God's Truth In Love

Archive for the ‘Anger’ Category

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How Do We Make Godly Decisions? – Study of Proverbs 4:20-24 – Guarding the Heart

In Advice, Anger, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian Living, Decision Making, Discretion, Encouragement, Godly Counsel, Proverbs, Prudence, Renewal, Spirituality, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom on November 8, 2018 at 8:00 am

This blog will alternate with each post between two subjects. One week will address why churches are not growing, and the coming move of God. The alternate week the blog will continue with the in-depth study through the Book of Proverbs.

The Scripture passages are identified with bold upright font and the author’s notes are identified with italic regular font.

Note – All words or phrases found in quotation marks are actual parts of the Hebrew definition.

20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

Guarding the Heart

‘Keeping one’s heart with all diligence’ is such a massive job and entails so much the ability to do verse twenty-three justice in one segment is simple not possible. However, I will make the primary point of the importance of guarding our heart. For an in-depth examination of verse twenty-three you might find a book I wrote about the verse enlightening. It can be purchased in either softback book or Kindle eBook form from Amazon. It is titled, “ The Heart – Why Does It Hurt So Often? – Proverbs 4:23”

Every aspect of our life is affected and effected by what is going on in our hearts. If our hearts are not healthy we are not healthy. The above book examines how we can both get, and keep, our hearts healthy. One of the first and most important things we need to know about ‘keeping our hearts with all diligence’ is that it is we who must be a watchman over our own hearts.

Here is an excerpt from the book, “The Heart – Why Does It Hurt So Often? – Proverbs 4:23”

“Heart Watchman

“with all diligence” – What a phrase, but not one that can be separated from “for out of it – the issues” and retain its proper meaning or communicate its proper understanding.

Hebrew Definitions:

“keep”

5341. נָצַר nâtsar, naw-tsar’; a prim. root; to guard, in a good sense (to protect, maintain, obey, etc.) or a bad one (to conceal, etc.):— besieged, hidden thing, keep (-er, -ing), monument, observe, preserve (-r), subtil, watcher (-man).

“with all diligence”

4929. מִשְׁמָר mishmâr, mish-mawr’; from 8104; a guard (the man, the post, or the prison); fig. a deposit; also (as observed) a usage (abstr.), or an example (concr.):— diligence, guard, office, prison, ward, watch.

8104. שָׁמַר shâmar, shaw-mar’; a prim. root; prop. to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; gen. to protect, attend to, etc.:— beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).

In the first half of the Hebrew definition for “with all diligence”, there is language in the definition that communicates the need for us to be much like a prison guard in how we approach the need to “keep” our hearts. Both “keep” and “with all diligence” have the concept of being a “watchman or keeping a “watch” in their definitions.

There are individual who are called to be Watchmen over the Body of Christ, also often referred to as Prophets/Prophetess, just as there were men who were called to be Watchmen over Israel, and we are called to be Watchmen over our own hearts. Therefore, we will take time to look at some Scripture about what it means to be a Watchman so we can understand the severity of the task.

Ezekiel 33:7–9 (NKJV)

7 “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

Questions to Ask Ourselves

What does it mean to you when I state that the heart is the center of our being and the retainer of our spirit?

The Scriptures are filled with information about the heart and through this sheer volume and content of the Scriptures we can deduce that the heart is not only the center of physical life but also of spiritual life. Spiritually we are often asked to examine our hearts because the heart is the inner most being.”

– End of excerpt –

When we fail to keep watch over our hearts, when we fail to keep them with all diligence we are acting in one of the most unwise ways possible, which is why King Solomon warned his son so strongly to ‘keep or guard his heart with all diligence.’ I urge you also to, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Verse twenty-four can also be associated with keeping one’s heart healthy as well as standing alone in the principle of godly talk versus ungodly talk. What we say, what comes out of our mouths, has an effect in the spiritual realm and thus an affect upon our hearts.

From the Hebrew definition we find that we are warned in verse twenty-four against using our words in the form of “perverted, distorted, or crooked (dishonest)” talk, words that would cause other people or ourselves “to turn aside or depart” from God’s Ways, God’s Will, and God’s Wisdom.

People often talk just to talk. Don’t! Actually have something fruitful or useful to say when you speak.

Throughout this study if you need the wisdom of God on a matter, and you wish to receive the counsel of another Believer in Christ, please use the “comments” link to send your question to me.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Why My Church is NOT Growing – Part 9 – Abuse and The Church (Mental and Emotional Abuse)

In Abuse, Advice, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Christian Living, Church Growth, Confusion, Depression, Exhortation, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Persecution, Renewal, Repentance, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Suffering, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized on August 22, 2018 at 9:00 am

This blog will alternate with each post between two subjects. One week will address why churches are not growing, and the coming move of God. The alternate week the blog will continue with the in-depth study through the Book of Proverbs.

Mental abuse is much more subtle. Harder to spot and much harder to get help with once realized. This type of abuse can be found in the hard and harsh corrections, which have gone in the name of Christ. Abuses disguised either as a form of church discipline or under the guise of being motivated and directed by God to correct a person and proceeding to do so in a horribly cruel manner. Threats and insinuations that are meant to wound more than help. Often bringing about confusion and despair to the hearer instead of repentance, help, and healing.

Yes, there are times when a harsh or hard to listen to Word is spoken in the name of Christ for the edification of the Body of Christ. These postings is one of those times. However, when that word leaves the hearer[s] mentally beaten and bloody with no hope for or direction to change it is useless and can even be an instrument of the devil to further damage the church.

Shunning when used improperly, which it often is, is very much a form of mental and emotional abuse. People look to their local congregations, as a source of community, which they should, and it should be. However, if someone with enough clout and persuasion becomes displeased with a person they can sow seeds of discord with other people and bring about a shunning or rejection of this person. Rejection by a person’s Christian Community can be extremely emotionally and mentally damaging. The Church is Christ representative on earth and we should seek reconciliation and unity. Using rejection as a form of manipulation in order to get what we want from another brings shame on the Body of Christ. Sowing seed of discord through gossip is sinful behavior, which Scripture condemns (Prov. 6:14,19 and 1 Tim. 5:13).

Gossip is a hideous form of emotional abuse. Gossip is a huge problem in any group but is deeply rooted in the Christian Community. People find it easier to talk about people than to talk to people when they feel threatened or concerned. If you carefully examine the content and nature of gossip you find that the gossiper is feeling quite threatened by the person, about which they are gossiping. Often these feeling of intimidation are not realistic or warranted but it is hard to get the gossiper to understand that truth. They must tear the other person down, so they can feel better.

Additionally, you have the classic, ‘I share this, so we might pray for…’ gossipers. I have never had one of these people ask me when they were done sharing their information if we could pray right now for that person. I have my doubts whether they have ever prayed for that person. I find it is best, and I have gotten to where, I cut these people off immediately when they first begin to attempt the conversation. Most of the time the agenda is not one you want to share in.

Emotional abuse can come in other forms as well. Manipulation is a common form of emotional abuse. People have a very tough time being forthright about their wants, needs, and desires. Instead, they choose various forms of manipulation to get what they want. From something as subtle as asking leading questions to find out what one wants to know, instead of asking directly, to acts of extreme manipulation such as attempting to interfere behind someone back and rearrange their circumstances for their own good. These types of manipulations leave people emotionally scarred by the treatment.

