Monday, July 15, 2019
Are You Really A Christian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY0sSKzwX7ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY0sSKzwX7o
We are not of Spiritual Darkness
There is a spiritual darkness over this land. Some of us experience it. It is not a feeling but rather a sensation that cannot be explained, however every discerning born again believer can sense it. Even when we can sense this darkness it does not overcome us nor does it soak into our souls because our focus is Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:5-7
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
1 John 1:5-7
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Do Not Become Like the Narcissist
Narcissists do not want us to be who we are, they prefer that we become them. Because they are insecure they feel attacked when we have our own thoughts, activities and desires separate from them.
We can be sure we are with a jealous person when we share our successes with them and there is no response or a negative response. Those who are deeply narcissistic are envious of the successes of those they wish to diminish.
When we know that Christ is our focus and the One Who loves us we have no need to be validated by others. Its nice when we can share with close friends the things that have blessed us. And we love to hear from our friends the things that have blessed them.
One way to tell if someone is engaging with us in authenticity is their enthusiasm to respond to our joys and even our trials. When there is no response or grunting noises when we share, there is likely jealousy and discontent.
In our world today we meet many people who love to brag about their own things but have no interest in anyone else's accomplishments.
Don't let this mentality of dismissiveness discourage you, its all around us. When we do things to please Christ we will be satisfied with what we have done if no one else notices or cares.
We are living in a world today in which people are generally not very interested in what anyone else is doing unless it impacts them in some way.
We cannot always avoid people like this but we can choose not to be affected by their lack of interest in us. We can also choose not to become like them in responding dismissively ourselves.
The wonderful thing is that we can be what we are authentically in Christ no matter how anyone else is acting. In this world of the end times we can expect most people to be completely self absorbed and aggrandized, without empathy and without interest in anyone else. This does not have to influence who we are or what we do with our own lives.
What we are witnessing is a lack of love in the world. When we love Christ we will love people, all people not just those who elevate us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."
We must never deny what is happening and we must never allow it to shape who we are! Denying what is happening is a form of lying and will leave us off guard to respond in wrong ways.
Facing what we see as facts will allow us to learn the skills to respond the way we should in Christ.
There are those who think if they pretend something is not so that sort of helps them to avoid responding badly. This is not true, when we know what we are dealing with and we have the wisdom of Solomon to address it we will not be tempted to respond in kind or badly.
Knowledge is power, that is knowledge of the Word of God and His principles will help us be what we should be no matter what is going on around us.
The day we can speak the truth about everything without feeling anything, just observing the facts, is the day we realize God is in control of our hearts. Becoming emotionally involved with bad behavior will lead us to respond emotionally rather than rationally.
We see this with the liberals in politics. They respond more with their emotions than with rational and reasonable thinking. Because of this they start fights and destroy those that do not bow to their way.
With the covert narcissist the tactics are different. They still have the same mentality of harming those they are envious of but it takes of the form of subtle ignoring without overt responses. They diminish their target by treating them as though they are not worth hearing or validating with enthusiasm.
These people will even show great enthusiasm in those around us to show us that they like them and dislike us. This is common among narcissists. They love to "invite us to the party so we can see them ignoring us." This is a tactic that allows the narcissist plausible deniability, after all, they didn't do or say anything.
The news media does this all the time. They will report the things they want to report and ignore other things that the general population would be interested in but they don't want to validate that sector of the voting public that does not share their views.
Narcissism exists in every aspect of our lives. From Starbucks who are willing to lose business by telling conservatives they are not welcome to boycotting a conservative venue because they are patriotic.
Narcissism exists in families when the "clique" of the family is attentive to those they see as successful and dismissive to those they do not see as worthy of respect.
Narcissism is present in church gatherings, businesses, politics and everything else in between. If we were to base our confidence on what all these entities are doing and the way they treat us we would be emotional wrecks.
What the narcissists don't know is that our validation as believers in Christ comes from our identity in Him not in them or anything else.
Narcissists hate Christ and they hate what He does in us. We can feel sad for these people rather than taking them seriously.
Pay attention to the antics and tactics of the narcissist, knowing the mode of operation allows us to think rationally rather than emotionally. When we think analytically rather than emotionally we can observe without reaction and respond without emotion or choose not to respond at all.
Proverbs 26:4-6 "…4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes. 6 Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.…"
Notice these passages tell us not to answer a fool according to their folly, but then it says answer according to what they deserve, that is no answer at all.
The devil will work hard to draw us into the folly of the narcissist, that is the fool. When we know God's Word and are full of His love we will act properly rather than through emotion.
Hallelujah!!!!
We can be sure we are with a jealous person when we share our successes with them and there is no response or a negative response. Those who are deeply narcissistic are envious of the successes of those they wish to diminish.
