People = Pain
John 16:22, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
By David J. Stewart
One of my web visitors
sent me a letter and made the following statement ... “PEOPLE =
PAIN.” He shared his grief and sorrow with me concerning his wife
divorcing him not too long ago. He said that several people had helped
destroy his marriage by helping his wife become “empowered,” and poisoning his
wife's mind with feminist thinking.
This is something that I hear often
from husbands who are victims of a divorce. Say what you will,
women are
twice as likely to file for divorce than men. This is because of the
evils of feminism. Feminism robs a husband of his Biblical authority
over his own wife, and enables the wife to crucify her husband in a feminist
biased court system. This is evil.
How the Rockefellers
Re-Engineered Women
The Bible Foretold of These Perilous Times
People can be real jerks, it is true; but it's only because they are not obeying the Lord's Commandments to love one another, and be tender-hearted and forgiving for Christ's sake (Ephesians 4:30-32).
We read in 2nd Timothy 3:1-7...
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The Scriptures we just read describe some very awful people, rotten to the core. Society is filled with such types of people today. Carefully notice the irony in verse 5 that many of these people are RELIGIOUS. Sadly, the divorce rate amongst professed “Christians” is just as high as it is amongst the unsaved heathens. It is sad that so many professed Christians are worldly and hurt other people just like the unsaved do. This is a crying shame, and a great evil.
The word “men” in 2nd Timothy 3:1 is used in a
broad sense, and simply refers to “mankind” (which includes all women as well). The
word “perilous” in verse 1 comes from the Greek word, “chalepos,” and means,
“hard to bear, hard
to take, troublesome, fierce, harsh, dangerous.” Thus, the Bible WARNS
us that the Last Days will be a difficult time in which to live, because
people will be selfish, cut-throat and wicked.
As it Was in the Days of Noah
Jesus said (Matthew 24:37-38) that people would go back once again to the wickedness before the flood. Jesus said that people would become selfish, thinking only about themselves and their own interests... eating, drinking , marrying, and giving in marriage (partying).
The Bible teaches that they KNEW NOT UNTIL THE FLOOD CAME, AND TOOK THEM ALL AWAY. Those people could have know, because 2nd Peter 2:5 Matthew 24:39, “And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Jesus warned that the time will come when unbelievers will murder Christians, thinking they are doing God a favor. John 16:2 states, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” Bible-believing Christians will be rejected by their own churches, and the heathen will kill some of them for their Christian testimony. They rejected Jesus too. They literal said, “Depart from Us Jesus!” We are seeing this today around the world, and hostility is increasing in American society towards Christ-honoring, sin-hating, Hell-fire and damnation preaching, soulwinning believers who obey the Word of God. The Bible teaches that Jesus was perfect, without sin (2nd Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). Yet, 2,000 years later, people still defame the holy name of Jesus Christ.
Christians who take an uncompromising stand against booze, homosexuality, feminism, false religion, divorce, witchcraft, gambling, adultery, rock music, immodest dress, abortion, Communism, evils in government, pornography, and other evils in society; are increasingly being labeled as “hatemongers,” “homophobes,” and "terrorists." It is clear as to why the Lord needs to remove the true church from the world before the Antichrist appears (2nd Thessalonians 2:7-10), because we will expose the Antichrist immediately.
We read in 2nd Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."
It is abundantly clear that the world is getting worse at an exponential rate.
This is due largely to technological advances, which has allowed Satan to
rebuild Babel once again (aka, the New World Order). The goal of this
modern Babel is to unite mankind once again in rebellion against God and the
Truth. The end result will be man's destruction!
Love Thy Neighbor
We are repeatedly commanded in the Bible to love our fellow mankind. Matthew 19:19 quotes Leviticus 19:18, saying, "...Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Now it's not always easy to love people; but God demands it of us. We don't have to like someone, nor do we have to even talk with them. This is NOT the world's love which God is speaking about. God's love is Biblical (Greek: agape) love, and it does not rest upon our own personal feelings. I might detest the site of someone, or the mention of that person's name; but I am still expected by God to care about them if they ever sincerely need and ask for my help.
This is taught in the Biblical account of the good Samaritan. Howbeit, most people will never need our help. We can work with someone for 20 years, and they might never need our help. And if they did ever need help, they'd likely go out of their way to avoid us because of their contempt for God. All you can do with such people is to continue loving them in your heart, be respectful to them, and pray for their salvation or return to God.
