Dealing With Hateful Online Comments

If you've been online for as many years as I have (since 1999) and you've been part of any social media site, or if you've shared the salvation message of Jesus in public, you've come to realize that not everyone will agree with what you may say. Early on, I used to fight to win online arguments, but through years of experience, I've found this to be a futile endeavor. I'm in no way an expert, but as a born again believer in Christ, I've developed ways of dealing with individuals online who give me a difficult time. These are tips you can also use when speaking with someone face to face as well. You undoubtedly have a different set of personality traits that would lead you to handling some things in a different way, but this is what works for me personally.

RESIGN YOURSELF TO THE FACT THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO WIN THE ARGUMENT

Your goal shouldn't be to win an argument. Your goal should be to share the salvation message, your biblical knowledge, and to share facts in the hopes of having a rational discussion with others. There are those who don't have that same mindset. Many people don't want to open their mind to other viewpoints or they're just looking for an argument. They'll refuse to give up any ground, even when you've given them all the facts. You can take a picture of the sky to prove that it's blue, and they'll still say it's green. They're just plain stubborn and refuse to listen to reason. They could also be trolls, who want to take the opposite viewpoint just to give you a difficult time as they try to stir up strife. These are the people on which you don't want to waste your time. The moment someone becomes combative and refuses to listen to what you have to say, the minute you realize that their ears, mind, and heart are closed to what you have to share, the minute they're more interested in their own viewpoint and have become deaf to what you're trying to share, the conversation should end. There's no use in investing time and effort to type out your entire side of the conversation if they're just going to ignore everything you've written and stick to their guns, even when scripture and logic shows otherwise. There comes a time when you just need to stop casting pearls or need to shake the dust from your feet. Many times, I'll end the conversation with, "We'll just have to agree to disagree," or "We're just talking in circles, so I'll give you the last word." Once you've said that, you've taken the power out of their hands because you've, effectively, ended the discussion. Don't even wait for their online response, because if you do, they're probably going to goad you into responding again. Just move on and don't let the enemy get a foothold. 

IF POSSIBLE, LIVE PEACEFULLY WITH EVERYONE.

It says in Roman 12:18, "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." Very rarely will negative feedback or comments get my dander up. I can usually read them, shrug them off, chuckle about them, smile, and respond in a way that doesn't feed into, or fuel, their hateful or combative rhetoric. I've been called every name in the book. I've heard it all. How do I handle it? I try to calmly explain my side a little more clearly, using logic and, depending on the situation, scripture. If they continue to attack me, I dodge it and respond with more God given wisdom and knowledge. Most will get tired of not getting anywhere with their attacks, and they'll just give up. They'll figure out that it's better to give up than to continually be proven wrong.

Another way to deal with negative, hateful, and vulgar comments is to just respond with humor. If they can see that they're not getting you upset, they'll leave. I'll respond with a facetious comment, causing them to look a little foolish without actually attacking them. A few good facetious comments along with some "LOL's" and laughing emojis and they tend to move along because they don't want to look like a fool in front of anyone in the comment section. If they're on my YouTube channel, I'll say something like, "Thanks for watching the video and for leaving your comments. When you leave comments, it boosts my stats." They usually leave right after that. If not, I won't even address the topic of their next negative comment. I'll just say something like, "Another comment! Ding! My stats just went up. Thank you so much for helping me out! Keep them going!!!" They're usually gone by that point.

DON'T GET DISTRACTED AND BECOME A CONSTANT TARGET BY LOSING CONTROL

Many people, once they realize that their not winning the argument, will attempt to change the subject ("Well what about this... what about that?"). I always try stay on topic and bring it to some sort of conclusion before we move on to something else. I say something like, "I'll address that in a moment, but just to finish clarifying what we were talking about..." If you allow them to steer the conversation, nothing will get resolved and you'll just be a constant target for whatever they want to throw at you until they find something that sticks. Resolve issues one at a time in order to avoid confusion. If not, by the end of the conversation, not one issue will have been thoroughly discussed and/or resolved, ending with nothing actually being accomplished.

