Group Think is Bondage

The devil is the father of lies. He will say foolish things like; "God didn't say that" when you know God did because you read it in His Word. The devil will use people to apply pressure on you to conform to the devil's ways and plan to ruin you. Don't give in, respond with more scripture like Jesus Christ did, they cannot fight against God's Word. Do not use your own words but use God's Words and let them fight with God.

The devil's way is to destroy our confidence in God while making sin look good and righteousness look like evil.

How many times have you been demeaned and dismissed because you quoted God when someone was attempting to convince you and others that something sinful was a good thing? One of the favored tactics of the devil is to remove all the emotional and spiritual support of others toward us to place pressure on us. He does not have to win because Christ is greater than the devil.

We now live in a world that twists everything to confuse people, enabling those who love their sin to defend it with avengeance.

We now live in a world where bad is called good and good is called bad, the biggest sign that we are living in the end times. However, even churchgoers do not recognize these tactics and become confused.

Isaiah 5:20

"20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

Do not allow the world around you, even the world in the apostate church, to intimidate you into silence so you become like them.

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. "

Unbelievers will try to isolate us from our support through lies and gossip. They think if they can leave us without support they can diminish our witness for Christ and cause insecurity causing us to go silent. They do this through lies and gossip so that others are afraid to ask us to clarify the truth. You see, those who live in clusters and cliques are more afraid of the mob than they are of being deceived. They will choose the lie over the truth to maintain their core group. Deception is acceptable to them as long as they have the allegiance of the group.

We are much better off when we follow Christ alone, using His mind to make decisions rather than being controlled and manipulated by the group. God's truth is much more comforting and precious than the group-think of the mob. Mindless acquiescence to the group leaves us weak and beggarly.

Galatians 4:9-10

"9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? 10 You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years."

When we are careful to observe all that the human group wants from us we become slaves to them.

Proverbs 3:3

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you;

Bind them around your neck,

Write them on the tablet of your heart."

Luke 16:10

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

The Sewage of the Devil

Next time the devil whispers in your ear, "That isn't so bad", remember the story I am about to tell you.

I once heard a story about the trickery of the devil in hell.

The devil gave a man three doors to choose the room he wanted in hell.

The man looked in the first door and a man was in sewage up to his neck.

He then looked in the second door and the person in there was up to his waist in sewage.

He looked in the third door and a man was sitting in a chair up to his ankles in sewage while drinking a cup of coffee.

The man chose that third door it seemed so much better than the other two.

The man went into his chair with his coffee in the third door, a few minutes later the devil came by and said; "coffee break is over, get on your head."

The devil cannot be trusted he will always make things seem insignificant and unimportant that are against God's Word. At the end of the day the consequences are far bigger than anyone thought.

John 8:44

"44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies."

Raking up the Muck

I am not interested in knowledge for its own sake. Many people have accused me of "having my head in the sand" because I don't care to fill my head with newscasts and articles about things I can do nothing about. They seem to think merely knowing something has virtue without any plan to "do" anything about what they hear.

This mentality is called "Gnosticism." Gnosticism is a worship of knowledge whether or not it has value.

The reason I equate the knowledge of most Christians today with Gnosticism is that the people who want to know every detail about everything going on in the world seem to have much to say and do little to nothing, in terms of their knowledge. They spend more time in the news media online than they do in their Bibles.

God never commanded us to go into the world and heap up knowledge, just the opposite.

1 Corinthians 8:1 "Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes one conceited, but love edifies people."

The people I have known who continually search the internet for worldly knowledge seem to always be angry. Anger dwells within them as breathing does. Their mouths are often repeating the ugliness of the world as though "speaking about them" is actually doing something to change it.

I asked someone once why they repeat the crud of the world, and their answer was; "to inform." I then asked;' "why do you want to inform people?" The answer that came back was not so they could do something to improve the situation but simply so they would not be uniformed. It's a little like gossip, there is no good reason to tell someone else about dirt on someone unless it is to warn them to avoid the person they are gossiping about. Gossip relays stories about people completely unrelated to the person hearing and the person speaking, the life of the one gossiped about has nothing to do with either the speaker or the hearer, so the information is useless and more often than not mostly untrue and without enough details to prove what is being said.

Our world is full of more deception than it is truth in these last days. Those who repeat news articles have no way of knowing if what they repeated is actually true.

Matthew 24:24

"24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

Christians are being deceived by all these false news reports.

Most things we read or view in the media we would never see in our daily lives nor would we be a part of the solution. No one can even prove what they heard is true, they merely believe it and repeat it.

I recall the sad movies I have watched when I cried at a particular tender scene. The story of the movie was not real, it was not a part of my life nor did it impact me except to make my "feelings cry", as a child once said. It had no value other than entertainment "amusement", amuse meaning to "not think."

