We only speak from the heart. Whatever is in our heart will come out in words and actions.
A thief was a thief because of what was in his heart before he ever stole even one thing.
A liar was a liar in their heart before they ever told one lie.
Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
Proverbs 4:23
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
In order to speak and act right we must conform our hearts to Christ.
Romans 12:2
"2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Anyone who tries real hard to be a good person will fail. Pride comes from thinking we can make ourselves good. Only the change that Christ makes in our heart will be authentic and permanent, He gets the glory and we have a new heart.
Psalm 51:10
"10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Taking Captive Every Thought
Satan is placing thoughts in the minds of people that make them anxious, angry and frustrated when there is no reason to have these feelings.
Satan is placing jealousy in the hearts of those who think someone else has more than they do. The more they are jealous the worse their attitudes and actions become.
When pride dwells in the heart so also does anger! When jealousy is present in the heart there follows angry attitudes and actions that destroy relationships.
When pride jealousy and anger dwell in the heart there is the root of the destruction of relationships.
Nothing that comes to dwell in the mind stays in the mind. Every thought that is pondered ends up becoming an action. This is why God said:
2 Corinthians 10:5
"5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,"
When someone rages irrationally over silly things it is likely they have had many continual angry thoughts dwelling in their mind. No one can rage instantaneously, there must be a thought life that builds over time until finally there is an explosion.
Often these explosions of anger catch people off guard, they leave the hearer stunned with disbelief asking "where did that come from." Nothing of significance happened, nothing bad was going on and all of a sudden there is rage flowing from the mouth that seemed to come from no where.
Satan is in the business of destroying relationships, his main goal is to ruin the relationship between God and us and between others and us. If he can keep us preoccupied putting out brush fires we will never see the raging inferno coming.
There is a solution to all this mess for the born again believer. We can keep our mind focused on truth while resisting the fleshly desire to respond to the ploys of the devil emerging from another person's mouth and actions.
Ephesians 6:12
"12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Christ rebuked the devil when Peter had a wrong response. Christ said to the apostles "one of you is a devil" in reference to Judas who was in the room.
Christ knew that the sinful attitudes and actions were not coming from the human beings that he was conversing with, it was the devil who was influencing their thoughts. In the case of Judas there may have been possession, while in Peter there were influencing thoughts.
When we find ourselves saying and doing things in opposition to Christ we can assign the thoughts that caused the words and actions to the devil or our flesh.
The solution for the thoughts that cause attitudes and actions is to trust in Christ. When we have Christ dwelling in us we are able to ignore the evil thoughts, even push them out as we cleanse our minds with the word of God.
Romans 12:2
"2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Philippians 4:8
"8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
The more we dwell on the word of God the uglier the world looks to us. The more we know the principles of God the less we can be drawn into the lies of the devil.
When so many people have a perverted view of truth who are church members, the deeper apostasy grows within the church.
The devil has been very clever in inculcating people into the church who have not been born again, those who have been steeped in psychology, who pervert the principles and doctrines of God in order to keep up with the devolving culture.
When our focus is on the culture rather than Christ we can expect the society in general to be even worse than the apostasy in the church.
The world is in the church now far more than ever before. The end times of apostasy are here, few who say they are Christian have been born again.
2 Timothy 1:7
"7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."
Born again believers do not have to be intimidated by the antics of the pretenders, we can be bold and kind at the same time. They will accuse us of being unkind when we tell the truth because it convicts them of sin. However if we are anchored to the rock the tricks of the devil need not have effect on us.
Proverbs 28:26
"26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But he who walks wisely will be delivered.:
Those who are "religious" trust in their own hearts. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit trust Christ and all His principles.
Satan is placing jealousy in the hearts of those who think someone else has more than they do. The more they are jealous the worse their attitudes and actions become.
When pride dwells in the heart so also does anger! When jealousy is present in the heart there follows angry attitudes and actions that destroy relationships.
When pride jealousy and anger dwell in the heart there is the root of the destruction of relationships.