AVOID THE BOOK WRITERS

With online social media, there are those who will try to overwhelm the comment section with what seems like a chapter from a book. Their comment is so long, and the scripture they're sharing is so disjointed and cherry picked, that there's no way you can adequately respond in the limited space of a comment section. It reminds me of a meme I once created...

Trust me. Don't take the time to write your own book explaining point by point how what they just said was scripturally inaccurate, because they're so convinced that they're right, that they'll reject anything you have to say in response to them if it contradicts what they've written. They'll just write another chapter to let you know how wrong you are, and it'll be filled with more misquoted and cherry picked scripture. So, in the end, all that time and effort that you put into responding to their initial comment would have been for naught, because they either didn't read it, or they ignored it. That's why I refuse to read anyone's comment if it's more than a couple of paragraphs containing multiple points, because there's no way to adequately respond to that kind of comment without putting a lot of time and effort into it.

NEVER ATTACK THE OTHER PERSON

If you can remember not to take things personally, then this shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. Just try to remember that they're likely coming from a position of ignorance of the issue or of God's word. The quickest way for a discussion to devolve is to attack the other person. The discussion then turns into a personal argument, and then it turns into chaos. Your attacks then make you the aggressor in everyone else's eyes, and you'll just end up looking like a fool if your attacks are proven false. It's okay to have an offensive stance, but that's not an excuse to purposely hurt other people. People are already going to get their feelings hurt by the truth. We don't need to add anything else to that negative experience that's going to just make things worse. Remember, our fight isn't against flesh and blood. The unsaved are being influenced by the enemy, and they're living in the flesh, without a resurrected, born again spirit. What you see clearly, they can't yet understand. That being said, I confess that I've taken some things personally and regretted my responses afterwards. That leads me to my next point...

LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURES

When you fail, and you will fail, learn from the experience. Your words won't always be the right ones. You'll say things with an attitude that you'll regret. You won't always have an answer for someone who poses a difficult question or idea. It's easy for me to say don't sweat it, but... don't. It's all part of the learning process. You can't take back words when you're in a face to face discussion, but at least online you can fix a mistake by just deleting what you've said. When you see an area of weakness on your part, then focus on that issue in your next bible study, so that God can increase your wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of Him and His word, and so you can be ready to provide a more knowledgeable response the next time the subject comes up in conversation. 

REMAIN HUMBLE... YOU MAY BE WRONG

Many times we're convinced that what we believe is 100% correct. We'll argue a point until the other person brings up a fact or a scripture that changes everything. Suddenly, those long held beliefs are blown away and truth wins out. We have to always be ready to be proven wrong. In fact, I don't mind being proven wrong. Why? Because I don't want to live my life believing something is the truth when it's a lie. I don't mind having my bubble popped, so-to-speak. That's how I've come to realize that a lot of church tradition is just that... manmade tradition passed down from generation to generation within the church. We can't ask others to listen and think about what we have to say if we're not willing to show them the same consideration. We're not always right! So my advice is to remain humble, because it's the humble that are open to loving correction and rebuke through the Holy Spirit. If that happens, then don't be too prideful to admit to the other person that you understand where they're coming from, and that they've given you something to think about. Then go do some hardcore bible study...lol. 

I hope this has given you some food for thought and that you'll walk away with one or two tips that you can use in your own online and real life encounters with the church and the unsaved. 

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE, AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET

A Thief In The Night Film: Patty's Struggle With Ambivalence

How many of you have watched A Thief In The Night series and have been totally frustrated with Patty? She is so ambivalent, that she just can't decide what to do. On one hand, she has her own belief in God, but on the other hand, it's not the type of faith that's needed for salvation. Like many others, she believes there's a God, but it's a God of her own creation. She attends an apostate church, because the message is easy and it doesn't compromise her own personal beliefs or force her to make any serious changes to her life. She can live as she wants, as long as she occasionally attends church and tries her best to live a good life. 