Next, we will address spiritual abuse. In my view the worse possible form of abuse found within the Christian community, as to affect someone spiritually is to enter God’s area and sphere of influence and sinning against a person in this area is by far the worse.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Why My Church is NOT Growing – Part 8 – Abuse and The Church (Physical Abuse)

In Abuse, Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christ, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Church Growth, Compassion, Confusion, Courage, Evil, Exhortation, Forgiveness, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Masculinity, Mercy, Persecution, Renewal, Repentance, Suffering, Trust, Truth, Uncategorized on August 9, 2018 at 11:16 am

This blog will alternate with each post between two subjects. One week will address why churches are not growing, and the coming move of God. The alternate week the blog will continue with the in-depth study through the Book of Proverbs.

Physical abuse also takes place within the walls of our congregations. I have personally read outlines for physical disciple of wives. I have heard the stories of children being physically abused under the guidelines of church discipline. There is no place within the church for the physical abuse of another human being.

In an outline for how to discipline your wife, it was stated that if a woman would not submit to her husband then a certain amount of physical discipline could be used. You could inflict pain but where not to bring about too much bruising, no lacerations, and you were not to break bones. This physical abuse would be increased in nature until the woman “repented” and submitted regardless of how long it took or how many sessions of discipline were necessary to bring about the woman’s change of attitude. These sessions could not however result in broken bones or cuts on the woman’s body.

How horrid that a person would believe that they had the right to inflict physical pain on a woman until she agreed to agree with them! How could one possibly believe that this is real submission? Conformity maybe, submission no.

I once counseled a woman who would not enter a church building. When we started our relationship, she hated the church and all its members. When we were done she still had not entered a church building but was willing to give God another try and Christians a second glance.

Why did this woman have such a hard attitude? She had loved God very dearly and was an extremely dedicated church member, as was her husband who was an elder in their local church. Each Sunday they went to church, worshipped God, and serviced in their congregation. Each Sunday after church they went home where her husband proceeded to beat her. Like clockwork every Sunday after church he would beat her that way she would be healed up enough by the following Sunday to attend church and play the role of his faithful wife always at his side.

My heart broke when she told her story. It was obviously true and very difficult for her to disclose to me, yet, she found the courage to do so. As time went on this woman’s pain eased and her understanding that not all Christians were this way increased.

At a conference once, a woman was struggling with guilt. She felt inside herself that she had allowed her child to be abused but she was wrestling with the biblical principle that she was to submit to her spiritual leaders. In her church children were brought up to the front, next to the pulpit, and physically struck with a belt by the pastor for various infractions at both church and home. The number of licks they received from the belt depended on the degree of their offense. This woman was riddled with confusion and guilt, this was after all how their congregation handled discipline. Everyone else did it and everyone was afraid to question their Christian spiritual leader since this might be viewed as be rebellious or as a refusal to submit. The church and local congregations should play no role in the physical discipline of children.

It takes courage to speak up when we know physical abuse is going on in our congregations. It is easier to tell ourselves it is not our business. How can that be true however? Do we not carry a certain amount of Christian responsibility and accountability with our brothers and sisters? According to Scripture we do. We are required to hold each other accountable for our actions. There must have been someone at some point who suspected this woman was being abused or even knew firsthand she was being mistreated. Many people sat in the pews on those days when the children were humiliated and physically abused in the name of God and correction. There had to some of people who knew in their spirits that this behavior was wrong, yet, they remained silent. We cannot do such, we must speak up! We cannot allow leaders to go off the rails because we are concerned other Christians will think us out of line or rebellious. Our responsibility is to Truth and too upholding the principles of Scripture not to uphold man or man’s ideas.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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How Do We Make Godly Decisions? – Study of Proverbs 3:27-30 – What of Your Neighbor

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Compassion, Decision Making, Discretion, Encouragement, Exhortation, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Godly Counsel, Hatred, Learning, Marriage, Peace, Proverbs, Prudence, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom on July 11, 2018 at 12:05 pm

This blog will alternate with each post between two subjects. One week will address why churches are not growing, and the coming move of God. The alternate week the blog will continue with the in-depth study through the Book of Proverbs.

The Scripture passages are identified with bold upright font and the author’s notes are identified with italic regular font.

27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. 28 Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. 29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. 30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

What of Your Neighbor

First, I pose the question, “Who is your neighbor?” It is not just the people who live next door to you, it is also those individuals with which you come into consistent contact on a reasonability normal basis. Your neighbor is not everyone in the world however. A neighbor must be a person within your community or sphere of life. The Hebrew language regarding the word “neighbour” as found in verse twenty-eight defines a neighbour as “an associate (more or less close):— brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, neighbour.”[1] Therefore, once again, a neighbor is a person with which one has some connection either through relationship or a shared area of living, working, recreation, church, etc.

The ”good” represented in verse twenty-seven is good in a wide variety of application in the “widest sense.” However, this good is to be done to “whom it is due” and according to the definition in the Hebrew language that is inclusive of only a spouse or someone individual with whom you are obligated such as an employer or overseer of some sort that has personal authority over your life granted to them through relationship, such as the head of an organization you volunteer for, the head of a committee you sit on, the person[s] in authority over you at work, etc. Verse twenty-seven does not apply to everyone a person would consider a “neighbour” and that is important to remember. Any good it is within your power to do for your spouse or your employer should be done as God prompts and directs. Yes, I know how difficult the last statement I made is to carry out in practical life. Good cannot always be granted to those who have repeated abused the goodness offered to them. A person must pray and allow the Holy Spirit to guide their actions.

Separately verse twenty-eight deals with helping our neighbor in need. If we have what our neighbor needs, and they ask us for what they need, it is not right in God’s eyes to withhold what they need from them. If we can help our neighbor with a true need, a need that is rare and not reoccurring due to our neighbor’s personal mishandling, and we can give said help without neglecting our own household then godly wisdom dictates that we should be willing to give that help without delay.

You and your neighbors should be able to feel they can live in community together without harm being done to each other and without a desire to perpetrate evil upon each other. We should not want to hurt or do harm to anyone, most especially those within our closes associations. That includes taking their lunch or soda from the frig at work, liberating aka stealing office supplies, taking the neighbors newspaper, borrowing from your neighbor with no intent of returning or repaying what you borrowed, etc.

If people have done nothing to us, then we should not seek to be disagreeable with them. We should not seek to argue for argument sake. However, verse thirty clearly reads that we should not seek to strive with another person “without cause” implying that there are times when there is cause to disagree or strive with another person, especially if they are doing us harm or seek to do us harm. We defend ourselves if we are harmed but when we are not harmed we seek to live in peace.

Throughout this study if you need the wisdom of God on a matter, and you wish to receive the counsel of another Believer in Christ, please use the “comments” link to send your question to me.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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How Do We Make Godly Decisions? – Study of Proverbs 3:7-8 – Evil Destroys Health

In Abuse, Advice, Anger, Anxiety, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Birth, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Confusion, Decision Making, Depression, Devotional, Discretion, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Health, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Illness, Peace, Proverbs, Prudence, Sickness, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom on February 9, 2018 at 2:59 pm

The Scripture passages are identified with bold upright font and the author’s notes are identified with italic regular font.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Evil Destroys Health

These two verses seem very straight forward. Evil will damage or even destroy your heath, physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually. However, the verses stand as a warning by giving wise guidance for the cure. The approach of the writer is how to become healthy or recover one’s health not a list of health risk.

