Superficial, shallow conversation does not build relationships.

So many people depend on walking on eggshells so no one is angry with them. Very little in conversation is important or grows hearts and minds.

Sadly, this shallow exchange does nothing to build lasting, quality relationships.

Deeper, more quality relationships are based on each person desiring to know the heart of the other person; this is rare in our culture. Since we live in a culture that prioritizes boasting and flaunting things about oneself, there is little interest in anything about the other person.

One of the clues in a shallow relationship is that stories about life that bring life lessons are seen as boring and uninteresting. Lessons about life are not important to most people in our day.

Boasting about activities and sounding intelligent are the preferred means of communication today. This is the reason most people live by cliches and slogans without really knowing what they mean. Most of these conversations provide information about activities, but truly are boring without depth and meaning.

Many adults think on a one-dimensional level without attention to life lessons. Since life lessons and wisdom are not a priority, the culture remains unconcerned about others, except and unless pretending empathy from time to time will impress others.

When someone comes along with authentic empathy and wishes to share a profound insight, it is met with blank and unresponsive stares. These profound insights are often even considered rude because causing a person to think beyond shallowness brings agitation.

Our culture does not want to do the hard work of discovering whether something is worthy of attention. When a culture is dedicated to appearing special through its activities, they rarely think about the meanings of life experiences.

Perhaps, making someone else think more deeply brings humility; it demands that the one hearing the wisdom will take the time and effort to think beyond trivialities. This is offensive to most people since the culture has elevated boasting and superficiality to the level of an art form.

I find that the people I know who think beyond cliches and cultural mantras are often mocked or excluded as though something is wrong with them. This is why those who love to think more deeply isolate themselves, interacting mostly with others who think the way they do. Conversations with people who enjoy wisdom on a deeper level are full of joy at their discoveries.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 "…15The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Superficial Shallow Conversations Do not Build Relationships

Nowhere in scripture does it say for believers to fight "tit for tat" conversation to win over the world.

 
The matter I am referring to is the idea I heard in the last few years that Christians should raise a rainbow flag with the proper Biblical colors as described in the Bible to combat the homosexual flag.

 
First of all, 99.9 percent of the world does not know the Bible, let alone the colors in the Biblical rainbow. When the world sees a rainbow flag, they are going to assume it is in support of gay rights.

 
The devil loves this kind of thinking; if he can get Christians to use the "tit for tat" method of fighting, he can deceive a lot of people. He incorporated pieces of the Bible into pagan holidays, creating such strong feelings about the holidays that most Christians today use pagan symbols to represent something about God that He never commanded.

 
When we deviate from the commands of Christ, thinking we can help God out by adding things to His word, then is when His commands are left in the dust while pagan practices take over.

 
God commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Mark 16:15 "15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Romans 10:17
"17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
God gave us our marching orders and that was to be led by the Holy Spirit as we speak the word of God to others which proclaims the way of salvation, so that people might become born again.

 
God commanded us to go into the world making disciples, but that seemed like too much work, so the designated pastors, who were paid to do the job by the congregation, were expected to do the evangelism while those in the pews did nothing pertaining to preaching and teaching.

 
Those in the pews are spectators hanging on the pastor's every word, as they idolize him. They have been trained by the culture that we are to leave witnessing about Christ to "the experts" who were trained in it. They do not believe the Holy Spirit is superior to men. I am not sure what or who they think the Holy Spirit is, since they treat Him as if he were an idea instead of a person.

 
The attendees were encouraged by the paid pastor to bring unsaved people into the gathering, causing a watered-down and perverted form of the principles of God, and causing the proliferation of apostasy within the churches.

 
To make things even worse, the pastor and the people in the pews practiced silence when those who were not born again lived out freely without challenge their lifestyle of sin. If an unbeliever can remain in a Christian gathering for many years without being saved, then something is wrong with the leaders and the congregants who are saved. Either the unbeliever will be convicted of sin through the preaching of the Word or they will leave under the weight of the knowledge of their sin.

 
The congregation of the born-again believers ought to be made up of authentic believers only. Since the gathering is for the purpose of building up the saints it is not for the purpose of evangelism. We are to go into the world for that and if someone becomes born again they will come in as a brother or sister in Christ.
If an unbeliever wanders in we welcome them but hold back nothing to soften the message for the new comer.

 
We are never commanded to use symbols, artifacts, or rituals to influence others to accept the truth of the Bible. We were commanded to use our voice as led by the Holy Spirit to speak to people about Christ.

 
When we use human tricks to manipulate the thinking of others, we are moving into the realm of emotionalism, fostering empty and shallow sentimentality rather than speaking plainly through conversation that promotes rational reasoning.
Symbols do create emotionalism rather than rational thinking. They well up within people "feelings that often are not accurate to the message. The artifacts, symbols, and rituals are a distraction to the one hearing.

 
We build within people a shallow, dead faith when we introduce symbols and rituals to convince people of the truth.

 
John 20:29
"29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Believing without seeing is a matter of the heart; nothing outside the heart will do concerning faith. No object will bring faith to someone, or that faith will be in the object, not in Christ.

 
Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see."

