A Theory for Why Trump’s Base Won’t Budge.
President Trump has narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD. In a recent article in The Atlantic, George T. Conway III argued that Trump exhibits all the classic signs of NPD, and that for that reason, among others, he is unfit for office.
Psychological research demonstrates that many narcissists come across as charming, witty, and charismatic upon initial acquaintance. They can attain high levels of popularity in the short term. As long as they prove to be successful and brilliant—like Steve Jobs—they may be able to weather criticism and retain their exalted status. But more often than not, narcissists wear out their welcome. Over time, people become annoyed, if not infuriated, by their self-centeredness. When narcissists begin to disappoint those they once dazzled, their descent can be especially precipitous. There is still truth in the ancient proverb: Pride goeth before the fall.
What is biblical discernment and why is it important?
In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.
First Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.
The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one's ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a certain recipe for compromise.
Unfortunately, discernment is an area where most Christians stumble. They exhibit little ability to measure the things they are taught against the infallible standard of God's Word, and they unwittingly engage in all kinds of unbiblical decision-making and behavior. In short, they are not armed to take a decidedly biblical stand against the onslaught of unbiblical thinking and attitudes that face them throughout their day.
Discernment intersects the Christian life at every point. And God's Word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue of life. According to Peter, God "has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3). You see, it is through the "true knowledge of Him," that we have been given everything we need to live a Christian life in this fallen world. And how else do we have true knowledge of God but through the pages of His Word, the Bible? In fact, Peter goes on to say that such knowledge comes through God's granting "to us His precious and magnificent promises" (2 Peter 1:4).
Discernment -- the ability to think biblically about all areas of life -- is indispensable to an uncompromising life. It is incumbent upon the Christian to seize upon the discernment that God has provided for in His precious truth! Without it, Christians are at risk of being "tossed here and there by
waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).
Share: Available online at: http://www.gty.org
First Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.
The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one's ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a certain recipe for compromise.
Unfortunately, discernment is an area where most Christians stumble. They exhibit little ability to measure the things they are taught against the infallible standard of God's Word, and they unwittingly engage in all kinds of unbiblical decision-making and behavior. In short, they are not armed to take a decidedly biblical stand against the onslaught of unbiblical thinking and attitudes that face them throughout their day.
Discernment intersects the Christian life at every point. And God's Word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue of life. According to Peter, God "has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3). You see, it is through the "true knowledge of Him," that we have been given everything we need to live a Christian life in this fallen world. And how else do we have true knowledge of God but through the pages of His Word, the Bible? In fact, Peter goes on to say that such knowledge comes through God's granting "to us His precious and magnificent promises" (2 Peter 1:4).
Discernment -- the ability to think biblically about all areas of life -- is indispensable to an uncompromising life. It is incumbent upon the Christian to seize upon the discernment that God has provided for in His precious truth! Without it, Christians are at risk of being "tossed here and there by
waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).
Share: Available online at: http://www.gty.org
Titus 1:10-14
Do a little research on con artists and scams
Do a little research on con artists and scams
and you’ll have more information than you have time to read.
The Character of a Con Artist The Shepherd’s Mantle-Part 6
The definition of a con artist is a person who intentionally misleads another person for the sake of personal financial gain.
Three Characteristics of Con Artists:
1. Here’s the first one: they are known as unaccountable personalities. Paul characterizes them in verse 10 when he writes, “For there are many rebellious men…” The word here translated rebellion is the same word found up in verse 6 for an elder candidate’s child whose lifestyle of uncontrollable disobedience – someone who sets himself up as the authority, having no regard for the authority of his father, which then discredits his father from serving as an elder. That’s the idea here. And in the context of a spiritual leader and teacher, this is the man who claims to be the ultimate authority in spiritual matters. His favorite phrases will explicitly state or subtly imply, “God doesn’t speak to you like He speaks to me; God told me what I’m telling you . . . if you wanna argue with God, that’s your problem.” In other words, he becomes the spiritual authority and he alone is the true source of spiritual insight.