Nothing that comes to dwell in the mind stays in the mind. Every thought that is pondered ends up becoming an action. This is why God said:
2 Corinthians 10:5
"5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,"
When someone rages irrationally over silly things it is likely they have had many continual angry thoughts dwelling in their mind. No one can rage instantaneously, there must be a thought life that builds over time until finally there is an explosion.
Often these explosions of anger catch people off guard, they leave the hearer stunned with disbelief asking "where did that come from." Nothing of significance happened, nothing bad was going on and all of a sudden there is rage flowing from the mouth that seemed to come from no where.
Satan is in the business of destroying relationships, his main goal is to ruin the relationship between God and us and between others and us. If he can keep us preoccupied putting out brush fires we will never see the raging inferno coming.
There is a solution to all this mess for the born again believer. We can keep our mind focused on truth while resisting the fleshly desire to respond to the ploys of the devil emerging from another person's mouth and actions.
Ephesians 6:12
"12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Christ rebuked the devil when Peter had a wrong response. Christ said to the apostles "one of you is a devil" in reference to Judas who was in the room.
Christ knew that the sinful attitudes and actions were not coming from the human beings that he was conversing with, it was the devil who was influencing their thoughts. In the case of Judas there may have been possession, while in Peter there were influencing thoughts.
When we find ourselves saying and doing things in opposition to Christ we can assign the thoughts that caused the words and actions to the devil or our flesh.
The solution for the thoughts that cause attitudes and actions is to trust in Christ. When we have Christ dwelling in us we are able to ignore the evil thoughts, even push them out as we cleanse our minds with the word of God.
Romans 12:2
"2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Philippians 4:8
"8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
The more we dwell on the word of God the uglier the world looks to us. The more we know the principles of God the less we can be drawn into the lies of the devil.
When so many people have a perverted view of truth who are church members, the deeper apostasy grows within the church.
The devil has been very clever in inculcating people into the church who have not been born again, those who have been steeped in psychology, who pervert the principles and doctrines of God in order to keep up with the devolving culture.
When our focus is on the culture rather than Christ we can expect the society in general to be even worse than the apostasy in the church.
The world is in the church now far more than ever before. The end times of apostasy are here, few who say they are Christian have been born again.
2 Timothy 1:7
"7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."
Born again believers do not have to be intimidated by the antics of the pretenders, we can be bold and kind at the same time. They will accuse us of being unkind when we tell the truth because it convicts them of sin. However if we are anchored to the rock the tricks of the devil need not have effect on us.
Proverbs 28:26
"26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But he who walks wisely will be delivered.:
Those who are "religious" trust in their own hearts. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit trust Christ and all His principles.
Monday, June 3, 2019
Loving God
Those who love and defend their sin do not love God. When we love someone we hate to disappoint or grieve them.
John 14:14-16 "14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—"
John 14:14-16 "14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—"
Sunday, June 2, 2019
The End is at the Door!
I am blessed that so many believers have used facebook in these last days to bring teaching to one another in the brethren and to share Christ with the unsaved.
This is probably the most valuable and far reaching medium today to be able to reach the entire world with truth for the unbeliever and encouragement for the believer that has ever been invented.
God gave us this ability in the last days. I am convinced these are the last days because of all the scripture that is being fulfilled before our eyes and exponentially. Another very big sign is that every believer can reach every other believer no matter where they are in the world by a few strokes of the keyboard.
Never before was this possible until recent years. Many authentic born again believers have been somewhat isolated for lack of technology. However, now it is possible for every believer in Christ to meet every other believer in the entire world.
It is also possible now for every unsaved person to have access to every preacher that uses the internet from every part of the world.
Brothers and Sisters.....do you realize how exciting this is? Its nothing less than a miracle God has given us to reach the lost and encourage the believer.
This is why I am convinced that the prophesy that we must reach the entire world with the gospel before Christ takes home His church has occurred. Christ can come at any time, on any day at any moment.
Another exciting things for us is that we have seen these prophesies evolve before our very eyes in the past 50 years.
