
I don't have many friends except on facebook, because I have been in the home for 46 years taking care of my family, it was seen by many as a lower position in life, sadly.
Having been treated shamefully by family members who see me as stupid for not having a "career", I spend a lot of time being ignored at family functions because I had no talk about a "career. And yet my life was busier and more diverse than most working women. I worked hard in the home, as hard or harder than any woman who went outside the home to earn money.
We lived on my husband's income all these years and are completely out of debt for most of those years. I don't think women go to work for the money, they do it to appear successful by having a "career." I don't say these things to brag, only to demonstrate that it can be done if one is frugal.
I saved us lots of money by doing things that many people pay others to do, including painting the outside of several of our houses whenever we moved. I did the yard work, sewing and mending, cooking, errands for needs for the home and even volunteer work.
It is amazing how many things people buy today that are completely unnecessary while have a hard time paying the real bills, causing women to work outside the home, thinking they need all these things.
Over the years I have been left out of conversations as a non-entity, treated as though I had no brain for my choices, but I have a clear conscience and much joy that I obeyed God.
Nearly all women can do what I did, they just have to resolve themselves to the dedication of their family. I have always been fulfilled, never bored, a little lonely at times as the only homemaker in the neighborhood, but too busy to feel it much.
We used to live in a world in which all the women were home supporting their families as one would a company as the CEO. It was normal for women to take care of all the homemaking tasks, this freed the man up to be able to work bringing in the necessary money that was needed for the family.
God gave each of us roles, the man to earn the living and the women to use it to take care of family life for everyone in the household.
If one takes a close look at Proverbs 31 we see that the woman did all the household managing and even took some of her household money to buy a field as an investment. She did not work outside the home five days a week leaving the care of that household to others, the field was only a part of her duties.
Managing a business is a big job, arranging for everything to get done while shopping for the best buys to make the money go as far as needed. The Proverbs 31 woman was not a wasteful woman, she was dedicated to doing the best job possible, excellence for her home as well as managing the money well.
Of course over the years I had to learn how to manage the money well, it didn't come naturally for me, I made mistakes that had to be corrected, but the learning came as I went along.
No matter what income one has, if it is managed properly without spending on unnecessary things, it can be enough. Choosing a smaller house, leaving off things like cable tv, internet and other unnecessary things will leave the household with enough money to pay all the bills.
The fun stuff is only for those who have extra money after the bills are paid and there is enough in savings for important emergencies.
I know this is not going to sit well with some people who think the fun stuff is necessary, I am here to tell you it is not! We can be happy and fulfilled without all the play things we think we want. There was a times early in our marriage when there was no cable tv, no internet and only one car in the marriage. We still don't have cable tv, the cost is outrageous, we can afford it but I don't want to waste our money that way.
Often, getting the play things seem important, but once they come into the house they are used for a little while and then sit in the corner of a closet unused. We tire of things quickly, its human nature to want something we will never use. I know because the walls of my house have hangings that came from garage sales and thrift stores, they are not needed, if we could not afford them, I would not do it.
Lastly, we do not need the best of everything. We can live on garage sales and thrift stores but only on a budget and for necessary things. We don't need to eat out in restaurants either, I know many will think this is necessary, but there also was a day when doing something like this was once a year for a special occasion, mostly people ate at home.
If one evaluates every thing they are thinking of buying, most of it will not be needed, they could set the money aside and watch it pile up as they realize how little we buy that we need.
Philippians 4:19 "19 And my God will supply all your NEEDS according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Did we see that? "NEEDS", not wants!!! We need food and clothing and probably far less of those things than we think.
Narcissists are not satisfied with doing their own thing, they must intimidate others into accepting them and even doing what they do. The feminists have managed to brainwash many women into thinking they are without value unless they are bringing in an income to supplement their husband's earnings.
The world is getting worse because we are in the end times, that's why it is so important to know what the 2 Timothy 3 crowd looks like.