The Bible will be a resource for what he teaches – it will not be the source of what he teaches. And his favorite verse will be I Chronicles 16:22, “Touch not [God’s] anointed and do [His] prophet’s no harm.” And with that you can’t touch him – to quote the great theologian M.C. Hammer . . . you just can’t touch that guy. That verse becomes his shield . . . he’s off limits . . . he’s out of your jurisdiction. And besides, no one else is as smart as he is or as close to God as he is or as anointed as he is and so whatever he says must be from God and you just keep to your little self. He’s God’s anointed.
Someone sent me a video link some time ago to a church service – several thousand people stood and cheered as visiting evangelist brought up on stage a huge scroll of the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament. The evangelist was claiming that he was about to perform some sort of special ceremony and he promised that the pastor would receive a special anointing from God. They unrolled some of the scroll and then had the pastor stand there on stage while they wrapped some of the scroll around his body where he was hidden from sight. And then after making all sorts of declarations that sounded slightly biblical but mostly mystical and even heretical, they unwrapped the scroll and as the pastor stepped forward they effectively claimed he was now uniquely anointed to speak with the same inspiration from God as the Torah was inspired by God. He was now be uniquely anointed to speak for God. And then they even further to seat him in his pastoral chair and several men came and lifted him up and paraded him around the stage over their heads as the evangelist proclaimed that he was now a prophet and a king. And everyone cheered. I sat there with my mouth open. How does that kind of blasphemy go unchecked? How does any man become equally inspired with the text of scripture? One of the protective benefits of a plurality of spiritual leaders and shepherds; no one is unaccountable . . . even Paul was willing to defer to the counsel of other leaders in the church at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:2). What makes spiritual deceivers all the more dangerous is the context here in Titus 1:10 – these false teachers are rising from within the body, not from outside the body. These are professing believers, not unbelievers.iii And the deception of their teaching seems to have the endorsement of the church they represent. In other words, people are cheering them on. Paul writes, here’s the first characteristic of a false teacher – they present themselves as unaccountable personalities.
2. Secondly, they are also known by their empty promises.
Paul goes further here in verse 10 by describing these false teachers as empty talkers.
This is the only time this adjective is found in the entire New Testament. It refers to someone who uses worthless words – someone who uses impressive language with little or no solid content of truth.iv They are fluent, but shallow.v In other words, they are great at making speeches, but when you evaluate the content of their speech, they are biblically shallow at best, but deceptively misleading at worst. One author said, “You can always spot those who don’t teach the truth by the way they so beautifully say absolutely nothing.”vi They’re slick . . . they’re smooth . . . they are persuasive and pleasing and captivating. Try to pin them down on some matter of Biblical truth and they’ll somehow get out of it. I watched one false teacher who pastors a huge church with thousands of followers – he was asked clear, black and white questions about what the Bible said about a variety of issues, rather than provide clear biblical answers that would have been no doubt offensive, he dodged the issues time and time again by responding with, “Well, I don’t know . . . I just can’t say . . . I’m leaving that up to God.” You know, it’d be one thing if the world never asked us what the Bible said about anything. Wouldn’t it be a problem if we just couldn’t somehow ever get a hearing? The greater problem is when supposed leaders within the church get a hearing and then don’t tell the world what the Bible says. But there’s a greater danger here, bound up in this characteristic of a false teacher. Paul says that he’s an empty talker.