To indulge evil is to invite poor health. The person who constantly stays in a state of worry and anxiety instead of casting their concerns on God to take care of ends up with stress related health problems, emotional upheaval, and mental anxieties they can no longer control. The person who overworks themselves ends up with a heart attack. The person who constantly focuses on revenge, vengeance, hurting people, murders, killings, etc. is sure to develop a psychotic personality. The person who does not balance their eating habits but instead indulges excess in the areas of sugar or fat can end up with diabetes. The person who drinks too much, too often, can destroy their liver. The person who uses drugs can damage their heart and liver. A person who only focuses on what is wrong in life to the exclusion of what is good will become depressed, and if that state is continued in long enough will damage the brain chemistry in their mind. The person who smokes can end up with lung cancer. The person who is lazy and never exercises their body can end up with heart problems. A person who continues in habitual sin or anger toward God will slowly but surely spiritually die. The person who eats too much and is obese can develop heart problems or have a heart attack. The list could go on and on, but my point is made.

I am a firm believer that health can be recovered through repentance and change of one’s habits. After all is that not the first think thing a doctor tells someone to do. Stop doings A, B, and C and start doing X, Y, and Z.

The word “health” in the Hebrew language actually means “a cure, to mend (by stitching), cause to heal, repair, × thoroughly, make whole.” Therefore, departing from evil and undertaking God’s godly way[s] of doing things will bring healing to a person’s life.

“to thy navel” in the Hebrew language means “(specifically) the umbilical cord (also figuratively as the center of strength).” The core of our strength is found in departing from evil and instead turning toward God’s Way of living, this brings wholeness and healing to all areas of a person’s life. Therefore, it is wisdom to choose godliness over indulgence, to choose righteous living over sin.

It is not up to us to decide for ourselves what is right or good for us, God has already determined that in His Word. Being wise in our own eyes will end in only what we can accomplish for our health and wellbeing but having enough godly fear and respect for God to do things God’s Way will place us in a state of Divine health and healing.

Throughout this study if you need the wisdom of God on a matter, and you wish to receive the counsel of another Believer in Christ, please use the “comments” link to send your question to me.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Church Shooting – Questions about Compassion and Evil

In Agape Love, Anger, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Compassion, Confusion, Demon, Demon Possession, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Loss, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Persecution, Suffering, Truth, Wicca, witchcraft on December 10, 2017 at 4:15 pm

Please feel free to send me any of your own thoughts or questions, locate and click the comment link below. I will continue to address them in follow up posts. This post and/or related posts will be the only post[s] I will be making available for the next few weeks, as I believe this topic needs to stay front and center for a season.

To address some additional thoughts and questions…

Compassion for Perpetrators

Yes, if we are unable to find compassion, which is an aspect of agape love, for those individuals who are so wounded or damaged that they wound and damage other people we are no different than the world. Scripture makes it clear that it is easy to love those who love us but not so easy to love those who mistreat us.

Luke 6:32–36 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

I was wounded just recently by someone I care a great for, wounded more than they most likely realize. However, I have chosen to trust God to deal with the matter and not retaliate. I realize that the individual can only treat me with the spiritual, mental, and emotional maturity they currently possess despite what my heart might desire.

Evil

Yes, evil does exist! It is a powerful spiritual force that can destroy individuals and lives. Evil is a byproduct of the fall of both Satan and the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. If we had to trace goodness back to one source that source would be God. Likewise, if we had to trace evil back to one source that source would be Satan. Evil and its father, Satan, are a very powerful force second only to God and not one to be taken lightly.

Please understand this point. Without God man is completely powerless over evil. Whether you are a child of God through the rebirth of your spirit or a child of God through creation who has yet to recognize God as their Father you would not be able resist evil without God’s help. Without God this entire world would be consumed with evil. The world is Satan’s playground, his domain in some manners and therefore we are not to be naïve when it comes to the evil that surrounds us in our society.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

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.

The issue of labeling evil as demon possession, demonic influence, congenital evil, or consensual evil is in all honesty an extremely difficult thing to do. People like to place labels on things or actions but in order to truly label almost any action or behavior a person would require so much information that gathering said information would be almost impossible. This is why I find it difficult to respect people who place labels. Yes, we can offer insights and possible reasons for why someone will say or do something but to say, “we know” without doubt and place a label on that person is in my belief almost impossible – it also borders on condemning a person, the worse form of judging another person. Most people do not even talk to people enough to get a good understanding of what they think, believe, or to understand why they took certain actions much less gathering enough information to slap a label on them. Therefore, I would exhort you to be very careful before deciding what type of evil might be presence in a situation.

Evil is a topic that is challenging to undertake in such a forum as the sheer volume of what could be written on the topic is enormous. I will address just a few matters here but in no way, will I even scratch the surface of what should or could be written on the matter. I will confine myself to the previously mentions aspects of evil – demon possession, demonic influence, congenital evil, and consensual evil.

Demon possession did exist during biblical times, and does exist to date. Evil spirits aka demons where sent upon King Saul (1 Sam. 16:14). Both Jesus (Luke 7:21) and Paul (Acts 19:11, 12) acknowledged demons and demon possession casting demons out of those afflicted. There are situations where people are labeled as being mentally ill, which I believe without much doubt are cases of “demon possession” yes, demon possession. With that said, I also believe some people have been considered possessed by a demon when they were legitimately mentally ill. Overall, I believe there are a great deal of things labeled as mental illness or mental disorders that are in truth a form of evil influence or a result of sin.

People are prompted to do evil by the demonic influences around them or around someone who has access to their life, such as was the case with Ahab (1 Kin. 22:1–23). Demonic “influence” is possible for all people including Christians. For this reason it is extremely important that we examine our every thought, feeling, action, and prompting against the Truth found in God’s Word. Every thought must be taken captive, so we do not fall prey to the insidious influences that find their way into our own hearts (these influences enter people’s hearts through various means which I will not go into here, but it is not always the person’s own fault.)

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (NKJV)

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Matthew 15:19 (NKJV) Jesus Speaking

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

Congenital evil has to do with those things we find that run in our families or as some would like to say, ‘are in our DNA.’ Evil can be passed on through families via the environmental influence that opens the spirit to such evil. There can also be evil in the heredity of a family, evil known as generational curses. However, through the power and blood of The Lord Jesus, The Christ, generational curses of all type can be broken whether physical curses, behavioral cures, or mental curses.

Exodus 34:6–7 (NKJV) – When Moses was being given the second set of Tablets in the Wilderness, after the Hebrew children of God had left Egypt.

6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 20:5 (NKJV) – In relation to and inclusive in the Ten Commandments.

5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Restated in Deuteronomy 5:9 (NKJV)

9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

That leaves us the final form of evil we will address here, consensual evil. A person can become demon possessed through opening themselves up to evil in their actions. Through choices they have made to involve themselves in evil actions, in satanic activity, etc. Christian can open themselves up to evil influence in a greater degree by involving themselves in sinful behavior and even evil activities. There are those people who claim to be Christians yet partake in tarot cards, horoscopes, evil media, attempting to channel, consulting spiritualist or fortunetellers, etc. These are not actions God would have His people partaking in, He expects them to shun all evil and cling to goodness, godliness, and Truth. I exhort you not to think you can play or tamper with evil without getting burned – run from all forms of evil, run quickly and far!

Deuteronomy 18:10–12 (NKJV)

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.

Romans 12:9 (NKJV)

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NKJV)

Abstain from every form of evil.