When we know that Christ is our focus and the One Who loves us we have no need to be validated by others. Its nice when we can share with close friends the things that have blessed us. And we love to hear from our friends the things that have blessed them.
One way to tell if someone is engaging with us in authenticity is their enthusiasm to respond to our joys and even our trials. When there is no response or grunting noises when we share, there is likely jealousy and discontent.
In our world today we meet many people who love to brag about their own things but have no interest in anyone else's accomplishments.
Don't let this mentality of dismissiveness discourage you, its all around us. When we do things to please Christ we will be satisfied with what we have done if no one else notices or cares.
We are living in a world today in which people are generally not very interested in what anyone else is doing unless it impacts them in some way.
We cannot always avoid people like this but we can choose not to be affected by their lack of interest in us. We can also choose not to become like them in responding dismissively ourselves.
The wonderful thing is that we can be what we are authentically in Christ no matter how anyone else is acting. In this world of the end times we can expect most people to be completely self absorbed and aggrandized, without empathy and without interest in anyone else. This does not have to influence who we are or what we do with our own lives.
What we are witnessing is a lack of love in the world. When we love Christ we will love people, all people not just those who elevate us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."
We must never deny what is happening and we must never allow it to shape who we are! Denying what is happening is a form of lying and will leave us off guard to respond in wrong ways.
Facing what we see as facts will allow us to learn the skills to respond the way we should in Christ.
There are those who think if they pretend something is not so that sort of helps them to avoid responding badly. This is not true, when we know what we are dealing with and we have the wisdom of Solomon to address it we will not be tempted to respond in kind or badly.
Knowledge is power, that is knowledge of the Word of God and His principles will help us be what we should be no matter what is going on around us.
The day we can speak the truth about everything without feeling anything, just observing the facts, is the day we realize God is in control of our hearts. Becoming emotionally involved with bad behavior will lead us to respond emotionally rather than rationally.
We see this with the liberals in politics. They respond more with their emotions than with rational and reasonable thinking. Because of this they start fights and destroy those that do not bow to their way.
With the covert narcissist the tactics are different. They still have the same mentality of harming those they are envious of but it takes of the form of subtle ignoring without overt responses. They diminish their target by treating them as though they are not worth hearing or validating with enthusiasm.
These people will even show great enthusiasm in those around us to show us that they like them and dislike us. This is common among narcissists. They love to "invite us to the party so we can see them ignoring us." This is a tactic that allows the narcissist plausible deniability, after all, they didn't do or say anything.
The news media does this all the time. They will report the things they want to report and ignore other things that the general population would be interested in but they don't want to validate that sector of the voting public that does not share their views.
Narcissism exists in every aspect of our lives. From Starbucks who are willing to lose business by telling conservatives they are not welcome to boycotting a conservative venue because they are patriotic.
Narcissism exists in families when the "clique" of the family is attentive to those they see as successful and dismissive to those they do not see as worthy of respect.
Narcissism is present in church gatherings, businesses, politics and everything else in between. If we were to base our confidence on what all these entities are doing and the way they treat us we would be emotional wrecks.
What the narcissists don't know is that our validation as believers in Christ comes from our identity in Him not in them or anything else.
Narcissists hate Christ and they hate what He does in us. We can feel sad for these people rather than taking them seriously.
Pay attention to the antics and tactics of the narcissist, knowing the mode of operation allows us to think rationally rather than emotionally. When we think analytically rather than emotionally we can observe without reaction and respond without emotion or choose not to respond at all.
Proverbs 26:4-6 "…4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes. 6 Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.…"
Notice these passages tell us not to answer a fool according to their folly, but then it says answer according to what they deserve, that is no answer at all.
The devil will work hard to draw us into the folly of the narcissist, that is the fool. When we know God's Word and are full of His love we will act properly rather than through emotion.
Hallelujah!!!!
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Victory is in the Endurance
It may not get better for some people, even for many, but the victory is in remaining faithful to God through it all. Most spiritual growth comes from the hard times endured.
Romans 5:3-5 "…3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…"
Romans 5:3-5 "…3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…"
Want the Blessings But Don't Want God
That's exactly right!!! Its like the rebellious child who pays no attention to his parents while they are alive, even showing contempt for them disrespectfully. But after their death they show up for the inheritance.
There are many people who want God's protection and His blessings but don't want Him.
Karen Puff Rosenkrantz said this:
"One of our problems today is that we have too many "Christians" who want God to get them to heaven but who do not want God to own them on earth."
There are many people who want God's protection and His blessings but don't want Him.
Karen Puff Rosenkrantz said this:
"One of our problems today is that we have too many "Christians" who want God to get them to heaven but who do not want God to own them on earth."