The Bible teaches that no amount of faith,
talent, preaching ability, or wisdom will mean anything if it is not
encompassed with love (1st Corinthians 13:1-3). Love is genuine caring. It is caring about other people. People don't care nowadays because they
don't have God's love. Caring always leads to action, and it causes us
to do something. When we care about someone, we try to do something to
help them. That's why I built this website, to reach out to others for
God, because of God's love.
Three Enemies in Life
Ephesians 6:12 declares, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Satan works his evil through people (the world), by spiritually influencing them (through worldly movies, music, books, bad advice, heathen education, etc). The unsaved person is greatly susceptible to Satan's spirit (Ephesians 2:2). In sharp contrast, the Christian has the Word of God to light his path (Psalm 119:105). 1st John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.”
Then there's the SIN-NATURE which we all have. Satan appeals greatly to the sin-nature, because the Devil always leads us to please the flesh. I'm not a Charismatic! Pentecostal Charismatics believes that every evil thing someone does is an indication of demon-possession. No sir, we are sinful enough because of our OWN sin-nature to do evil on our own. However, the Devil DOES have the power to INFLUENCE Christians to do evil. Satan cannot posses a believer, because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 3:17).
As an example: Judas was not a Christian. The Bible never indicates that he became a Christian. Judas was a fake, and a known thief (John 12:6). The Bible states that Satan entered into Judas (John 13:27). In contrast, Peter had been influenced by Satan; but was not possessed as was Judas (Matthew 16:23). Peter meant well; but was wrong in his thinking. No doubt, IGNORANCE is also one of our greatest enemies in life. This is true of many believers today. Most believers support George W. Bush--a known occultist, financier of abortion, con-artist, liar, mass-murderer, thief, and an unsaved heretic who believes that Muslims and Christians worship the same god. Most believers today have been brainwashed by Satan concerning the truth of what's going on in this world. If anybody should know what's going on, it's Christians--which is one reason why I made this website ... to wake Christian people up!
It's been said that the Devil plays
a damnation guitar with three strings: the Devil, the world, and the flesh. These are our enemies in life. So we see that there are various
influences at work on us all. Our most fierce enemy is the flesh (Romans
7:24). Yes, we are often our own worst enemy. Satan cannot defeat
us unless we allow him to. It is true--Give the Devil an inch, and he'll
become a ruler (pun intended). Don't you give him an inch! That's
why I take an uncompromising stand against sin on this website... I'm not
giving the Devil any room to squirm or weasel his way around the truth.
People Will Hurt Us
People WILL hurt us, expect it. We all have memories of people whom we trusted who deeply hurt us, betraying our trust in them. Once our trust has been shattered, it's usually difficult to trust someone again. At a minimum, we are far more reluctant to be as trusting as we once were. Pain changes people. The first time you get that devastating phone call, you'll dread answering the phone for years to come. The first time that you get that lawsuit notice in your mailbox, you'll shake in your knees every time you open your mailbox. Once you've received a letter from “DoWe, Cheatem & How” law firm, you'll feel hesitant for the rest of your life everytime you open your mailbox. This is reality. An elderly man once told me, “Be nice to everybody, but trust no one.” Sadly, that is the world today in which we live.
The Bible warned us that the world would return to a time of continual violence as it was in the days of Noah before the Lord returns (Matthew 24:37-39). All people watch on television these days is violence. All people read in the newspapers these days are acts of senseless violence. People can't seem to get enough violence in their life. Drugs, gangs, violence, rapes, killings. It's now common knowledge that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been trafficking illegal drugs into our nation for several decades. Do you think that God Who heard the cry of Abel's innocent blood from the ground in Genesis 4:10 has missed the cries of millions of Americans who have died, been imprisoned or been murdered because of the deliberate drug problem that the CIA is causing in America? God sees it all and is angry. There's a special place in Hell for people who knowingly hurt other people.
