Lately my attention has been drawn to peoples behavior, because it seems many like to be seen and heard these days. In studying I've come across some scriptures that describe much of what I see today.
Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
Many times people have good intentions, but lack the wisdom, or insight to give advice that comes from the heart of God. Human effort without God in it, is vain. Job's suffering was so deep, the three friends would have been better off if they had stayed silent, and left him alone. Instead, they heaped needless and hurtful words on him, that only added to his suffering, and more weights of burdens he could not bear. They falsely accused him of crimes and secret sins-he didn't commit.
People talk many times, just because they want to be heard, and need to feel important. These people thought they were trying to help Job, but their real goal was self-gratification. Their long winded advice and accusations were to elevate themselves, attempting to be a counselor and advisor for Job, without any real understanding of his case. They should have listened to him earlier:
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Yes, most of the time, your best response when you see someone in grief, or sadness, is just be there, and say nothing-or as little as possible. You do not know the full extent of what is going on in their life-you could be adding to their pain by your empty words.
If you do speak-make sure it's when you have a deeper level of understanding of their situation-and only if you really care enough to listen.
Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
Many times people have good intentions, but lack the wisdom, or insight to give advice that comes from the heart of God. Human effort without God in it, is vain. Job's suffering was so deep, the three friends would have been better off if they had stayed silent, and left him alone. Instead, they heaped needless and hurtful words on him, that only added to his suffering, and more weights of burdens he could not bear. They falsely accused him of crimes and secret sins-he didn't commit.
People talk many times, just because they want to be heard, and need to feel important. These people thought they were trying to help Job, but their real goal was self-gratification. Their long winded advice and accusations were to elevate themselves, attempting to be a counselor and advisor for Job, without any real understanding of his case. They should have listened to him earlier:
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Yes, most of the time, your best response when you see someone in grief, or sadness, is just be there, and say nothing-or as little as possible. You do not know the full extent of what is going on in their life-you could be adding to their pain by your empty words.
If you do speak-make sure it's when you have a deeper level of understanding of their situation-and only if you really care enough to listen.
Scripture teaches that in the last days, people would be rude, lovers of themselves, boastful, hateful, brutal. There's a lot of this today. Timothy talks about it:
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Boasting, pride, and blasphemy-each act as if I am the most important person. Each of them say, “You don’t matter and God does not matter. All that matters is me.”
Today boasting, pride, and blasphemy are apparent everywhere, especially among the celebrities that our cultures idolizes.
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Ever since Adam, humankind has been marked by these things to one degree or another. Here, Paul said these things will be especially prevalent in the last days.
Unloving (translated without natural affection in the KJV) literally means, “without family love.” Paul said that the end times would be marked by an attitude of growing disregard of normal family love and obligation.
Men will be . . . slanderers: Men have always told hurtful lies about other men; but today, in media and in politics, slander has been elevated to both big business and big money.
In politics, candidates routinely and knowingly distort their opponent’s positions, just to make their competition look bad - and they don’t feel bad at all about the lying if it helps them get elected. In media, editors and news directors serve as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to innocents who are wrongly suspected - and usually refuse to apologize when they are proven to be wrong.
Men will be . . . without self control: The story of no self-control can be written across almost everything today - sex, drugs, alcohol, food, work. Whatever we do, we often do it out of control.
In the 1990s the Los Angeles Times published an article about Michelle, who was a successful writer and editor. She feared the day her husband might discover her secret stash of credit cards, her secret post office box or the other tricks she used to hide how much money she spent shopping for herself. “I make as much money as my husband . . . If I want a $500 suit from Ann Taylor, I deserve it and don’t want to be hassled about it. So the easiest thing to do is lie,” she explained. Last year, when her husband forced her to destroy one of her credit cards, Michelle went out and got a new one without telling him. “I do live in fear. If he discovers this new VISA, he’ll kill me.” A school teacher explained more: “Men just don’t understand that shopping is our drug of choice,” she joked, even while admitting that some months her salary goes exclusively to paying the minimum balance on her credit cards. “Walking through the door of South Coast Plaza is like walking though the gates of heaven. God made car trunks for women to hide shopping bags in.” A young professional named Mary explained: “Shopping is my recreation. It’s my way of pampering myself. When you walk into [a mall] and you see all the stores, it’s like something takes over and you get caught up in it.”
Men will be . . . brutal: Cruelty and brutality are nothing new in the world; but Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the last days would be marked by a particular brutality.
A newspaper article in the 1990s described how an Oxnard man was accused of murdering his roommate after the two disagreed over the brand of beer the man had brought home. The accused man brought home Natural Light, and the murdered man wanted him to bring home Michelob. As he poured the Natural Light down the kitchen sink, he was stabbed to death.