John 17:15 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Jesus’ prayer for his disciples is my prayer for each of you.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Church Shooting – Questions about Spiritual Abuse and Hypocrisy

In Abuse, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Confusion, Courage, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Hypocrisy, Jesus, Persecution, Religious Freedom, Renewal, Revival, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom on November 28, 2017 at 8:47 am

Please feel free to send me any of your own thoughts or questions, locate and click the comment link below. I will continue to address them in follow up posts. This post and/or related posts will be the only post[s] I will be making available for the next few weeks, as I believe this topic needs to stay front and center for a season.

Several thought and questions have come my way. I will attempt to address these in this and the next posting.

Persecution and Church Effectiveness

I do not agree that there is one source for the anger and hatred toward the Body of Christ, the Church. Is there hypocrisy in the Body of Christ? Yes, absolutely. Is there spiritual abuse within certain denominations? I would say there is some spiritual abuse within all denominations as well as within churches that have no denominational affiliation. Have both hypocrisy and spiritual abuse affected the effectiveness of the Body of Christ? Without a doubt. The cause of persecution directed toward the church and the ineffectiveness of the church is not “just” or “simply” hypocrisy or spiritual abuse nevertheless I will address both.

There are different forms and motivations for hypocrisy. There is worldly hypocrisy (Matt. 23:5–7), legalistic hypocrisy (Rom. 10:3), evangelical hypocrisy (2 Pet. 2:10–22), and hypocrisy satanic (2 Cor. 11:13–15). Therefore, attempting to get into each in any depth does not truly serve any purpose in addressing the concerns here. Different groups or denominations may in fact show various forms of hypocrisy somewhat distinctive to that group but despite the current popular fade I do not believe “rebranding” those denomination is the answer. Dealing with the hypocrisy, the spiritual abuse, and the spiritual deadness is the answer!

There is a general distain for organized religion in the form of denominational religion for religion sake. It does seem as though people have assigned certain perceived acts of hypocrisy to certain denominations. The denominations answer to how turned off people are by organized religion is to rebrand themselves. However, a denomination renaming themselves to hide or remove all traces of denominational affiliation is counter productive in the long run because they go from being perceived as hypocrites in a specific area to being perceived as both hypocrites and deceiver regarding who they are and what they stand for.

We are seeing a great deal of the “rebranding” today because non-denominational congregations are the fastest growing and largest congregations in America today, while denominational congregations such as Baptist, Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Methodist, etc. are shrinking and dying off all together. There is a very good reason for this dynamic, one I believe is God driven (I believe this based upon something God showed myself and many other godly spiritual leaders in the 1990’s about what He would be doing with the Body of Christ during our lifetime). My response, I too left denominationalism at that time and involved myself in beginning what would become a very large non-denominational church and school of ministry.

To say that the ALL of the persecution or ALL of the ineffectiveness the Body of Christ is undergoing at this point in the history of The Church is NOT OF GOD, would be inaccurate – aspects of the persecution are God driven, some are society driven, some are sin driven, and some are driven by evil. To place a single label on any specific persecution can be vey difficult.

Spiritual abuse to me is not a denominational issue it is an individual issue with a leader. Leaders who repeatedly spiritually abuse their people should be removed, period! People should not put up with spiritual abuse, nor should they allow hatred to build for a denomination because they were spiritually abuse by an individual within a specific denomination. Spiritual abuse happens almost everywhere unfortunately from the Catholic Church to a non-denominational church and all denominations in between.

I acknowledge that the spiritual abuse is there, and I sympathize. I have seen it, counseled those who have been through it, and heard of all kinds of spiritual abuse – ranging from sexual abuse, verbal abuse, public shaming, manipulation, gossip, character assignation, exploration for greed or profit, deliberately damaging a person’s reputation with people through misrepresentations, lies, and gossip, leader driven shunning, over working people, misrepresenting the Scriptures, and so forth. All spiritual abuse causes wounds, wounds can cause anger if not dealt with correctly, anger can lead to bitterness, and bitterness can lead to persecution of a person or group. If you have been spiritually abused in any manner get godly spiritual and emotional help from a godly minister, please.

It saddens me that both of these issues, hypocrisy and spiritual abuse, have diminished the respect people once felt for Christianity as a whole and Christian people in general.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Church Shooting

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Confusion, Courage, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Peace, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Psychiatric Drugs, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom on November 8, 2017 at 6:43 pm

This will be one of the longest pieces I have written for posting in a couple of years but if you will stick with it and read the whole thing you just may find it was well worth your time. Please feel free to send me any of your own thoughts or questions, locate and click on the comment link below. I will address them in follow up posts. This post and/or related posts will be the only post[s] I will be making available for the next few weeks, as I believe this topic needs to stay front and center for a season.

Since Sunday afternoon I have prayerfully contemplated how to address this matter, when to post this piece, and the content of this posting. Ignoring what happened in that congregation, to those members of the Body of Christ on Sunday morning during their time of worship was not an option but providing an answer to the “Why?” questions regarding why it happened was also not an option. Therefore, what to do, I asked God and myself. My answer, not to attempt to provide any answers or spiritual platitudes that hurt more than they help but instead to simple reflect on several insights provided throughout the week that should be reflected upon and considered in light of the tragic events of Sunday, November 5th, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas at the First Baptist Church.

Compassion, a word, or a choice.

It is my desire through this posting to allow God to use me to express some thoughts for reflection that might actually help us, us being the Body of Christ, really help us in due course and overall instead of just soothing us and placating us. The safest and simplest way to approach this topic would be to demonize the man who killed all of these people and move on. However, to handle the situation with that type of approach would be very spiritually short sided for a godly Christian spiritual leader. As Christians we like to say that we have compassion but how many of God’s people can find compassion for this man, this gunman, that killed their brothers and sisters in Christ? Compassion for what he must have been going through to turn to such a horrible and evil act. We, the Body of Christ, should have compassion for both, the victims, and the perpetrator.

The persecution of the American Church, the Body of Christ in America.

For far too long the Body of Christ has buried their heads in the sand when it came to persecution in America. The persecution, again, in America, does take another form now, then it did during the early church’s history, and a different form than it does in other countries. In America Christians have become targets of lawsuits for living out their beliefs. They have become targets for those who wish to use the legal system to try and silence Christians from expressing their beliefs in a public forum. Christians have become people targeted by a psychologized society that believes psychology has all the answers and that there is no place for God in the equation, a society that refused to accept absolutes or the individual who has firm beliefs and refuses to back down or be quite about them. Christian who still believe that talking about Jesus in their everyday lives at work, in businesses, and other public forums is a normal way to function and their God given, as well as constitutional right, are considered extremist that people avoid. And in the most extreme form of persecution we find our dear brothers and sisters of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, who suffered a persecution unto death by someone who was so hurt, damaged, angry, and/or evil that he chose to express it through killing – just as nine of our brothers and sisters were persecuted, being killed by a gunman in June of 2015 in South Carolina at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Body must face that they are being persecuted in various forms in America and band together to resist such persecution while at the same time showing compassion for the spiritual blindness that causes their persecutors to act as they do.

It was once said to me when I expressed concerns over the fact that a congregation only had one race and culture represented, ‘Don’t you think it is simply because we all tend to stick to our own?’ Well, for the record, no I do not think that is why you find congregations with only one race or culture represented. Yet, when persecution happens to the Church the barriers of race, culture, education, and economics are quickly dropped to band together for a greater cause, Us, The Body of Christ. I was in Charleston, South Carolina shortly after the killings that took place there and every race, class, education level, culture, and economic group of Christians were represented at that church in a powerful show of unity and spiritual support. In those tragic times we can find the time to leave our congregations and reach out to other congregations or members of The Body of Christ in general, however, this should be a regular practice at all times. There is no doubt that the Bible teaches us, and the history of the Christian Church teaches us, that God uses persecution to grow and/or change His Church and people.