Then consider that the Federal Reserve Banking System (a massive fraud started in 1913) controls the value of the U.S. Dollar (which is total ungodly fraud). The bank is privately owned (it's not “federal,” anymore than Federal Express is federal). They have no gold reserve anymore. Literally, this small group of banksters decide how many Americans will end up homeless on the streets (and there are millions), whether or not mom needs to leave the home and enter into the workplace (Henry Kissinger plotted to drive mothers into the workplace by lowering the value of the dollar). The fraudulent Federal Reserve Act, passed in 1913 under fraudulent conditions, is the worst thing that ever happened to the United States. It gave the private bankers complete control over the U.S. money supply, and thus our entire economy, job market, housing industry.
If we respond to hatred with love, then we become even more loving; but if we respond to hate with hate, then we are drinking the same poison and expecting the other person to die, but we perish instead. Always over come evil with good as the Bible teaches in Romans 12:21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Misery loves company. The very fact that someone(s) are harassing you, doing little things to push your buttons, is clear evidence that they are miserable people (with too much time on their hands to waste irritating you), and such fools cannot be reasoned with. The best way to deal with them is get away from them if possible, avoid them as much as possible. Proverbs 14:7, “Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.”
And God pity the fool who hurts a child of God, that is, a born-again Christian. Matthew 25:40, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Truthfully, we need to be careful nowadays. Matthew 10:17 states, "But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues." In today's insane world, each believer needs to be alert, for Satan roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1st Peter 5:8). Satan works evil through his children, i.e., the unsaved people of this world (Ephesians 2:2). Notice that Matthew 10:17 doesn't tell us to fear men; but rather, to beware of men. In other words, we need to protect ourselves.
As believers, Satan will attack us at
our weakest points (and he knows them well). We need to identify these
personal areas of weakness and deal with them accordingly. We need to
implement safeguards in our life to keep us from the temptations that will
destroy us. We need to pray for God to help us. We must abide in
the Scriptures daily, to keep our minds focused on the Lord. Soulwinning
and contending for the faith are two great joys of the Christian life, and
they are both commanded by God (Matthew 28:19-20; Jude 1:3). Every person
alive today on this earth WILL be dead in 125 years from now. We
ought to keep this thought in mind constantly, because this temporal life is
insignificant in comparison to eternity. 6,300,000,000 people will all
by dead in 125 years, 99% in less than 100 years!!! Only what we do for
Jesus' sake or the Gospel's will matter in eternity.
We Are Living in Perilous Time as Foretold in the Holy Bible
God warned us in 2nd Timothy 3:1-13 that these horrible days would come upon us. We are living in dark days. I recently heard in the news about a Church of Christ pastor's wife who shot her husband twice in the back with a shotgun ... while he was sleeping. In another story, a kindergartener was arrested for sexual harassment. Walt Disney's Desperate Housewives is straight from Hell, causing much lasciviousness and sexual sins. MTV and CMT are equally evil and lascivious. American's alone account for 25% of the world's sex-tourism. Christianity Today magazine gives positive reviews of Harry Potter's witchcraft. I know a Lutheran pastor who organized and drove his congregation to Las Vegas... SIN CITY!
37% of the occult Freemasonry membership in the U.S. are Southern Baptists. A Southern Baptist church in Tennessee recently called an ordained lesbian to be their pastor. I know a Christian man who's wife admitted to him after 10 years of marriage that she was a lesbian. Another Christian man's wife abandoned him and the kids without warning, and then filed for divorce with the help of a local Baptist church. This is evil folks! Churches are supposed to be building families, NOT destroying them. America's churches are becoming apostate, forsaking Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Go to just about any Independent Baptist Church today and you'll see pants on nearly all the women. God's teachings of modesty for women in 1st Timothy 2:9 is not a suggestion, it is a command!
Yes, people will hurt you. They will try to destroy your family, and break up your marriage. In their hatred, they will give bad advice and encourage a man's wife to bail out, abandon, and divorce! Sadly, this destructive advice often comes from in-laws, so-called "friends," and family members. People will break their promises, lie to your face, and stab you in the back. Your friends will stab you in the front. People will slander you, discredit you, and assassinate your character. They will cut your throat with good intentions, and ruin your life with one seemingly innocent phone call to Child Protection Services or the Police. They will hurt you horribly, and not feel any remorse whatsoever. Some people are just woefully mean, like the adulterous woman in Proverb 30:20, "Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness." Listen to the powerful and shocking Words of Jeremiah 7:9-10 ...
"Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?"
