it is a little man who lets little things annoy him

darkened in their understanding

Therefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.

They [gentiles that think worthless thoughts] are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.

Since they have lost all sense of shame [desensitized], they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.

However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.

Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus. Regarding your former way of life, you were taught to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, to be renewed in your mental attitude, and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God's image in righteousness and true holiness.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Yeah! Get 'im, he's a terrorist!

Yeah! Get 'im, he's a terrorist!

um... wait, Homeland Security considers Christians, Veterans, pro-Civil Rights, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-Life to be terrorists too...

We have the Fifth Amendment for a reason...

Historically, the legal protection against self-incrimination was directly related to the question of torture for extracting information and confessions

a prison for every unclean spirit

Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean bird, and a prison for every unclean and hated beast. Rev 18:2

sincerely wrong

When a sincere person who is honestly misled is confronted with the truth, they will either cease to be misled or they will cease to be honest.

ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth

2 Tim 3:1-9
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;

Avoid such men as these.

For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

They will refuse to stop worshiping demons and idols, and they will not repent of their murders, acts of sorcery, immorality, and thievery

As the torment of the demonic hordes begins (9:13-19), the lost will have opportunity to fall on their knees and to beg God for relief and salvation.  But even with a third of mankind slain before their eyes (v. 15), they will harden their hearts, refusing to repent of their sins.  They will refuse to stop worshiping demons and idols (v. 20), and they will not repent of their murders, acts of sorcery, immorality, and thievery (v. 21).  (All references from Revelation)

Truly the Lord GOD will do nothing he has mentioned without revealing his purposes to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

seven abominations

Proverbs 6:16-19
These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him:

A proud look,
a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness [that] speaketh lies,
and he that soweth discord among brethren.

waste

wastefulness demonstrates a lack of appreciation for what God has given us...



1 Timothy 5:8 - But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

1 Peter 4:3 - For the time past of [our] life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries

Proverbs 18:9 - He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.

Ezekiel 16:49 - Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Romans 1:21 - Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

John 6:12
When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”

Luke 15:13
And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

boasting

We should never boast of ourselves, and it is not wise to compare ourselves amongst ourselves.

God has given each of us a measure of gifts, abilities, talents, and opportunities.

Success is measured not how we show off our talents, but by whether or not we make use of what God has given us in His service.

Proverbs 25:14; 27:1
Acts 5:36
Romans 1:30
2 Corinthians 10:12

when life guards are rescuing someone, they are trained to spend no more than 5 seconds talking to them to calm them down.  if they don't respond to that, they knock them out.  why?

you can't save somebody who is trying to save themselves...

strange fire

Most people believe if something is  "positive", then it is of God.

However, God has revealed in scripture that He does not work that way.

But God has revealed those things to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. 1Cor 2:10

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

Whatever is not of faith is sin Romans 14:23

Without faith, it is impossible to please God Heb 11:6

And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord. Numbers 26:61

We can't just willy nilly do whatever feels good to us and call it "from God" or "God honoring".  God has revealed His nature to us as well as the pattern of how He goes about things, so that we can recognized His "fingerprint" and know if something is from Him.

We also know what is definitely NOT from God based on how God defines sin and what God says that He hates.  God is not wishy washy, nor is He an emotional wreck.  He is consistent and does not contradict Himself in any way.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Heb 13:8

For I am the Lord, I change not Malachi 3:6

If He says He is pleased by something then we can trust that, if He says He is displeased by something, then we can trust that as well.