Ragingly Insane Times a Blessing for the Born-Again Believer?

We cannot choose worldly ungodly friends and expect to move forward toward holiness or Spiritual thinking.

Ungodly friends will distract us from righteous mindsets because they will not understand the mind of Christ as well as they will attempt to convince us to think the way they think.

Everyone wants to be in groups that think their way. If we want to think with the mind of Christ we must cleanse our lives from people who want to think the world's way.

Even most people in the church gatherings do not have the mind of Christ and they enjoy thinking of the world far more if not entirely.

We can discern this worldly mindset by their responses or lack of response to Scripture and the name of Christ when we bring these things up. Do they get excited about the Word of God, or do they act embarrassed, and in some cases even angry?

Matthew 10:32-34 "32 Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34 Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."

If control over you is more important than the Word of God, control to make you submit to their thinking, then we know we have met an apostate.

No one who is born again by the Holy Spirit of God is hostile toward His Word. Even if they are not obeying Him, they will not become enraged when we confront them with Scripture. It is the devil who rages at the truth of God's Word, he is the one who controls the thinking of the angry man.

God told us in His Word that the very end of days, the last years of the dispensation of grace would be marked with total rebellion against God even in the churches that claim to know Him.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Difficult (ragingly insane) Times Will Come

"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these."

This is the description of the last day's church, having a form of religion but denying God in their life practices and their speech.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ "

Notice the terrible devastating attitude described in 2 Timothy, this is a description of those who have a form of godliness but are controlled by devils.

Isaiah 29:13

"Therefore the Lord said: "These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men."

Many false ideas are being taught in church gatherings today, negating God's meaning by adding man's wisdom to the Bible in an attempt to make the Bible say what they want it to say. They are dishonest with God's Word as well as intimidating and brutal with anyone who does not think their way.

Isaiah 29:13

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:"

Ezekiel 33:31

"And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness."

We are watching prophesy play out but sometimes we question ourselves because we are accustomed to this culture, thinking we must be making too much of this because in our culture selfishness and rudeness is seen as a strength. Confronting the rudeness is seen as rude. Bad is called good and good is called bad.

Brothers and sisters, never allow these facts about the end times to discourage you, they are actually a blessing. We have been told what to look for, how not to be sucked into the ways of these times and that we are going home soon after watching these things occur.

Luke 21:27-29 "…27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 29 Then Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.…"

By the way: the fig tree is Israel having fulfilled prophesy in 1948 when the Jews came back into the land. How can anyone not be excited about this fact as we watched prophesy unfold then and even more now as so many more prophesies are coming to pass before our very eyes?

Hallelujah!!!

Political or Christian, They are not one and the Same!

When I see almost entirely political articles, ads and cultural complaints, without anything about God on the posts of "Christians" I have to wonder if they are ashamed of the gospel or are not interested in Jesus Christ. Therefore are they saved or just pretending?

Just Wondering.

Matthew 10:32-34 "32 Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34 Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.…"

Just so you know; being conservative does not mean someone is born again.

Genealogies will Distract Us!

Our culture is very interested in genealogy, the records and the study of ancestry. Did you know that born-again believers have no Spiritual connection to their biological family unless someone from that family is born-again?

Genealogy is a form of necromancy, the desire to stay connected to dead people who no longer have any input into our lives other than a name on a line in a tree. When a person desires to have a connection with a dead person they have in their heart the wish that they could speak to the dead, so they pretend the dead can hear them and speak to their grave.

Many people now go to the graves to look at the stones of those who have passed, as though there is some value or connection to them by that visit.

In the Catholic church when I was still in that cultic system, rituals, statues, and amulets were important, they made people feel safe and connected to the person who was supposed to be the representation of the person they wanted to connect with. Sadly many traditions and rituals that "protestants" do come from the Catholic church.

It is entertaining to visit a grave, but I cannot see any spiritual value that brings someone closer to Christ. And, the dead cannot hear us, they are gone never to return.

Any relationships we connect with should be in this life while people are still walking this earth.

Most of the people in the genealogy tree we have never met and will not ever meet. We have no way to know what their life was like, whether or not they loved Christ. Most people do not love Christ, in the past or the present. We know this because Christ said "few will find the narrow way", and "most will reject Christ."

Isaiah 43:18-19

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Philippians 3:13-14

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

So what are people doing honoring those who may have hated Christ after they are dead.? To honor a person who did not love Christ is to dishonor Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

When we take the time to find out where a ritual originates and whether or not God commanded it in the Bible we realize how many rituals and practices we follow that come against the Bible.

If the Bible is our source for all truth and wisdom then we ought to be seeking the Holy Spirit and His Word the Bible to find God's heart and desire for us.

Those who have left behind all humanistic and paganistic rituals are the freest people you will meet. They have no compulsion to do things God never commanded just because others expect it of them.

There is bondage associated with rituals, the sense that if we do not do something we will not be safe, or that others will not like us and we will lose the love of family and friends who want us to do what they do. Titus 3:9
"But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless."

Genealogy is a distraction to the walk of Christ and even paganistic.

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Christ is not pleased with the rituals we do and claim God is pleased with them. He is only pleased when we seek Him and obey what He tells us from His Word.

Did you know Jesus Christ is the very essence of His Own Word? When we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the truth we are hearing from the heart of Jesus Christ.

Think about it!

Finding Jesus in the Book of Joel

Want to live your life for God? Make this one shift. #shorts

The Lost in the World and the Lost in the Church

Do not be surprised when you are mocked, demeaned, rejected, ignored, and gossiped about as a born-again believer. Not only by the world but also by others who say they are Christians but lack the fruit of the Spirit.

Matthew 7:15-20

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 1

6 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits."

What is the fruit of the Spirit?

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."

The fruit of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us are the character qualities of Christ. A believer can discern these qualities in another believer easily.

We are only confused in our culture because we have been indoctrinated that we should not judge, which is unbiblical.

Many people who say they are Christians have never been born again, this is why they act and speak no different from the world. They are superficial but attend churches every week. These people rarely speak of Christ outside the building they call a church.

Pretenders want to feel safe and protected by God but want nothing to do with His Word. Some read the Bible to feel superior to others but care little about obeying its principles, even twisting His Word to say what they want it to say and not what God intended.

In fact, in our day of apostasy, those who attend church gatherings disobey more of the word than they obey and claim they believe the Bible is the Word of God.

I find the hearts of learned pretenders more difficult to reach for God than a non-believer who does not profess Christianity. They are both the same, that is unsaved, but one is proud because of how much they think they know and the other just doesn't know much if anything.

Someone once told me I was "preaching to the choir", I reminded that person that most people in the choir can't sing."

Remember to pray for salvation for both the lost in the world and the lost in the church.

Where is the Peace and Joy?

Romans 12:2 "Romans 12:2

"2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We transform our minds by reading the Word of God and allowing it to change us on the inside. Just knowing it is not enough, we must seek it for the purpose of being changed by Christ into His image.

There are many people who seek to "appear" good on the outside without any real change in their hearts. This is the reason they may say the right things at times but are constantly falling back into worldly thinking.

It is not enough to attempt to follow right principles, we must seek Christ to change our hearts so that how we act and what we say is led by the Holy Spirit without manipulation to impress others.

What rejoicing there is when we can be free to walk in Christ-likeness without the worry if others will like us. If He is pleased with us it does not matter if anyone else does.

John 15:18-25

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Seek to please God not people, there is where the peace and joy reside.