Personally, I have no desire to fight with someone over a flag. I would rather speak the gospel clearly, having a conversation and hearing responses from the hearer, this could bring connection and trust, not in me but in Christ. Fighting over an object just to feel superior is of no value.

 
So perhaps my challenge would be not to use symbols at all when witnessing Christ. Use Words, listen to the response, and have answers from God's Word when questions arise.

 
Conversations with depth are what build relationships. Meaningless superficial conversations do not build relationships; they merely bring up feelings from the shallowest part of our being.

 
Isaiah 1:18 "18“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool."

Article by Larry Jones: From "Let My People Go!"

Amen, Amen!!! Several years ago, I cried out to God in the name of Jesus Christ to show me all the things I was taught that were wrong and replace them with truth. I did this because I was having an intense sense that something was wrong in all the "churches" I attended; I couldn't worship, I felt distracted. I worshiped better at home in Spirit and in truth than when I was with these congregations. Since that prayer, the flood gates have opened, and I discarded much of what I was taught, and the Bible became much more alive to me. And, sadly, it caused family and friends to reject me as "rebellious" and avoid me. Praise God for the revelation of the truth!!!! Gwendolyn Wehage

Judging the Parenting of Others is a Sin

There are those who preach that we are responsible for how our children turn out. This cannot be further from the truth. I have known many parents who were good parents, whose children hated the teachings of their parents.

We are responsible for what we do as parents, but the children are responsible for whether or not they receive it. We are not responsible for the results. Remember David and Absolum? David was a man after God's own heart, and yet his own son wanted to kill him to take his throne.

 
Ezekiel 18:19-21 "19 Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live. 20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him. 21 But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die."

We are not robots programmed by others, we are presented with the truth and we make a choice, each one their own choice. I am always appalled by the judgments made against parents solely based on how the children turn out, without evidence of how the parents were raising them.

 
No one has the right or even ability to judge properly how others are raising their children.

 
I have also seen children who appeared to be raised badly who became born-again and turned out better than their families. Those who love to judge others about these things are sinning. This is the judgment God told us not to engage in, and definitely not pass on our ideas to others; this would be called gossip.

Our culture and extended families have much pull on our children; it is impossible to completely isolate them from the culture. In our day, culture often has a greater pull on children than parents do.

 
Also, let's not forget that the spouses of the children have tremendous influence when the spouses become the most important person in the lives of the children.
I have known children who loved and admired their parents until the children married, and suddenly, the children developed anger against the parents that was not there before, influenced by their spouse.

 
There are so many life variables with family that it is impossible to judge why a child becomes what they become. Also, keep in mind that parents cannot take the credit for the good behavior of their children. Their behavior is based on their choices, not on the quality of their parents.

 
There are bad children who were raised by good parents and there are good children who were raised by bad parents.

 
Yes, parents are responsible before God to do what is right, they are accountable for themselves, but they are not responsible for the choices of their children.

 
So, let's stop judging the parenting of others; instead, we are to come alongside and be supportive of the parents when the children are not respectful. Coddling disobedient adult children is a sin, fostering dishonor toward the parents.

 
Ephesians 6:1-3 "1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”

Power Tends to Corrupt by Larry Jones

Exciting Times Full of Purpose for the Born Again Believer

Think about it!!!

The thing that excites me is that Christians can reach other believers and the lost all over the world from their own homes without traveling and the expense and exhaustion of the process of evangelism. God has made it so easy for us in these last days, we should take advantage of it.

Many believers I know are reaching people they have never met and may not meet until the marriage supper of the Lamb. They are encountering unsaved people who have never heard the gospel of Christ. And, even those who have heard a false gospel can now hear the real one.

 
Every born-again believer ought to be excited as we accelerate toward the end, ramping up the ability to share the gospel and to edify the saints even in our old age from our own homes.

 
There are those who will hate that we can influence others through social media, mocking what we do without knowing what it is that we actually do. Pay no attention to the nay-sayers who are sent by the devil attempting to make us feel foolish for doing what pleases God.

 
There will always be pretenders who love their form of religion that allows them to be nothing and do nothing as they pretend a false Christianity full of deceit and unkind gossip to undermine what God has called us to do.

 
Ignore the scoffers and jealous people who hate that we are full of joy and purpose.
Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;"

Isaiah 57:4 "Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,"

Never take seriously anyone who works to undermine what God has given us to do, ignore them and continue in obedience to Christ.

 
Proverbs 15:12 "A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise."

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."

We will be tested to see how far we have come and how much work in ourselves is necessary. God will continue His work in us as we obey Him.

Power of the Holy Spirit Over the Gathering of Believers

God's direction for the congregation of believers should be as follows:

1 Corinthians 14:29-30 "29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is seated, the first speaker should stop.…"

When was the last time you saw anyone from the audience allowed to interject when the speaker is speaking in a church gathering? It is discouraged in our modern churches, and yet it is a command from God that others participate, evaluate,e and correct or add to what is being said. One man should not be in total control of what goes on in the congregation.

 
Think about it, something in the gatherings is forbidden by men that God commanded to practice.

 
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
"Do not treat prophecies with contempt, / but test all things. Hold fast to what is good."

1 John 4:1
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Acts 17:11
"Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true."

No one man should have power over the gathering; only the Holy Spirit is to have this power.