Those who follow news sources on the internet are often and mostly getting it without thinking. They just believe what they hear and pass it on to others who are just like them. Amusing, not thinking but believing.

God told us to guard our minds so that we would not be distracted from Christ and His mission on earth for us. Many Christians are passing on news stories without any way of vetting them. This is a form of gossip.

Proverbs 4:23

"23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

When we are continually agitated at the useless information of the world we cannot be exhibiting the joy of the Lord. Ugly information about the world destroys our joy and replaces that joy with excessive pride and angst. A sense of pride overtakes those who think they know so much more than others. It gives them a sense of superiority.

Those who are following the muck of the world often act superior while accusing others of "having their head in the sand" if they are not interested in this worldly gossip. I was accused of this when the Lord gave me this retort to people like that. God gave me this to say to those who were attempting to draw me into their worldly deceptions, "It seems to me you have your head in the sewer. "

Romans 12:2

"2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

The more time we spend with someone or something the more we become like that person or thing.

1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

Those who are spending more time in the news and media than in the Word of God are corrupting themselves.

Matthew 6:23-25 "…23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters: 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 both God and money.

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?…"

When someone attempts to intimidate us by mocking our desire to remain untouched by the world we know they are not spending time with God in His Word. And, we know they are not our friends, they are used by the devil to distract us from God.

God's word cleanses us from the world and gives us hope and joy that surpass this life. It is a lie that "the more heavenly minded the more useless we are in the world," as some have said. (sadly I heard missionaries say this very thing)

The more heavenly-minded we are the more we are able to serve God His way in the world. It takes time with God, lots of it, to learn His heart and carry out His desires.

God never said; "go into all the world and learn about all the filth you can.", He did say the following;

Mark 16:15-16 "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."

We were never given a command from God to save a country, except to protect Israel.

Our mission on this earth is not to learn more worldly filth, our mission is to bring the gospel to the lost, that's it!!!!

Keeping our heads down in prayer and Bible reading will allow us to hear from God His marching orders, often NOT those of the worldly church, and not what they think we should be doing.

We are more likely to witness the love of Christ with our joy and plain speech about the gospel when we are not corrupted by the world.

James 1:27

"27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

When we are too busy raking up muck from the world we will not have time to do what God told us to do, while corrupting our minds into useless mush.

My challenge is for believers to refrain from the news media on any level for one month, replacing their addiction to the media with Bible reading and prayer to learn God's will for you.

If you cannot refrain from the media for one month, that is proof that you are addicted to the media like an addict is to methamphetamines. Those who are addicted to media are also brainwashed by it.

When someone cannot have a conversation with another person without bringing up the muck of the world then we know they have an addiction. Life is so much more than the ugliness of the world for those who are in Christ.

How about an analogy? We love the sun when it comes out, it has value for us, but we also know the dangers of it, too much sun can kill us and if we stare into the sun without glasses fixated on it, it will blind us.

We cannot get out of the world, we will see things just going out and about to do our shopping but we don't have to indulge in the culture.

Many Christians are walking about in the culture blinded by the intensity of it, acting defenseless because they walk in fear and do not remove themselves.

James 4:4-9 " 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”?

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

7 Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

We cannot love two masters, the master of media and God too. Satan is the master of the media and is using it to distract believers from the Word and plunge them into depression and sadness, diminishing their witness in the world.

Philippians 4:8

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Manipulating People with Methods does not Change their Heart

I am finding out that even non-believers now think they are going into the rapture. I run into them so I know they have been on the internet. I spoke to one who believed in the rapture but was not born again and didn't even profess Christianity. It's becoming a fad among conservative unbelievers, sort of like "flat earth" and other wrong thinking. This is why I think it is valuable to use this "rapture" idea to explain to non-believers that they are not going up unless they trust Christ and then move into the salvation message.

I would encourage believers to listen to the unsaved long enough to see what the "in-road" to the salvation message will be. We should listen and then we should speak the gospel message clearly without reservation.

It's alright to just walk up to someone and begin giving the gospel message to them as led by the Holy Spirit. However there are many times when we are in superficial conversation and moving into the gospel message flows without thinking.

If we are trying to figure out how to do the message then we are not hearing from the Holy Spirit. When it is God Who speaks through us there is no fear nor is there a need to figure out the method. God has a million "methods" designed for each individual person's need, we cannot know them or figure them out so we must hide ourselves behind Christ so that He can work through us.

Stop trying to play God walking around all day thinking we can figure things out in our own minds or by the teachings of others. We must depend entirely on the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:11-14

"11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

13 for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God."

Never follow the rules of men who think they have the right manipulation, no one can know what God knows or what God is telling you to do.