The influence of evil.

I was interviewed a few years back for a book on a serial killer who had once tried to kill me along with about a dozen other people the early 1980’s. According to the author of the book I was the only person he could find to interview, most of the people were dead and a couple unlocatable. The interview was many hours long and during the course of this interview the author wanted to know how I could consistently express so much compassion for this serial killer knowing so much about his history and all the horrible things he had done, and how could I show no anger, bitterness, or resentment toward the man who had been the source of my physically body being damaged to the point that I still lived with the results causing difficulty and pain in daily life. These questions opened up the door to discuss the influence of evil. There was one profound thing that God over the years had helped me to understand, which helped me place the responsibility for evil acts where it lay – with Satan.

That truth was…

Evil causes psychological damage, and psychological damage opens the door to evil.

As long as the psychological community continues to disavow the spiritual side to mental and emotional problems we will continue to see people who never actually get better, change, or heal. As long as the Christian community continues to either, a) ignore the emotional and mental damage done through the wounding of people or b) allow themselves to become so psychologized they no longer make the spiritual connection to a wounded person’s emotional and mental problems, we will continue to see ourselves as a Body grow spiritually weaker and weaker as our biblical worldview becomes overshadowed or at least mixed with a secular worldview. We must find the balance that allows the Church and the mental health community to both realize that they have pieces of the puzzle that will help wounded people become whole again.

Church effectiveness and respect for Christianity within our society.

People do not respect the Christian community like they once did in America. This is our fault, the Body of Christ’s fault in general. There are so many reasons this has happened over the years there is no way to exhaustively address the reasons. However, just to address a few: 1 – We have become too much like the society in which we live. If you are no different than I am in your standards and practices why should I respect you. 2 – Our behavior whether it was intended to be or not “appeared” or “appears” hypocritical to people. We need more transparency that allows us to share our own struggles, yet still promote God’s Truths and His Standards for how we are to aspire to living our lives. 3 – The Body of Christ lacks backbone anymore. What might the zealous Peter and bold Paul say about the stands we take today for Truth or lack thereof, and the boldness we lack in expressing Truth as found in God’s Word.

We lack effectiveness in our society today as well. We lack effectiveness as Christians because we have either checked out of our society or we wish to avoid the ugly side of our society. We are barely able to allow ourselves the ability to remain in relationships long enough to allow ‘iron to sharpen iron’ much less invest ourselves relationally with those who might need our help. What happen to the need to show agape love for people, that love Jesus asked us to show, love that is displayed by our actions, our investment, and our involvement with people.

Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV)

As iron sharpens iron,

So a man sharpens the countenance (character) of his friend.

John 15:13 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Luke 6:35 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Matthew 5:44 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

In the early 2000’s two young boys barely in their teens living in the Pensacola, Florida area are convicted of killing their father and burning their family home down. Allegedly a result of years abuse and the influence of a child predator who also lived in the area. On the road leading up to their home, which was located in the 1,100 block, there were eight churches before the 1300 block and 4 churches within the 1070-1200 block. All of those churches in that community but how many of those congregations were “in that community” with their time, actions, involvement, and love – especially if some people in that community were tough to love.

Now back to this shooting at the Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The sheriff, Tackitt, in an interview stated that the pastor of this church, Frank Pomeroy, had stated in the past that he did not want the gunman, who had previously been involved in the congregation, in his church and asked the sheriff, “How do I run him away from my church?” – yet this was not the pastor present on the day when the gunman killed 26 of his congregation members (25 men, women, girls, boys, and 1 unborn child) and injured 20 more. The gunman’s mother and father-in-law were members of the church, also not present on the day of the shooting. Dare I pose the question, but I must, how might things have been different had that pastor reached out with love, invested his time, and attempted to help this damaged young man instead of searching for ways to ‘run him away from “his” church?’ Yes, pastors must protect the flock but protecting them does not have to involves ridding yourselves of all those you deem undesirable, it should instead involves helping those you see who are wounded or damaged by life.

Religion acceptable, true godliness is not – a hate breeder.

People are watching what the Christian Churches are doing to each other and to their own people. It is not just the churched that are affected when things are not handled in a godly manner, those looking from the outside or sidelines are also affected. Far too many godly people who love Jesus have left many church congregations and many have been incredibility wounded by their brush with religion. Religion seems to be very acceptable in most of today’s churches, but true godliness or aspirations to that end is not welcome. Sadly, in far too many congregation it is not acceptable to believe that God’s Truths are still a valid standard for living today. We live in an age where the loveless, the compromising, the corrupt, the dead, and the lukewarm churches (Rev. 2-3) reign and truly devout congregations aspiring to God’s Principles and acting with Jesus’ agape love are rare. Religion in every capacity has taken over and controls the leadership thus by extension the people. They do not hunger or thirst for Jesus and to grow in Christ, they do not long for revival to sweep across our land, they are just about the business of church. My biggest challenge and greatest heartache is dealing with the types of Christians, Spiritual Leaders, and churches found in Revelation 2 and 3- the loveless, the compromising, the corrupt, the dead, and the lukewarm.

These types of congregations and individuals have hurt so many people who truly love or loved God, desire or desired to be all God wanted them to be, and yearn or yearned to see the Body of Christ be all Jesus means for it to be. The religious people and congregations have caused wounds great enough that individuals have pulled back from the poison of religion without godly spirituality. Let us never forget that our LORD, our Saviour, Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, was persecuted, maligned, and His crucifixion brought about through the Religious Leaders of His day! If devout people can be affected by a religious society this way, how much more would a wounded or damaged person be affected by this type of treatment from people who are supposed to be “the best people on earth” – Christians? I have heard it said that this man who was the gunman in this attack on this small church was an atheist, and very vocal about his atheistic views. Atheist do not go to church, seekers, the confused, the agnostic goes to church in search of something – if religion is all we have to offer them, then I fear their hate for us will grow.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 31 – Take Back What the Enemy Has Stolen

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Devotional, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Doctrine, False Gods, False Teaching, Fear, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Love, Marriage, Media, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on June 14, 2017 at 4:45 pm

This piece, will be the last in our review of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. This book and review of it has been such a blessing to my readers and myself, we are so grateful that God led David Kupelian to write the book.

To effectively combat an enemy, one must understand both their enemy and themselves. Seek to gain godly wisdom and understanding. Act and respond in accordance with that godly understanding and godly wisdom. How one responds to the evil and hated that is unleashed in our society and world is a key element in how well they are able to resist both and be a godly spiritual activist for Truth.

Control of oneself and one’s own actions is essential to being powerfully effective. As the author points out, ‘there is a world of difference between righteous indignation and seething hatred.’ As Christians, we want to possess righteous indignation but we do not want to enter into that realm with our Enemy, and enemies, who reside in seething hatred. The author also points out that righteous indignation is based on a strong sense of justice. However, seething hatred is always found to be self-destructive, out-of-control rage. We must rise above the temptation to hate those who hate us so we can embrace a truly righteous passion to right the wrongs we see strangling God from the consciousness of our country.

There is a universal human imperfection that we all suffer from. However, we cannot allow our own imperfects to render us mute when it comes to what God wants from us as a people. I have said more times than I can count, ‘Just because we do not live up to God’s Standard does not mean His Standard changes or that we have a right to try and pull God’s Standard down to our level so we can feel better about ourselves.’

