The Trigger of Evil Things

I can entirely relate to the "trigger" aspect that many people experience.

I hadn't thought of my narcissistic mom in years while walking the boardwalk at the beach looking in the shops.

I looked in one window and saw a very old vase exactly like the one my mother had when I was growing up. In a moment I felt a twinge of depression come over me instantaneously without any thoughts about my mother, just the vase all by itself.

I recall a story about a brain surgeon probing a person's brain while the one being operated on was awake. The surgeon touched a portion of the brain and the person being probed suddenly had the taste of ice cream they had as a child.

Nothing ever leaves our brains, the feelings we had, and even the physical sensations at the time remain always.

We do not have those past feelings until they are triggered and they do not dominate us, they are just there. And, these feelings in our memory do not come up unless they are triggered, then quickly dissipate because they are not significant to our lives anymore unless we have been continually messaging them to keep them alive.

This is why is it so important to put into our brains the things of God, it keeps us from going down the rabbit trail of evil thoughts and feelings when they do arise. Our brain can be so saturated with the Word of God that nothing else overrides God's truth.

Philippians 4:8

"8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [a]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Those who are continually cogitating on the past evils, the present ones, and the possible coming ones, especially if it is politics will find it eventually rotting their sense of righteousness as well as pushing God out of their thoughts.

Whatever we are consumed with is what will drive us either to joy and peace or to discontent and anger.

When we fill our minds with evil we will become some of what we say we hate. If we fill our minds with Christ we will become more like Him.

It is not wise to fill our minds with worldly things, pretending to keep ourselves informed to enjoy the evil we follow. Those who follow evil are showing their mentality of sensationalism, the desire to love to hate something. For some people, it is a pathology. I have heard these people use the excuse they should be informed.

When I asked why we need to know that evil their response was to not know it was burying our heads in the sand. When I asked again, but why do we need to know it and what can we do about it they became agitated as though I just didn't get it.

No one has been able to use the Bible to prove we should know all the evils going on in the world. Someone even said to me, we need to tell others. My response was that I will not be responsible for filling the minds of a brother or sister in Christ with that filth.

1 Corinthians 15:33

"Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Ephesians 4:29

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

He Makes Our Path Straight, we do not make our own way straight!

When God places a ruler that will destroy our country do we whine in anger or do we accept His discipline? How we respond will demonstrate our own spiritual growth and level of trust in God.

We are living in the end times of apostasy, can we be joyful trusting God no matter what the culture is doing? The true test of our faith comes when we trust God when things do not go the way we want them to go. Who are we to think we can know better than God about anything?

Proverbs 3:5-6
"5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Notice God does not command us to make our own way straight, He says if we lean on Him, He will make our paths straight.

Too many people are attempting to make a straight path to God by themselves without Him. Then when they fail they blame Him for not doing their will. This is backward from what God teaches. 

Christ Never Came to Save Good People

Christ never came to save good people, He came to save sinful people and to clean them up for His service. Coming as you are doesn't mean you will stay that way, in fact, if you never change over the years then you were probably a pretender, repent and become born again. Attending church every week only fools those who do not understand the fruit of the Spirit which is the evidence of salvaiton.

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."

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…:"

What happens to authentic believers when they are too lazy to seek Christ?:

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

The unborn will not escape hell and the lazy believer will escape hell but will be disciplined by God.

The Pride of the Narcissist Exposes Them

The narcissist loves when the scapegoat messes up. The narcissist forgives or excuses their own bad behavior, even claiming they had a good reason for what they do, but hold against the scapegoat any and all their flaws as though all they have is flaws about everything.

When you experience a family member or community gossiper acting as though you are pure evil for something you did in the past, even if the sin was confessed and forgiven, even without knowing all the details except a few through gossip, you are experiencing scapegoating.

A person who believes they have never sinned big enough to be despised by others is a person who has not repented from their own sinful nature. They do not realize the smallest sin, even the sin in the heart without an action sends people to hell.

It's not our acts that make us sinful, we are already sinful in the heart before an act is committed, even if no action is committed, it is our nature that sends us to hell.

Those who have confessed to God their sinfulness and desire to be cleansed by Him, believing He paid our sin debt on the cross, will be saved. We are not saved because of our good deeds or good attitudes. We are saved because we say we are sinful and cannot save ourselves, then Christ comes to live in us as He continually cleanses us.

Those who cannot confess individual sins to one another to restore a relationship are either not saved or have been saved but have residual pride that prevents them from admitting their sins and flaws.

A born-again believer will not grow in holiness when they cannot confess to God and to others their flaws. They remain superficial and never develop lasting and deep spiritual relationships with anyone. These kinds of people move on from friendships often. They confront others about their flaws but will never confess their own.

Those who can easily confess their flaws and sins will be cleansed and restored growing in holiness. At the end of their lives, they are wiser than at the beginning, but this is not so for the prideful pretender, these people remain, spiritual infants if they are even saved.

Have you wondered why it is impossible to have a lengthy discussion based on the Bible in our day of apostasy? The answer is very simple, those who are born-again are following the world and remaining infants, and those who are pretenders are influencing the babies in Christ.

A picture of the pretenders:

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…:"

What happens to authentic believers when they are too lazy to seek Christ:

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

The unborn will not escape hell and the lazy believer will escape hell but will be disciplined by God.

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