We Have Arrived at 2 Timothy 3
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"1 But realize this, that in the last days perilous 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."
The term "perilous" as mentioned in verse 1, means in the original language "ragingly insane."
Every day we learn of a new and monstrous action, teaching or law that those in power have decided should be foisted on the culture. Since the powers that be will not allow jobs to anyone who does not think they way they do, they have managed to completely hijack all government agencies that rule over us.
We used to be a society governed by the people and for the people. Now we are a society that must bow to government that has decided what we should say and how we should think. Any deviation from their perverted agenda will bring about punishment as well as banishment from all government systems.
We have had a governmental take over without noticing it. Yes, there really is such a thing as "the thought police", they just don't wear jackets that say such.
The school system is working to turn children against their parents by teaching what they want the children to believe without regard to the belief system of the parents. When two systems are taught to a child the one that appeals to their baser nature will be the one that wins over them.
Is it any wonder that children are in rebellion against parents in these days of anarchy in the school system. This same anarchy exists in government. Many institutions are ignoring the law as well as twisting the words of the law in an attempt to slowly and systematically eliminate rules and laws they don't like. Those who should be adhering to the will of the people have made the people their slaves.
"More is caught than taught." When parents are treated as underlings, mocked and resisted by the teachers at any objections, the children take on the mentality of the one they spend the most time with, that is their teachers.
The public school system has been planning to undermine the family structure for the past 80 years beginning with the teaching of evolution in the schools in the 1920's. Higher education has managed to inculcate in the minds of those educated by it, that anyone who does not have their education will not be able to think wisely. The educational system must tell us what to think rather than giving us skills to make our own decisions about what we want to believe.
This system worked to foster a dislike in young ladies for homemaking in favor of careers that forced many women to despise parenting as well as marriage. Those that did not despise marriage and children still wanted the best of both worlds, the family and a career. Sadly wise people know that when our time is split between two entities both will suffer.
Adding to this indoctrination they continued to expand nuances of rebellion against normal and natural life through the elimination of responsibility toward children and husbands.
With the hatred of children and husbands came the desire to maintain freedom in immorality. Refusing to step up to the responsibility that comes with making babies now eliminated by abortion the woman became more and more hardened. Killing the babies became acceptable to many in our culture.
With the latest onset of foolishness is added "ragingly insane" confusion about ones gender. If someone had mentioned to anyone 50 years ago that people would begin to be befuddled about which gender they were, there would have been hysterical laughter erupting. Everyone would have thought the idea of "gender equality" was completely ludicrous.
Everything that was commonly known as bad is being called good these days. Everything that was commonly known as good is being called bad.
Isaiah 5:20
"20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!"
While in the dentists office today I was watching on their television a talk show. The talk show was a panel of very liberal worldly women. A picture was shown of a morbidly obese woman of somewhere between 600 and 800 pounds posing in the nude.
The discussion was whether or not this woman should be celebrating obesity and proud of it. The picture wasn't bad enough to look at but the conversation about it was even worse. The conclusion the panel of women declared was that this woman in the photo should "celebrate who she was", as though her obesity was what defined her. Nothing about character or wisdom, just that being fat was her choice and she could and should be able to define herself by that without any mocking or correction.
Is anyone else besides me disgusted by now?
Another story with this panel of women was a woman who was asked to cover up when she was about to get on a plane. She was told that her outfit was far too extreme to be in public and she must wear a blanket while on the plane.
The panel of "worldly wise" or should I say "foolish" women declared that the airline should be punished for exerting their boundaries of a proper dress code on their vehicle. In other words no one has a right to have boundaries when dealing with the public. They must give every narcissist whatever they want or there will be hell to pay.
Babies are being murdered by the millions simply because they are inconvenient.
Adult people have turned into whining bratty six year olds when the don't get their way. Then they punish by suing a company that did what would have been completely normal and acceptable to do just 30 years ago.
Politicians are acting like spoiled brats, shouting and punishing anyone who do not give into their tantrums.
Divorces and remarriages are out of control and defended by nearly every one, even those who say they are Christian.
Scantily clad women walk around every where ready to scream sexual abuse when a man even looks at them as they strut their wares. Yes I actually said that, when a woman dresses in a way that shows themselves they are inviting disrespect. Sort of like the bully who punches you in the arm and calls you out of control when you protest.
Marriage has been declared whatever you decide you want it to be.
And, sadly many people are walking around thinking this is all as normal and natural as apple pie.
I don't know about you brothers and sisters but I am ready to go home as soon as the Lord blows that trumpet. Knowing everything we know gives us courage to carry on in spite of all of it and the joy of expectancy as we wait for our home going.
