Finding Jesus in the Book of Malachi

The Evidence of Salvation is the Fruit of the Spirit

Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 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."

The fruit is as follows:

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."

Another evidence of salvation is this:

1 John 3:13-15 "…13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.…"

Christmas History: Bible & Pagans - The Truth

We Don't Have to Wonder Anymore

It is no wonder why God said the end times would be fraught with "ragingly insane" thinking?

Sadly this mentality is in the church!!!

2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 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 live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals.
Transvestites lecture us on human biology.
Baby Killers lecture us on human rights,
And, Socialists lecture us on economics." Taken from a poster

Isaiah 5:20
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"

We see this backward and upside-down thinking in narcissists today. They do mean things and accuse others of doing them. All of these tactics are the work of the demons growing worse every day.

Do not do as the Evil One Does!

I understand the feeling that sometimes we cannot respect an evil person. But it is not a license for us to become like them by treating them disrespectfully and hatefully.

We are commanded in the Bible to treat others the way we would like to be treated, there is no exception to this principle.

Also we are commanded to bless those who curse us, in other words, we show them the respect they won't show us.

If we choose to treat someone disrespectfully because of how mean they are, then we have become just like them.

We cannot emotionally enjoy a person who is evil, but we can act Christlike in their presence, not allowing their bad behavior to cause us to do the same to them. Then we are no different from them.

It might help to know that disrespectful people love it when they have made us into their image by snarking back at them in response to their rudeness.

Luke 6:30-32 "…30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.…"

Romans 12:13-15 "13 Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.…"

Obeying God by remaining Christlike no matter what others are doing will often not influence the mean person to change, that doesn't matter, and its' God's business. We are called to obey even if it has no effect on someone else. Our goal is to grow in holiness ourselves, we have no mandate to work to change another person.

We must tell the truth and when it is not received we are to walk away leaving the other person in the hands of God.

The idea that we should learn "techniques" to manipulate someone into accepting what we say is not biblical and even dishonest. It presumes that people respond to stimuli just like animals. Animals will be loyal when we treat them well and become mean when they are mistreated, this is not true of human beings.

The idea that we can affect another person's heart through manipulation comes from psychology, spawned from Darwinism. Since humans are just another species of animal they must respond the way animals do.

The thinking of Darwin was foolish because even animals are not always loving and kind just because you say nice words to them. A lion will eat you if you approach him in the wild, he doesn't trust human beings, we are their food so they don't care how nice we are to them.

"Hurting people hurt people" is also not Biblical. Bad people hurt people. Many people are hurting and have been treated shamefully but they choose to do differently from the people who were mean to them. They treat people better than they were treated because they have a tender heart and care about others more than they cogitate about how they were treated.

Christ proved this point when He went to the cross. He was brutally murdered by wicked people but chose to die on the cross for the sins of others, even the ones who murdered Him. He could have stopped the events of the cross, He could have blown on His persecutors and made them disappear if He wanted, but He did not.

The takeaway from this article is; don't become like the evil person by exacting revenge or responding in kind to them. Just remove yourself and leave them to God.

There is nothing more wonderful than a clear conscience that comes from obeying God. When we have been reviled we do not revile in return, we walk away clean and full of confidence that God has this!!!

It Only Matters What God Thinks

Have you ever been in a group of people who defended someone because they were corrected?

I have experienced this, even in Christian gatherings. One person will say something unbiblical or rude, everyone else agrees with them and another person will say, "that is not biblical" or "that was rude" and the entire rest of the room defends the unbiblical rude person in an angry manner.

Then the shunning begins, when the group thinkers fear being corrected or exposed they use isolation and subtle ignoring to punish the one who wants more than anything else to obey God and help others grow and desire to grow themselves.

Godly people who love the Lord humbly take a correction. They go to prayer to see if the correction matched the word of God and make changes in their thoughts to obey God if the correction was Biblical.

The rebellious heart rejects correction, raging in anger they attempt to intimidate the person who cared enough to admonish them. If we love someone the best thing we can do is tell the truth, but the world sees this as a personal attack, the very reason most people are offended by a rebuke.

We are not counted as causing trouble because someone else became angry at our correction. It is the angry person who is causing division and trouble.

Because of the lie propagated by psychology that; "hurting people hurt people", many people now, in the culture and in the church coddle and massage the one who sins while beating up the truth-teller who desires to obey God.

Telling the truth is the new hate speech in the culture as a whole. Most people are followers wanting to be accepted by society. Because cultural acceptance is more important than God is, most will defend the ideas of the world they hear every day rather than evaluate them according to the Bible.

Sadly most people who say they believe in the Bible does not read or know it. Even those who have attended Bible colleges repeat the psychological nonsense they were taught in those universities.

Even if the teachers in those institutions claim they do not use psychology they really do because all their instructions, and the way they think is based on their education influenced by all the government school education they have received during the first 12 years of their schooling. The way the teachers relate to the children and their instruction on how to treat people is based on psychology, not the Bible. In fact, when someone brings up the Bible using it to find the truth, they are mocked and dismissed by the world and by Christians in the church.

"More is caught than taught" is an old saying that shows how the teachers handle the children has more influence than her words. Teachers are trained to resist making a child feel bad by correcting them. Teachers use psychology rather than the Bible. They do not train the children in the ways of the Lord but rather in the ways of the world.

Our culture as a whole is psychologically dominated, it drives how everyone operates. And, often it is against God's Word. Even more disturbing is that the Christian church is fully entrenched in this worldly thinking. It is no wonder our country is sliding down the slippery slope of total depravity. We are headed toward destruction thinking we are alright because we do what we want all the time.

Romans 12:2

"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."

1 John 2:15-17

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

James 4:4

"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Satan knows how to make error look attractive while its effect is destruction.

2 Timothy 4:2-5

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Colossians 2:8

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."

Knowing God's Word and being led by the Holy Spirit is our encouragement to the believer. We do not have to wonder if we did or said the right thing, we will be confident. The world will not be able to intimidate us into silence when it comes to the truth. Of course, once we find out someone is a rager and resistant we can remove ourselves to avoid them, but it will not keep us from telling the truth to another person later.

Be full of joy no matter how ugly others act, they cannot remove our joy unless we care more about how others think of us than we do about what God thinks.

What is Love!!!

If we love our friends we will instruct them as well as correct when we see them deviating from God's Word.

Proverbs 27:6

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy."

Romans 15:14

"And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another."

Colossians 3:16

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

Psalm 141:5

"Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me;

It is oil upon the head;

Do not let my head refuse it,

For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds."

Luke 17:3

"Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him."

1 Thessalonians 5:14

"We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone."

2 Timothy 3:16

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;"

The most important part of being a friend is to love them by helping them see the things that need change. Its not love to allow someone to feel good about you while they are dishonoring God.