A characteristic of antichrist

GospelCompilation · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:

Beloved, who are you trying to emulate? Christ or Satan?

You accused Mattathias, saying, "You will not believe [what I say] but will just say it means something else, because you don't have the Spirit of God! Unbelievers such as yourself cannot know or understand spiritual truth. The Bible is not written for all people, but just the children of the kingdom, which you are not. It will serve you no purpose to read the Bible, because it's just another piece of literature to you."

These are vicious, slanderous accusations, and they are meant only to harm your brother and steal his peace. And what has Christ said about this sort of behavior?

THE LOVE OF GOD versus THE HATE OF SATAN

In John 8:42, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, "If God were your Father, you would love Me." And why would they have loved Him? Because God is love. He is agape love; that is, He is unconditional, sacrificial love; a selfless love that gives of itself for the benefit of others. If God had been their Father, then they would have loved their enemy, just as God loves His enemies. But they could not understand what He was saying.

So Jesus explained it further in verse 43 and 44: "Why can you not understand My speech? Because you are not capable of listening to My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

DOING THE WORK OF SATAN

So, how can we know when we are doing the work of satan? There are a number of criteria given by Christ:

1st) we will not love our enemies or our fellow brothers in Christ,
2nd) we will make slanderous accusations about others,
3rd) we will seek to harm any who disagree with us, and
4th) we will lie.

All one has to do, beloved, is look at your threads to know who your father is, for they are full of accusations and hatred. This is dangerous ground you walk on, my friend.

THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT

You quoted I Corinthians 2:13-14 in an attempt to slander Mattathias with the Word of God... but I would like to demonstrate the true meaning of that verse, if you will.

The verse says, "these things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I get the impression that you believe in your mind that whatever you speak falls under the category of "the things of the Spirit of God." But, in order to understand what Paul meant, we have to understand what "the things of the Spirit of God" are. Are they doctrines? Are they rules? Are they secrets hidden from the foundation of the world, which only the very elect can comprehend?

No. They are none of these things. "The things of the Spirit of God" are those things which are inherent to the Spirit of God and which the Spirit of God produces in a man. That is to say, "the things of the Spirit of God" are God's attributes, His character traits, as they are manifested in our character.

To put it clearly: "the things of the Spirit of God" are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And we find these spiritual attributes mentioned throughout the Gospels, Paul's epistles, and every book of the Bible.

GOD'S CHARACTER IN US

God's character traits are not indispensable, as some might think. God's character, reflected in us, is what the Gospel is all about. And the natural man does not receive God's attributes, because they are foolishness to him; nor can he comprehend God's character, because God's character is spiritually discerned.

So, if we strive for anything at all, it should be this: to perfectly reflect God's character to all men and in every situation. That is what Christ did. And that is what He calls each of us to do. Not just the elect, either, mind you. But all of us.

Every one of His children are called upon to reflect His glorious character to the world - because, believe it or not, the only way the world will ever see God's character is through us!

May we allow His light to shine through us today on these forums.

Amen.

beloved57 · Cobra Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 457

GospelCompilation · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject:

beloved57 · Cobra Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 457

JB · Lion King Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1084

Does any one have popcorn, I am running low?

Very Happy

Nobby · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject:

beloved57, I think it's about time that you cool off!
What gives you the right to Judge, that's up to God.
Personal attacks on other members, I won't stand for.
Either abide by the rules or abide some where else! Confused or disgusted

Now if you want to cool down & act like a christian brother then fine, but right now your out of line! Shocked

Nobby

Nobby · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject:

I wish you guys would use the little red flag in the upper right hand corner of the posts to report a post, rather than take care of it yourself, I always have to get into it anyway! Smile

Nobby

GospelCompilation · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:12 am Post subject:

My apologies, Nobby. I wasn't aware of the little red flag in the upper right hand corner... but now I am. And I'm sorry I took this matter into my own hands. Next time I'll let you know.