So many people today, even many professed Christians, are committing the most wicked sins, claiming that God approves of their sins. They twist the Scriptures around, perverting the Bible, teachings lies like Lordship Salvation. This is what God said they would do in 2nd Timothy 3:1-7 and Romans 1:25. People today are living in great wickedness: divorcing, murdering their children through abortion, homosexuality, legally prostituting their bodies in Nevada (note: Nearly every city in America has escort services which are nearly all legalized covers for prostitution rings), gambling, getting drunk, engaging in witchcraft and occultism, indulging in pornography, committing fornication and adultery, rock music worship, and even bragging about their sins in "SIN CITY" Las Vegas.
Yet, the average person sees no harm or consequences in such sinful living and greatly resents someone preaching against it. It was the preacher John Wesley who said that what we tolerate in our generation, will be embraced by the next. Wesley is 100% correct! We are living in sick times. Christians claim to have a "right" to divorce, but they do NOT (Matthew 19:8). Homosexuals claim that Jesus taught love, and they say homosexuality is a form of love. Homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1). People call drunkenness a disease, but it is a sin according to the Bible (Galatians 5:21).
Another increasingly popular
home-wrecking monster is "feminist theology," which utterly perverts the truth to allow
feminist thinking in our church pulpits. God said that a man is to RULE over his own wife
(Genesis 3:16). And then there's the tens-of-millions of aborted
children who were murdered by a bunch of selfish adulterous jerks. We are living in deliberately confusing days in the
world, but the believer won't be confused if he anchors himself firmly upon
the Solid Rock of God's Word. I only use the King James Bible,
because all other modern Bible translations have been tampered with and
corrupted by the Devil's crowd for filthy lucre's sake. Even the New King
James is corrupted.
Make Sure That You Are Saved
God needs our talents, if they are wholly surrendered to Him, and we do not rely upon our human strengths and talents to accomplish God's Work. Certainly there's nothing that we have that God needs in our own human strength; however, God desires to use what we have if we humble ourselves in daily prayer and abide in the Word of God as John 15:1-5 teaches. Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. Without Jesus we can accomplish nothing (John 15:5). Most churchgoers these days are living the Christian life, but they have never been born-again and are still hellbound in their sins and false plan of Lordship Salvation.
You had better repent of your false religion and place all your faith in Christ alone. You don't have to stop committing any sins to be saved, not even unbelief. If you trust Jesus enough to rely upon what He did on the cross to pay for your sins, and that's your only hope for Heaven, then you are saved securely. You don't have to give up anything to be saved, not even your unbelief, just so long as you place your trust in the Savior in spite of your sin of unbelief. In other words, it's ok to have some doubts and still trust Christ.
Think about a chair as an illustration. You need to replace a defective light bulb and the only thing nearby is a shaky looking old chair. You don't have much faith in the old chair, but you're willing to take a chance anyway, because you really need to replace the light bulb. So you decide to stand upon the chair, unaided by any external safety net or a shoulder to hold you up. You are standing on the chair. My friend, you have placed no less than 100% of your complete trust into that shaky looking old chair, yet you still have doubts as to whether or not it is trustworthy. So you see, salvation works the same way. Despite any doubts which you may have, you just go ahead and place your reliance in what Christ did to pay for your sins on the cross and YOU WILL BE SAVED. The presence of doubt cannot hinder you from being saved, just so long as your have the presence of faith alone in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (and nothing else).
There is a damnable heresy which has
crept into our Independent Baptist Churches today, which teaches that you
cannot be saved unless you first decide not to live a lifestyle of sin
anymore. This is the Roman Catholic understanding of repentance, and it is
satanic. The only thing that you need to repent (change your mind) about is
whatever it was which was previously keeping you from coming to Christ to be
saved. The man who comes to Christ to be saved has repented.
Let The Lord Share Your Burden
Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Notice in Matthew 11:28-29 that the Lord doesn't want to remove your burden; but rather, He wants to switch yokes with you. We need a burden. Prosperity has utterly destroyed the United States. The federal government is hiding the true condition of our economy by reckless debt-spending, printing more and more money out of thin air. The private banksters are getting richer and richer. Someone's got to pay the bills eventually, and we as a nation won't be able to, so the communist United Nations will take over control of our nation. Detroit Residents Beg For Water Like Dogs From The United Nations (it's just the beginning)!