In other words, what he says has no lasting spiritual value. He delivers smooth words without spiritual life. In his powerful expose on contemporary Christianity, Michael Horton entitled his book, “Christless Christianity.” Horton earned his doctorate from Oxford, is a committed believer and a professor, now teaching at Westminster Seminary. He explains that Christless Christianity doesn’t mean that false religion or false spirituality is devoid of words like Jesus, Lord, or even Savior.vii Christless Christianity is the way those names are used when they are removed from their Biblical contexts of sin, rebellion, a divine rescue, heaven and hell. He writes, Jesus then becomes a therapist or a buddy, a significant other, a political messiah. The gospel may be tacked on at the end of sermons but it’s only evangelical window dressing. Michael Horton extensively evaluated the content of messages preached by popular speakers and authors like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, TD Jakes and Kenneth Copeland – they may wrap up their sermons by asking people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Which makes them sound all the more biblical, but a Savior from what? And Lord of whom? These questions remain unanswered unless you’re talking about being saved from an unfulfilling job or oppression or sickness or a low self esteem. The Bible is a resource for their teaching and advice, but not the source of their teaching. Horton goes on to write that when he and his wife were raising their triplets, they wanted all the advice they could get from everybody. And they didn’t necessarily get the best advice from Christians. He wrote that some of their best advice came from his barber and his wife. He makes the point that you don’t need the Bible in order to know that your children need regular sleep patterns and furthermore that the secret of a good marriage is talking to each other or that divorce is devastating for children or that if you don’t rule your credit cards they will rule over you. Of course the Bible gives us a lot more wisdom than this, but there are plenty of non-Christians who actually do a better job at doing the right thing than some Christians.viii Michael makes this point – the truth is, someone can lose weight, stop smoking, improve one’s marriage, and become a nicer person without Jesus.ix In other words, if Christianity is nothing more than ethical advice – ways to become a better person and live the best life possible– who are we to say then that our religion is the only true religion when there are other religions that have similar doctrines of morality too – and they become better people because of it as well. If religion is basically ethics – if you reduce Christianity to good advice, it blends in perfectly with the culture of [religion]. Our teaching might seem relevant, but it actually gets lost in the marketplace of moralistic therapies.x So who are we then to say that Christianity is the only true religion – especially when the kind of Christianity now peddled by so many false teachers is nothing more than good advice and moral platitudes. Here’s the point. What distinguishes Christianity at its heart is not necessarily its moral code but its [truth] about a Creator who, although rejected by those He created in his image, stooped to reconcile them to himself through His Son.xi Christianity at its heart is the story of the gospel – the Good News that God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ. That’s the distinguishing mark of Christianity. And everything flows out of the context of who we are as redeemed, reconciled, clothed in the righteousness of Christ children of God by faith alone in Christ alone and we have that kind of Savior and that kind of Lord and that kind of salvation. But what does the false teacher focus on? How to get heaven now; how to get some of that gold pavement up there down here now; how to get healthy now how to learn the secrets of a good self image and a positive way of thinking and how to pull out of yourself seeds of greatness. Other religions teach these empty words as well. Everything is taught but sin and redemption and Jesus Christ as the crucified, atoning Lamb for sinners slain and even now the soon-coming King. That’s the good news. A con artist gives you something you think you want but then you realize it really doesn’t satisfy. Think about it, if money makes you happy, then the richest people on the planet would be the happiest and the poorest people on the planet would be the unhappiest. And you know that isn’t true.
If good health made you satisfied, then sick people would have no joy and personal trainers and body builders would be the truly happy people. That isn’t true either. A con artist gives you what you think you want – but in the end they are empty promises. If an angel were to show up and give us all one wish, I wonder how many of our wishes would fit really well with contemporary Christianity and how many of us would, like Solomon, the only man ever to have been given a one-wish opportunity from God – ask for something deeper, like wisdom. I thought you’d enjoy this story I read this past week. An angel came to a married couple in their mid-sixties and said, “I have been allowed to grant each of you one wish; ladies first.” The woman said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise and I’d love tickets for my husband and I to go first class.” The angel said, “Sure” and ‘poof’ she was holding two first class tickets. The angel looked at her husband and said, “Okay, your turn.” He looked at his wife and grinned and said, “Well, I’d like to go on that cruise with a woman 30 years younger than me.” The angel said, “Okay” and poof – he was 96 years old. One of the reasons there will always be a market for spiritual con artists is because our hearts pander after whatever they happen to be peddling. Heaven now . . . health now . . . money now . . . greatness now . . . no problems now. Listen, if people got everything these empty talkers promised, why would we ever wanna go to heaven? Heaven is anticlimactic! The truth is, these false teachers promise what they cannot deliver . . . and in the end, the gospel is missing from the conversation and that is the only thing that will ultimately deliver anybody. In an issue of the Christian Post, they ran an article entitled, Why Muslims Convert to Christianity. And among the leading reasons were these – As they read the Bible, they were convicted by its truth; they were attracted by the concept of God’s unconditional love [through Christ]; they could never be certain of their forgiveness and salvation as Christians can.xii Their religion simply wasn’t the same; it wasn’t good news . . . even their great prophet Mohammed wasn’t certain of his own forgiveness. False teachers cannot produce what they promise Paul describes them for the shepherds of the church to be alerted to and to protect the church from – this is the character of a con artist: They are known for their unaccountable personalities They are known for their empty promises
