Jesus Christ never argued with a fool!

Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Proverbs 9:8

"Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

Proverbs 23:9

"Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words."

Proverbs 26:4

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him."

Matthew 15:26

"But Jesus replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

We are the children and the dogs are those who are scoffers and mockers.

Revelation 22:15

"But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

Matthew 10:14,15

"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet…"

We always have love in our hearts for anyone, however, we do them and ourselves no good by tolerating ungodly foolishness. As we shake the dust from our feet, we pray for their salvation.

Hallelujah for the freedom we have in Christ. We are not in bondage to the reactions or antics of others, because we are a bondservent of Christ.

Do Not Continue with a Foolish Arguer

There will be those who are arguers, they love to keep a discussion about nothing going forever. Once you realize what is happening allow them to have the last word and exit the conversation with them and speak to the others who are watching.

The tactics of arguers are as follows:

They claim things you did not say and deny things you did say. I have had arguers claim I gave no scripture when there were several passages presented.

When they cannot win over the scriptures they will accuse us of bad character without knowing anything about us. Their aim is to cause others to distrust us, arguing nonsense and accusations are effective with some people because it brings out frustration causing them to answer silly things, and making them look silly too.

Proverbs 26:4-5 " 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.…"

Do not engage with a fool by answering every accusation, stay on the topic and exit the conversation when they continue with silly banter. The more we engage with a fool the more we end up sounding just like them.

We can stay on topic and ignore the accusations, these are tactics of the devil to draw us into foolish banter, the longer we engage with these people the less credible we become, the devil knows this and why he uses it.

Everyone I have known who loves the truth of God's Word has encountered this, the devil sends them to cause division and doubt in others who are watching, do not let him win by continuing with the fool.

Be Led by the Holy Spirit not by any Man

The whole one-man-paid-pastor system is not biblical and comes from the model of the priests in the Catholic church.

No one leading in a church gathering has authority over anyone else. The word "pastor" is not a title or a position, it is a calling and they are to lead by example and by teaching.

The only authority over the born-again believer is the Holy Spirit. If the pastor had "authority" over the people then he is usurping the authority of the Holy Spirit declaring that he is the mediator between God and man just as the priests think in the Catholic church.

We are to listen to leaders as we evaluate anything they say according to the Bible and correct them when they stray. They are not above correction and even discipline if they will not listen to their brothers and sisters in the gathering.

The problem with the one-man-paid-pastor system is that it assumes that a man educated by other men in formal schooling automatically is filled with the Spirit. This causes them to be seen by the congregation as the authority over someone else. Most do not allow the congregation to challenge them because they see themselves as above the brothers and sisters.

The only One above all the believers is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ Who lives in every believer.

Anyone who has the Holy Spirit has the mandate to question all things spoken by others and challenge them if they stray from Biblical teachings and most everyone does at one time or another.

1 Peter 5:2-4 "…2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.…"

Leaders are not enforcers, nor are they infallible, they are men who are called to speak the truth and leave the results to the Holy Spirit in every other believer. No one is above another and all are called to a ministry of one sort or another. The "pastor" does not dictate who can minister, the Holy Spirit does that.

When God said the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth He was speaking to every born-again believer.

John 15:13 "

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."

Luke 12:12 "12 For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.”

Just as the Holy Spirit went before the apostles and disciples he goes before us now because He lives in us. We can trust His word and count on Him for understanding when we ask Him for wisdom in all matters.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 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.…"

The Bible was written TO specific people but it was written FOR all of us. We have all become evangelists, teachers, preachers and everything else led by the Holy Spirit when He came to live in us.

Hebrews 5:12-14

"12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil."

The beauty of the Holy Spirit and the Bible is that anyone who asks for wisdom can have it without the prejudices of teachers and men who love their pride. We are called to listen to the Holy Spirit first as men speak. If the Spirit warns us then we are to warn others.

1 Thessalonians 5:13-15 "14 And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.…"

All of the Scriptures were written for all born-again believers. We must seek Christ in us for our calling and we must speak boldly when the Holy Spirit leads us into truth.

The prideful Man will be Made Low but the Humble Spirit Shall be Honored

Proverbs 29:23 "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit."

Those Who are Demonically Influenced

From Apply God's Word Video:

"1. A person with demonic influence will use lies that lead to unrighteous living.

2. A person with demonic influence will be marked by never-ending conflict.

3. A person with demonic influence will do whatever they can to distract you and pull you away from God.

4. A person with demonic influence will seek to diminish your love for other people." Unquote

Expect to have every trick leveled against you if you are walking with Christ, AND expect those doing it to be those you might have expected to love you.

Drama is a favored tactic of the devil. people becoming irritated and even angry over the silliest things that could normally be easily ignored or should have been no problem at all.

