I once was a baby in Christ ---sheltered and pruned I grew up...not a baby in Christ any longer...

 -Kinsman Company

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Just as a plant begins as a seedling and then it grows...fed, sheltered, pruned, tethered....kept from predators!!! 

...we also grow...with parents we are fed and sheltered, pruned by learning what is right or wrong, hopefully tethered by God's Word...and then there are the "predators" who come into our lives...

...teachers, friends, media, your front door visitors, false churches, employers, fellow employees, pamphlets, others...

Finally "grown up" in the LORD we can learn to recognize falsehoods and be concerned with this or that teaching; we enjoy new friends, but "something" isn't right about some of them. 

We continue our friendship for quite a while -discounting their "quirks" and wondering about their walk with the LORD. They seem like "solid" Believers with only: "Quirks" in their lives.

Well, we realize we really aren't like them at all!; we are very different in our walk with the LORD. We are open, loving, caring, helpful...they- are not...

As time continues we begin to see the real person in them; bossy, secretive, arrogant, self-centered, controlling, manipulating... 

It is time to pull back from them...but our family ties are already woven into them.  Now it is only time to recover from their sinful attachments...

But--can we ever be the same free people?...

In the LORD He can heal us, but what has been taken from us can never be returned.  We only look to the LORD for our tomorrows. 

Hebrews 13:5-6

..."God has said, “Never will I leave you;
    

never will I forsake you.” 

So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    

What can mere mortals do to me?” "...

Psalm 37:7-9

..."Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath;

Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.

For evildoers will be cut off,

But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land."...

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The Dangerous "Christian-eze" Among Us

-dangerous grizzly bear:Yellowstone FB
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Control, Falsehoods, and Manipulation Techniques 

After 'being around the block' a few years in my Christian walk among many Christian sinners, I can recognize many falsehoods and their "christian-eze" (false information and behavior with at least some true Christianity included) which are used by deficient, shadowy people who are teaching falsely as well as using control and manipulation techniques to catch and control others.

These are dangerous behaviors for Christians and non-Christians alike as BOTH can be easily deceived by these false teachers. 

They may "look like a duck" (looking and acting like true Christians), but they are definitely teaching and behaving unlike true Christians.

True, righteous Christians are open, teaching truth from the Word, not from their own sinful minds. They truly care about others, and do not devise ways to control others. 

True Believers do not manipulate you, control you, or give you false memories of your life before  "them". 

True Believers really care about others: Christians and non-Christians alike.

True Believers love others even if you sin against them. They pray for you to come to truth and reality. 

True Believers DO NOT use MANIPULATION to CONTROL others.

Who are your friends and how do they treat you?

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Colossians 3:1-17

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."...

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Beware of the Dishonorable People out there

 

A Small World

I live in a small world. It is the same one you live in...maybe smaller :o)

We love the LORD and live for Him. This is the only way to live, and even more so in a sinful world, which is only becoming more and more evil.

Driving on an interstate this week we saw mostly polite, good drivers, but every now and then we would encounter unbelievably dangerous, angry, rude drivers. The dangerous moves we witnessed could have caused all of the cars to be involved in horrendous crashes, lives lost, or dramatically changed forever.

Ecclesiastes 8:10-13

..."So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. 

But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God."...

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