3. Thirdly, they are known as deceptive promoters.
Notice Paul writes further in verse 10 that there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. Literally, they are out of the circumcision. In other words, they were supposedly converts from among the Jewish people who had entered the church without, however, being willing to fully embrace the new covenant. Much of the Book of Acts attempts to deal with the issue of Jewish and Gentile believers reaching consensus based on the gospel of the new covenant and this brand new organism called the church that no one had conceived of prior to Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They wanted Gentiles to become Jews in order to become Christians. They demanded that Gentiles be circumcised, adhere to the Sabbath, abstain from eating non-kosher meat, keep the Mosaic Law and bow to rabbinical teachings. Basically, these false teachers wanted to turn Christianity into another Jewish sect.xiii Paul spent most of his life battling these Judaizers – they were called. They dogged his footsteps, subverted his converts, attacked his apostleship, challenged his authority, undermined his teaching, and distorted the gospel.xiv To put it simply, they were teaching that the gospel wasn’t sufficient for faith; and they were teaching that grace wasn’t the standard for life In other words, Jesus isn’t enough and you gotta keep the rules if you ever hope to get into heaven. And Paul wasn’t going to take it sitting down. So he tells Titus in very strong words – verse 11, they’ve gotta be silenced. The word for silenced literally means, “to muzzle” – to cover over their mouths.xv The present tense points to continuous action – which lets you know that a elder/shepherd is never
off duty in watching for and being alert to and addressing false teaching. Titus, these con artists need to be caught – and you catch them – you expose them – you silence them – not by literally gagging them, but by responding with the truth. You answer with the truth. This goes back to the qualification of an elder in verse 9 where he must be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. And would you notice what they’re doing to the flock? Paul gives us Two Results of Being Conned
Two things are happening here:
a. Number one, families are being turned upside down (v. 11)
1. Here’s the first one: they are known as unaccountable personalities. Paul characterizes them in verse 10 when he writes, “For there are many rebellious men…” The word here translated rebellion is the same word found up in verse 6 for an elder candidate’s child whose lifestyle of uncontrollable disobedience – someone who sets himself up as the authority, having no regard for the authority of his father, which then discredits his father from serving as an elder. That’s the idea here. And in the context of a spiritual leader and teacher, this is the man who claims to be the ultimate authority in spiritual matters. His favorite phrases will explicitly state or subtly imply, “God doesn’t speak to you like He speaks to me; God told me what I’m telling you . . . if you wanna argue with God, that’s your problem.” In other words, he becomes the spiritual authority and he alone is the true source of spiritual insight.
The Bible will be a resource for what he teaches – it will not be the source of what he teaches. And his favorite verse will be I Chronicles 16:22, “Touch not [God’s] anointed and do [His] prophet’s no harm.” And with that you can’t touch him – to quote the great theologian M.C. Hammer . . . you just can’t touch that guy. That verse becomes his shield . . . he’s off limits . . . he’s out of your jurisdiction. And besides, no one else is as smart as he is or as close to God as he is or as anointed as he is and so whatever he says must be from God and you just keep to your little self. He’s God’s anointed.
Someone sent me a video link some time ago to a church service – several thousand people stood and cheered as visiting evangelist brought up on stage a huge scroll of the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament. The evangelist was claiming that he was about to perform some sort of special ceremony and he promised that the pastor would receive a special anointing from God. They unrolled some of the scroll and then had the pastor stand there on stage while they wrapped some of the scroll around his body where he was hidden from sight. And then after making all sorts of declarations that sounded slightly biblical but mostly mystical and even heretical, they unwrapped the scroll and as the pastor stepped forward they effectively claimed he was now uniquely anointed to speak with the same inspiration from God as the Torah was inspired by God. He was now be uniquely anointed to speak for God. And then they even further to seat him in his pastoral chair and several men came and lifted him up and paraded him around the stage over their heads as the evangelist proclaimed that he was now a prophet and a king. And everyone cheered. I sat there with my mouth open. How does that kind of blasphemy go unchecked? How does any man become equally inspired with the text of scripture? One of the protective benefits of a plurality of spiritual leaders and shepherds; no one is unaccountable . . . even Paul was willing to defer to the counsel of other leaders in the church at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:2). What makes spiritual deceivers all the more dangerous is the context here in Titus 1:10 – these false teachers are rising from within the body, not from outside the body. These are professing believers, not unbelievers.iii And the deception of their teaching seems to have the endorsement of the church they represent. In other words, people are cheering them on. Paul writes, here’s the first characteristic of a false teacher – they present themselves as unaccountable personalities.
