Thursday, August 19, 2021
Bad Company Corrupts Good Habits
There are those who would attempt to discourage you from obeying Christ. They will mock, intimidate and manipulate you, get away.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
The Sinful Flesh!
Our flesh is sinful but our spirit is not, it has been replaced by the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Spirit within us fights against the flesh constantly.
Galatians 5:17
"For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other so that you do not do what you want."
As born-again believers, we hate the sin but are tempted constantly. If we give in to the temptation for even a very short time we are tormented and will confess to be cleansed.
Sin does not have to dominate the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our sin so we will confess. We can ignore Him and suffer the consequences. God will never allow a born-again believer to be comfortable in their sin.
John 3:5-7 "6No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous."
The difference between a believer and a non-believer is that the believer hates their sin and does not have a lifestyle of practicing ongoing sin. The non-believer loves their sin, defends it, and does not care if they stop the sin.
Christ said; “if you love me you WILL obey my commands”, that is we will practice a lifestyle of obedience. When we sin we confess to be cleansed. Also, I might add that a believer in Christ finds no pleasure in sin or the ways of the world.
1 John 2:4
If anyone says, "I know Him," but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
You may meet those who would say they are saved by grace so the sin is covered by the blood of Christ. Not true!!!! Our sinful nature is covered by the blood as born-again believers. That means that God does not count our sinfulness against us but He does expect us to obey Him. If someone uses the “covered in the blood” mantra to justify and excuse sin they are probably not born again.
God did not give us the grace to continue in sin, He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us to obey Him.
1 John 3:9
“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.”
When we meet a pretender we will often see them using scripture in twisted ways out of context to allow them to feel comfortable in their sin. These people never evaluate their own hearts nor do they want to know what God thinks. We know this because of their defense of sin and refusal to listen to correction.
Another clue about the pretender is their propensity to boast about themselves as well as accuse us of things they are doing and we are not. Their desire to demean us for speaking the truth of scripture is a very big clue they are using religion to evaluate themselves rather than seeking Christ to be cleansed of their own sin. They always have a very high opinion of themselves, flamboyant about their goodness while judging others wrongfully.
One of the traits of those who have a high opinion of their own importance is the capacity to judge others freely even if they know very little about those they judge. They love to pretend someone is a certain way to maintain a sense of superiority over those whom they sit in judgment. Most of their assessments of others are based on what they wish to believe and on the gossip they have heard from others. These people love to gossip and condemn others who do not think the way they think.
Matthew 23:4-6
“4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,”
Luke 16:15
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
Let us continually evaluate ourselves as we seek God to become holy as He is holy.
1 Peter 1:14-16
“14 As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. 15But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, 16for it is written: “Be holy because I am holy.”
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
These Days of Agonizing Ignorance
It is agonizing these days to attempt to have a rational discussion with most people.
I never remembered hearing "word salad" when I was a child. Now at age 68 almost 69, I hear incoherent nonsense all the time, as though the minds of people have been twisted unable to understand simple logical Biblical principles. Even the secular community had some Biblical standards without knowing it, they adhered to certain social rules so as not to be unkind.
Word Salad: " unintelligible, extremely disorganized speech or writing manifested as a symptom of a mental disorder."
Many years ago in the 70's someone mocked another family member's hairstyle, in a holiday gathering. The whole room laughed, and out of the mouth of one of the members came flying out the silliest thing I ever heard; this person said "its good to laugh", as though laughing no matter who it hurts or why anyone is laughing doesn't matter, just the laughter itself was the goal.
Without responding the person who was mocked did not laugh. Several questions went through the mind of the mocked one. The first question was "do you laugh at funerals while the attendees are weeping for their loss?" "How about laughing when a child falls down and hurts themselves?" was the second question. Noting that the mocked person was the only one in the room who was rational, realizing that it is only good to laugh when something is funny and does not harm anyone else, she realized that those who mocked and laughed were simple-minded people who do not think beyond their own emotional momentary senses.
How does this work; it's very simple really, when someone makes a joke the room is expected to laugh so they do. They don't think they just laugh. These are called family mobbings, in which it is acceptable for the group to mock and demean those they don't particularly like or whom they think are beneath them.
This target doesn't have to do anything wrong except dress differently, think differently, and walk to their own convictions. This is enough to cause the leaders of the pack to mock knowing all the others will follow them.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (ragingly insane) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
We are seeing more of this mocking, demeaning and disrespect as the culture as a whole promotes personal "self-esteem", meaning anything you wish to do goes as long as you want it. This mentality causes people to become selfish, disrespectful and completely unconcerned about anyone else except themselves.
For years I spoke against the self-esteem teaching because I could see where it led, that is self-absorption of the one who elevated themselves above everyone else all the time.
You might be astonished to learn who the people were that were pushing this self-esteem doctrine. You guessed it, it was the church. Most of the Christians I knew personally believed this lie from the devil, that we should build someones self-esteem.
They mistook teaching confidence for self esteem. Building someone's confidence involves showing them what is wrong with them so they can be graciously confident. Instead of teaching the right ways of acting they praised people so often they no longer cared about right from wrong, they only cared that they were praised, desiring to be special all the time to everyone.
This mentality leads to rejection of those who correct them as well as anyone who does not hold them in high regard.
The teaching of respect, honor and kindness was now gone from the culture. Young people were snarling at older people at the slightest correction. The young people no longer able to evaluate themselves in truth continued to build pride, even defending it when they have acted very badly.
Proverbs 16:18
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Our culture has destroyed the hearts and minds of the young people by building their self-esteem, that is their pride and guess what? They are less confident than they would have been had they been corrected and grew in knowledge and skills. We have more self-esteem now, less confidence and young people who think they are producing something good even when they put out a piece of garbage. They are lazier and entitle than we have seen before. They praise themselves, something God abhores.
Proverbs 27:2-3 "2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth— a stranger, and not your own lips. 3 A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.…"
" Did You Notice You almost Cannot Convince Anyone of Anything in these Last Days,? NOAH must have gone INSANE,. only 8 Got on the ARK.. They can Hear a Fire and Brimstone Sermon on Hell and it does nothing. Their Cup is full, Their hearts are far from the things of God. Another Spirit has Captivated them and is walking them to Destruction. They think they are walking toward a Heaven that is OK with Sin. They Love a JESUS that has no moral absolutes. They really are their own God. This is the Great Falling Away in these Last Days."
" And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,,.."
Romans 1:27-29
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