These kinds of persons will do nothing but bring you down. They will add to any
tension or stress you already have, and they will not defend you behind your back.
They may seem loyal, but they will betray you if you cease to be of use to them
in promoting themselves. You are in the most danger when you identify one of these
people inside the Lord's Church. They have a Judas spirit.
The
most glaring example of the above sort of person is politicians. We watch them
as they exalt themselves, and, in our gullibility, we try to glean off urban legends
about their ordinariness and sincerity. But, it is all a facade, an act, and they
eventually all fall in our eyes and betray us.
If
you have friends whom you use who feed your ego and give you the warm fuzzies,
then you are one of the above people, and you are an artificial human being. You
have a shriveled up soul, and your mind is dark and suspicious. Personally, I
would avoid you like the plague.
Is
there hope for a person of the above sort?
Yes,
but only after a total make over from outside themselves.
"One
cannot become the sort of person he hates and does not understand."
Would
someone remember I said that please? I like it a lot :-) Bit of ego I suspect......
If
I am talking about you, then about now you are hot with rage and consider me a
cynic and a bigot. Not so. I am trying to slap you hard so that, just maybe, you
will repent and want to be delivered of your self-love drug addiction.
What
will you have to do to be MADE over?
1.
Admit you are a brat and a dark soul.
2.
Find someone to follow who is totally the opposite of you. Find a teacher, and
become a disciple.
The
problem is, you do not need to find another person to follow who is very much
like you. Well, there happens to be a teacher who is willing to disciple you to
become a new person, and he is VERY MUCH unlike you.
He
has published a book that you need to read. It will change you into the kind of person you
crave to be: READ
HERE
It
has been my experience in life that I find very few people with whom I really
connect comfortably. I think this is very much because our society today is driven
by trends and fashions rather than by relationships. I find that when I am
in a group of preachers who seem to believe what I believe, still, there are the
egomaniacs and power crazy brats. They bore me cross-eyed.
After
driving 150 miles to a pastor's day retreat, I have often wished I had gone and
had coffee with some good old boy back in my neighborhood. I might well be in
the company of a man who has no zeal for the Gospel, but he is not trying to use
me, and the moment, to climb higher up the social scale.
I
feel guilty saying such a thing until I remember who my best friend is and who
he liked to spend time with. Jesus Christ, having all the authority and divine
attributes to make and rule the whole universe, spent most of his time with fishermen
and sinners. Startling, is it not?
Matthew
9:9 (KJV) And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew,
sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose,
and followed him.
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the
house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
Matthew
was a tax collector and hated by his fellow Jews for working for the Roman government.
Yet, Jesus WANTED him as a disciple. The result, in verse 10, is that Matthew
attracted more tax collectors and sinners to hang out with Jesus. The religious
establishment did NOT approve of this rabbi behaving in this way:
Mark
2:16 (KJV) And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners,
they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans
and sinners?
17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are
whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus
did not waste his time on those religious snobs who thought their "church" was
clean and tidy and the only safe place for a good man to be.
It
is only dangerous to be in the company of sinners if they are changing me into
a sinner. On the other hand, many sinners find that the price of sin wearies them,
and they leave the bar or the sluts, from time to time, to have a cup of coffee
with a Bible believer. It is like an oasis away from the artificial thrills of
the driven life.
Here
is a thought that came to me while I went away from the desk and my mind pondered
this discussion-- Jesus did not hang out with publicans and sinners all the time
unless they WANTED to be with him. Christ was the eternal God, he was sinless,
he had on his divine mind thought processes that, if he brought them up, would
be beyond human understanding. Yet, whatever he talked about, those Galilean good
old boys stayed and stayed for more. Some even "stayed to pray."
The
Apostle Paul spoke of this another way:
1
Corinthians 9:20 (KJV) And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain
them that are under the law;
21
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but
under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
22 To
the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to
all men, that I might by all means save some.
A
word of warning-- The Pharisees will hate you if you are the friend of sinners
and good old boys. They will assume you are being made into a sinner. A preacher
once told me he never went to cafes because the people and language was to wicked.
Personally,
the day I was invited up to the round table at the local cafe in Michigan was,
to me, the choicest victory in my ministry. Did I ever do war with devils? Yes,
but, you see, those devils were not friends-- the guys at the round table were
real friends, and to be considered a friend of theirs was priceless. They knew
exactly what I stood for, but they believed I liked them. No other kind of person
was invited to the round table for coffee.
If
that is all I ever am to this world, then so be it. When I think of some of the
friends I have had along the road of life, I am blessed with memories. But, I
will tell you this-- some of those friends were devils. Some of them had issues
that were mind boggling. Why was I there? Answer: It is very simple. It seems
that, at least for a small time, I was Jesus to them.
This
thought is not arrogant of me-- it is extremely humbling to me because I know
very well what a sinner I am. Only when Christ has any authority over my life
do I become of any use to him. And, you know, when those moments happened, I was
totally unaware of it. Sometimes it was many years later that I learned that I
was Jesus to someone when they write a note and thank me for being there. That
friendship was used by God the Holy Spirit to move that sinner along the way to
Calvary. To me it was just a moment with a good friend and some good coffee.
Colossians
1:27 (KJV) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
If
no one ever mistakes you for Jesus Christ, my friend, then you blew it bad.
So,
if you are a preacher on the way through central Texas, and if you need a break
from the snob show of your pastors' fellowship, send
me email, and we will meet for coffee. Otherwise, I will be "about my father's
business" keeping up friendships that are much too nasty for some people.