When I was a child there was only the radio, then came later the television, now there is the internet providing instant communication to any part of the world. We can even have face to face video with those in another country in seconds.
I remember as a child thinking wouldn't it be great if we could actually see the person we were talking to on the phone. In those days the phone was attached to the wall by a wire. We were on a "party line" which meant several families has the same phone number but each family would have a different ring to indicate it was for them. One family would have one ring and another family would have two rings.
If a family wanted to use the phone but another family was on it, then the families could listen to one another and have to wait until the one family was finished before they could receive or answer a call. There weren't even any answering machines in those days.
Long distance calls were very expensive and long distance could be considered across town or out of state.
This is one of the biggest signs is that we can communicate with every person in the world in a matter of seconds on the internet. The prophesy is now fulfilled that everyone would see the two witnesses killed in Jerusalem and watch them resurrect again after three days.
We are truly in the last of the last days. The pope is making alliances with Islam and every other religion around the world for the one world government.
The internet has allowed for the spread and intensity of evil to grow every day worse than ever before. The influences of evil have allowed people to enjoy the freedom of their evil actions by their ability to connect with other evil people on the internet.
As this evil grows and people are more comfortable flaunting it, the hearts of many are growing cold and hardened as the world moves deeper into wickedness than ever before in our time. We are literally back to the days of Lot and Noah when nearly everyone is evil and it is difficult to find those who will listen to truth.
Matthew 24:37-39
37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
Christ is going to snatch His church out of the world soon. Those who are not saved will hardly notice because there will be so few compared to the population of the world. Those that do notice will be diluted into thinking it was aliens from outer space that took out all those bad people who cause trouble with their preaching. Perhaps it will be this way, these are only my thoughts based on human nature.
Christ is coming for His church soon, perhaps it is time for you who have not been born again to consider what all this means and ask Christ to change you into a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [a]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [a]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
Saturday, June 1, 2019
Hyper-Grace Lie Strikes Again
This is the new "hyper-grace" crowd who believe sinning has been endorsed by God. Absolutely irrational. Christ had to die shedding every drop of blood to pay the penalty for sin which proved just how terrible sin is! So why would we hurt the heart of God by treating sin and His sacrifice so lightly? This is the devil's lie! Christ didn't pay for sin to allow us to continue in it. He paid for sin that we might be free from it.
Romans 6:1-2 "1 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?…"
This is the wickedness that satan loves, mocking God in the worse way. "200 ex-LGBT men, women rally to show freedom they’ve found in following Jesus" are the head lines in this recent article.
Romans 6:1-2 "1 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?…"
"Time Out" the Tactic of Prison Camps
There comes a time when we must remove ourselves from negative aggressive people who tend to accuse us of aggression when clearly they have the aggressive tendencies. These people often accuse others of being and doing what they are and not what the others are.
If a narcissist can intimidate their target by accusing them of something the narcissist is, they might be able to cause the target to capitulate.
Narcissists hate worse than anything being isolated this why the seek to isolate their target to punish them for not doing as they do or living as they think they should live.
In another vain we see the tactic of isolation used in what today is called, "time out" in the discipline of children. I call this form of punishment abuse. Children are tender and in need of instruction and physical discipline to bring them into obedience. However, isolation from the family causes frustration in the children.
When children are spanked and then allowed to return to family functions they know they were merely being trained to act appropriately.
When children are not disciplined with the rod God's way and then isolated from the rest of the group, they are sent the message that since they do not measure up they will not be allowed to continue with the family. This is a manipulation tactic that creates anger in the child while sending the message that "we no longer love you so we are getting rid of you."
When a child is disciplined God's way, with the rod, they know they are just being corrected to act properly. They are allowed to resume with the family after the chastisement fully accepted as a loved one.
Because of the "time out" mentality toward children these days the adults are using this same mentality with one another with a slight twist. The idea that we rage at and punish with isolation those who do not think as we do is rampant throughout our culture. Ignoring one when they speak or using what I call "disapproving grunts" to show contempt is another of these tactics of dismissal.