2. Secondly, they are also known by their empty promises.
Paul goes further here in verse 10 by describing these false teachers as empty talkers.
This is the only time this adjective is found in the entire New Testament. It refers to someone who uses worthless words – someone who uses impressive language with little or no solid content of truth.iv They are fluent, but shallow.v In other words, they are great at making speeches, but when you evaluate the content of their speech, they are biblically shallow at best, but deceptively misleading at worst. One author said, “You can always spot those who don’t teach the truth by the way they so beautifully say absolutely nothing.”vi They’re slick . . . they’re smooth . . . they are persuasive and pleasing and captivating. Try to pin them down on some matter of Biblical truth and they’ll somehow get out of it. I watched one false teacher who pastors a huge church with thousands of followers – he was asked clear, black and white questions about what the Bible said about a variety of issues, rather than provide clear biblical answers that would have been no doubt offensive, he dodged the issues time and time again by responding with, “Well, I don’t know . . . I just can’t say . . . I’m leaving that up to God.” You know, it’d be one thing if the world never asked us what the Bible said about anything. Wouldn’t it be a problem if we just couldn’t somehow ever get a hearing? The greater problem is when supposed leaders within the church get a hearing and then don’t tell the world what the Bible says. But there’s a greater danger here, bound up in this characteristic of a false teacher. Paul says that he’s an empty talker.
In other words, what he says has no lasting spiritual value. He delivers smooth words without spiritual life. In his powerful expose on contemporary Christianity, Michael Horton entitled his book, “Christless Christianity.” Horton earned his doctorate from Oxford, is a committed believer and a professor, now teaching at Westminster Seminary. He explains that Christless Christianity doesn’t mean that false religion or false spirituality is devoid of words like Jesus, Lord, or even Savior.vii Christless Christianity is the way those names are used when they are removed from their Biblical contexts of sin, rebellion, a divine rescue, heaven and hell. He writes, Jesus then becomes a therapist or a buddy, a significant other, a political messiah. The gospel may be tacked on at the end of sermons but it’s only evangelical window dressing. Michael Horton extensively evaluated the content of messages preached by popular speakers and authors like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, TD Jakes and Kenneth Copeland – they may wrap up their sermons by asking people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Which makes them sound all the more biblical, but a Savior from what? And Lord of whom? These questions remain unanswered unless you’re talking about being saved from an unfulfilling job or oppression or sickness or a low self esteem. The Bible is a resource for their teaching and advice, but not the source of their teaching. Horton goes on to write that when he and his wife were raising their triplets, they wanted all the advice they could get from everybody. And they didn’t necessarily get the best advice from Christians. He wrote that some of their best advice came from his barber and his wife. He makes the point that you don’t need the Bible in order to know that your children need regular sleep patterns and furthermore that the secret of a good marriage is talking to each other or that divorce is devastating for children or that if you don’t rule your credit cards they will rule over you. Of course the Bible gives us a lot more wisdom than this, but there are plenty of non-Christians who actually do a better job at doing the right thing than some Christians.viii Michael makes this point – the truth is, someone can lose weight, stop smoking, improve one’s marriage, and become a nicer person without Jesus.ix In other words, if Christianity is nothing more than ethical advice – ways to become a better person and live the best life possible– who are we to say then that our religion is the only true religion when there are other religions that have similar doctrines of morality too – and they become better people because of it as well. If religion is