Tag Archives: Fake friends

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WITH FRIENDS LIKE THAT…

I love old sayings, people long ago learned lessons and passed that wisdom down to forewarn future generations.
Ministers are like front line soldiers discovering what’s in the enemies arsenal and reporting back to the troops what weapon is needed to take them down.
Some of the wisest words ever spoken were, “With friends like that, who needs enemies.”
As Paul said “when he thought to do good, evil was ever-present with him.” Sometimes it is difficult for us to see just who our real enemies are.
Think about it, the Bible says that Satan himself “can transform into an angel of light” and we know that he is well versed in the scripture and loves nothing more than to try to twist the word of God to snare, trap, and pervert us.
Genesis 3:1(a) “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made…” and most know this story, through convincing Eve that she really, really wanted this and she should just trust him, it would all be okay, he deceived her into making a decision that we all paid for and Jesus gave his life to repair the damage that “friend” caused.
David, not even trying to resist his lust for Bathsheba ( I know it was lust because he had tried to get Uriah to go home, hoping he would sleep with her and think he had fathered the baby and let them all live a lie) when all of his plans failed, he in effect had Uriah “murdered by war” using him to deliver his own death warrant.
The wages of sin are death, this brought it down on his entire family. Nathan the Prophet went so far as to deliver the judgment handed down from God that the sword would never leave David’s house.
So that voice as the serpent rose again, David’s son Amnon became completely possessed by a spirit of incestuous lust toward his half-sister Tamar. As Satan purposed all this in Amnon’s heart he sent his messenger with just the reassurance Amnon’s flesh needed to act upon that lust.
2 Samuel 13:2,3 ” And Amnon was so vexed (distressed) that he feel sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her ( knew it was wrong ). But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shiva David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.”

His “friend” talked him into raping her, destroying her and filling her brother(his half) Absalom with such hate that it mirrors the rebellion Lucifer led in his attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven.

He had Amnon murdered and led a rebellion against David and died trying to flee David’s army, when his long beautiful hair became caught and tangled on a tree branch leaving him helpless against the sword.
Snared and tangled up, some prophetic symbolism in that, what unchecked bitterness and hate will do to us.
That is what happens when one person chooses to listen to the wrong voice. A girl’s life was completely devastated, two brothers were dead, two mothers, a father, and an entire kingdom was left to mourn and to never be the same.

One more example, sometimes the enemy wants to take you down so bad that he will send a multitude of voices, because after all, how can so many be so wrong?

The story of Queen Esther tells us of Haman, the King’s power-hungry, right hand boy who hated the Jews especially Esther’s uncle, Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow to him.

So Amidst his whining over the injustice of the situation,

Esther 5:14 “Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and on the morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go merrily with the king unto the banquet. and this thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.”

Long story short, Haman was hanged on his own gallows and Mordecai got his job.
God tells us “surely they shall gather together, but not by me, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.”

Haman fell into his own trap, a trap laid at the urging of those closest to him, who supposedly had his best interests in mind, telling him exactly what his blackened, sin-laden heart wanted to hear.

So like those collect calls from Egypt, you don’t realize the price until you get the bill and if you knew the cost you would have never agreed to accept those charges, it may be a bill like David’s, that his family ended up having to pay.
Your true friends may not understand your faith, but they will respect it and be happy for you.
Read Luke 15:8,9 the parable of the lady who found her lost silver and her friends rejoiced with her.
Steer clear of “friends” who only want to drag you back to “Egypt”, because misery loves company and if they are not free they surely don’t want you to be.
Just as with Adam and Eve, once the blinders were off and their eyes were opened to the truth,they knew the sin and the shame.

Amnon, when his “love” immediately turned to complete disgust and hatred once he had achieved his desire.

That is what sin does and no matter how good they make it sound or tell you just how much you are missing, if you give in to them, when the day comes, and it will come, like Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, yours will be also and I promise you that your are not going to like what you see.

The truth is that not only are friends like these a danger to your soul, they also endanger theirs by tempting you as a child of God.