We like to think of ourselves as more advanced than previous generations; but surely more people have been murdered in our century than ever before; these are violent, brutal times.
Men will be . . . despisers of good: There just seem to be too many examples of this in modern society to pick out examples. For one example, there was a time when most people thought letting people live was good and killing them was generally a bad thing. Today, we live in a culture when the simple good of life is now despised and attacked, through abortion, through the glorifying of violence and murder, and through euthanasia.
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
These characteristics are all about one thing: Self. Men are traitors because of self, they are headstrong because of self, they are haughty because of self, and they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God because of self.
This attitude marks our current age. For example, think of national advertising slogans from the late 1990s:
• Nothing is taboo.
• Break all the rules.
• To know no boundaries.
• Relax: No rules here.
• Peel off inhibitions. Find your own road.
• We are all hedonists and want to do what feels good. That’s what makes us human.
• Living without boundaries.
• Just do it.
The message is the same: You make your own rules. You answer to no one. You are the one that matters. Your universe revolves around you. (David Guzik excerpt)
I am finding these characteristics to be much more evident these days when I go out. There's a lot of very aggressive, belligerent people and drivers today, who use their vehicles like tanks, and weapons.
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
When God convicts me of an activity that's hindering my walk with Him-it gets dealt with, until it's out of my life. It's not worth being sucked into the cesspool this world is now. He's proven to me, He will fill any void that you may think you'll have, if you give up the toys, parties, or propaganda devices that fill your mind with Satan's enticing images and satanic music. I do not miss any of it, and thank God I've chosen Him, every time I see someone who has been ruined by the sins of the world.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
In our self-obsessed world, people feel very free to have a “salad bar” religion - they pick and choose what they want. They feel free to be very “spiritual,” but sense no obligation to be Biblical.
Most who to teach the bible today, know the only way the majority will listen to anything, is if most verses on morality, the ten commandments, and those that speak about discipline and correction are deleted. People do not want to hear about repentance, changing their conduct, or their hearts. They want to be told how wonderful they are, how to achieve success (in this life), and how to be accepted by the world. 1John tells us to "not love the world"-but that's also another bible passage no one wants to hear today.
The teachings I post here-I had to learn to apply to my own life years ago. When I fail, just as when I was first saved, only repentance brings me back to right fellowship with the Lord. If we confess and forsake the sin, He promises to forgive, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The teachings I posted here about Jezebel-if they don't apply to you, can you be mature enough to read them objectively, and realize there are women out there like her, and be honest enough to see the results of what women like this do to themselves, and other's?
I'll end this by adding the bible tells me the works of the flesh are these:
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envying's, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
When you look inside yourself-be honest, do you find any of the things above, working in you? I don't need, or want an answer-but you will answer to God one day about it. It's your choice, go to Him in repentance, and ask for His help to change-or an eternity in hell when your life is over here. The teachings I've given, is to get some to wake up, and choose to repent, and turn to the Lord. If not, no one will be able to say they were never warned.
In these last days, the difficulties are going to increase. But, the word of God remains the same-it has the answers to every situation and every problem we face. It's up to us to decide whether we will follow those in the world-and the increasing sin, hostility, and brutality; or allow the word of God to be our foundation for living.
My decision is-let God be true, and every man a liar.
Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Lorna Couillard
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Boasting, pride, and blasphemy-each act as if I am the most important person. Each of them say, “You don’t matter and God does not matter. All that matters is me.”
Today boasting, pride, and blasphemy are apparent everywhere, especially among the celebrities that our cultures idolizes.
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Ever since Adam, humankind has been marked by these things to one degree or another. Here, Paul said these things will be especially prevalent in the last days.
Unloving (translated without natural affection in the KJV) literally means, “without family love.” Paul said that the end times would be marked by an attitude of growing disregard of normal family love and obligation.
Men will be . . . slanderers: Men have always told hurtful lies about other men; but today, in media and in politics, slander has been elevated to both big business and big money.
In politics, candidates routinely and knowingly distort their opponent’s positions, just to make their competition look bad - and they don’t feel bad at all about the lying if it helps them get elected. In media, editors and news directors serve as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to innocents who are wrongly suspected - and usually refuse to apologize when they are proven to be wrong.
Men will be . . . without self control: The story of no self-control can be written across almost everything today - sex, drugs, alcohol, food, work. Whatever we do, we often do it out of control.