basically ethics – if you reduce Christianity to good advice, it blends in perfectly with the culture of [religion]. Our teaching might seem relevant, but it actually gets lost in the marketplace of moralistic therapies.x So who are we then to say that Christianity is the only true religion – especially when the kind of Christianity now peddled by so many false teachers is nothing more than good advice and moral platitudes. Here’s the point. What distinguishes Christianity at its heart is not necessarily its moral code but its [truth] about a Creator who, although rejected by those He created in his image, stooped to reconcile them to himself through His Son.xi Christianity at its heart is the story of the gospel – the Good News that God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ. That’s the distinguishing mark of Christianity. And everything flows out of the context of who we are as redeemed, reconciled, clothed in the righteousness of Christ children of God by faith alone in Christ alone and we have that kind of Savior and that kind of Lord and that kind of salvation. But what does the false teacher focus on? How to get heaven now; how to get some of that gold pavement up there down here now; how to get healthy now how to learn the secrets of a good self image and a positive way of thinking and how to pull out of yourself seeds of greatness. Other religions teach these empty words as well. Everything is taught but sin and redemption and Jesus Christ as the crucified, atoning Lamb for sinners slain and even now the soon-coming King. That’s the good news. A con artist gives you something you think you want but then you realize it really doesn’t satisfy. Think about it, if money makes you happy, then the richest people on the planet would be the happiest and the poorest people on the planet would be the unhappiest. And you know that isn’t true.
If good health made you satisfied, then sick people would have no joy and personal trainers and body builders would be the truly happy people. That isn’t true either. A con artist gives you what you think you want – but in the end they are empty promises. If an angel were to show up and give us all one wish, I wonder how many of our wishes would fit really well with contemporary Christianity and how many of us would, like Solomon, the only man ever to have been given a one-wish opportunity from God – ask for something deeper, like wisdom. I thought you’d enjoy this story I read this past week. An angel came to a married couple in their mid-sixties and said, “I have been allowed to grant each of you one wish; ladies first.” The woman said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise and I’d love tickets for my husband and I to go first class.” The angel said, “Sure” and ‘poof’ she was holding two first class tickets. The angel looked at her husband and said, “Okay, your turn.” He looked at his wife and grinned and said, “Well, I’d like to go on that cruise with a woman 30 years younger than me.” The angel said, “Okay” and poof – he was 96 years old. One of the reasons there will always be a market for spiritual con artists is because our hearts pander after whatever they happen to be peddling. Heaven now . . . health now . . . money now . . . greatness now . . . no problems now. Listen, if people got everything these empty talkers promised, why would we ever wanna go to heaven? Heaven is anticlimactic! The truth is, these false teachers promise what they cannot deliver . . . and in the end, the gospel is missing from the conversation and that is the only thing that will ultimately deliver anybody. In an issue of the Christian Post, they ran an article entitled, Why Muslims Convert to Christianity. And among the leading reasons were these – As they read the Bible, they were convicted by its truth; they were attracted by the concept of God’s unconditional love [through Christ]; they could never be certain of their forgiveness and salvation as Christians can.xii Their religion simply wasn’t the same; it wasn’t good news . . . even their great prophet Mohammed wasn’t certain of his own forgiveness. False teachers cannot produce what they promise Paul describes them for the shepherds of the church to be alerted to and to protect the church from – this is the character of a con artist: They are known for their unaccountable personalities They are known for their empty promises