It is one thing to remove ourselves from these emotionally violent people who practice this on a regular basis, its quite another to rage at and isolate someone who has done nothing to us but just don't agree with us on lifestyles. By life styles I don't mean sin, but rather ways of doing things different from ourselves that are not sinful.
There have been homemakers who were mocked for keeping a clean house, silly huh!!! These same homemakers would never mock someone for having a dirty house, even though they should clean up their house.
Now days someone who keeps a clean house might be avoided by those who don't. Not because the clean homemaker did something wrong but because the dirty homemaker did something wrong. The first thing they did was choose not to clean their house and the second thing was to punish the one who kept a clean house.
When there is mocking when we do something to please God we can be sure there is jealousy and often isolation because of it. Isolation is a tactic that has been used by guards in prisoner of war camps to cause insanity in the one they are abusing.
God gave us the formula for disciplining children, isolation was never a part of that formula.
Proverbs 13:24 "24 He who withholds his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him diligently."
God said to diligently discipline, that is to do it for every infraction. Some times a child will do a small things and a stern voice is enough. Other times there is a needed slap on the hand to make the child stop touching something. Other times a spanking on their back side with a rod or wooden spoon is required to show the severity of the infraction.
Isolation in the form of "time out" is not only NOT biblical it is the tactic of the devil used in prison camps for captured war criminals to break their heart, discouraging them to the point of insanity.
"Guilt tripping" tp manipulate a child into doing the right things is also not proper. If a child becomes guilty because of a chastisement that is acceptable guilt. The deliberate attempt to shame a child to cause guilt is not acceptable. Manipulation to cause emotional reactions in children is sin in my opinion.
Our culture uses many covert means of communication that are damaging. As born again believers we must learn to be honest, open and diligent to speak truth without manipulative bents. God can work on the heart of another human being without our silly human covert tactics to cause them to have an emotional melt down.
If someone has an emotional melt down because they have been told the truth then that is up to God and on them. However, if we deliberately shame a person to have a melt down then that is on us. Speaking the truth boldly with a loving spirit is God's formula for chastising one another. Manipulation and intimidation is not God's formula.
When someone is manipulated and intimidated to do what we want so they will stop the bad feelings there is no change of heart, only a change of behavior for a time.
When we speak the truth boldly and with love in our heart then it is God's business to work guilt and shame in someone's heart for an authentic heart change, not a superficial outer change that looks good while the heart remains the same.
Intimidation, manipulation and isolation are not tools God has commanded for the born again believer. When the born again believer has the fruit of the Spirit then they will be acting appropriately toward everyone without manipulation and intimidation.
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. We use very different tactics with adults who are in rebellion than we do with children who just need some training and redirection.
With adults who refuse to be corrected we see their heart mentality and verse five of this description tells us what we are to do.
2 Timothy 3:1-9 "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.
6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.
9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
Notice the description of the weak women, they are led astray by their dedication to emotion rather than rational reasoning. These women are always attempting to learn new things but the new things they learn are not from God and lead many into error.
The inculcation of psychology in our culture has led to much confusion, emotional responses rather than rational ones as well as anger to control others.
When we do not do child rearing or interpersonal adult relationships God's way we are left with a culture out of control and heading down the abyss of hellish monstrous cultural decay.
Sadly we are there now!!!! What is the solution? The only solution is for those who have fallen into the worlds trap in handling life experiences must confess it, repent (change their mind about it) and ask Christ to change them into a new creation.
If a narcissist can intimidate their target by accusing them of something the narcissist is, they might be able to cause the target to capitulate.
Narcissists hate worse than anything being isolated this why the seek to isolate their target to punish them for not doing as they do or living as they think they should live.
In another vain we see the tactic of isolation used in what today is called, "time out" in the discipline of children. I call this form of punishment abuse. Children are tender and in need of instruction and physical discipline to bring them into obedience. However, isolation from the family causes frustration in the children.
When children are spanked and then allowed to return to family functions they know they were merely being trained to act appropriately.