As the Bible teaches us, if we as believers defile this temple God will destroy it (us).
Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, who had the bright idea that it would be fun to defile the vessels of the Lord which had been taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.

He and all with him drank from them, while praising their false pagan gods and having the equivalent to a big drunken feast, within an hour,  his eyes beheld with horror and his knees actually shook with terror as a hand appeared from nowhere and proceeded to write out his death warrant on his own wall, when Daniel interrupted it he would soon learn that no one could save him from the judgment of God and he was dead that night.

We are vessels, holy unto the Lord, set aside for his use and anyone who wishes to defile us will truly have hell to pay.
Friends like these you don’t need. Pray and ask the Lord for real ones. And while you are waiting, remember he is the best friend you will ever have!

Companion post: COLLECT CALL FROM EGYPT. WILL YOU ACCEPT THE CHARGES?

Φλογίζω / 05/24/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 

REVISTED 08/07/2021

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COLLECT CALL FROM EGYPT, WILL YOU ACCEPT THE CHARGES?

Ever wonder what Moses went through? You know, being a prince of Egypt, brought up as an Egyptian, taught by them, trained by them and having close family bonds with them.
Moses had all of Egypt laid at his feet all that was required of him in order to live a lavish life of riches and unimaginable power was to deny his own lineage and turn his eyes away from the suffering of those in bondage.
He couldn’t do it because he was cut from a different cloth, he would forsake all of Egypt, its power and wealth bought by the blood of his true people. That he would not overlook.
He would rather go into bondage with them, than to enjoy his good life at the expense of their freedom. How many times did he hear, “You are one of us, you need to just calm down and forget this nonsense, just stay where you belong.”
Pharaoh tried his different tactics, my favorite is Exodus 10:10,
“And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.”
Classic Satan and classic control. “Oh, you don’t really want to be out there on your own, what about your loved ones? The world is a bad place and bad things will happen if we aren’t there to protect you. It is not so bad here in Egypt, just stay where you belong.”
Anyone ever felt this kind of pressure? Pretending to wish you well but letting you know that not only will you not make it in your new walk of faith but neither will those you hope to lead with you.
How can you ever leave the Egypt of this world and all you have known to follow Christ into the land he has chosen?
So as we know this story, Pharaoh decides when his logic fails, he will just get rough with them. His heart so hardened that he failed to see the hand of the one true living God at work in all this. And he failed to see all of its strength, ready to come down on him, and he failed to see the anguish it would to his own people.
Once God had forced his hand by sending the plagues ending it with the deaths of the first-born of Egypt, he finally released the Hebrew slaves, but in his stubbornness and pride he could not leave well enough alone and decided to mount his army and set out after them to bring them all kicking and screaming back to Egypt.
As the Israelite’s stood horrified as the Egyptian army grew closer and the Red Sea stood as a formidable obstacle against them. The enemy trying to convince them that they were never even meant to be free, they cried out to the Lord, who was their ever-present help.
Exodus 14: 13, 27&28: And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew you to day: For the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. and Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remaineth not so much as one of them.”
Sometimes in life when the Red Sea in view and freedom is almost certain, the spirit of Pharaoh will rear its ugly head and spew out a warning cry to try to force you to stay in Egypt, in sin, in bondage,and misery, to try to convince that you will never be free.
Remember the words of our Lord, the word that is the double-edged sword given you from God, to cut through all the powers of hell, as Jesus said, the which will never, ever prevail.
“Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm”
Serve notice on the Pharaoh in your life, tell him to send his messengers, rally his troops, mount his chariot and prepare his battle against your soul because soon you will see the salvation of your God and Pharaoh and his host will perish in the sea as they try to pursue you.
When Egypt tries to call you back, do not accept those charges, don’t even bother picking up the phone to answer their call because the price for one conversation with them could lead to a bill you will be trying to pay off for the rest of your life!
It would be better to be speared through the back running away than to submit to life under servitude under a spiritual Pharaoh.
Let that old Navy  motto about dealing with torpedoes motto ring true in our battles today, full speed ahead.
Φλογίζω /original Post   05/03/14. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 REVISITED 08/07/2021