What We Were Raised On

We were raised on foolish sayings such as;

 
"You can tell a good person by how many friends they have."

 
Another silly saying;
"If you don't have anything good to say don't say anything."

 
These sayings kept people superficial to remain friends with as many people as possible and keeping everyone happy which left us remaining silent when something should be said to correct.

Our culture now acts as though it believes to correct someone or to rebuke them is considered rude.

 
2 Timothy 4:2 "
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction."

Proverbs 12:1-2 "1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. 2 The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.…"

A wise person sees correction as another chance to learn something either about themselves or about others, even about Christ.

Don't Let the Skeptics Diminish Your Faith

Some people will say it has not been short since Christ came, that it has been 2000 years, as though talking about the rapture as soon makes no sense to them.

 
God said we would see the signs of the times and they are all here and coming faster every day.

There have only been 20 people from this day back to Christ. Each person living 100 years and dying and the next one born and living 100 years. The time does not seem short to us but it is short to God and the devils. Here is the math: 20X100=2000

2 Peter 3:8-9 "…8 Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. "

Those who are walking closely with Christ know the time is short and are looking expectantly for their homegoing. They are acutely aware of the signs and seasons God speaks about in His Word and they believe Him.

Keep Looking Up!!!

Don't Be Deceived Ask God for the Truth

Those who will be fooled by Paula White will be fooled by the antichrist.

Beware of Devils Coming as Angels of Light

When a heretic such as Paula White has been chosen as the spiritual advisor to our president for our nation we know that our nation is being led down the path to the antichrist.

It is not possible for a born-again believer who has the Holy Spirit to be comfortable with this woman of the devil.

The most clever deception of our time is that all religions believe in Christ and all religions lead to God. All religions have a form of false Jesus who is revered but not considered God.

Only Authentic Christianity preaches that Jesus Christ is God and died to pay the debt of sin for mankind. All the other religions teach that one must work their way to heaven.

White teaches that mankind must work their way into heaven and will be rewarded with wealth and health on this earth if they live a good life.

White speaks in demonic tongues, acts in demonic gestures while on stage and promotes many things against the Bible. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit and know the Bible well will easily recognize her heresy.

Those who lack discernment and live their lives by their feelings will be deceived as they defend her without concern for the heretical things she says and does.

Merely because someone says they believe in Jesus Christ is not proof they are from God. All the false religions believe in Christ, just not as God and not as the One Who paid the debt of sin for mankind.

The devil knows Jesus Christ well and works continually against Him. He even attempted to entice Christ into sin in the desert. He is using the same lies now as He did with Christ, promising the world, in White's case, health and wealth to anyone who will follow her false Jesus who is the devil.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 "…13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.…"

The devil said this to Christ in the desert: Matthew 4:9 says, "All these things will I give you if you wilt fall down and worship me".

He is using a bit of a twist in that strategy today; he is telling the world he will give them health and wealth if they follow him. Only this time he is disguised as the emissary of Christ in the form of a false preacher such as Paula White and others just like her.

Those who defend her are being deceived and will fall for the false miracles and false peace the antichrist will offer the world. White's strategy comes right out of Satan's playbook.

John 8:44

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies."

Revelation 12:9

"And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

The only way to keep from being deceived is to ask God to show us the truth about everything. Leave nothing to feelings or good appearances, turn over every rock of deception to see what lies underneath before jumping on the bandwagon.

Matthew 24:24

"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible."

1 Peter 5:8

"Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Ephesians 6:11-12

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. / For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

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."

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

"The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, / and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them."

Never look at the appearance or fly by the feelings in anything you see, check in with God about everything all the time. When you sense something is off go to prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

"But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil."

The Cultic Family System

Cult-like families insist on secrecy about anything that goes on in the family. They see it as loyalty to keep secrets.

 
Cult-like families isolate their members through guilt about saying and doing things that are different from what is expected by the other family members.
Those in the family are not allowed to have differing opinions without punishment from the other members.

In cult-like families, the members are expected to support the other members even if they disagree with what someone is doing.

In cult-like families, the members are expected to reject anyone the Parents have chosen as enemies even without knowing why or without hearing the other side of the person being rejected. The person being rejected is never told why they are being rejected, it is a secret to the target and even from others in the family who have heard the one-sided evidence.

 
All love in cult-like families comes with strings attached, there is no love if the rejected person does not measure up to the expectations of the other family members.

Lots of lies are told by the members of the cult-like family to keep others from becoming friendly with the one perceived as rebellious for questioning what goes on in the family.

 
In cult-like families, the rejected one is left out of things to punish them for not being like the rest of the family. The rejected one is not allowed to have opinions of his/her own without more rejection and gossip to enlist the aid of others in the process of punishment.

 
In cult-like families disagreements are seen as opportunities to control one another, never as a chance to learn something about the person who disagrees, or even learn something new they hadn't heard before.

 
There is only one way to think in a cult-like family, group-think is the norm on every level about everything. Any correction or stance against the status quo of the family is labeled rebellion worthy of contempt and disrespect.

 
The only way to grow emotionally and spiritually mature in such a family is to challenge the family which may often result in total isolation and gossip to remove any support system for the one who dares to think their own thoughts.

