The Character of a Man is Revealed in the Word "No"

If you want to discover the character of a person whom you suspect is acting in a narcissistic fashion just set a boundary with a kind "no" in answer to their demands and watch what comes out.

The true narcissist will become angry, vengeful, and even gossip against you for daring to be in control of your own life. They will attempt fights and arguments to cause us to become like them.

The victory for the narcissist is when they cause you to become angry so they can claim you are the bad one in all the mess.

A narcissist always accuses others of doing what the narcissist is doing and the others are not doing. When they cannot accuse you of anything they try to start something so they can accuse you of something rude.

Lies and manipulation are the main tools on the narcissist belt. They use these tools every time they start trouble. We are seeing more of this than ever before because of the 2 Timothy 3 culture in which we live every day now.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Difficult 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."

Who is behind all these lies and manipulation? You guessed it I am sure.....it is the devil working in the minds of those who do not know Christ. He even works in the minds of Christians sometimes. He wants to ruin relationships, make people feel insecure, and remove the support system of the born-again believer so they will become like the world.

What the devil does not know is that he cannot ruin the support system of a born-again believer, we have the most powerful support anyone could ever have living within us, and that is Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:3-5 "…3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time. 4 You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them."

When the trolls come to undermine your faith and ruin your friendships, do not become alarmed. Block them and remember that anyone who believes the angry narcissist was never your friend, to begin with. Those who love you will not believe the lies of the devil and those who are controlled by him.

We have Christ living in us and He is in control, the devil will not be in control of our lives.

No One Becomes a Christian by Deciding to Join a Church

So many people don't realize that stealing a stick of gum from someone can send a person to hell.

Its not about the gum its about the nature of man that caused them to steal and deceive.

The smallest sin sends people to hell because of the nature that led them to desire stealing.

Only Christ can change that nature and only if the thief wants to be changed by Christ.

No one can honestly say they are a good person, not even one person. No one ever got into heaven because they were good.

It is only possible to get into heaven when we trust in Christ Who paid our penalty. With this grace and blessing comes His change in us, but only if we want to be changed by Him into a new creation.

Those who say they are Christians but have no desire to be changed by Christ will not be saved. When we change our minds about sin, hating it in ourselves then Christ comes to live in us and begins the lifelong process of cleansing us.

We must confess our sinfulness to be saved by Christ and then each sin as it comes up for cleansing.

1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Walking in the Light

John 1:5-7
Walking in the Light
5 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.
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 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."

Narcissist Parents are the Lenient Ones

Narcissists are often lenient with children because they want the children to have allegiance to them.

The narcissist will treat the parent who trains, teaches and disciplines as though they are mean causing the children to believe something is wrong with the other parent.

Often the children of the narcissist despise the parent who cares about the success of the children. The narcissist will pamper the children while making the caring parent out to be the bad one.

When this happens the children will choose a spouse who is much like their narcissistic parents, again, the spouse will take on the attitude of angst toward the parent who is not narcissistic while embracing the narcissist parent.

In my family, my parents were both narcissists and raised my brothers to despise me because I thought differently from them. Our parents poked at me and by their example, my brothers thought I didn't deserve any respect or kindness.

One thing that was clear in our household was that if any suggestion was made different from the narcissist's ideas they would rage rather than discuss, and I think this was due to fear. They feared the loss of control merely through a different suggestion.

When we encounter these kinds of people there is only one thing we can do, is keep our own hearts free from anger and bitterness while asserting ourselves in a loving and kind manner.

We keep our own hearts free from bitterness by seeking God, praying, and understanding the source of the angst toward us, which is the devil.

Ephesians 6:12

"12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

When we have prayed to discern if we are guilty of something and found that we are being manipulated then we can assume the devil is behind the mess and pray against it.

Our most important prayer is that God keeps us from responding in a sinful way, making us impervious to the attacks designed to cause emotional reactions in us.

Isaiah 26:3

"3 You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You."

