Don't Become Like our Persecutors

Matthew 24:11-13

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

All born-again believers endure to the end. The fact that they endure to the end is proof they belonged to God all along.

The proof that someone was never born again is that they do not endure to the end.

When someone has been changed into a new creation by Christ they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of their inheritance.

Ephesians 1:13-15 "…13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is the pledge (guarantee) of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

5 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,…"

Those who love Jesus Christ having been changed by Him will have a deep abiding love for all other believers. There is a connection between every born-again believer that can only exist between those who have the Holy Spirit.

1 John 3:13-15 "…13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer."

When we do not experience love from those who say they are Christians it is possible we are encountering a pretender, someone who has never been born again but chooses to call themselves a Christian. There are many people who fit this profile.

We are to treat all people with love and respect whether or not they treat us that way. However, we are free to choose our companions, those who love the Lord and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit ought to be our close friends.

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."

Romans 12:10

"Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

1 John 3:14

"We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."

Those who express continual angst, causing drama wherever they go do not abide in love. When we love others we seek to do what is best for them and what is most helpful.

May the Lord help us to respond correctly in the power of the Holy Spirit as we watch the foolishness that those who love drama embrace and execute on others.

We cannot change those who act badly and without love and grace but we can make sure we do not take on their ways by responding in kind. The devil loves to cause us to exact revenge ultimately becoming like the ones who do not love. His purpose is to make us fall into hatred and revenge like our persecutors. Our clear conscience is far more important than making sure we have our pound of flesh or that we are proven right. God sees everything, their heart, our heart, and all the circumstances, that's all that is important to us, what our God thinks of it all.

God commands us to avoid those who claim to be believers but have no fruit of the Spirit and reject the Bible as their standard for living.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

We are now living in a world full of hatred and anger toward God, His ways, and His people. Let us resist becoming like the world by seeking Christ every day for everything. May our responses be those of the Holy Spirit and not our own emotions.

Let the Holy Spirit reign in your hearts so that the world will see Christ in us and not us!!!!

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease."

Evaluating Yourself According to the Bible not the Culture

One of the tactics of the narcissist is to accuse others of what the narcissist is doing and the others are not. They make up in their mind what they want to believe about us and over time they actually believe it. they think just choosing to believe something makes that thing true.

Luke 6:6-7 "6 On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath."

The Pharisees were desiring to find something against Christ because of their rebellion against God. They were more concerned about outer appearances than they were about devotion to God. They were liars and manipulators attempting to discredit Christ so they feel justified in not listening to Him.

Matthew 23:5-7 "…5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.…"

The attitudes of the Pharisees is the same as the attitude of many pastors today. They love to be seen as special and superior, the very reason they refuse to be corrected and believe no one is led by the Holy Spirit except those who have been to Bible college or Seminary.

We must evaluate ourselves according to the Bible not according to the opinions of others who think they know us but are driven by their contempt for us because of our desire to follow Christ.

1 Samuel 16:7

"But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

We are living in a world almost completely hostile to God. Even those who say they are Christians often negate and resist the teachings of the Bible while at the same time claiming they believe in it. They do not understand that "saying" you believe does not make it so. When we believe in something we trust it to the point of actually obeying it.

Many will say they believe in Christ but they do not. They attend churches every week thinking the act of attending is the same as obeying all the scripture.

Our world is a world of fantasy now, many people are convinced that if they just say something that makes it true. They think if they just know something it is the same as doing something.

John 14:15-16 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

Just saying something, or just reading something is not the same as obeying what you say or what you read.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"

We must evaluate ourselves!!! We must evaluate ourselves according to the Bible not according to the culture. We must not evaluate ourselves based on feelings or the accusations of those who pretend to be Christians but have never had a born-again experience.

The culture will attempt to make us believe we are doing something wrong when we speak of Christ and His principles. We know this is true because of what happened to the apostles and to Christ Himself.