I don't have many friends except on facebook, because I have been in the home for 46 years taking care of my family, it was seen by many as a lower position in life, sadly.
Having been treated shamefully by family members who see me as stupid for not having a "career", I spend a lot of time being ignored at family functions because I had no talk about a "career. And yet my life was busier and more diverse than most working women. I worked hard in the home, as hard or harder than any woman who went outside the home to earn money.
We lived on my husband's income all these years and are completely out of debt for most of those years. I don't think women go to work for the money, they do it to appear successful by having a "career." I don't say these things to brag, only to demonstrate that it can be done if one is frugal.
I saved us lots of money by doing things that many people pay others to do, including painting the outside of several of our houses whenever we moved. I did the yard work, sewing and mending, cooking, errands for needs for the home and even volunteer work.
It is amazing how many things people buy today that are completely unnecessary while have a hard time paying the real bills, causing women to work outside the home, thinking they need all these things.
Over the years I have been left out of conversations as a non-entity, treated as though I had no brain for my choices, but I have a clear conscience and much joy that I obeyed God.
Nearly all women can do what I did, they just have to resolve themselves to the dedication of their family. I have always been fulfilled, never bored, a little lonely at times as the only homemaker in the neighborhood, but too busy to feel it much.
We used to live in a world in which all the women were home supporting their families as one would a company as the CEO. It was normal for women to take care of all the homemaking tasks, this freed the man up to be able to work bringing in the necessary money that was needed for the family.
God gave each of us roles, the man to earn the living and the women to use it to take care of family life for everyone in the household.
If one takes a close look at Proverbs 31 we see that the woman did all the household managing and even took some of her household money to buy a field as an investment. She did not work outside the home five days a week leaving the care of that household to others, the field was only a part of her duties.
Managing a business is a big job, arranging for everything to get done while shopping for the best buys to make the money go as far as needed. The Proverbs 31 woman was not a wasteful woman, she was dedicated to doing the best job possible, excellence for her home as well as managing the money well.
Of course over the years I had to learn how to manage the money well, it didn't come naturally for me, I made mistakes that had to be corrected, but the learning came as I went along.
No matter what income one has, if it is managed properly without spending on unnecessary things, it can be enough. Choosing a smaller house, leaving off things like cable tv, internet and other unnecessary things will leave the household with enough money to pay all the bills.
The fun stuff is only for those who have extra money after the bills are paid and there is enough in savings for important emergencies.
I know this is not going to sit well with some people who think the fun stuff is necessary, I am here to tell you it is not! We can be happy and fulfilled without all the play things we think we want. There was a times early in our marriage when there was no cable tv, no internet and only one car in the marriage. We still don't have cable tv, the cost is outrageous, we can afford it but I don't want to waste our money that way.
Often, getting the play things seem important, but once they come into the house they are used for a little while and then sit in the corner of a closet unused. We tire of things quickly, its human nature to want something we will never use. I know because the walls of my house have hangings that came from garage sales and thrift stores, they are not needed, if we could not afford them, I would not do it.
Lastly, we do not need the best of everything. We can live on garage sales and thrift stores but only on a budget and for necessary things. We don't need to eat out in restaurants either, I know many will think this is necessary, but there also was a day when doing something like this was once a year for a special occasion, mostly people ate at home.
If one evaluates every thing they are thinking of buying, most of it will not be needed, they could set the money aside and watch it pile up as they realize how little we buy that we need.
Philippians 4:19 "19 And my God will supply all your NEEDS according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Did we see that? "NEEDS", not wants!!! We need food and clothing and probably far less of those things than we think.
Friday, May 4, 2018
God Told Us to Run from Evil
God tells us to remove ourselves from those who hate Him and who will attempt to sway us to their ways. Intimidation is the best used method of wicked people, who are used of the devil, to manipulate our emotions, hoping us to fall into sin or leave God. They are too stupid to realize that sold out born again believers cannot be swayed and will run from the evil toward Christ Who lives in them.