Jesus wants to give you His yoke, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Your burden and mine are extremely weighty and unbearably heavy at times, but Jesus said His yoke is easy and light. Do you know what the Lord is literally telling us in Matthew 11:28-29? Jesus is telling us to let Him handle our problems, and He wants us to focus on His desires and needs. What could the Lord possibly need from you or me. He needs our mouth to proclaim the Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus needs our feet to take the glad tidings of the Gospel to the lost world (Romans 10:15). Jesus needs our body, so that He can live righteously through us (Galatians 2:20), so that we may exemplify Christ with our life, and the unsaved world will see God in us and He will be glorified (Matthew 5:16).
When someone hurts your feelings, realize that you serve a risen Christ and He is with you every step of the way. Literally, Jesus' Spirit lives in your body (Romans 8:9). You are not alone if you have been born-again. That's what being born-again means, that is, your spirit which was once dead is now quickened (made alive) by the Spirit of God in you, Who came to indwell you the very moment that you received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, believing that He died on the cross in your place to pay for your sins. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” It's so easy to be saved, just trust upon the Lord and what He did on the cross to pay for your sins.
People are people, and are all of us are woeful sinners. People will hurt us at times, and we will hurt others, even if unintentionally. We need to understand this, and be comforted that God said it would happen. Sadly, the people who are hurting us will likely burn in Hell one day, because they don't have Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We need to rise above our own personal hurt feelings, and focus on winning souls to Jesus Christ. Let it go, and let God. God will make everything right in eternity (Romans 12:19; 14:12).
Hopefully we have matured enough in the Lord as a believer, to where we strive not to hurt others. Then again, sometimes we need to express "tough love" to people, and they mistake that love for hatred or immaturity. Street preachers are often accused of being "narrow-minded" and "hatemongers." Nothing could be further from the truth. It is tough love, needed for a tough audience of Christ-rejecting sinners who are living in the pleasures of sin, and are bound for eternal Hell-fire. So a clear distinction needs to be made between sinfully hurting others, and Biblically contending for righteousness and faith.
As Christians, let us be careful not to be unkind or mean to others because of our own spiritual immaturity (Ephesians 4:31-32). Let us live for God, keep our promises, be fair, and love one another. Micah 6:8 states, "...what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" We are to walk with God, be just (fair) with people, and be merciful. When people hurt you, just think about 2nd Timothy 3:1-7, and be comforted that God said these days would come. God said that people would become rotten and malicious. Jesus said in Matthew 24:12 that “the love of many will wax cold” in the last days, because of iniquity (Greek: “anomia,” which means, lawlessness and injustice) which would abound. If you've listened to the news lately, then you are fully aware that we are living in these lawless times of gross injustice.
The evils in government and our court systems today are unprecedented in American history. Society is morally bankrupt. People are tired and distrustful. Everyone is suing everyone. Everything has to be politically correct nowadays and it is utterly ridiculous. Homosexuals are crawling out of every sewer, labeling Bible-preaching Christians as “hatemongers.” In this present mayhem, it is becoming increasingly perilous (difficult to endure) for Christians. We are bombarded with perversion, temptations, persecution, rejection and blaspheming of our Lord on a daily basis by the heathen world. Philippians 2:15, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
Just as a tiger, who turns against his trainer after years without incident, so may your wife, family, pastor, and “friends” attack, disappoint and hurt you one day. It happens every day. It is inevitable because we are all sinners. Therefore, we need to focus upon the Lord and His Word, and not people. People will hurt us, but the Lord has promised to NEVER leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). What a Savior! You can count on Jesus! The Lord will never betray you or deliberately hurt your feelings to be mean.
Have you been hurt by someone? Sure you have, and so have I. People are standing in line to urinate on my grave. Has someone broken your marriage apart? Has a parent disowned you? Have your adult children turned against you? Did someone whom you trusted stab you in the back? Did a trusted friend steal your spouse? Did you lend a large sum of money to a couple in time of need and they never paid you back? Are you being persecuted at work? I'll tell you, today's secular workplace is like Daniel's lions den. Are you longing for the end of this life, to end your misery and pain? Yes, people do often equal pain, because we are by nature creatures of emotion and sinners, but Jesus will make it all right when we get to Heaven...
What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see.
When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace.
When He takes me by the hand, and leads me to the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day, that will be!"And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." -John 16:22