There is a moral compass, the needle of which is our conscience, and every individual is born with one. We must employ methods to jump-start people’s conscience whenever possible. There was a saying that went around years ago within the Body of Christ, ‘Stop trying to be the Holy Spirit for people.’ This was a most destructive statement for the spiritual well-being of the Body of Christ. Why? Well my brothers and sisters the Book of Hebrews was written to address the issue of apostasy, and command Christians to cling close to Christ and God’s principles. Our part in seeing that takes place is exhorting one another toward living out God’s principles. You cannot very well do that if you see sin and never say anything about it to anyone, you never call sin sin and call for repentance from sin and a return to God. A novelist George Orwell has been often quoted as saying, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Hebrews 3:12-15

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

We must be willing to act when necessary as well, not just talk. There are those individuals who are so disconnected from their conscience that Truth does not compel them to do the right things. That is when the application of proper pressure done in godly way becomes necessary. Even after that there will be some individuals who will still remained unmoved.

To quote the author, Kupelian, in the last sentence of this book, “Truth is enough – because when properly honed and targeted, it is more than sufficient to annihilate all of their grand seductions.”

When Jesus was answering Pilate, He stated the following.

John 18:37 (NKJV)

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Are we supposed to do something different from what Jesus stated here He came to do, “bear witness to the truth” – yes or no? No, I do not believe so, nor does the author of this book. We are God’s people and as God’s people we should stand for Truth forever!

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 29 – The Enemy’s Lies

In Agape Love, Anger, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Doctrine, False Gods, False Teaching, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Gender, Gender Idenity, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Marriage, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Truth, Uncategorized on May 29, 2017 at 9:00 am

In this piece, we will begin to explore the closing chapter, chapter eleven, of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. The chapter addresses how Christians can turn the tables on evil, particularly here in America.

The author begins by stating that over the last few generations various organizations and agendas have eroded the liberty, morality, and prosperity of America. The level at which institutions from schools, churches, news media, and government have been subverted is extensive. This has brought about distorted loyalties, confusion, and demoralization among the people in our society, including Christian people.

Churches have conceded to the immoral ideas of our society becoming subverted. The only cure for such subversion is repentance. Turning back to God’s true principles in accordance with His Word. As Kupelian states, we are unlikely to win over “hard-core radicals who are leading our country astray but we can reach many of the decent but confused people they’ve seduced.” That is exactly what we need to be about doing. Expose them and their agenda, their immorality, the destruction they will bring; expose them and keep exposing them until they are so shunned by Americans that they are rendered ineffective. Christians as individuals need to repent and turn back to making TRUTH known, Truth in accordance with God’s Word, His Written Standard. We are in a battle between truth and deception, between good and evil.

What are some of these deceptions?

· Government cares about you, hand over your rights, and government will solve all your problems.

· Homosexuality is good, moral, natural, and acceptable to God.

· Abortion is good, a needed “right” in life that our tax dollars should fund.

· Per activist judges, prayer and the Ten Commandments are bad.

· God made a mistake with your gender when you born so you are free to be your own god and choose your gender.

· The name of Jesus has no place in a public forum and certainly not to be used in public prayer.

· Per public education, you have evolved from an amoeba.

· Hooking up is cool, living together without marriage is normal, and sex is not an expression of love and commitment within the marriage covenant but instead something to enjoyed with anyone and everyone you desire, whether you are married or not.

· Christian are psychologically challenged, and those who claim they can “hear from God” or hear God within their spirits are clearly mentally ill.

These lies if left unchallenged will destroy us as individuals and as a society, and that destruction has already begun.

In the next posting, we will continue with our exploration of the final chapter of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 24 Impatience, Anger, and Evil

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Hatred, Humanism, Impatience, Jesus, Loss, Love, Persecution, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on April 7, 2017 at 9:09 am

In this posting we will finish reviewing chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The latter part of this chapter connects impatience to anger and hate.

Kupelian explains that impatience is about “literally our making what we want (to go faster) more important than what is right (God’s commandment that we be patient with our neighbor’s shortcomings). In so doing we are making our will more important that God’s Will. We are playing God. We may try to justify being impatient but impatience is selfishness, immaturity, and a lack of love on display in our reactions to life. Anger also makes us feel strong because it feels like strength but it is not strength, it is actually a terrible weakness. Excessive impatience and anger show just how weak a person you truly are.

Anger is one of the greatest self-destructive emotions of all the human behaviors. Anger destroys social, business, and romantic relationships. No one should have to or should allow themselves to endure the abuse that comes from someone who cannot control their temper.

An important side note: There is a difference between displaying anger and being angry. There is a time to display anger. An impression of being really upset, even angry, might be called for in certain situations. However, being angry means you are out of control. Anger over true injustices within the world and society is not the type of anger we are dealing with here. Righteous indignation, like Jesus had in the temple courtyard (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15–17, Luke 19:45-46), does not harm or destroy it seeks to correct injustice and drive out sin through nondestructive means. True righteous indignation leads to a desire to change something not to resentment.

There is a time and there are people who are called to stand up against and courageously oppose evil oppressors. This is the mark of a true martyr. However, a true martyr does not kill for their cause. A true martyr does not kill people because they disagree with their religious beliefs. A true martyr does not kill people because they believe said people are less than human. A true martyr does not kill an abortion doctor because the doctor performs abortions. A true martyr would rather die for their cause and beliefs at the hands of another person rather than kill another human being. Courageously standing up against evil oppressors does not mean killing.

What causes anger? Impatience. What causes impatience? Arrogance. A person who cannot control their temper, who rains on those around him or her angry yells and insults is a very arrogant person. Anger is a clear sign of an inflated sense of self-importance. Someone who is truly humble is a person who is almost impossible to anger.

Real patience is agape love, real love. To release hostility can feel like a loss, like we are letting go of something that we need, that protect us, something important and necessary for our safety. This pride that has convinced us of such lies, and indulging in it, will only nourish everything that is wrong inside of us. That anger appears to our pride to be righteous when it almost never is, it might even seem noble in our minds. Anger problems in people are everywhere because “anger is the necessary food for pride, and pride is at the very core of most of our problems in this life.” May God grant us humble hearts and gave us the destruction of pride.

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV)

Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before a fall.

People are wronged. People are hurt. People are damaged by other people. The people who truly recover from traumas are those people who can find the path to forgiveness and forgive those who have hurt them. Psychology, religion, common sense, and experience agree that forgiveness is the way to find true healing. Those people who can forgive are able to move on with their life. Those individuals who cannot forgive stay bogged down in their mire of the trauma until they learn to let it go. Failure to forgive keeps the wound inside of us open and bleeding.

Resentment is our measuring stick to how patient, loving, and forgiving we are. Resentment is evidence of our failure to forgive, our failure to love, and our failure to be patient with the imperfections of other people. To forgive is to give up our resentment.

Un-forgiveness is a form of hate. Hate will eat us up inside. To justify our un-forgiveness or hate will not save us the ravishes of their sin. Hate is never okay.

In the next posting, we will begin to review chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. In chapter ten we will examine the difficult question that so many people ask. Where is God while evil is running ramped in the world?

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

 

 

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 23 – The Instrument or The Self

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Renewal, Revival, Suffering, UN Resolution, Uncategorized on March 30, 2017 at 2:42 pm

In this posting we will continue reviewing chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The second half of this chapter continues to deal with this issue of hate.

Guns are blamed for many killings but guns do not kill, the people with the guns kill. The instrument itself that is used to hurt another is not evil in and of itself, the individual using the instrument is what is driven by evil. As the author points out the evil is within us not in the guns. However, it makes us uncomfortable to fact that fact so we blame the guns.