Daniel never allowed wicked people to change him, he went to the lions den rather than be influenced by them.
Joseph did the same thing that Daniel did, running from the evil and toward God caused them both persecution but their stance toward God remained steady.
We can expect the pressure from the evil one to increase in these last days! Don't let it worry you, allow all those who hate God to go, never try to get them back unless they are completely repentant and the Holy Spirit is telling you they are sincere.
Hallelujah!!!!
Daniel never allowed wicked people to change him, he went to the lions den rather than be influenced by them.
Joseph did the same thing that Daniel did, running from the evil and toward God caused them both persecution but their stance toward God remained steady.
We can expect the pressure from the evil one to increase in these last days! Don't let it worry you, allow all those who hate God to go, never try to get them back unless they are completely repentant and the Holy Spirit is telling you they are sincere.
Hallelujah!!!!
Just Barely Saved
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
Notice that God says that "not everyone who says", meaning just because someone says their saved or even lives as though they were doing good works, does not mean they are saved.
We need to resist the temptation to judge people as saved or unsaved based on our own understanding. We will know people by their fruit, not works, that is "fruit of the Spirit", it is spiritually discerned.
Galatians 5:22-23
"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."
As human beings we can generally discern the fruit of the Spirit but not perfectly. When someone is a believer and lives in sin we must challenge them to ask if they are really saved because the fruit is bad, the character qualities of Christ are missing as mentioned in Galatians. However, we cannot know for sure if they are saved or not.
God says to leave the wheat and tares grow up together in the church because in the end times it will be hard to tell the difference between them, God will sort it all out later. Also in these last days there are more tares in the church than wheat, this is why we see so much sin in the church that is not dealt with.
When someone claims to be a Christian and lives sinful lives, we must discipline them, put them out so that God can deal with them without our enabling of them.
Whether or not they are saved will be evidenced in whether they return repentant or not.
1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil can be distinguished: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Those who belong to Christ will be continually tormented with guilt by the Holy Spirit and return confessing their sin. Those who do not belong to Christ, who are pretenders, will not only not return when disciplined by the church but will become more hardened and remain in their sin, even growing worse as they become older.
We cannot always determine who is born again and who is not, but we can be discerning and obey God in disciplining those who continue in their sin, leaving them alone and out of our lives until they confess openly and stop the sin.
Sin does not lose one their salvation but it will bring the chastisement of the Lord until the sinning child confesses and returns in humility to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We must confess to be cleansed, without confession there will be no change, even possibly a deepening of sin and a hardening of heart. Perhaps even removing a believer earlier from his life to stop the terrible influence he may have over others.
Some people will not have works even though they are born again, the will barely make it into heaven with few if any rewards. They trusted Christ for salvation but they do not trust Him for the rest of their life. They may have a little witness, but their lives are still steeped in the world and they remain self willed.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16
…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one being snatched from the fire. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
Notice that God says that "not everyone who says", meaning just because someone says their saved or even lives as though they were doing good works, does not mean they are saved.
We need to resist the temptation to judge people as saved or unsaved based on our own understanding. We will know people by their fruit, not works, that is "fruit of the Spirit", it is spiritually discerned.
Galatians 5:22-23
"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."
As human beings we can generally discern the fruit of the Spirit but not perfectly. When someone is a believer and lives in sin we must challenge them to ask if they are really saved because the fruit is bad, the character qualities of Christ are missing as mentioned in Galatians. However, we cannot know for sure if they are saved or not.
God says to leave the wheat and tares grow up together in the church because in the end times it will be hard to tell the difference between them, God will sort it all out later. Also in these last days there are more tares in the church than wheat, this is why we see so much sin in the church that is not dealt with.
When someone claims to be a Christian and lives sinful lives, we must discipline them, put them out so that God can deal with them without our enabling of them.
Whether or not they are saved will be evidenced in whether they return repentant or not.