If a man has manipulated through emotions and flattery someone to say they trust Christ then it is likely a false conversion. Many people respond to manipulation and intimidation and later calm down and abandon all that they said at the time of the artful management of others.

We can get others to say whatever we want them to say when they are in an emotional state. It is the one who has been broken to the core of his soul by the conviction of the Holy Spirit Who will be saved. No one will be saved by superficial words used to be friendly to the speaker. We have more pretenders, those who have had an emotional experience without true transformation than there are authentically born-again believers in the churches.

Clarence L. Haynes Jr. wrote the following:

"Perspective 1 – Surrender to God’s Will

There are a few key words in this verse. Let’s examine what they mean.

Broken - Comes from the Hebrew word meaning to break or break in pieces.

Contrite - Comes from the Hebrew word meaning to crush.

Heart – Comes from the Hebrew word meaning inner man, mind, or will.

Spirit – Comes from the Hebrew word meaning breath or wind."

Just repeating words we are told to say does not change us. Christ must change us in response to our brokenness and desire to belong to Him.

Having an emotional response does not change us. We weep at a sad movie on television knowing it is just a story, not even real and a few minutes after the movie is over we no longer feel anything. The same mentality can happen to those who are manipulated to say they want to be a Christian, they have a response and get over it quickly when the moment passes.

"Convince a man against his will, He's of the same opinion still." Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) said this showing that we can manipulate and intimidate people to do and say things but it does not change their heart because their heart desire was not toward God.

We are to speak when the Holy Spirit compels us to speak but the results are up to God., using any technique taught by man is usurping the Holy Spirit.

The Hail Stones Tell Us Something Important

Revelation 16:21
"And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe."

A Volly ball size hail stone weighs 2 pounds. So you can imagine the size of a 100 pound hail stone.

There will be Amber alerts going off all around the world from those who will not know what has happened? Many will immediately know because they will remember the warnings they received. Yet others will embrace the mass Alien abduction theory. Some may use one of the excuses they used when Jesus rose from the dead The Christians stole their bodies. Matthew 28:11-15 The Guards’ Report
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Lu Smith

Pretend World of Modern Churches

The pretend world of modern churches has become like the world. They do not seek Christ, they seek their own desires.

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."

Romans 1:20-22 "…20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,…"

When we encounter those who attend church regularly but become angry and embarrassed at the mention of the name of Jesus Christ we know we have met a pretender. Those who love Christ love to discuss Him, His principles and how He is working in our hearts.

The modern churches have "religion" but they do not have Christ. As Adrian Rogers once said; "religion is man at his lowest."

Modern church goers think man is basically good, rather than what God said "that man is desperately wicked." Adrian Rogers also said; "the thought is the father of the deed."

So many "Christians" look at sinful deeds and believe the heart of man can be separate and distinct from the heart. It is not possible to do an evil deed and still have a good heart. God's word says that our deeds are what prove our hearts.

If we have a righteous heart we will not do evil deeds.

Psalm 37:23-24

"23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

24 When he falls, he will not be hurled down,

Because the Lord is the One [a]who holds his hand."

Those who live a lifestyle of arrogance and rebellion are not born again. Those who are born-again confess to be cleansed at the slightest sinful act.

1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Only born-again believers have an advocate with the Father when they have sinned. Unbelievers have no such advocate.

1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Because born-again believers have the Holy Spirit living in them they cannot tolerate it when they do sin in even the smallest way. They must at some point confess it to regain fellowship with God.

1 John 3:6-7 "6 No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous."

We practice a lifestyle commensurate with our heart condition. No one can live a lifestyle different from their heart permanently, those who are pretending on the outside without a heart change cannot sustain the pretense, and eventually, the real them will emerge. God sees the heart first and eventually, the people around the pretender who walk with God will at some point see it too.

Pretenders will not see their own hearts or the hearts of those around them, these things are Spiritually discerned, and only born-again believers will know what they are observing.

1 John 2:3

"By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments."

1 John 2:4

"If anyone says, "I know Him," but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

1 John 3:9

"Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God's seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."

3 John 1:11

"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God."

Ask God First

Philippians 4:13

"13 I can do all things through Matthew 6:33 ESV / 2,397 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Christ who strengthens me."

Not what I want to do but what Christ has for me to do.

Always read the context of the passage and then the context of the entire Bible to find the meaning.

Too many Christians use this verse to justify getting their own way or fantasizing about doing things God never wanted them to do.

1 Chronicles 16:11

"Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!"

Jeremiah 29:13

"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

Psalm 34:10

"The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."

Psalm 119:10

"With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!"

If we love Christ we seek Him for His will not our own worldly desires. We may ask Him to help us with things in this world but we must always ask for His Perfect Will.