Guns, knives, instruments of hate provoke in us horrible thoughts. The very sight of a weapon makes many people sense the presence of evil. The author contends that the presence of a gun in a person’s close proximity can cause that person’s “own buried, angry, violent tendencies to surface” at least for a moment. This reality, according to the author, can create a dislike or discomfort around guns for many people. However, he exerts that their uneasiness is because of their own fears about what they would do with such an object. People carry much buried and unrecognized rage inside. A concept too difficult for many people to face thus they blame, dislike, and cast their negative emotions or feeling on the guns.

Evil is continually watching each of us, looking for that open door, an opportunity to tempt or destroy us. Evil moves upon our mind to provide us with a mental shove in his direction – Satan’s direction, the father of evil. People can give into this evil if the shove is hard enough. People are especially susceptible if they have spent most of their life living in anger, doubt, and despair. We are all born in sin thus we are all somewhat subject to some measure of a dark force. Those of us who face what is wrong inside of us and call upon God for help, find help in Christ. While other people live in denial until evil brings about a tragedy and death.

What to do?

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Call upon Christ to save us from the evil within, to cleans us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Anger has great power. When we become angry and resentful we literally are stepping into an alternate dimension, according to the author. We begin to think and feel differently. Anger causes the mind to work in another way. Another form of logic begins to take over, an evil distorted logic. The anger cuts us off from God, the usual calm self with the sensible mind become overshadowed by the evil the anger brings into your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical sphere. You become a conduit for something else, for the work of the Evil One. Most assuredly Satan does not have your best interest in mind. One moment of anger can leave you with a lifetime of regret and consequences once that anger is acted upon. Evil, anger, is just a question of degree for each person.

Even many “normal” people are filled with hostility. Hostility that is only shown to their family members perhaps but it is there, per the author’s beliefs. This emotional turmoil often leads to breakdowns within families and divorce. The husband blames the wife and the wife blames the husband. People smoke, drink, or take legal or illegal drugs to ease this ever-building anger inside. Illness is also often a result of unresolved anger. This has been affirmed by a major study noted in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In the next posting, we will finish reviewing chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The latter part of this chapter connects impatience to anger and hate.

 

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

 

 

 

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt.22 – The Breeding of Hate

In Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Idolatry, Jesus, Parenting, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on March 24, 2017 at 1:44 pm

In this piece we will begin to explore chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights as found within this chapter regarding the evil power of hate.

In this chapter there is the belief that people do not start out evil but instead an innocent child is born and can “morph into an instrument of great evil.” I concur. In an interview I once did for a book on a serial killer I made the following statements. ‘Psychological damage can open the door to evil.’ “When people have been severely damaged by other people that damage leaves them susceptible and open to the influence of evil.” The author of the book mixed up the words “psychological” and “theological” in one of my statements. My statement should have read as follows, that I learned at an early age in life “the theological basis of evil, and the psychological basis for damaged children growing up to damage other people.” Kupelian points out that in his view hate fills a person and drives them to violate others only when someone else first violates them – a parent, sibling, teacher, cleric, or some other authority figure sexually abuses, bullies, humiliates, degrades frightens, intimidates, etc. the person first. Again, first a wound, then a wounded person, and finally someone who wounds others.

The author, Kupelian, believes that under hate one can find a fireball of suppressed rage. Once intense hatred has being given license in a person’s life it can morph into what the author calls “full-blown epic madness.” We see this in jihadist individuals who bring about terrorism. Authority figures have little problem directing that hate, rage, and madness toward a specific group – Christians, Jews, Americans, infidels, etc. – especially when a person is young.

How does hate programming take place? It is really not that difficult. Why? Because as the author says, “We effortlessly internalize the cruelty of others.” Many people are well aware of the obvious effects that being angry and upset have on a person such as making us emotional and clouding our judgment. What many people do not realize however is that being angry “throws us into “program mode”.” Getting upset allows our minds and hearts to be infected with hate. Hitler always kept his audiences super emotional. You simply cannot think clearly when you are too emotional. Brainwashing 101 keep the target you wish to brainwash upset as much as possible – then the brainwashers thoughts and feeling become the thoughts and feelings of the one being brainwashed. When you have someone upset you have “your hands on the control levers of their mind.”

The passing of hate from one generation to another is sadly common. You repeat what you learn, what you endure, unless some radical means of escape takes place. The person bullied will almost always bully other people. Prisons are full of molesters and abusers who were molested and abused, as the author points out. It is sadly true for many people that ‘expressing their hatred, feeling their hatred, and degrading others reinforce their sense of self-worth and their identity’ – as absurd and disturbing as it may sound. Hatred of any enemy, especially as a group in the case of a common enemy, brings about a perverse fulfillment to an individual or group, unifying a group of dysfunctional and hostile people, and in their twisted thinking enhancing their own self-image.

Anti-Semitic hates runs deep and has gone on for a long time. Israeli counterterrorism expert Itamar Marcus states in “The Genocide Mechanism” that in order to program hate toward a group the programmers must demonize the targets. This is done by making sure they individuals are perceived as a “clear and present threat” so the killers can believe they are acting in self-defense. Additionally, there is a need to “dehumanize” the targeted individuals so the killers would not view themselves as destroying real human beings.

There is little doubt that the Jewish people are among the most hated, tormented, and persecuted group of people who have every walked the earth. People hate favored people for no reason at all. God favored His people. Sadly, even some Christians have come to express hatred for God’s people, the Jewish people, and this should not be so. The Aryan Nations, white supremacist, condemn Jews as “the natural enemy of our Aryan Race.” The American Nazi Party desire an America that “is free of alien, Jewish influence.” The Al-Akhbar, the semiofficial Egyptian state-run daily newspaper, views ‘the Jews as accursed and always will be.’

Losers wish to be transformed into winners, even if it is in their own minds only, the author states. Therefore, their hate has a simply root. Instead of taking responsibility for their own problems, they blame others. Psychologist would call it scapegoating or projection. Who are those individuals that would engage in such behavior? People who do not wish to face reality, those who do not wish to admit their own failings, people who have no real desire to change in any meaningful way. Some people turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, music, entertainment, etc. to escape dealing with basic truths about themselves but as Kupelian points out “the most dangerous, certainly as addicting as any drug” that people use to hide from themselves is “scapegoating.” Turn it on someone else; make everything about them, their actions, never willing to truly take responsibility for your own.

As the author notes the dark side of human nature needs to project blame and guilt onto other people as a part of their core survival strategy. People who want to avoid taking responsibly for their own sins find a scapegoat. In our own lives don’t most of us to a greater or lesser degree tend to blame other for our problems?

Leviticus 16:8–10 (NKJV)

8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

“scapegoat” in the Hebrew language =

5799 עֲזָאזֵל [ʿazaʾzel /az·aw·zale/] n m. From 5795 and 235; TWOT 1593; GK 6439; Four occurrences; AV translates as “scapegoat” four times. 1 entire removal, scapegoat. 1A refers to the goat used for sacrifice for the sins of the people. 1B meaning dubious.

In the next posting we will finish reviewing chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works of which the second half continues to deal with this issue of hate.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

 

 

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 21 Hate

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Evil, Fear, Forgiveness, Godliness, Hate, Hatred, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Uncategorized on January 3, 2017 at 3:20 pm

In this piece we will do a subject introduction before we begin to explore chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Chapter nine deals with the evil power of hate therefore, we will first explore “hate” itself.