1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil can be distinguished: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Those who belong to Christ will be continually tormented with guilt by the Holy Spirit and return confessing their sin. Those who do not belong to Christ, who are pretenders, will not only not return when disciplined by the church but will become more hardened and remain in their sin, even growing worse as they become older.
We cannot always determine who is born again and who is not, but we can be discerning and obey God in disciplining those who continue in their sin, leaving them alone and out of our lives until they confess openly and stop the sin.
Sin does not lose one their salvation but it will bring the chastisement of the Lord until the sinning child confesses and returns in humility to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We must confess to be cleansed, without confession there will be no change, even possibly a deepening of sin and a hardening of heart. Perhaps even removing a believer earlier from his life to stop the terrible influence he may have over others.
Some people will not have works even though they are born again, the will barely make it into heaven with few if any rewards. They trusted Christ for salvation but they do not trust Him for the rest of their life. They may have a little witness, but their lives are still steeped in the world and they remain self willed.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16
…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one being snatched from the fire. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Romans 12:3-13
"3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."
The Deception of Gossip
I have complained many years about family drama, manipulation and gossip, even being accused of gossip myself for complaining about what others were doing in my life. I do not consider it gossip when we speak of the things we are dealing with personally.
However, it is gossip when we see people doing things that do not pertain to us personally, especially without strong evidence and details about what we think we see.
For many years there has been family gossip based on the testimonies of those who were jealous and chose to view an action that they had few if any details about and that did not pertain to them.
One of the most damaging forms of gossip is when people judge our marriages based on one or two elements of it without understanding the whole matter, even without knowing exactly what has occurred.
Having encountered those who felt superior, allowing themselves the privilege of interpreting minor scanty events or language based on their own biases against us, they will blow something benign completely out of proportion to justify their prejudice against us.
When you encounter those who have a propensity to judge matters that are none of their business, it is time to release them as friends or family. There is no value in doing such things as these except to elevate themselves.
Their personal bias and judgments do nothing except to cause trouble in the lives of those they gossip about.
When we share with a dear confidant, a friend we can trust, something important to us, we will know it will not go any further and they will pray for us. It makes no sense to share our deepest things with someone who is given to gossip, they will not care about you, only about having information about you.
Don't beat yourself up over perhaps ignorantly sharing private important information with someone, only to find out later they loved the tidbits to glean what they wanted from it to be able to use half truths in gossip against you. We have all had disloyal friends that we didn't know were disloyal until they shared and twisted information about us to others.
Sadly most people will not ask us the truth, they will enjoy the morsels of twisted gossip choosing to believe the first thing they heard. Many are even afraid to ask for fear of the reaction of the person who was the target of gossip, but inwardly they sort of believed it, while nothing is ever cleared up, the truth is never told and the loss of friends and family over it is hard and cannot be reconciled.
When we know someone who gossips regularly turning people against one another we must remove them from our lives. It is better to let them tell out and out lies than for them to have half truths to disseminate.
Keep in mind that half truths cause people to believe the lie because part is true so the rest must be true too.
I remember years ago a family member thought she was telling on us when she spread through the family that we were at the bar drinking on a Saturday morning. We are not bar people, but many of them were.
This person saw our car parked in a parking lot where there was a bar but the bar was closed. My husband and I were across the street at a flea market where the lot was too full so we parked across the street in the bar parking lot. When we finally told the story as we chuckled a little, some chose not to believe us, because they liked the lie they heard first.
Most of you could probably relate to this nonsense, someone took an innocent event and turned it into something ugly and everyone hearing it chose the lie over the truth when they finally heard it.
Hitler said once that if you tell a big enough lie long enough, eventually everyone will believe it. It is also true that if we tell a half truth once, that is the lie people will believe, whatever is heard first will be the choice of those who love their gossip.
For believers in Christ it is best to say, "I don't know " a lot when we do not have all the facts. Guessing what could be true based on one or two bits of information is not for the believer, we are not to pass on information without all the facts and only if those facts pertain to others.
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.…"
Notice that God equates gossip and trouble makers with violence.