SPOILER ALERT:

When she's confronted by the actual events of the Rapture, she loses her husband, her grandmother, and her closest friend, thus becoming even more torn between having a general "belief" in God and having actual, life altering "faith" in Him. She flip flops back and forth between wanting to believe like her husband, grandmother and friend who disappeared, but then reverts back to the teaching of her apostate pastor, which is in direct conflict with scripture.

Some may ask... Isn't it enough to just believe in God? After all, God says to believe and I'll be saved.

That would greatly depend upon how you define the word "believe." You can believe (have a knowledge) that God exists, but just knowing God exists isn't enough. Even Satan and his demons believe that God exists... they lived in His presence... but that's not enough. 

To begin with, belief is actually a faithful independent trust in God. It's also an act of developing a relationship with Jesus and to depend solely upon His sacrifice on the cross for our salvation. He suffered the full force of God's wrath upon Himself for all of us, and because of that, He's able to offer us the free gift of salvation, through His sacrifice. This isn't just head knowledge. This is the type of belief that results in a deeper relationship with God. It's a belief... a faith... that draws us closer to Him through reading and studying scripture, and by spending time with Him in prayer. To truly believe in God is to submit all aspects of our life to Him and to be proactive in developing a closer, more obedient relationship with Him. (1John. 5:5, James 1:22, Luke 9:23, Romans 10:9-11, 12:1, John 6:47).

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE, AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET

A Jezebel Spirit Is Just A Church Tradition

The Jezebel spirit (demon) isn't directly mentioned in the Bible, but you'll often hear Christians using the term in reference to a powerful demon. I can't blame them, because that's what they're being taught in church and through word of mouth.

Queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, is described in the Old Testament as someone who persecuted the prophets of God, promoted idol worship, engaged in sexual immorality, and lead God's people astray. The so-called "Jezebel spirit" is associated with traits such as hatred, seduction, calculation, wickedness, and manipulation. This term is used to describe people, mainly women, who demonstrate these manipulative and controlling behaviors within the church. Christians attribute Jezebel's actions to a powerful demonic spirit that possessed her or had some type of control over her, but that's more of a church tradition rather than scriptural truth. Nowhere in the bible is there mention of a specific demonic Jezebel spirit. 

The Jezebel spirit often makes good fodder for many things, like preaching an exciting sermon, making money from book publishing, publicly trying to cast out this non-entity, and/or getting hits, likes, and shares on social media. Christians just love using the phrase, but all it does is give demons undeserved credit for mankind's response to demonic influence. Like the "spirit of python," (<-- Link) this off-base Jezebel teaching cycles around every few years to misinform a new generation of believers, or is passed down by word of mouth from one Christian to another every time someone wants to judge the actions of an individual who is exhibiting such behavior. 

Jezebel was cunning, spiritually controlling, and manipulative and did her best to lead others into sin and to cause division among God's people. She excelled in exhibiting manipulative and controlling behaviors, leading others into moral compromise and false teaching. These behaviors and actions made her feel powerful and brought her joy and personal satisfaction. How many people have we seen in our lifetime who thrive in their own selfish, arrogant, or narcissistic behavior, exhibiting much of the same attributes that were attributed to Jezebel? It's not the evidence of a Jezebel spirit, it's evidence of a life lived in pridefulness and in rebellion against God. Jezebel was an evil woman who openly sinned, encouraged others to openly sin, mocked God, and caused division. Sure, there were demonic influences, but she made the decision to submit to those influences, living to satisfy the sinful desires of her flesh, and, in doing so, suffered the consequences of her actions. 

