9 Very Subtle Signs Of Covert Narcissism

Trust Christ not Translations

Much of the KJV of the Bible was copied from a translation finished 50 years before, in the late 16th century by a man named William Tyndale. Read and enjoy them but trust in Christ, not a particular translation.

Watchmen Compelled to Warn

All of you who feel so compelled to be watchmen on the wall are not alone. So many believers know these are the end times and how close we are to the Lord's return in the clouds for His church.

We wait somewhat impatiently for our Lord but we also desire to see others we know who have not trusted Christ to see their need to be born again to become saved from their sin and eventually have their home in heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 "…16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.…"

Cranky or Concern

You might be saying; "Gwen, why are you always so cranky?"

 
It's not that I am crabby its that I feel compelled to help people get back to the Bible for everything all the time.

 
Everything I write is for everyone including me, no one can say they have no need of learning a little more or obeying a little more. I am just thankful that God is patient with us when we can be so stubborn.
If anyone says they have not been stubborn they are lying to themselves, we have all had things we hang on to that are slightly off when it comes to obedience to the Lord.

 
This is why God disciplines us, scolds us at times, and gently nudges us at other times.
Those I worry about the most are the pretenders, they think they are going to heaven when they have not yet even been born-again.

 
Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

The lawless ones are those who claim to be Christians but have no interest in God's Word, His principles, or His Heart. They claim to know Him but He does not know them.

 
Those who have Christ living in them are saved but are chastised when they are disobedient. God loves His children too much to allow them to do harm to themselves or harm to others.

 
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5And 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. 6For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

Wouldn't it be better to confess our sins to be cleansed to grow in holiness than to flounder ridiculously in the consequences of our sin? And, let's not forget that those who are born-again are accountable for the way they influence others in their actions. Brothers and sisters in Christ are watching, they are influenced and non-believers are watching, they are influenced by us.

 
1 John 2:6
"6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked."
When we slip up we should confess it to be cleansed and start again. 1 John 1:9 "“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”"

Bribes are a Sin against God

If we have to bribe someone to love Jesus by becoming what others want us to be then they do not love Jesus Christ but rather their control over us. They love their own ways and will not join anything that doesn't look just like them.

God never at any time told us to do whatever we like and attach Christ's name to it to make Him happy, just the opposite.

John 12:46

"I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness."

So many people think if they become like the world then the world will love Jesus Christ. The truth is the more we are like the world the more the world will have a wrong idea about Who Jesus Christ really is and the less likely their "conversion" will be genuine and authentic. God is not looking for "conversion" to His club, He is looking to transform those who know they are sick with sin and need a Savior to cleanse them from it.

It is only when Christ changes us into a new creation because of our desire to confess our sinfulness and be changed by Him that He will change us.

Those who come to Christ to "join the club" because they think they like what the club has to offer, will not be genuine Christians no matter what they call themselves. Those who are using "club" like tactics to draw people in are often not born-again themselves, they are pretenders who came in the same way they draw others in.

We have more pretenders in the churches today than we have authentic believers, and it is difficult to tell who is who because the authentic believers are overwhelmed by the pretenders having become weak because of the pressure of the "group-think."

As soon as anyone dares to question how things are done in these cultural gatherings they become the ones who are avoided. Shunned in subtle ways to keep them silent they remain in the group without a voice and without influence.

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 of life—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."

Using the world's methods, manipulations, and ploys to cause non-believers to like us is against everything God taught in the Bible about evangelism.

We see what happens when the world is brought into the church. The Catholic church has been appeasing pagans for centuries to gain them into their false flock. This is how we came to use their festivals such as "Christ-mas" and "Easter", the Catholic church brought it in and influenced Christians to do the same. Luther and Calvin came out of the Catholic church but the church to some degree remained in them anyway.

Now Christians in every denomination are practicing pagan holidays attaching the name of Christ to them as though God approves of mankind adding thir own traditions to His Word.

Mark 7:13 " 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

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."

To become like the world to win them is to become their slave, bowing to their ways, groveling before them as though they are the gods we should follow. When we attempt to please the non-believer to entice them into the club, we appear weak and beggarly, they may join us but they do not respect us or our God.

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."

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

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."

How many warnings do we need to understand that we are not to seek to please the world?

Prosperity Preachers are Grifters!

Prosperity preachers are a lot like scammers who run pyramid schemes. They draw people in with flattery, and promises of wealth while the only ones getting rich are the scandalous disreputable charlatans at the top.

Worse than grifters these false church leaders use God's name to manipulate and demoralize those who are looking for quick fixes to life and who are greedy for the gain they did not earn.

The grifters and charlatans are to blame but so are those who fall for their schemes. All anyone has to do is ask God and read His Word, and the truth would be given to them.

James 1:5-6 ". 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

Just like the widow in the Bible who gave her last two coins, many people bring hardship on themselves by allowing these grifters to fool them into giving the money to them as though they are buying their way into heaven.

Imagine someone feeling guilty merely because someone else told them they should give, I can't help but think this is a form of co-dependency, in which the giver feels compelled to please those leaders that don't even know their name, nor anything else about them.

If the people who attended the gatherings of the grifters would begin to read their Bibles and ask God for truth they would be delivered from the clutches of these swindlers.

The problem is that grifters say what the people want to hear, the people are doing it to themselves by desiring what the charlatans are peddling. The hearts of the grifters are evil and so are the hearts of those who fall into their trap.

2 Timothy 4:3 "

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."

My prayer is that in these last days before Christ comes, many will become born-again and fall away from the grifters and their foolishness to begin to enjoy the peace of the Lord that comes from trusting in Him.

Tithing in the Church Age is not Biblical

How many of you have heard all your lives about the widow who gave her last coin as an example of how we should all look at giving.

The story is actually a condemnation of the Pharisees who suckered her into giving all she had when she was poor and would have nothing left.

The widow was trying to buy her way into the kingdom with her last two cents.

Jesus Christ was not praising the widow he was condemning the Pharisees for intimidating her into giving all she had.

In God's word, the old and new testament alike tells the people of God to take care of their widows not take from them.

Tithes were for the poor, the fatherless, and the widows. So why would the Pharisees be allowing her to give her money when they should have been giving her money.

Widows should not be giving their money they should be receiving. from others. Of course, widows who have enough and love the Lord will want to give but no one should expect giving from widows who barely have enough to eat.

Jesus Christ was chastising the Pharisees, it really wasn't about praising the widow for what she did it was more about chastising the Pharisees for taking from her at all.

Does this remind us of the modern-day Pharisees who sinfully beg and intimidate people to give money while parading about the stage in costly attire?

There is no scriptural model of passing a money plate for people to put in their money. There is no such thing as a tithe in the new testament assembly. Each person is to give as they are led by God and they are not to let others know how much they give. The leaders of the church are not to boast about how much money came in.

One more practice in the modern church that flies in the face of the word of God. When I realized this about tithes I no longer worried about whether or not someone else thought I was giving enough, I gave as led by the Holy Spirit and didn't speak of it to others. And, I had no business knowing or caring about how much anyone else gave.

If any church leader comes to your home to chastise you for your giving, my suggestion is to stop giving to them at all, not one more penny goes to a church that is so greedy and controlling that the leaders would defy the word of God because of their greed.

Just saying!!!!