Warnings Bring Rejection Its Alright!

Galatians 4:16-17 "16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.…"

Have you used God's word recently to warn someone about preachers who teach false doctrine and then found your friendship suddenly dissolved?

Has the person who used to appreciate you gossiped against you, refused to discuss your disagreement, and began treating you as an enemy?

Some of us have experienced this many times because we made the mistake of believing we could openly share the Bible with those who said they were Christians.

It is a dead giveaway when love is withheld and anger replaces the friendship with contempt. This suggests to me that the person who rejected us never was truly our friend or they would be allowed us to share openly without fear of rejection.

Sometimes we experience more rejection from other Christians than we do from unbelievers. This has been a lifelong experience for me ever since I became born again.

I was in the Catholic church where God was not mentioned outside the building and only in spoken mantras read from a book without any sense of passion during the mass.

Then when I became born again I expected the congregations to have more fervor for the Word of God only to be met with contempt and hostility when I would want a Biblical answer for what was being preached.

Most gatherings now have become apostate, preaching a social gospel of works or "appearances" without understanding what it means to be born again.

Not only do the cultural Christians not want to hear from the Word of God but they exclude from their lives those who consider salvation through Christ a lifetime walk not just something we say.

I would be happy to explain what it means to be born again and why dependence on the Holy Spirit after salvation is so very important. You are welcome to message me and we can have a chat.

John 3:1-12 "1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

2 this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.

12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? "

Q&A About the Rapture

Fruit that Thrives!

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."

Matthew 7:17-19 "…17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.…"

If You Follow a Man You do not Follow Christ

I am sorry for those who call themselves "Calvinists."

Calvin did not write the word of God, Christ did that.

Calvin did not die for our sins Christ did that and Calvin did not send us the Holy Spirit, Christ did that.

To say one is a Calvinist is to place more emphasis on him than on Christ, it is blasphemy.

If we love Christ and He lives in us then Calvin is irrelevant and even worthy of rejection for his false teachings, and he has many.

If you say you follow any man you are not following Christ, simple!!!

1 Corinthians 3:4-9 For when one person says, “I am with Paul,” and another, “I am with Apollos,” are you not ordinary people?

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

8 Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building."

Stop saying you are following any man, this means you would be placing your trust in that man instead of Jesus Christ. When you trust a man over Christ you will never evaluate what that man says according to the Bible, you will merely believe whatever he says, hook, line, and sinker.

"Narcissism can be Contagious"

"Narcissism can be contagious" (Dr. Les Carter)

When we are around the narcissist regularly we can tend to take on some of their traits to either fit in or to defend ourselves. This is the reason we must minimize our contact with a narcissist. There is a tendency to become like those people with whom we spend the most time.

1 Corinthians 15:33

“33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

Proverbs 13:20

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Narcissists will attempt to bring you back to obeying the flesh in their attempts to cause us to sin through their provocations. They poke and prod at us until we lose control, or so is their hope. Then they will claim we were the problem.

I remember a case in which a young boy continually demeaned someone on the bus ride home after school until the young man he poked at got tired of it and got into a fight with the narcissist. This narcissist was known for using his mouth to goad others into fighting so he could claim they started the fight when it was the narcissist who deliberately mocked and demeaned to cause rage in the one he provoked.

The narcissist won the fight on the bus, or so he thought and brought the story home that he was victorious over the bully. Having known this narcissist I knew he had probably poked and prodded the other young man until he blew up so that he could win in a fight and boast of himself to his family.

Sadly the parents of the narcissist who was the bully believed him and for years later boasted that the narcissist had beaten up a bully on the bus.

I knew the truth about probability of this being the case because of the way this narcissist bullied me with his mouth all my life. It was his mode of operation often. He loved to speak mean-spirited hateful and accusing words to cause others to blow up so he could claim they were the problem. Even into his elderly years, he thought it was fun to fight-banter with people who would take his bait.

He loved to fight and argue over nothing important. He loved to judge things he knew nothing about but wished to believe his own desired story that demeaned and mocked others.

Narcissists are very petty, they love taking innocent remarks or small events and making them look bad, its the WAY they think that is the problem. They process information in negative ways against those of whom they are jealous.

The mentioned bully was an incessant liar, continually skewing events and words to make them what he wanted to believe about them. I never heard this narcissist bully ever compliment another person, if someone accomplished something good he would find a reason why it was not worthy of encouragement, even mocking it. Then in seeing the displeasure on the face of the one he demeaned, would claim it was just a joke, after which he would accuse them of being too sensitive. This is classic phraseology of the narcissist to make the one they harmed look like something was wrong with them. It is perverted thinking, the narcissist never seems to notice they were the ones who were mean and the ones who caused the hurt in the first place.

It is also likely that any compliment a narcissist extends is to impress the one they wish to manipulate. Nothing the narcissist does is sincere or authentic. They only complement those they think are accomplished, popular or influential.

When someone treats us disrespectfully in private, brandishing their own false narrative we can be sure they are doing it to others too whom they believe are beneath them and who will not be believed by the narcissists flying monkeys. This is evil personified, devilish and cruel.

Narcissists are deeply dishonest, they interpret situations and conversations the way they choose to believe them rather than what really happened. They are deceivers and liars bending everything to make them come out the winner and superior to others, in every situation.

