Christians in Wolves Clothing!

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12
 
Do you know what one of my "pet peeves" is? It is Christian people that lay a guilt trip at the door of other Christians that are sick, or having other problems beyond their control.
 
I don't like the idea of kicking a person when they are already down. Where is the love there? How many saints of God have walked away from Church completely due to the harsh words spoken to them by some Christian with a "religious spirit." You know the type, you go to the altar and get on your knees in front of God, you are ill or in pain and you want prayer for healing.  Then, as you are leaving Ms. Legalistic Christian, wants to have a word with you. She takes you to the side and says something like, "Have you examined your life to see if there is hidden sin there?" Now you come under a spirit of condemnation. You spend the rest of the day wondering why God is mad at you and what you have done. Now, you tell me, was that "word" God or was that Satan? In Romans 8:1 we read;
 
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
 
I have lived long enough to tell you that in every life problems occur. It has nothing to do, usually, with what we do or don't do. I want to make it clear that I am not talking about the "addict" who spends all their money on their addiction and then comes to the church for money because they can't pay their bills. We can all see that the fault, in those situations, lies with the person's lifestyle.  I am talking today about good folks who have bad things happen to them. 
 
We don't need to be ashamed of our suffering. The bible tells us that we will all have troubles from time to time. We do need to be ashamed of ourselves if we cannot support a hurting Christian without giving them a guilt trip.  Maybe there is hidden sin in the person's life; only God knows the heart each Christian. Nevertheless, it is up to the Holy Spirit to convict them.
 
So many times Christians don't get the love and support they need in times of crisis, because they remember the last time they asked for prayer and someone judged them instead of loving them.  So a lot of times we hold things inside out of fear of judgment.
 
I honestly think Christians can be some of the meanest and most hateful people on earth at times. This is why a lot of folks leave the church and go back into the world.  If I could impress Christians with one thing today it is this, we need to realize that the world is hurting and they need unconditional love to come to Christ, or to mature in Christ. I believe that Satan uses legalistic Christians to his advantage. He wants folks not to pray for us, because he knows the power of Christians praying for each other. If he can get someone to judge us, rather than pray for us, he has accomplished that goal. 
 
Of course, some of you who know me personally, know that I am pretty outspoken. These days God has tempered my tongue. I am, however, still a work in progress.
 
One day, I was in a group of new and mature Christians, praying, when a person started praying like this, "God, this world is becoming an evil place and all these sinners are getting worse each day, come against these people quickly and send them to the hell they deserve." I later told the person, in love, that they might not want to pray like that in public, it reminded me of the parable in Luke 18:10-14
 
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 
  
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 

 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

In my life I have found that God seems to come on the scene of my difficulty quickly when I admit my sin and ask Him, humbly, to forgive me. 

In Psalm 91 I notice that the psalmist does not say that we will not have floods or fires, or other troubles. The psalmist does say that when we go through these things we will not be destroyed or drown.

 Psalm 91 promises divine protection from God, no matter what we may go through.  A lot of our afflictions are the tests that grow us up in the Lord. The difference between our problems and the problems of the unsaved is that God stands by our sides and delivers us from them all. 

Many of our outer battles are won by an inner strength. Our peace is a redemptive provision. Christ, our deliverer, is our sure defense. We are upheld by His power both within and without. 
We have to start facing the fact that not everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian is going to be in heaven.

 In Matthew 7:21-23 we read;
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

There are times when we need to point out, in love, what the Word says and how the person might be missing something in the Word that is impeding their spiritual progress. When they are hurting is not the time to do it. 

My point today is that I don't want you to get your feelings hurt because of legalistic people in the body of Christ. Test the spirits. Does what they say sound like something Jesus would say to you? If it doesn't, I don't care if they have been "saved" for 20 years and you just got saved last year, recognize that they are not true representatives of Christ and ignore them. Walk away and thank them, and then go home and pray for them. 

Father, help us to remember today that the destructive power of the tongue of any enemy is dissipated by the Love of GOD. In Your Name, the Name above all names we pray. Amen and Amen

For We Know With God Nothing..No Thing is impossible