 
In a cult-like family, the members are not allowed to choose whether or not to be at gatherings, they are expected to attend or the punishment will be further gossip.
In a cult-like family image is everything. Fantasy thinking dominates the group. They have an elevated view of themselves that is not warranted and to maintain this fantasy every member must engage in lies to protect the image.

 
In cult-like families the one who is tormented with disrespect is the one who tells the truth, expresses dismay about what goes on when the outside world cannot see it, and chooses not to be manipulated or intimidated by the others in the group.
Love is not a performance to impress others, it walks with someone in truth through all the good and the ugly, is helpful, and not a hindrance to healing and expressing joy.

 
In a cult-like family, love is pretended, only how everything appears is the goal. Nothing is real everything is a performance. And, a show of love only happens if those in the group are performing as expected by the group.
In a cult-like family avoiding the truth is paramount to keeping up the bluff.
In a cult-like family, the members must bend the truth or avoid honest productive conversations so that no one becomes angry. Anger and rage are just under the surface of every family member.

 
It is not possible to care deeply about others while there is continual anger when not seen as perfect or superior.

 
God's love is far different from the family cult. Yes, it is important to keep confidence with those we love who share private information. The cultic family only shares ugly things about those they reject but never about those within the family who need correction.

 
We need not share information about others that was none of our business. However, within the family, there ought to be open and honest discussions about things that are happening for the family to grow in wisdom and maturity.
It is impossible to resolve any problems is a cult-like family. The one who is punished is the one who wants to discuss and resolve things.

 
In cult-like families jealousy is rampant, boasting common, arrogance abounds and many lies are told to keep up a false image.

 
Cult-like families never grieve for the one who is hurting, rather it glolries in triumph over the trials of those they cannot control.

 
Here is what God's love looks like that is not present in a cult-like family.

 
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

May everyone take inventory of their own attitude, and pray for wisdom and discernment to be sure we are not following the dictates of a cultic-family system.

Heaping Hot Coals to Manipulate is not Love but Sin

Matthew 15:8-9

8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

9 And in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”A

Have you ever had a friend or family member bring you a gift on a holiday but there was an "off" sense that there wasn't kindness, love or empathy involved in the giving of the gift? The sense that the gift was given to show off to others or to manipulate the one who received the gift, which was so strong that the joy one would feel at receiving a gift was sort of sucked out of the room.

When love and kindness are absent when a gift is presented there is an empty feeling that you wish those giving the gift would have just not given it at all.

1 Corinthians 13:1 says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal"

When false love is shown with the intent of impressing others there is a sense that contempt is involved and not love.

Someone once used the Bible to justify irritating someone with whom she was having a fight. She giggled a little and proclaimed that she was going to "heap hot coals of kindness" on a friend who no longer wanted to talk to her. So in her effort to irritate her friend with the excuse it was biblical, she continued to approach her in parking lots to say hello, knowing the friend didn't want to have anything to do with her.

The Bible verse used was;

Romans 12:20 "

“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”"

This passage did not tell us to be kind to heap hot coals to irritate, it is telling us to be what we should be and it might heap hot coals. Deliberately doing a friendly deed to cause a person to feel frustrated is not the hot coals of the Bible.

We know there was pride involved when the giggle about "heaping hot coals" was the evidence that it was manipulation to appear superior to someone else. The one on the receiving end of this would see the contempt in the one who wanted to appear superior. This selfish and rude method would cause further frustration in the targeted person. We are not to "try" to heap hot coals, we are to be loving and kind as God told us to, it may heap hot coals, but if our desire is to be the hot coals ourselves then we have wrongly used Scripture to justify rudeness to irritate. There is no love in this, only a desire to cause more hurt to the person who is the target.

I am so glad God has shown me this principle through personal experiences, to give me first-hand exposure to something we are encountering and that will increase in these last days.

My goal is to not react or respond to the covert provocations of those who do not love Christ and because they do not love Him they do not love me or anyone who loves Christ.

We shouldn't take it personally because it isn't about us, it's about our walk with Christ that irritates the demons who are motivating those who have no defenses against Satan.

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Following Man or Following Christ, One cannot do Both

When we are defensive toward those we like just because we like them, we will excuse all the evil, even becoming angry that anyone pointed out their evil.

I have seen family members defend someone who is rude but not defend the people they offended.

This is backward. Telling people to forgive, without the offender being sorry is another form of revictimizing the one who was the target of the rudenes.

I have yet to hear one person tell the offender to repent from their rudeness. The pressure is always on the one who was offended to forgive. Satan loves this, it not only places the blame on the victim it empowers the rude person to continue being rude and encourages others to support the rudeness.

It is possible that onlookers fear the retaliation of the offender more than they care about justice.

Proverbs 31:8-9: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute"

Psalm 82:3-4: "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed"

God is clear that we are to defend those who are being neglected and attacked by those who love to feel powerful through their rudeness.

We are living in a world now in which many people feel empowered to be mean and unkind because they know no one will come to the defense of their victims.

When family and friends become more important than their victims then we cannot possibly love the victims. Those we allow to be unkind are the ones who have our love.

Stay away from those who victimize others through mocking, intimidation and dismissiveness, they will only ruin your walk with Christ.

2 Timothy 3:5 "5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

Those who are rude and unrepentant for that rudeness are deceived by the devil to believe they have a good reason, they are not led by the Holy Spirit but controlled by the devil.