Narcissists will pump us for information as though they want to know about us but their goal is to gather fodder for their gossip. They will never pass the information they gather from us as we told it, it is always skewed to a negative bent to ruin our reputation with others.

Beware of giving information to anyone who treats you disrespectfully regularly and then comes along with the "sweet cycle" to lure you in again to gain more information. These are liars and decievers with one agenda and that is to harm you any way they can.

The devil is the one behind these narcissists who love only themselves. He controls their emotions, their desired narrative, and their gossip.

Proverbs 17:17

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

1 John 4:8

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Proverbs 14:7

“Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.”

It is vitally important that we surround ourselves with those who love God and are filled with Christ. We can pray for the narcissist if we choose but we must never accept any pressure or accusations that we should be around them by family or community.

The family or community is often deceived by the narcissist. He only shows his wicked side to those he believes have no influence in the family or community. The family or the community never sees the real him, they only see his false persona.

If you were to tell the family or community about the narcissist's evil words and actions, they wouldn't believe it. This is why we need to remove not only the narcissist from our lives but all their flying monkeys too. Often flying monkeys pressure us to maintain contact with the narcissist and judge us for choosing to remove the narcissist from our lives.

Notice that if the narcissist cannot control his target or ruin them, he will attempt to control how others view his target. He will gossip lies, take half-truths, and spread them like wildfire to the family or community in an attempt to cause the family or community to love him and hate his target of hate.

Most people who say they are Christians today, even those who claim to know the Bible, do not know it well. They will pressure us to do and say things God never told us to do or say. They are steeped in psychology based on hedonism which opposes the ways of God.

We cannot allow the community around us whether family or work to pressure us to remain stuck in situations that diminish our joy and walk with Christ. We are not obligated to remain with anyone whose goal is to diminish our faith in Christ. In fact, God tells us to remove them.

Luke 14:25-27

Discipleship Tested

"25 Now large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

If anyone says we should remain with someone because they are extended family they do not know God's Word. If the extended family are authentic Christ-following believers that is a different matter, but I am here to tell you that this is very rare in our day.

If we love Christ we will protect ourselves from the company of liars, brutes and bullies who want to keep us unhinged and retaliating against their wicked words and actions. They do not love God or anyone else and worse than that they attempt to cause believers to be like them.

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What is Water Baptism for the Born Again Believer?

Some denominations teach that you must believe and be baptized to be born again.

Acts 2:38

"And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The denominations that teach one must be baptized to be saved have confused the previous scripture to mean that baptism is a means to salvation.

When Peter said; "Repent and be baptized" He was not saying one must be baptized to be saved. Notice that "repent" came first and baptism was second, meaning becoming baptized was an expression of salvation not a means to it.

We know this to be true because the thief on the cross was never baptized and yet Christ told Him he would be in paradise with Him that very day. He promised the thief he was saved merely by believing in Christ.

Baptism is a picture of being cleansed after one believes in Christ. The act of baptism does not cleanse us, it is an expression of our desire to be cleansed by Christ.

I wonder about people who have no desire to be baptized after they have believed in Christ. I also wonder about those who still believe in infant baptism, even saying their having been baptized as a baby counts for them as an adult. This is not Biblical and shows a lack of obedience to the words of Christ.

Romans 6:3-4

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

Matthew 3:11

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Water baptism is the expression of our desire to be cleansed by Christ and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit coming to live in us is God's seal upon us to be able to obey Him. Without the Holy Spirit, no one is saved!

Romans 8:9 "9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."

Ephesians 1:13–14

"13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."

These verses in Ephesians do not say "when you were baptized you gained salvation", it says to be saved one must believe and then the Holy Spirit is given. After this one chooses to be baptized in obedience to God.

1 Corinthians 12:13

"13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

The emphasis for salvation is on believing then in obedience to Christ after being baptized with the Holy Spirit we choose to be baptized in water.

Ephesians 2: 8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."

Titus 3:5

"He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

When we believe in what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross and place our trust in Him, He then sends to the Holy Spirit to cleanse and guide us. When this happens we desire to obey Him, this includes and is one of the first things we desire is to be baptized in water as an expression of a changed person. We go down under the water in baptism to show we believe Christ is cleansing us and come up a new man as a result of that cleansing. It is all a work of Christ in us, not of our own works.

Ephesians 2:10

"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

He saves us in response to us believing Him, then He cleanses us and seals us with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of our inheritance.

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is the first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

You see it is all God and He gets all the praise, we cannot have a sense of pride in following Christ because it is all about Christ in us, He gets all the glory. Hallelujah!!!!

Trust in Christ today and He will do all the rest of the work in you. Listen to His still small voice and obey even when it doesn't make sense to you or even when it might hurt, He will reward those who follow Him.

The Silent Treatment

What is the silent treatment?

The silent treatment is irrational contempt based on the evil desire to cause heartbreak merely to control another person.

Anyone who wants to control you does not love you.

Those who love us want to see us blossom in the talents and gifts God bestowed upon us. They rejoice when we rejoice, take interest in what we do and do what they can to support us.

Those who are controllers are selfish lacking empathy and the love of God. Anyone who is like this is miserable and angry in their soul, have pity on them, and pray for their deliverance through salvation in Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:3-4

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."