Hallelujah!!!!
"1 But realize this, that in the last days perilous 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."
The term "perilous" as mentioned in verse 1, means in the original language "ragingly insane."
Every day we learn of a new and monstrous action, teaching or law that those in power have decided should be foisted on the culture. Since the powers that be will not allow jobs to anyone who does not think they way they do, they have managed to completely hijack all government agencies that rule over us.
We used to be a society governed by the people and for the people. Now we are a society that must bow to government that has decided what we should say and how we should think. Any deviation from their perverted agenda will bring about punishment as well as banishment from all government systems.
We have had a governmental take over without noticing it. Yes, there really is such a thing as "the thought police", they just don't wear jackets that say such.
The school system is working to turn children against their parents by teaching what they want the children to believe without regard to the belief system of the parents. When two systems are taught to a child the one that appeals to their baser nature will be the one that wins over them.
Is it any wonder that children are in rebellion against parents in these days of anarchy in the school system. This same anarchy exists in government. Many institutions are ignoring the law as well as twisting the words of the law in an attempt to slowly and systematically eliminate rules and laws they don't like. Those who should be adhering to the will of the people have made the people their slaves.
"More is caught than taught." When parents are treated as underlings, mocked and resisted by the teachers at any objections, the children take on the mentality of the one they spend the most time with, that is their teachers.
The public school system has been planning to undermine the family structure for the past 80 years beginning with the teaching of evolution in the schools in the 1920's. Higher education has managed to inculcate in the minds of those educated by it, that anyone who does not have their education will not be able to think wisely. The educational system must tell us what to think rather than giving us skills to make our own decisions about what we want to believe.
This system worked to foster a dislike in young ladies for homemaking in favor of careers that forced many women to despise parenting as well as marriage. Those that did not despise marriage and children still wanted the best of both worlds, the family and a career. Sadly wise people know that when our time is split between two entities both will suffer.
Adding to this indoctrination they continued to expand nuances of rebellion against normal and natural life through the elimination of responsibility toward children and husbands.
With the hatred of children and husbands came the desire to maintain freedom in immorality. Refusing to step up to the responsibility that comes with making babies now eliminated by abortion the woman became more and more hardened. Killing the babies became acceptable to many in our culture.
With the latest onset of foolishness is added "ragingly insane" confusion about ones gender. If someone had mentioned to anyone 50 years ago that people would begin to be befuddled about which gender they were, there would have been hysterical laughter erupting. Everyone would have thought the idea of "gender equality" was completely ludicrous.
Everything that was commonly known as bad is being called good these days. Everything that was commonly known as good is being called bad.
Isaiah 5:20
"20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!"
While in the dentists office today I was watching on their television a talk show. The talk show was a panel of very liberal worldly women. A picture was shown of a morbidly obese woman of somewhere between 600 and 800 pounds posing in the nude.
The discussion was whether or not this woman should be celebrating obesity and proud of it. The picture wasn't bad enough to look at but the conversation about it was even worse. The conclusion the panel of women declared was that this woman in the photo should "celebrate who she was", as though her obesity was what defined her. Nothing about character or wisdom, just that being fat was her choice and she could and should be able to define herself by that without any mocking or correction.
Is anyone else besides me disgusted by now?
Another story with this panel of women was a woman who was asked to cover up when she was about to get on a plane. She was told that her outfit was far too extreme to be in public and she must wear a blanket while on the plane.
The panel of "worldly wise" or should I say "foolish" women declared that the airline should be punished for exerting their boundaries of a proper dress code on their vehicle. In other words no one has a right to have boundaries when dealing with the public. They must give every narcissist whatever they want or there will be hell to pay.
Babies are being murdered by the millions simply because they are inconvenient.
Adult people have turned into whining bratty six year olds when the don't get their way. Then they punish by suing a company that did what would have been completely normal and acceptable to do just 30 years ago.
Politicians are acting like spoiled brats, shouting and punishing anyone who do not give into their tantrums.
Divorces and remarriages are out of control and defended by nearly every one, even those who say they are Christian.
Scantily clad women walk around every where ready to scream sexual abuse when a man even looks at them as they strut their wares. Yes I actually said that, when a woman dresses in a way that shows themselves they are inviting disrespect. Sort of like the bully who punches you in the arm and calls you out of control when you protest.
Marriage has been declared whatever you decide you want it to be.
And, sadly many people are walking around thinking this is all as normal and natural as apple pie.
I don't know about you brothers and sisters but I am ready to go home as soon as the Lord blows that trumpet. Knowing everything we know gives us courage to carry on in spite of all of it and the joy of expectancy as we wait for our home going.
Hallelujah!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)