Cultural Christianity Explained

Amen! I am convinced most of the people I know are of this ilk. They have no fruit of the Spirit even though they have been in church gatherings all their lives and I am 70 years old, they are older than I. Their children have been raised with and are comfortable with this cultural Christianity. 

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Fruit of the Spirit: All born-again believers must have this fruit.

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."

Most of the people I speak to about God claim to be Christians and are embarrassed at the mention of the name of Jesus Christ.

Those Who Think Highly of Themselves are Builders on the Sand

Let God Take Care of It

Narcissists will deliberately poke at someone to cause them to sin and then point the finger when they do. This is no excuse for the one who responds to the sin of the narcissist by sinning themselves because we always have the option of resisting sin through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we trust in Christ we know He will eventually have justice on our behalf without us lifting a finger in revenge. The narcissist wants us to sin in response to their attacks, that's why they do it. They want to believe we are bad people so they can justify their sinful behavior toward us. This is a favorite tactic of the devil and the reason God said to leave the revenge to Him.

Romans 12: 19

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Take comfort in knowing that no one will get away with sin, eventually, God will take care of it for us, either in this life or the next. In the meantime, we pray to remain faithful to Christ while resisting the devil's attacks.

It is more important for us to remain faithful in our walk with a clear conscience than it is to force someone to see the evil of their ways. God knows exactly what is need and He will take care of it.

Isaiah 55:9

"9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

We cannot possibly know what's best for everyone, but we do have the principles of the Bible to show us our responsibility and how we should respond.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29

" 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

29 so that ano 1man may boast before God."

God's Got This!!!!!

Correction is the New Hate Speech

The biggest lies we see today are within the apostate church with false doctrine.  Those who love their false doctrine will rage when they are confronted with the Bible passages that prove them wrong. 

Narcissists Take Everything Personally

Narcissists take everything personally. They will take an innocent comment and make it sound like it was rude when it was not. And worse, they will tell their perspective to others in hopes the others will hate you too.

The Pharisees did this to Christ. The accused Him of evil when all He did was pure and righteous.

Proverbs 29:8-10

"8 Arrogant people inflame a city,

But wise people turn away anger.

9 When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person,

The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

10 People of bloodshed hate the blameless person,

But the upright are concerned for his life."

Today's In-Law Children

It is very common in our world today for in-law children to turn our children against us. I cannot count the number of times I have seen this happen to parents who love the Lord.

The in-law children will convince their spouse that something is wrong with their parents and their only allegiance should be to the in-law parent.

There is a jealousy that in-law children often have to be the only ones special in their new spouse's life. They are insecure and believe their new spouse can only love one person, and that they should not love others, only them.

There is also a lack of tolerance for different ways of doing things, and a strange resentment toward in-law parents merely because they have a different family dynamic than their own families of origin.

Selfishness is in overdrive in our culture now. Those who want their own way all the time refuse to consider that their spouse loves their own family too. I have seen many families abandoned and hated by an in-law spouse without just cause.

Luke 12:53

Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

We know that a child of ours cannot be turned on a dime by a narcissistic spouse, there has to be some underlying angst in the child that allows an in-law spouse the ability to turn them.

We are living in the last days as described in Scripture, in which our children's generation cares only about themselves all the time, carrying this indulgent indifference into their new marriage and sadly retaining it through the senior years of their parents.

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, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

I have also seen indulgent in-law children attempt to turn a parent against another parent in an effort to harm the one they don't like. Loving on the favored parent is a favorite tactic of the narcissist to cause division in the marriage relationship. This is far more common than we realize.

Choosing favorites over silly things is Satan's way of building the pride of one party while attempting to diminish the confidence of the one they despise.

The tactics of the in-law children are legion. I say it that way because I am convinced these tactics and in-law children are being controlled by the devil. I am convinced of this because the anger is irrational and without foundation or they would be willing to have a sit-down conversation to resolve a problem. Not only will these people not sit down to talk something through, they will not respond when asked to explain why it is happening.

I have heard a number of testimonies of people who have been ghosted by their children and in-law children, meaning they disappear, block and ignore all attempts of the parents to contact them, without any discussion or explanation. They just disappear without a word.

When someone has no desire to talk openly without anger to the one they think has offended them in some way, we know there is probably not a legitimate offense.

Those who love others want to resolve a conflict, however in the case of the abandoned and ignored parties, those who are abandoned and ignored don't even know why this is happening. Even if they try to discuss it before the ghosting they found the mere attempt to understand was enough for them to be cut off forever and worse, cut off from their grandchildren.

I have known people who attempted to contact their adult grandchildren after they left their parent's home who were unresponsive, making it clear the parents had poisoned the children against them.

The good news is that God can take care of the elderly without their obnoxious children. Chances are good that the elderly are better off without adult children treating them disrespectfully, raging at them and even stealing their possessions. Sometimes God removes the adult children in order to protect the parents from elder abuse.

Life is so peaceful without angry, selfish family in it. May the Lord give the elderly the strength to draw a line in the sand when they have been mistreated while at the same time regaining their joy at the lovely peace within their own homes.

Philippians 4:6-7

"6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all [b]comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Our family is the family of born-again believers who love Christ the same way we do, we can be joyful in that.

Jan Markell Ministries 2023 💙 Living on Borrowed Time