John 15:17-19 "17 This is My command to you: Love one another. 18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.…"

The greatest love we can give to the people around us is the truth. When we remain silent to avoid rejection we are only thinking of ourselves. As we are led by the Holy Spirit we must speak truth, not mincing words but straight talk, is what is needed in these end times.

If we believe God then we will not believe the world when it accuses us of dong wrong when we are obeying Christ.

Proverbs 29:27

"An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked."

Isaiah 66:5

"5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word:

Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you on account of My name, Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, so that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame."

Debated out of Calvinism?

The Narcissists Accusations are from the Devil

When a narcissist is accusing you of doing something kind to manipulate them, they are telling you something important. They are telling you that when they do a kind act they are manipulating.

Narcissists make it a practice of blaming others for their own bad behavior. When we encounter this it is best to ignore them without response or if we are led by the Holy Spirit we can state without reservation; "you are speaking about yourself" and leave it there.

Chances are good they will not listen but at least they know that you know and that you cannot be affected by their nonsense. Narcissists tend to run away when they can no longer control someone's emotions.

They may come back for another pass later but will not remain when their target continues in steadfastness and confidence without emotion.

Our emotions can be the death of us if we use them to evaluate life's experiences. Emotions are the shallowest part of our being and are based on stimuli, they have little substance and should never be relied on to direct our path.

God allows us the wisdom to ignore our emotions to carry on to do His Will. We never deny our emotions, they help us see what still needs work in us. However, we must never allow emotions to be the guiding force behind our decisions.

Our emotions ought to cause us to self-reflect evaluating our own hearts, they can be useful for that, but they cannot be trusted in determining our steps.

Notice in these end times forgiveness without confession and determining emotions as the guiding force behind what we do has destroyed our culture.

"Trust your gut" is the new religion. As born-again believers, we can trust what Christ in us tells us but it is not wise to trust our "feelings or emotional sense" about anything.

We need to be developing godly discernment based on the Bible, not our emotions or anyone else's reactions to us.

Hebrews 5:14

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Philippians 1:9-10

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"

Our wisdom must come from the Bible and not the prevailing cultural standard based on psychology and Darwinism. These worldly systems say the opposite of what God says and create chaos and misery in the world. God's discernment creates peace and love, as I said; the opposite of God's ways.

It's either God's way of peace or it is the world's way of misery and destruction.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize!!!!!

I do not lament what is happening now because I believe God when He said it would be like this. We are living in prophetic times, experiencing what the prophets wrote and did not understand, but we do understand now.

Many years ago in my young years, I worked to support our country but now God has clearly told me there is nothing we can do or should do to bring back a country He is disciplining. Our focus now should be on the gospel and helping other believers to walk in the light of Christ no matter what is going on around us.

Our freedoms are being eroded, get used to it, don't try to stop it, and look up as Christ commanded as the last days' progress toward the antichrist rule.

We ought to stop our mourning over the loss of our earthly freedoms and display joy and peace because of our homegoing. We must trust in Christ and the world around us must see us trusting Him for something bigger than this world.

We must not come against what God promised would happen. The only reason to work to revive this dead horse is because we want our own way without hardship or suffering.

If we believe God we will see the signs of this end of times period, accept it, and rejoice that He knows what He is doing and will take care of us. If we die or are incarcerated unjustly, it will be only if it is God's will and He will have a purpose. We can do all things He has for us to do. Do not worry about anything, He will give us strength at the time we need it and not before.

Romans 8:28

"28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ, do better than Peter did, He began to sink, we do not have to sink because Christ lives in us.

Divorce and Remarriage: Is the Bible Just a Book of Good Suggestions, or is it the Holy Word of God?

I am continually confronted with Christians who have no problem with divorce and remarriage. They have been taught in all the churches that marriage is not completely secure and that if things get too rough we can just bail out and all family members will come alongside and support the bail-out.

This morning I was confronted with the age-old, "divorce for abuse" argument. While there is provision for separation for abuse we cannot claim that most divorces today have anything to do with real abuse.