Misunderstandings From Human Wisdom

There is a misunderstanding these days that we should follow Paul as being the same as following Christ.

Since God said Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man we need no other mediators, any other mediators would be idolatry.

The Scriptures are our authority, Paul was the messenger for all that Christ said and did, we do not follow him, we follow Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:5-8

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

8 Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor."

1 Peter 2:21

"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."

John 8:12

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

When we look at a doctrine of the Bible in isolation (out of context) without evaluating it with the rest of the Bible it is easy to come to a wrong conclusion. This is why we need to read many passages on a principle, their context and the culture of the time to be able to discern God's meaning. And, above all, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to bring understanding.

There are many doctrines in our day that violate the Word of God, rampant is the love of mixing human thinking with God's Word, leaving a wrong interpretation.

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

We must seek the Holy Spirit before reading the Scriptures and test all things according to the Bible that you hear from anyone.

Jesus Christ is Still Alive

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Slonuz_p0-k

A Born-Again Believer Need Not Fight People, They Battle the Devil with Scripture

When we encounter those who wish to fight without any desire to hear your side or consider something other than their own ideas my suggestion is to block them.

We are finding more and more people in the church gatherings who have no interest in truth coming like trolls just to argue nonsense.

We all have disagreements but when someone keeps fussing attempting to win over you with angry words, we know this is not a person who is discussing but a person who wishes to undermine the truth for the purpose of winning. In their mind, they are winning if they can keep us focused on the rabbit trails they send us on defending every point. Keeping us defending ourselves is the trick of the devil.

We have no need to defend ourselves, we can speak the word of God, block them and let them go fight with God.

One of the first clues of an arguer is one who accuses us of character flaws they cannot know about and accuses us of lying when we have provided scripture that proves what God said.

I once was in a discussion with a woman who didn't like the scripture I gave even claiming I didn't give any to prove my point. When I responded by asking her to go back and read all the scriptures I gave she began attacking my character not what I actually said. She told me I was mean, rude and other general things without any evidence that I was that person she described. Calling names and assigning general character flaws to us is the very tactic the Pharisees and Sadducees used against Christ and the apostles. We can expect to be treated the way our Lord was treated, its a promise from the Lord.

Matthew 10:22-30

"22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign[those of his household."

However, we didn't expect to be treated shamefully and disrespectfully by those claiming to be Christian. Love is the first 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."

Matthew 7:15-20

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

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

6 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a 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 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Often when you run into those who are living a superficial Christianity based on their own feelings instead of Scripture you will find them hostile toward you for having brought the scripture to bear on the conversation.

The wolves are in the churches today in the pews and in the pulpit. The pew people, as one man described them, are those who sit in the pews week after week and have no enthusiasm for the Word of God in their hearts. Some like to appear as knowing the Bible and are interested in using it to glorify themselves and others do not know their Bibles beyond out-of-context passages in an attempt to change the truth into the devil's lie.

The pulpit people for the most part see their position as a job to keep the people in paying their salaries, having very little interest in preaching holiness and righteousness to their needy congregations. They use flippant joking and silly stories to placate the simple-minded rather than deep scriptural truths that change the hearts of people.

Proverbs 1:22-23 "22“ How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.…"

Do not become unhinged when someone rejects you for telling the truth of the Word of God, merely shake the dust from your feet and move on to someone else who might listen. Although there will be few left in this world at this end times who will listen, we still keep going ignoring the personal attacks knowing they come from the heart of the devil.

The devil uses the minds of those who have no defense against him to agitate believers, brothers and sisters who refuse to be agitated will walk in joy, peace and confidence.

Remember winning against another person is not important, obeying God and leaving the person and the results to Him is all that is needed. Only pride in a person motivates them to win. If we are humble servants of Christ we feel no need to win, therefore there will be no fighting on our part.

Hallelujah!!!! Our God is bigger than the god of the unsaved, we need not become like them.