It's common for Christians to blame demons for their own negative behavior or the behavior or others, but often that's just a cop-out for Christians who are willfully submitting to the desires and weaknesses of the flesh, failing in their own walk with the Lord, or who are finding it difficult to change a behavior, like dealing with issues such as anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, lust, revenge, greed, gluttony, thirst for authority, etc... 

When the term, "Jezebel spirit," is used, many Christians think of it as a demonic entity rather than the personal sinful traits of one woman who God highlighted as an example of living a life in enmity against Him. It's important to view this "Jezebel spirit" as personality traits, sinful behavior, and animosity toward God, instead of what the church has deemed to be powerful demonic possession or influence. Let's not give the enemy any undeserved credit for what he's not responsible in accomplishing. He's a tempter of the flesh... the father of lies... but we are responsible for our own actions, just as Jezebel was responsible for hers. 

So when using the term, "Jezebel spirit," we need to understand that it's not referring to one powerful, demonic spirit, but an example of the constant attack we're under in the spiritual realm to turn us from God. He has given us an example of what can happen if we allow the enemy to completely influence our thoughts and actions, as is what occurred with the evil and sinful behavior of Jezebel. 

I would prefer that the church stop using this term, because in the minds of so many people, it depicts an almost all-powerful spiritual entity who doesn't exist, but it seems so ingrained in the psyche of Christians, that it would be difficult to discourage it's use, because so many people are bound by church tradition and false teaching. The important thing about church tradition is that if it doesn't hold up to scripture, then we need to be willing to let it go.

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE, AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET

Today Is Easter: Why I'm Not Celebrating The Day

Let me just begin by reminding everyone that Christians have something called communion. It's described in scripture and it began with Jesus' instruction during the last supper with His disciples. Communion is a way for believers to participate together in showing their love for, and fellowship with, Christ. We were given instruction in how to remember the atoning sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Drinking of the fruit of the vine symbolizes His shed blood, while consuming the broken bread symbolizes His body, which was broken for all of us. 

This is one of the main reasons why I don't celebrate Easter. Jesus already instructed us in how to remember Him and His sacrifice for us. He made that clear with the example of communion. We were never instructed by God, through scripture, to recognize a specific and singular day or time of the year to recognize Jesus' birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection. In fact, His instructions were to participate in communion regularly. 

Many people explain their aversion to this "Christian" holiday by emphasizing the pagan roots of this day, but we don't even need to go that route when discussing the issue. I think it muddies the water and causes unnecessary arguments. There's no need to go into what it's possible pagan roots consist of, other than to say again that Easter wasn't, and isn't, a God ordained holiday, but is, instead, a manmade holiday that began at the First Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, which established the observance of this day by all "Christians" on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. So, to put it into perspective, Easter originated with the Roman Catholic Church, which is steeped in paganism, religious rituals, symbolism, graven images, and worldly traditions, but that's a subject for another article. 

If you can understand and acknowledge that Easter isn't a God-directed holiday and that it wasn't even celebrated by the early church, then you're heading in the right direction. So, if Easter is just a made up Catholic holiday, how did it spill over to protestant churches after the Reformation? 

Holidays, like Easter, have been kept alive by tradition and nostalgia. Traditions are beliefs and behaviors that have been followed by people from generation to generation without much thought. In fact, many of the things we honestly believe are scriptural are actually just church tradition. The problem comes when "Christian" tradition becomes so ingrained that it's seen as a sacrilege NOT to participate in or recognize that very thing, and can cause someone to be labeled as an apostate for not following tradition. Nostalgia is what ties strong emotions and memories to traditions. Tradition and nostalgia are strongly linked together and are very powerful emotional tools employed by the enemy (Satan) to keep people bound to things of which they should be repenting. One of the enemy's greatest accomplishments is to condition Christians into believing and participating in things that he has disguised as Christian or biblical.