We have also heard the excuse that "I was too young", therefore the inference was that they were not mature enough to handle marriage. This argument does not hold water because I was sixteen when I became engaged to my husband and married him when I was eighteen, we are still together after 51 years, all of which were growing years that matured us.

When there is a commitment to remain married and to choose to love your spouse you will work harder at becoming the spouse you should be to keep the marriage together. And, no only one person has to learn from Scripture how to act for the marriage to be decent and even good.

The following paragraphs were my response to the person who was counseling others that divorce was allowed:

Quote:

I agree that divorce may be necessary for serious abuse, however God forbids anyone to remarry. There is a provision in some states where one can get a permanent separation with provision for finances like a divorce but no remarriage.

I have seen the devastation from remarriage too, to the children and the new spouse. The children do not recognize the authority of the new spouse and even resent the divorce of the father even if he is a bad person.

1 Corinthians 7:10-12 "…10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.…"

Luke 16:18

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

The clause in Matthew about "for sexual immorality" is referring to the betrothal before marriage. The Jewish law considered betrothal, that is engagement, to be almost as binding as marriage. They even called one another husband and wife before they lived together. Matthew was written to Jews with the custom of having to divorce from an engagement for unfaithfulness. This is why we don't see this same provision in the other gospels. The other gospels were written to gentiles who didn't have the custom of divorcing from engagement.

Also, When God makes two people one in marriage it is a spiritual glue that cannot be dissolved by any human being or government. This is why God considers it adultery for someone to remarry while having a living spouse. Only death dissolves a marriage covenant.

Marriage is a picture of salvation, when God makes us a new creation no one can undo what He did. These are Spiritual matters that no one can undo by any law of the land.

Romans 7:3

"Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress."

Many pastors today are not preaching from the words of Christ but from their own minds and desired understanding. I have seen divorced women who lived full happy lives as a single adult, even those with children because they had the power to be independent and raise the children in the Lord without the opposition of a man who did not respect her faith.

I think we need to help young people choose wisely to be able to avoid the pitfalls of marriage with a person who does not show good character. Often unsaved people are both guilty of bad character and need to repent and choose to live unselfishly.

Marriage is a serious relationship that is bound by God when we say our vows. Also, I have been married 51 years and it was a struggle in the beginning but God worked on us and we are completely different people today. Had we divorced we would have missed the great blessings we have today in solidarity with one another.

Marriage changes people for the better if they will let the hard times teach them.

Just a few thoughts that I am sure most Christians have not been taught. Do we obey God by following the Bible and seeing blessings or do we choose the easy way of the culture that leads to hell? Do we believe the Bible is the Word and that, Christ is the Word, the very essence of His own word, or do we dismiss Him as having given us a book of unimportant suggestions?

Most Christians today see the Bible more like an amulet, they feel safe carrying it around but have little if any interest in actually seeking Christ within its pages to become holy.

We are Only the Messengers

One of the tactics of all narcissists is to accuse others of what the narcissist is doing and the others are not. Satan is the inventor of narcissism, all his tactics will be seen in those who do not love Christ.

Satan loves secrecy and tolerance of sin more than anything else. We see what all of this "tolerance" has caused. When we love people we try to help them, indulging their sin by acceptance is no help to them at all.

Remember we do not fight against the flesh, it is the devil who wants us to fight with people. We merely, calmly speak the truth and walk away if someone hearing it wants to fight.

Ephesians 6:12

"12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Don't fight with wicked people, in fact when you discover they are wicked and will not listen get away from them. The more we engage with an evil person the more likely they are to be able to goad us into sinful responses.

Thinking that we can change a mind or influence someone who rages is an exercise in foolishness.

Proverbs 29:8-10 "…8 Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger. 9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life.…"

Proverbs 26:4

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

Ecclesiastes 10:13

"The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness."

It is arrogant to think we can influence someone else who has acted foolishly, God does not need us to brow-beat someone into submission, we are only His messengers, we deliver the message once and leave the other person in God's hands. He can do a better job than we can and most of all He already knows the heart of that person.

Have faith that God will take care of it and dust off your feet and walk away.