“James 4 1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 
2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
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There are still too many persons who equate book or head knowledge with real spirituality but nothing can be further from the truth since most of what these people do know is still only partial truths, mixed with loads of falsehoods, and they also do not have any real practical relationship, experience walking with God so it all mostly does not count, merely inflates their egos..
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There is no such thing as living in a world in which individuals are not being judged by others for the actions that they take or what they say. Making a statement such as, “you cannot judge me”, is ludicrous if one is honest https://postedat.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/you-canot-judge-me/
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Tell me who your friends are and I can tell you what you are like, a man is known by the company he keeps. Bible ignorant persons do not know that there are plenty of verses even in Proverbs too that deal with us not having bad associates but for us rather to rebuke them too.. Wicked people are wicked and they even take false pride in corrupting others.. And the contrast between the ungodly and the godly. The ungodly are mocking, speaking great swelling words, and walking after their ungodly lusts, while the righteous are building up themselves in their most holy faith, and keeping themselves in the love of God. ..parrot like persons repeat what they hear others tell them or what they hear the devil telll them whereas a Godly persons will quote the Bible and what God the Holy Spirit isntructs them to say.. of Course the holy Spirit has departed from all ungodly wicked persons.. As far as light is removed from darkness, and life from death, so far does a believer differ from the ungodly.
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“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them…. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness” (Isaiah 8:20, 22).
Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Ps 1:1
Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians. He was warning them not to walk as some do “in the vanity [pride] of their mind” (Ephesians 4:18). He warned of those who learned Christ in a perverted way, because their understanding was darkened. They were “cut off from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18). Paul said of them, they “are past feeling and have given themselves over unto lasciviousness [lustfulness], to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:19).
They are deceived, and consequently they are deceivers themselves for they have mislearned the true Christ! so “…they shall be driven to darkness…” (Isaiah 8:22).
Isaiah warned, “…their root shall be as rottenness,…because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people…” (Isaiah 5:24, 25).
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Of course the devil wants you to have wicked friends so they can corrupt you. I think one would would want to to avoid wicked people.. especialy if you are yourself still wicked? For the sinful kingdom of self is actually inspired by the devil himself.. and when you present a truth the devil will always try to send one of demonic followers to try to deny it “.Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” As to the wicked, bad people I can love them but I can still freely choose who my real friends are.. if you fellowship with the wicked still it is cause you are going to hell still.. as clearly you have not make a full seperation to God, and Jesus Christ is not the Lord of your life, so of course for sure you are still undeniably hell bound.. if you cannot give up bad friends for jesus Christ you realy are not a born aagain, holy Spirit filled Christian.. you do have to still to trust and obey God in all things to still next make it to Heaven.. If your a saint, and you are a follower of Jesus Christ, don’t avoid to preach to them, but avoid hanging around with them.God has demanded that we all do ask all men to repent, world wide too..
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Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Prov 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
“Let no man [even preachers] deceive you with vain [empty] words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be ye not therefore partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6, 7).
God commands all men everywhere to repent Acts 17,30.
Unless they repent, they will likewise perish Luke 13,3.
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SELF-DECEPTION CAN BE DEADLY
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From the beginning, Satan has been a deceiver. In the Garden of Eden, he deceived Eve and he has been deceiving mankind ever since. (Gen. 3.)
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Now don’t take me wrong for what I am about to say. I am not defending Satan. He is a liar and a deceiver. But what I am saying is this— sometimes we are deceived and it is not Satan who deceives us.
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First Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no one deceive himself.” A nd in 1 John 1:8 it says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We can see clearly from these two verses that it is possible to deceive ourselves.
How do we deceive ourselves anyway? Once again let’s go to the Word.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22–25
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According to the Bible, then, a man who hears the Word and does not do it deceives himself. Because he hears the Word of God, he has convinced himself that everything is okay. The reality, however, is that everything is not okay. He just thinks it is. Therefore, he has deceived himself.
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In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus tells the story of two men who built houses. One man, a wise man, built his house on the rock and when the storms came, his house withstood the storms.
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The other man, a foolish man, built his house on the sand. When the storms came, his house was destroyed. Jesus said the man who built his house on the rock was like someone who hears His sayings and does them. He compared the foolish man who built his house on the sand to a man who hears His sayings and does not do them.
Both men built houses and probably both houses looked good. Both men heard the sayings of Jesus and that’s good. But when the storms came, only the house that was built on the rock, only the man who acted on what he heard, survived. Acting on the Word of God is what we call faith.
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We must not deceive ourselves. Hearing the Word of God without acting on the Word can be deadly. God didn’t give us His Word just so we would be highly educated. Education is good. It’s a good thing to read and study God’s Word, but without action, it profits us nothing. That’s what the scribes and Pharisees did at the time of Jesus and Jesus rebuked them for their hypocrisy. (Matt. 23:13–15.)
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So, we have a choice to make. Do we hear the Word and sit back and say, “That sounds pretty good” and do nothing? Or, do we hear the Word and then act on what we hear?
A doer of the Word is someone who prays for the sick. A doer of the Word is someone who forgives. A doer of the Word is someone who loves those who don’t love in return. A doer of the Word is someone who casts out demons. A doer of the Word is someone who is not self- deceived.
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THE SOURCE OF SELF-DECEPTION
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The worst kind of deception is self-deception. When people have been deceived by someone else and that deception is discovered, most of us deal with it swiftly and decisively. However, self-deception is rarely dealt with because many people feel they are right and will never look inwardly.
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The Bible describes it like this: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise” (Prov. 12:15).
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All through God’s Word, we are warned about deception. Deception is the tool that the serpent used against Eve. (2 Cor. 11:3.) It is still a tool of the enemy. Self-deception, however, is a result of the flesh and ignorance. The term self-deception denotes that the deception comes from within, rather than from without. The enemy is a deceiver. In the same way God wants us to be holy like He is holy, Satan wants us to be like him and he is the father of deception. (John 8:44.)
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Because of pride, Satan rebelled against God. When pride enters into the heart of a man, he is a candidate for self-deception. Obadiah 1:3 says, “The pride of your heart has deceived you.” According to the Word, we have been warned against self-deception. The following are eight basic ways we deceive ourselves.
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1) By hearing the Word but not doing it:
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
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2) By thinking too highly of ourself:
If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
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3) By not acknowledging sin and repenting:
James 1:22
Galatians 6:3
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If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8–10
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Romans 7:11
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
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4) By placing faith in the world’s wisdom:
1 Corinthians 6:9,10
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness.”
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5) By not bridling our tongue:
1 Corinthians 3:18,19
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
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6) By not understanding sowing and reaping:
James 1:26,27
Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
7) By having worldly associations:
Galatians 6:6–8
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
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8) By not understanding the source of good and evil:
2 Corinthians 6:14
1 Corinthians 15:33
1 Timothy 2:14
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Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:16,17
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The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
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The bottom line to avoiding self-deception or deception by someone else is this: God’s Word is true. If we walk in the truth of His Word instead of the opinions of worldly people, we will not be deceived.
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