1 John 3:14-15 "…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. "
Gossip is hatred, hatred destroys the reputation of good men for no other reason except to cause others to hate just as the gossiper hates.
We need to expose false prophets and teachers and public people who are leading others astray, there must be good evidence of their lies, after all they are public and destroying the faith of many, this is not the same as forbidden gossip.
Ephesians 5:10-12 "…10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.…"
It is proper to expose false teachers and the gossiper, that people would avoid those who lead others into lies.
However, it is gossip when we see people doing things that do not pertain to us personally, especially without strong evidence and details about what we think we see.
For many years there has been family gossip based on the testimonies of those who were jealous and chose to view an action that they had few if any details about and that did not pertain to them.
One of the most damaging forms of gossip is when people judge our marriages based on one or two elements of it without understanding the whole matter, even without knowing exactly what has occurred.
Having encountered those who felt superior, allowing themselves the privilege of interpreting minor scanty events or language based on their own biases against us, they will blow something benign completely out of proportion to justify their prejudice against us.
When you encounter those who have a propensity to judge matters that are none of their business, it is time to release them as friends or family. There is no value in doing such things as these except to elevate themselves.
Their personal bias and judgments do nothing except to cause trouble in the lives of those they gossip about.
When we share with a dear confidant, a friend we can trust, something important to us, we will know it will not go any further and they will pray for us. It makes no sense to share our deepest things with someone who is given to gossip, they will not care about you, only about having information about you.
Don't beat yourself up over perhaps ignorantly sharing private important information with someone, only to find out later they loved the tidbits to glean what they wanted from it to be able to use half truths in gossip against you. We have all had disloyal friends that we didn't know were disloyal until they shared and twisted information about us to others.
Sadly most people will not ask us the truth, they will enjoy the morsels of twisted gossip choosing to believe the first thing they heard. Many are even afraid to ask for fear of the reaction of the person who was the target of gossip, but inwardly they sort of believed it, while nothing is ever cleared up, the truth is never told and the loss of friends and family over it is hard and cannot be reconciled.
When we know someone who gossips regularly turning people against one another we must remove them from our lives. It is better to let them tell out and out lies than for them to have half truths to disseminate.
Keep in mind that half truths cause people to believe the lie because part is true so the rest must be true too.
I remember years ago a family member thought she was telling on us when she spread through the family that we were at the bar drinking on a Saturday morning. We are not bar people, but many of them were.
This person saw our car parked in a parking lot where there was a bar but the bar was closed. My husband and I were across the street at a flea market where the lot was too full so we parked across the street in the bar parking lot. When we finally told the story as we chuckled a little, some chose not to believe us, because they liked the lie they heard first.
Most of you could probably relate to this nonsense, someone took an innocent event and turned it into something ugly and everyone hearing it chose the lie over the truth when they finally heard it.
Hitler said once that if you tell a big enough lie long enough, eventually everyone will believe it. It is also true that if we tell a half truth once, that is the lie people will believe, whatever is heard first will be the choice of those who love their gossip.
For believers in Christ it is best to say, "I don't know " a lot when we do not have all the facts. Guessing what could be true based on one or two bits of information is not for the believer, we are not to pass on information without all the facts and only if those facts pertain to others.
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.…"
Notice that God equates gossip and trouble makers with violence.
1 John 3:14-15 "…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. "
Gossip is hatred, hatred destroys the reputation of good men for no other reason except to cause others to hate just as the gossiper hates.
We need to expose false prophets and teachers and public people who are leading others astray, there must be good evidence of their lies, after all they are public and destroying the faith of many, this is not the same as forbidden gossip.
Ephesians 5:10-12 "…10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.…"
It is proper to expose false teachers and the gossiper, that people would avoid those who lead others into lies.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Secrecy is not of God
Secretive people have something to hide, it is transparency that is God's way.
2 Corinthians 4:1-3 "1 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.…"
2 Corinthians 4:1-3 "1 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.…"
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