In the 1990s the Los Angeles Times published an article about Michelle, who was a successful writer and editor. She feared the day her husband might discover her secret stash of credit cards, her secret post office box or the other tricks she used to hide how much money she spent shopping for herself. “I make as much money as my husband . . . If I want a $500 suit from Ann Taylor, I deserve it and don’t want to be hassled about it. So the easiest thing to do is lie,” she explained. Last year, when her husband forced her to destroy one of her credit cards, Michelle went out and got a new one without telling him. “I do live in fear. If he discovers this new VISA, he’ll kill me.” A school teacher explained more: “Men just don’t understand that shopping is our drug of choice,” she joked, even while admitting that some months her salary goes exclusively to paying the minimum balance on her credit cards. “Walking through the door of South Coast Plaza is like walking though the gates of heaven. God made car trunks for women to hide shopping bags in.” A young professional named Mary explained: “Shopping is my recreation. It’s my way of pampering myself. When you walk into [a mall] and you see all the stores, it’s like something takes over and you get caught up in it.”
Men will be . . . brutal: Cruelty and brutality are nothing new in the world; but Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the last days would be marked by a particular brutality.
A newspaper article in the 1990s described how an Oxnard man was accused of murdering his roommate after the two disagreed over the brand of beer the man had brought home. The accused man brought home Natural Light, and the murdered man wanted him to bring home Michelob. As he poured the Natural Light down the kitchen sink, he was stabbed to death.
We like to think of ourselves as more advanced than previous generations; but surely more people have been murdered in our century than ever before; these are violent, brutal times.
Men will be . . . despisers of good: There just seem to be too many examples of this in modern society to pick out examples. For one example, there was a time when most people thought letting people live was good and killing them was generally a bad thing. Today, we live in a culture when the simple good of life is now despised and attacked, through abortion, through the glorifying of violence and murder, and through euthanasia.
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
These characteristics are all about one thing: Self. Men are traitors because of self, they are headstrong because of self, they are haughty because of self, and they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God because of self.
This attitude marks our current age. For example, think of national advertising slogans from the late 1990s:
• Nothing is taboo.
• Break all the rules.
• To know no boundaries.
• Relax: No rules here.
• Peel off inhibitions. Find your own road.
• We are all hedonists and want to do what feels good. That’s what makes us human.
• Living without boundaries.
• Just do it.
The message is the same: You make your own rules. You answer to no one. You are the one that matters. Your universe revolves around you. (David Guzik excerpt)
I am finding these characteristics to be much more evident these days when I go out. There's a lot of very aggressive, belligerent people and drivers today, who use their vehicles like tanks, and weapons.
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
When God convicts me of an activity that's hindering my walk with Him-it gets dealt with, until it's out of my life. It's not worth being sucked into the cesspool this world is now. He's proven to me, He will fill any void that you may think you'll have, if you give up the toys, parties, or propaganda devices that fill your mind with Satan's enticing images and satanic music. I do not miss any of it, and thank God I've chosen Him, every time I see someone who has been ruined by the sins of the world.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
In our self-obsessed world, people feel very free to have a “salad bar” religion - they pick and choose what they want. They feel free to be very “spiritual,” but sense no obligation to be Biblical.
Most who to teach the bible today, know the only way the majority will listen to anything, is if most verses on morality, the ten commandments, and those that speak about discipline and correction are deleted. People do not want to hear about repentance, changing their conduct, or their hearts. They want to be told how wonderful they are, how to achieve success (in this life), and how to be accepted by the world. 1John tells us to "not love the world"-but that's also another bible passage no one wants to hear today.
The teachings I post here-I had to learn to apply to my own life years ago. When I fail, just as when I was first saved, only repentance brings me back to right fellowship with the Lord. If we confess and forsake the sin, He promises to forgive, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The teachings I posted here about Jezebel-if they don't apply to you, can you be mature enough to read them objectively, and realize there are women out there like her, and be honest enough to see the results of what women like this do to themselves, and other's?
I'll end this by adding the bible tells me the works of the flesh are these:
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envying's, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
When you look inside yourself-be honest, do you find any of the things above, working in you? I don't need, or want an answer-but you will answer to God one day about it. It's your choice, go to Him in repentance, and ask for His help to change-or an eternity in hell when your life is over here. The teachings I've given, is to get some to wake up, and choose to repent, and turn to the Lord. If not, no one will be able to say they were never warned.
In these last days, the difficulties are going to increase. But, the word of God remains the same-it has the answers to every situation and every problem we face. It's up to us to decide whether we will follow those in the world-and the increasing sin, hostility, and brutality; or allow the word of God to be our foundation for living.
My decision is-let God be true, and every man a liar.
Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Lorna Couillard