I don't attend church services during Easter or Christmas season, so that I can separate myself from the secular and pagan symbolism of those seasons. I prefer to remain apart and removed from those things of which God has separated me. Discussing the secularism/paganism of those holidays with other Christians is as challenging as discussing Jesus with Atheists. When I'm talking with unbelievers, their negative words and feelings are expected. Not so much with those who claim to be born again believers, who won't even entertain the thought that their long held beliefs could be unbiblical. It's both frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time. Another sad thing is seeing how many "Christians" compromise their faith by combining the spiritual with the worldly in the observance of this holiday. They'll say it's, "for the kids," but that's a weak excuse. As a parent, I know that it can be difficult, but aren't we supposed to bring our children up in the way that they should go so that they won't depart from it? What they're actually training up their child to do is to perpetuate this tradition. What compromised Christians are actually doing is training up another generation of Christians who are going to be bound and chained by tradition and nostalgia and who are then passing it on to the next generation of Christians. 

That's why we get Christians who welcome graphics like the one we have here. It seems like a colorful Christian expression of the season that includes butterflies (a symbol of rebirth), a scripture reference, and a cross with a bow. What else do we see? Rabbit ears... and it's all designed with Easter egg pastel colors. This graphic may appear to be Christian by some Christians, but it just reinforces the combining of a Christian and secular celebration of Easter. In other words, compromised Christianity.

The decision of whether or not to celebrate Easter is in the hands of everyone who considers themselves to be a born again believer. Some people just aren't ready to entertain the idea of turning away from the limitations of Easter, but others have reached the point where they are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this area of their life. Honestly ask yourself, "If my relationship with God and others is different on this day, then what does it say about my daily relationship with God?" "If Jesus set up communion as a reflection and celebration of His life, then doesn't that make Easter moot?" "What can I do on Easter that I can't do any other day of the year?" When you begin asking yourself these first few important questions, and begin reflecting on the word of God, I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit will show you that your faith in God, and the strength of your relationship with Him, should be just as strong every day as you believe it to be on a day like Easter. May the Holy Spirit also convict anyone who has been compromising their Christianity to include the secular aspect of Easter. 

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET

A Thief In The Night Film: Following The Wrong Man

If you're over 30 years old, then you're probably familiar with a film called, "A Thief In The Night." Since it's release in 1973, it has produced three sequels and has reached millions of people around the world with the message of salvation, causing a multitude to repent and believe. The movie is dated, as you can see by the clothes, hairstyles, cars, etc... but the message isn't. If you haven't seen this film, there are a few online sources where you can watch it for free, including Tubi and YouTube. If you haven't watched the film, then be forewarned that there are SPOILERS AHEAD. That being said...

Many born again believers fall into the trap of following a man instead of following God. Patty, the main character in "A Thief In The Night," makes some serious and life altering errors in judgment in her half-hearted attempt to have a relationship with God. Patty attends an apostate church, where people aren't challenged. The message is easy, and they don't really have to worry about sin and it's consequences. So you see, the first mistake Patty made was to become involved in a church that was led by an apostate minister, surrounding herself with a likeminded congregation that didn't want to have their religious beliefs challenged. 

This church employs, and is lead by, an apostate minister who doesn't take the bible seriously, and doesn't preach sound doctrine from it. His sermons are designed to make the congregation feel at ease, allowing them to fall into a spiritual slumber, never challenging them or requiring anything of consequence of them. He tells them what their itching ears want to hear... they can believe in God, but still live their lives as they wish, with no negative spiritual or eternal consequences. They're taught that they don't need to adhere to scripture, because scripture is just allegory... symbolic... without real consequences for sin.

When the Rapture actually occurs, both Patty and her minister, Rev. Turner, are taken off guard and left behind to deal with the consequences of their actions and to fear about living in the Tribulation. It's at that moment that the apostate minister finally realizes his grave mistake, and he grieves over the number of people in his congregation that were left behind and for those who, before the Rapture, had died in their sin, having never heard the message of salvation (at least not in his church). Patty, like others, was lulled by Rev. Turner's safe and easy message of trying your best to live a good life and not worry about sinning, because people can't help but sin. She was now reaping the consequences of believing Rev. Turner's false teaching.