The purpose of these attacks of silly drama is to distract us from God. The devil wants to drag us into nonsense that will ruin our character or our influence as believers.

If your walk with Christ has been diminished when in company with those who love their drama and superior attitude it is time to limit time with them if not total no-contact.

Those who love Christ and walk on the same path with us will encourage us to love others in God's way. They will not be constantly questioning everything to find out what to criticize but will share in love their thoughts openly to encourage in the ways of God.

It is important to remember that modern Christianity trains its people they must never walk away from someone, but Christ tells us in His word those people we should walk away from.

2 Timothy 3:1-5, Proverbs 22:24-25. Proverbs 17:4, Psalm 1, Proverbs 4:14, Proverbs 16:17-33.

Be United About Who Christ is and not Debate about Questionable Things

I beg of you, anyone who will listen, not to become entangled in the KJV debate, it is a huge distraction not to mention negating the power of the Holy Spirit's ability to work in the hearts and minds of His children. Some translations are not as good as others but the Holy Spirit can guide the reader.

Our trust must be in Christ to be able to us as we read any version of the Bible. I began reading the NIV when I was first born again. I grew like a weed in my love for Christ and even questioned things to make sure of His truth. After that, I moved to the NKJV never was there anything so dramatically different that heresy was involved. Sentences were left out of some that were added to the KJV to clarify, but not change the meaning.

 
However, one thing is for sure, no English version of the Bible can convey the Jewish mindset involved when the prophets wrote their books. We have only our perverted Western mindset based on our culture and customs to guide us, God has to remove that as we read to show us the truth.

Much of what we have been taught to believe for many years has been based on a version of the Catholic system hierarchy which is not at all what God describes in His Word.

 
The devil couldn't get Christians to fight about who Christ is so he enticed them to argue over English translations as though God only provided HIs word to the English-speaking world. There are 7.8 billion inhabitants in the world and only 1.35 billion speak English.

 
It is never a good idea to translate from one translation to another translation, we must go back to the copies in Hebrew that have been found and translate from them to whatever language we are working with.

 
Please let's not debate here, I have seen the devastation and weakening of faith in those who think they must trust in a translation when all they need and the best they have is Jesus Christ the Word living in them to discern truth from error in any translation they are reading.

 
Let's keep seeking Christ, not translations and not people. The more we get into translation debates the more doubt and frustration is caused in those who are not yet strong in their faith.

 
I prayed many times when I became born-again that God would lead me to the truth about this and He has made it clear that the whole translation debate is a red-herring to cause unnecessary division among believers.

 
I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, nothing grieves me more than debates that do not cause emotional and Spiritual growth but only frustration and doubt.

 
Titus 3:9

"9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are useless and worthless."

The Great Deception is all Around us all the Time!

My husband likes to listen to the news in the morning before starting our day. As I listened someone came on speaking about all the scams especially against the elderly who fall into their traps, ending up giving them money out of fear their house or car will be repossessed when they have no debt, but they are led to believe something is wrong when it is not.

It reminds me of all the things we live with every day that are lies against the truth. The lies in the organized church, the lies about gender, the lies against marriage, the lies adult children believe about their parents, the lies about food, the lies in politics, lies in the media, the list could be much longer.

We are living in times of monstrous deception when just about everything we hear and see has a measure of deception in it.

Born-gain believers must be strong enough to ignore the deception, believe, and proclaim truth while everyone else around them is being caught up in these myths, misrepresentations, and lying that occurs every day in every place with nearly every person.

We must trust the Holy Spirit more than ever in these last days of deception.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

"10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

2 Timothy 4:3

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

Since our culture worldwide is based almost entirely on "feelings" rather than truth we can expect these deceptions to grow as we near the last of the last days.

More people will reject and mock us than come alongside in agreement. In fact, those who believe Christ will be very few compared to the population of the world. Many believers have little to no companionship now, they are rejected because of their love of Christ and His Word.

Even those who say they are "Bible-believing" really don't know it enough to defend it in truth. Most are adding things to the Bible God never said and become agitated when corrected for their misuse of God's Word.

This does not make us depressed because we know the prophecy of God told us this would happen. It means that we will be going home soon, escaping the wrath of God in the tribulation while we enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb with our Savior Jesus Christ.

Then we know we will come back with Christ when He destroys evil upon the earth. Even more exciting than all of this is that in the Millennium Christ will rule the entire earth and we the raptured believers will rule with Him. Hallelujah!!!!!

Don't forget we are watching prophecy play out before our eyes, understanding what the prophets wrote and didn't understand themselves. The book has been unsealed and we are the end days remnant.

So brothers and sisters even though we must endure this mess for a time we will see the ending and glory in His appearing in the clouds. God told us what to expect, I believe Him and my joy is great because of what I know that He told us in His Word, the Bible and through His Holy Spirit.