Let us begin by exploring hate from a biblical perspective. There is a need for a deep understanding of what hate actually is and is not. Dislike is not hate. Hate goes much deeper than simple dislike.

When Jesus spoke of hate, in regard to the world hating His disciples (John 15:19), the word that He used is the same word that was used to describe the hate that people had for Jesus Himself (John 15:25) when He walked the earth. It is also the same word that is used to describe the hate people who do evil have for the light of God’s Truth (John 3:20). That Greek word Reference “#3404 μισέω misĕō, mis-eh´-o; comes from the primary word μῖσος misŏs (hatred); meaning to detest (especially to persecute); by extension to love less: to be hateful, to hate” – note that to hate is to “love less” than we should love. Merriam-Webster defines the word “detest” as “1: to feel intense and often violent antipathy toward: LOATHE 2 obsolete: CURSE, DENOUNCE” – note the “often violent antipathy toward” aspect of the definition.

Briefly I will note some biblical causes of hate. Parental favoritism (Gen. 37:4, 5) can create hatred among siblings. Rape (2 Sam. 13:14, 15, 22) can cause a wound so deep it leads to hate. Failure to please (1 Kin. 22:8) someone in the manner they desire can lead to them unjustly hating you. God’s purpose (Ps. 105:25) at times can only be done through another person hating you – that is a tough one to get our heads and hearts around. Belonging to Christ (Matt. 24:9, 10) has always been and will always be a cause for hatred. The evil nature (John 3:20) of man causes hate to exist within people.

In the Bible we find the following as some objects of hate; God’s people (Gen. 26:27), God Himself (Ex. 20:5), Christ (John 15:25), light, meaning the light of Truth (John 3:20), evil men (Ps. 26:5), and wickedness (Ps. 45:7) just to name a few.

Hate toward Christians has existed since the day Christ first walked the earth. Hatred toward Christians will continue until the day Christ returns for His Bride, The Church. Hatred toward Christians is a sign of, (a) their discipleship (Matt. 24:9) with and for Christ, (b) their election (John 15:19) by Christ Jesus, and (c) their regeneration (1 John 3:13–15) in Christ.

In the next posting we will begin the actual review of chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. A powerful chapter that deals with the evil power of hate.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

 

 

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 17 God is Out

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on October 6, 2016 at 11:28 am

In this piece we will explore chapter seven of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights as found within this chapter regarding people’s rejection of God.

In America a large majority of people have begun to reject God, both the reality of His existence and/or His right as their Creator to be their Lord. For many people God is out, no longer in vogue, and Christianity is certainly not fashionable any longer. As we have seen this type of attitude increase in America we have seen the decline of America.

Kupelian address this issue by addressing atheism. At the time of the printing of his book in 2010, in his view atheism was undergoing a remarkable change. The group has gone, in the author’s view, from a group on the fringes of our society to a group that is increasingly vocal and unapologetic when it comes to mocking religion, coalescing into a political force and crying of discrimination against them at every turn. Just as homosexuality was once considered shameful by the larger culture, atheism was considered shameful. However, now both are becoming “hip, sophisticated, even a badge of honor” as the author puts it.

Here are some noteworthy facts the author discovered in his research.

· According to the American Religious Identification Survey, people who claim “no religion” were the only demographic group to expand in all fifty states. Can you imagine how much more that number has increased since that survey in 2009?

· In the United Kingdom atheism is so popular that over one hundred thousand Britons officially renounced their Christian faith by download “certificates of de-baptism” off the internet.

· Many atheists have adopted a euphemistic label, and now they know by the name “Brights.”

· According to the National Journal atheist are less willing to partake in what they deem violent conflicts of a religious nature such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars/conflicts.

· Atheists have no ethical problem with euthanasia.

· As a collective group atheists believe pharmacist should not be allowed to refuse to fulfill chemical abortion prescriptions as a matter of conscience or religious faith.

· The majority hold the view that only evolution should be taught in schools, no “intelligent design” allowed.

· Many atheists believe all federal funding should be pulled from the Boy Scouts should they choose to teach that a good Scout has a “duty to God.”

· Some very influential atheists reportedly want to clone humans. Atheists are “emerging as an enthusiastic voice on behalf of scientific efforts to clone human beings, a technology with the potential to ‘conquer mortality.’” – Starobin

· Atheists expounding the evolutionary belief system follow the party line of belittling and ridiculing anyone who dares to criticize or question the “utterly unproven theory of macroevolution” – one species morphing into an entirely new species.

The author points out that many atheist authors believe God is not needed because man has a strong innate moral sense. The author Sam Harris makes that point by forcefully stating that ‘human beings are born with an ethical sense of right and wrong – regardless of whether or not they believe in God.’ I would say to that, who do they think created them with this inner conscious and this ethical sense of right and wrong – God of course!

Kupelian makes the point that at birth most people’s inborn sense of right and wrong operates just as God intended it to work. I would like to make the point that just as an organ or limb can become damaged a person’s conscious can become damaged, as they harden their hearts toward the promptings of God within their own conscious.

People love to blame those they deem “hypocrites” for their lack of faith in God. God is God, God is not the individuals who make up any particular religion, nor is God any particular person one might view as a hypocrite. Most noble Christian religious groups are made of up of imperfect people. If the atheist’s problem is truly with God, then there may not be any solution for them but if their problem is with religion and the imperfect people therein, perhaps the atheist deserves a big of slack. Perhaps they have seen the “anesthetizing shallowness and superficiality of far too much of the modern Christian church” as the author notes, and I fully agree. To me this is the greater concern, that this is the true problem, the real issue behind the abandonment of Christianity, and by association God. Decent people have been turned away from God by religious leaders who are phonies. However, keep in mind there is a difference between a phony Christian spiritual leader and an imperfect Christian spiritual leader who is struggling to be all God wants them to be. As the author, Kupelian states, “These may be tough words, but if we’re ever going to understand why so many people are turning not only to atheism, but to pagan and New Age religions and myriad other strange spiritual philosophies and practices, then we need to face the sad state of the modern church.”

The rock of the atheism can be found in the question of, ‘If there is a loving and all-powerful God, why does He allow people to suffer so horribly?’ As C.S. Lewis stated in his famous journal through grief titled, A Greif Observed, “these things are sent to try us” – God wasn’t “trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t.” Lewis goes on with a profound personal truth, “He [meaning God] always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize that fact was to knock it down…” C.S. Lewis had a quality that understood that the good things that happen to us should be considered truly good, and the bad things that happen to us should be considered good as well because they have redemptive value – God uses them to perfect us.

The miracle of character growth can take years, and it cannot take root in the garden of resentment. We must endure with patience and dignity. The acorn dies and becomes a giant oak tree; we too must die to pride and come alive to the change God is trying to bring about in us as we endure patiently all we suffer. We can storm through life like a bull charging at a concrete wall and get nowhere but injured or we can ride through life above the crowd on God’s shoulders being carried.

Hebrews 5:8–9 (NKJV) – Scripture regarding, and speaking of, Jesus

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Pride can give us the delusion that we are the maters of our destiny. However, we are not our own god, and the true seekers of truth know this fact.

Some people love to deny God’s existence and His power or authority over their lives. However, let a crisis or disaster strike and many so called atheist and agnostics go searching for that God they have claimed does not exist.

In the next posting we will begin to review chapter eight of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. That chapter deals with the cultural war on fathers, men, and manhood in America.

 

 

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.