3. Thirdly, they are known as deceptive promoters.
Notice Paul writes further in verse 10 that there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. Literally, they are out of the circumcision. In other words, they were supposedly converts from among the Jewish people who had entered the church without, however, being willing to fully embrace the new covenant. Much of the Book of Acts attempts to deal with the issue of Jewish and Gentile believers reaching consensus based on the gospel of the new covenant and this brand new organism called the church that no one had conceived of prior to Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They wanted Gentiles to become Jews in order to become Christians. They demanded that Gentiles be circumcised, adhere to the Sabbath, abstain from eating non-kosher meat, keep the Mosaic Law and bow to rabbinical teachings. Basically, these false teachers wanted to turn Christianity into another Jewish sect.xiii Paul spent most of his life battling these Judaizers – they were called. They dogged his footsteps, subverted his converts, attacked his apostleship, challenged his authority, undermined his teaching, and distorted the gospel.xiv To put it simply, they were teaching that the gospel wasn’t sufficient for faith; and they were teaching that grace wasn’t the standard for life In other words, Jesus isn’t enough and you gotta keep the rules if you ever hope to get into heaven. And Paul wasn’t going to take it sitting down. So he tells Titus in very strong words – verse 11, they’ve gotta be silenced. The word for silenced literally means, “to muzzle” – to cover over their mouths.xv The present tense points to continuous action – which lets you know that a elder/shepherd is never
off duty in watching for and being alert to and addressing false teaching. Titus, these con artists need to be caught – and you catch them – you expose them – you silence them – not by literally gagging them, but by responding with the truth. You answer with the truth. This goes back to the qualification of an elder in verse 9 where he must be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. And would you notice what they’re doing to the flock? Paul gives us Two Results of Being Conned
Two things are happening here:
a. Number one, families are being turned upside down (v. 11)
Paul writes, these false teachers are upsetting whole families (v. 11a). The word translated ‘upsetting’ is the same word used of Christ turning over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple (Matthew 21:12) Everything was literally turned upside down. So you can only imagine the conflict and emotion and pain and confusion and anger in these churches on the island of Crete over the false teaching. I can remember in Africa several years ago – I came to preach in several churches not long after one false prophet had appeared in that city and during his week of meetings he announced that Jesus had told him that He would be making a brief appearance on stage one night that week. Then on that particular night, he suddenly looked over in one direction and began to get all excited . . . he put on quite a show as if he was seeing Jesus on the stage and then he asked that huge crowd, “Did you see Him . . . did you see Him?” I was having lunch with 2 church leaders in Kenya – men who served as secretaries over of two evangelical denominations in that region and they both informed me that so many of their churches were now frustrated and confused and even splitting over who believed Jesus had appeared and who believed Jesus really hadn’t appeared. False teaching about Jesus and a false teacher who claimed to have direct communication with Jesus was now turning everything upside down – dividing the church into factions of anger and frustration confusion.
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The Shepherd's Mantle Series from Wisdom for the Heart ...
https://www.oneplace.com/.../the-shepherds-mantle
At some point (if not sooner) a Republican Senator may walk into the Oval Office and say to President Trump: “Mr. President, we don’t have the votes,” at which point the Trump presidency will end in a resignation or a conviction in the Senate.
Additionally At some point (if not sooner) Republicans who recognized that the Trump presidency can only end in his resignation or conviction(S) having now summoned from self no fear of president Trump may very well be the key needed toward their start to making the necessary friends needed of the United States majority voters having finally discerned Trumps base can never be enough to carry his or any another’s load in the long haul and he knows it.
Proverbs 14:34 contains a sound political maxim, the simplicity of which is often overlooked: personal righteousness in the population— both in citizens and leaders—is the single most important quality any country can possess! This virtue, states Solomon, is preeminent to everything else, because:
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
The writer of Proverbs, King Solomon, whom Scripture states was the wisest man to ever live, proclaims in this passage that personal righteousness is the most important ingredient—and should be the focus—in order to achieve the advancement of any given nation. Solomon does not say that the presence of natural resources exalts a nation, nor does he say it is attributable to the excellence of its education system, as important as those are. Rather, personal righteousness is what is the most important! All else hinges on the integrity and honesty of a nation’s leaders and its citizenry, especially as it pertains to a nation’s long-term economic viability. Note the democracies where a lack of righteousness exists—instead where corruption exists—and what it does to the nation. This is basic but, again, often overlooked.
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Five Definitive Characteristics of Righteous Leadership
Proverbs 14:34 contains a sound political maxim, the simplicity of which is often overlooked: Personal righteousness in the population — both in citizens and leaders — is the single most important commodity that any country can possess! This virtue, states Solomon, is preeminent to everything else, because:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
The writer of Proverbs, King Solomon whom Scripture states was the wisest man to ever live, proclaims in this passage that personal righteousness is the most important ingredient — and should be the focus — in order to achieve the advancement of any given nation. Solomon does not say that the presence of natural resources exalts a nation, nor does he say that it is attributable to the excellence of its education system, as important as those are, among other things. Rather, personal righteousness is what is the most import!
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