How Deceived People Act

This post was not planned. God dropped this on my spirit this morning, so here's a lesson on how deceived people act.

I have thought about this for about a year but in these past few months, it's heavy on my mind. One thing I've noticed about deceived people act is that they will support what you say and do even if you are exposing them. Now, there is a point when they will come out of their shell and speak out (more in a sarcastic manner). We'll use Judas Iscariot is the base for this post. 

If you were to look through the 4 gospels, Judas Iscariot is fairly silent around Jesus. But around the chief priest, he's talking & talking. Sounds like people in church who just like to talk and talk (they have a form of worship, but no effectiveness). Anyway, in Luke 22, right before Judas went to the chief priest, Satan entered Judas. So now Judas was in the right company to be who he really was, a deceiver. He was able to talk and not feel tormented. When Jesus declared (in Matthew 26) woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Judas responds like this: Master, is it I? Kinda like, I know you're talking about me, but I wonder if you're going to let my real character out. Yep, Judas was very defensive & tormented. When you call that spirit out, people will become very defensive because their dirty laundry will be exposed. In John 13, when Jesus got in Judas' personal space, He told him to do what he intends to do quickly. 

John 12 shows one more side of deception. When Judas questioned Jesus about the ointment not being sold, Judas had an ulterior motive, to take the money for himself. Deceived people are easy to spot because they have an ulterior motive for evil purposes and/or selfish purposes. If their talk is about them, only them and what people need to do for them, what God needs to do for them, there's a strong chance they are deceived. Some will go as far as to throw in some religious lingo to try to look innocent.

But keep in mind, people being deceived will keep the mask over their face, look innocent, smile in your face until you get close to them and confront. Then deception and his cousins will come out from within. Once you start exposing things in a person's life, they'll initially remain quiet like Judas and stand with you until you increase the intensity of the exposing.

So this is how deceived people act.

The Mayne Man

Double Portion

One day (within this year or last year), God was dealing with me about these two phrases: "double portion" and "double blessing." These two phrases stem from Deuteronomy 21:17, but more importantly Job 42:10 (with this post focusing on the latter).

I have found that many people rejoice (even to the point of being hysterical) the moment they hear these words (whether it be a song or from behind the pulpit), "your latter will be greater," "the double portion is over your life," or "God is getting ready to take you into the overflow." I'll be honest, I kinda cringe when I hear those phrases because in most cases it's taken out of context. Let me explain.

If you were to read the entire book of Job (but especially chapters 1-2), you'll find that Job was blessed, but Satan wanted to attack Job to determine if Job will curse God. Now, when God blessed Job in chapter 42, it was after Job acknowledged that God is sovereign and after Job went through this intense spiritual warfare. 

Many people today (especially those who are great at lip service) make a serious mistake in thinking because they go through (as a result of their own sin) that God's going to bring the double portion. Now I'm not saying He won't, but we understand there's a process: the double portion should not be the first thing on our minds. If it is, then we are just materialistic (case closed). And many people in the church world are just that. The double portion should be the last thing on our minds. Now if He happens to bless us that way, praise God; and if He doesn't, we should still be praising God. Not because of what He does for us (which was actually an accusation Satan made to God against Job), but because of who He is, His sovereignty and because He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Blessings.

The Mayne Man

We Men Don't Need A Wife Like Job's

In Job 2, we find a conversation between God & Satan. I want to start with verses 4-5: Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." 

What we see here is that the devil is assuming that if Job's health fails, that he will curse God. In other words, the devil is saying that God must only allow good things (and is protected by God) and that is why Job serves Him. So God, in His infinite wisdom, says in verse 6: "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

Immediately, the devil plagues Job's life. Notice that his wife wasn't touched. We usually say this: the devil killed everyone (in chapter 1) except Job's wife. 

Now dropping down to verse 9 (and this is the focus): Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

Now Job had enough sense to say that she talks like a foolish woman. Job's wife wanted Job to curse God and die, what she probably didn't realize was that she was a tool for the devil. His wife wanted only good things and blaming God for the bad things (as well as ridiculing her husband). 

As I think about the marriage vows, I believe there are lines that say "in sickness & in health, for richer or poorer." I guess Job's wife would've probably rewritten the vows to say something like this: "I will marry you as long as you're rich and in good health." Granted, that sounds like many Hollywood marriages today. I will take that further to say that these vows are in the minds of many people who say they're Christians. Job understood the marriage vow to God. He said in verse 10b: Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? That meant Job was in this marriage with God for life.

So many in the church today want to blame God for the bad things, but want the double portion without going through the trials that Job did. That's actually for another blog post (soon to come), but back to this lesson. We men need a woman who understands the marriage vows (just like the women need us to understand it also). Because they say "behind every successful man is a good woman" (I'll say this, behind every successful man is a faithful woman), we men don't need a wife like Job's.

Peace & blessings

The "Mayne Man"

Eviction Notice (Part 2)

This series was not planned, but I also believe this is very timely. One of my friends wanted me to write about how to get rid of those who need to be evicted (after reading the first part). Well, let's explore how evictions can come and how we can learn from this as we start evicting people and things from our lives.

One tactic is by serving them a notice (giving them a set number of days to get out). One of two groups will emerge from this type of eviction. The first group will be nonchalant and overlook the notice. They will think you're so soft and won't put your foot down. Now, once you do that, every demonic spirit will come out from within them to undermine you, your character and everything else about you. The second group will immediately flip out the moment they are served. You'll find this group will be so spiritual for their own good. In fact, if you were to record their behavior (audio or video) the minute you serve them with a notice, you will think they are either oppressed or possessed. In short: their demonic spirits will come out one way or another. What both groups fail to realize is that they did not obey the rules: pay on time and conduct yourself decently & orderly. Sometimes they get so high in their liberty, that they abuse the rules and those around you. Either way, they need to straighten up according to Biblical truth and not based on the notion "cause it's the right thing to do," or they must be evicted. One more thing must be said about these two groups. They will be the first to murmur, complain & easily get in the flesh. They really don't want to make amends; their world is all about them.

Another tactic is getting the authorities involved (banging on their door) to evict people. I'm willing to believe that whoever is evicted via to this tactic will not leave without a fight. You will hear how righteous they are, how they're doing the things of God (truthfully just wasting your time and buying themselves time). Just have the armor of God on and they (along with their demonic spirits) will leave.

A thought comes to mind, see when people waste your time, they know they have way too much time on their hands to care about your obligations, time and priorities. Again, it's all about them and this time, it's how can I manipulate these people trying to evict me. They care less about your time and want everything around them to be on their timetable (sadly, and it's not even important).

The final tactic is brutal and can get violent. Just throw them and their belongings out! If this approach is needed to evict people, please do it in the spirit of love and that it's business, never personal. Either way, the one being evicted in this manner will more & likely resort to stalking, threats & violence (sadly, it will also come from those claiming to be so holy)! 

Nobody likes getting served an eviction notice, but sometimes it's necessary to protect your identity and good name. So, one of those methods mentioned above can be used to evict people depending on the magnitude of the spirit they're carrying. You don't throw them out when they're really trying to what's right. But you do throw them out when they are truly defiant and intentionally using/abusing you! Most people being evicted love to turn a deaf ear saying, they're not talking to me until the moment of truth comes.

Again, you have been served!

The "Mayne Man"