When children are not disciplined with the rod God's way and then isolated from the rest of the group, they are sent the message that since they do not measure up they will not be allowed to continue with the family. This is a manipulation tactic that creates anger in the child while sending the message that "we no longer love you so we are getting rid of you."
When a child is disciplined God's way, with the rod, they know they are just being corrected to act properly. They are allowed to resume with the family after the chastisement fully accepted as a loved one.
Because of the "time out" mentality toward children these days the adults are using this same mentality with one another with a slight twist. The idea that we rage at and punish with isolation those who do not think as we do is rampant throughout our culture. Ignoring one when they speak or using what I call "disapproving grunts" to show contempt is another of these tactics of dismissal.
It is one thing to remove ourselves from these emotionally violent people who practice this on a regular basis, its quite another to rage at and isolate someone who has done nothing to us but just don't agree with us on lifestyles. By life styles I don't mean sin, but rather ways of doing things different from ourselves that are not sinful.
There have been homemakers who were mocked for keeping a clean house, silly huh!!! These same homemakers would never mock someone for having a dirty house, even though they should clean up their house.
Now days someone who keeps a clean house might be avoided by those who don't. Not because the clean homemaker did something wrong but because the dirty homemaker did something wrong. The first thing they did was choose not to clean their house and the second thing was to punish the one who kept a clean house.
When there is mocking when we do something to please God we can be sure there is jealousy and often isolation because of it. Isolation is a tactic that has been used by guards in prisoner of war camps to cause insanity in the one they are abusing.
God gave us the formula for disciplining children, isolation was never a part of that formula.
Proverbs 13:24 "24 He who withholds his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him diligently."
God said to diligently discipline, that is to do it for every infraction. Some times a child will do a small things and a stern voice is enough. Other times there is a needed slap on the hand to make the child stop touching something. Other times a spanking on their back side with a rod or wooden spoon is required to show the severity of the infraction.
Isolation in the form of "time out" is not only NOT biblical it is the tactic of the devil used in prison camps for captured war criminals to break their heart, discouraging them to the point of insanity.
"Guilt tripping" tp manipulate a child into doing the right things is also not proper. If a child becomes guilty because of a chastisement that is acceptable guilt. The deliberate attempt to shame a child to cause guilt is not acceptable. Manipulation to cause emotional reactions in children is sin in my opinion.
Our culture uses many covert means of communication that are damaging. As born again believers we must learn to be honest, open and diligent to speak truth without manipulative bents. God can work on the heart of another human being without our silly human covert tactics to cause them to have an emotional melt down.
If someone has an emotional melt down because they have been told the truth then that is up to God and on them. However, if we deliberately shame a person to have a melt down then that is on us. Speaking the truth boldly with a loving spirit is God's formula for chastising one another. Manipulation and intimidation is not God's formula.
When someone is manipulated and intimidated to do what we want so they will stop the bad feelings there is no change of heart, only a change of behavior for a time.
When we speak the truth boldly and with love in our heart then it is God's business to work guilt and shame in someone's heart for an authentic heart change, not a superficial outer change that looks good while the heart remains the same.
Intimidation, manipulation and isolation are not tools God has commanded for the born again believer. When the born again believer has the fruit of the Spirit then they will be acting appropriately toward everyone without manipulation and intimidation.
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. We use very different tactics with adults who are in rebellion than we do with children who just need some training and redirection.
With adults who refuse to be corrected we see their heart mentality and verse five of this description tells us what we are to do.
2 Timothy 3:1-9 "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.
6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.
9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
Notice the description of the weak women, they are led astray by their dedication to emotion rather than rational reasoning. These women are always attempting to learn new things but the new things they learn are not from God and lead many into error.
The inculcation of psychology in our culture has led to much confusion, emotional responses rather than rational ones as well as anger to control others.
When we do not do child rearing or interpersonal adult relationships God's way we are left with a culture out of control and heading down the abyss of hellish monstrous cultural decay.
Sadly we are there now!!!! What is the solution? The only solution is for those who have fallen into the worlds trap in handling life experiences must confess it, repent (change their mind about it) and ask Christ to change them into a new creation.
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