Still, after learning and admitting that she should never have followed the teachings of her apostate Pastor, she ends up making the same mistake again. You see, after she and her pastor are temporarily incarcerated in the local jail, a prison matron comes to Patty's cell, trying to convince her to take the mark. She tells Patty that Rev. Turner has "seen the error of his way" and has taken the mark. Patty is surprised at first because it doesn't reflect the conversation she just had with him the prior night, but she shrugs it off and decides to take the mark as well because, as she sees it, her minister knows what's best. That's right! Even though she knew her apostate minister led her astray, she's willing to follow him AGAIN and go against precisely what the Christians she has known in her life have warned her not to do.

It's only after she is brought outside, when she sees a deceased Rev. Turner sporting a bloody forehead and laying on a gurney, that she realizes that the prison matron lied to her. She breaks free and runs for her life.

That's not all. Who does Patty contact? She calls the only friend she still has... Diane. She's the third young lady of this young trio of women in the film. Diane has never believed in the salvation message, and even called it, "...a bunch of bull." So Patty, after missing out on the Rapture, choses to run to her atheist friend. Even at this point, being forewarned about the Rapture, and even having her own husband disappear, she remains on the fence.

We can look to others to define our relationship with God, or we can look to Him alone. Many born again believers make the mistake of comparing their spiritual walk with the examples set by other born again believers that they judge to be better than themselves. They judge their own success and failures by those comparisons. That's a huge mistake. Yes, we can take encouragement observing another believer's relationship with God, but our walk is ours alone. It's a unique relationship with the Lord that is defined by our own personality and by what God wishes to accomplish through us. We all have our own unique personality, experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. 

The danger is when we allow others to define our place in God's kingdom and to define our success in our spiritual walk with the Lord. This especially holds true for young born again believers, who are just trying to fit into the body of Christ and are using other believers as examples or templates. If Patty had been reading her bible, praying, and trying to forge a close relationship with the Lord, she would have known she was in an apostate church and that she was being taught by an apostate pastor. Instead, she was being religious, thinking that this was enough. After all, everyone in her little church bubble, including her pastor, reinforced those feelings and thoughts, which were... On occasion, go to church, read your bible, and do a little praying. Then live your life trying to be as "good" as your own subjective ethics and feelings tell you to. As Patty said, "What else is there? I'm as good as the next person... maybe better." 

Well, if you don't know by now, it's not about how "good" you think you are. It's not about meeting anyone else's expectations. It's about addressing the broken relationship we have with God and the sin that we carry with us. It's about repenting of our past sin and having faith in, and submitting to, the One who put aside His own glory in Heaven, humbled Himself by coming to earth to be born a man, and who lived a perfect life as an example to us all. It's about Jesus' suffering and death on the cross, shedding his innocent blood and taking on the full brunt of God's judgment; a judgment that should have been directed toward us. It's receiving the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and having our sins forgiven and the slate wiped clean through His blood, and having our relationship with God restored by having our dead spirit resurrected and being born again by way of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus stood in the way of God's judgment upon us when He went to the cross as our ultimate sacrifice, and He still stands in the way as He mediates for us as our High Priest in Heaven. 

So, be careful who you listen to, and use sound judgment and discernment in seeking out sound teaching. If what you're hearing contradicts scripture, then it's not sound teaching. Also, never hold anyone in such high regard, that your desire to follow them becomes stronger than your desire to follow God. In other words, never put anyone on a pedestal or become their fanboy. It clouds good judgment, discernment, and can lead you astray without even realizing it.

The message of Tribulation Harvest has always been a simple one. Repent, and be forgiven! Believe, and be saved! You'll see that at the end of all my blogs.

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE, AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET