There are fours classes of people. The Wise, The Fool, The Simple, and The Wicked. Knowing their characteristics is important and how to be wise and not wicked is imperative for navigating through life as a believer and reaching for Gods best. I highly recommend the free site below which addresses this information! The following is taken from the free site: Real Christianity I have never come across any book which deals with the question of how to identify and handle the wicked, or even what it means to be wicked. Fifteen years ago I wouldn’t have been able to believe it if someone had told me that I would one day write a book on this subject. At that time I knew little or nothing about the wicked. I was barely even aware of their existence, let alone that they were so numerous and influential. Above all, I never imagined that such people were to be found inside churches, and in such numbers. - See more at: realchristianity/wicked-people/introduction.html#sthash.im65C9ut.dpuf When I started out as a Christian I was exceptionally naïve, or ‘simple’ as the Bible generally puts it. I could not usually recognise the wicked even when they were right in front of me. Nor did I know how best to handle them. But gradually, over the years, God put me through a training programme whereby He brought into my life considerably more than my fair share of wicked people. I met some of them when I was a police officer in the mid-1980s. My experiences in that job began to open my eyes to the reality of this world and how the wicked operate. But that was only a start. In this book we will look at how the wicked operate within the workplace or within families and also generally, throughout secular society. However, I have probably encountered more (and worse) wickedness over the years within churches than outside of them. In particular, I have come across many church leaders whose worldliness, dishonesty and manipulation of others was shocking. Indeed, for some years I could not really believe what I was seeing and hearing. I kept telling myself that I must be imagining it or exaggerating. But I wasn’t. I was actually under-estimating the true scale of the problem and probably still am. Yet, as my eyes gradually opened, by many stages, I saw that people’s capacity for wickedness, even within churches, was even worse, than I had suspected. - See more at: realchristianity/wicked-people/introduction.html#sthash.im65C9ut.dpuf We hear of the wicked even back in Genesis chapter six. By that time in the Earths history God had become dismayed. He regretted making mankind. Things had degenerated to such a low point that almost the whole population of the world was classified as wicked. The only exceptions were Noah and his family: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5 (NASB) The situation became so grave that God chose to solve it by wiping out almost all of the people on the Earth, using a worldwide flood. That dramatic response indicates how seriously God takes wickedness. Moreover, He is going to do it again. Jesus will destroy all those who are wicked when He returns to the Earth at His second coming: For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off; Isaiah 29:20 (NASB) For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 4:1-3 (NASB) Indeed, after the Millennium is over, the very Earth itself will be burned up and all wickedness will be fully and finally removed: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10 (RSV) The wicked are at the far end of the spectrum. Not only are they fools, as defined earlier, they go even further. They are also arrogant and dishonest. Above all, they are hard-hearted. Therefore, they hate God, or they at least despise Him, i.e. under-value Him, whether they realise it or not. That is the case whether they are religious or not. Moreover, God hates the wicked, and all that they stand for. He considers them an abomination and treats them as His enemies. If you are not convinced of all that, consider the following passages and take note of how strongly God feels and how resolved He is to confront and punish the wicked. I have included several passages because so many people find it hard to believe that God really does feel this strongly about the wicked: 4You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. 5The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. 6You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors. Psalm 5:4-6 (NIV) 31Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, 32for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence. 33The LORDs curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. 34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favour. Proverbs 3:31-34 (ESV) 20Men of perverse mind are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight. 21Be assured, an evil man will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will be delivered. Proverbs 11:20-21 (RSV) 2The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Nahum 1:2-3 (ESV) 7The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. 8But with an overflowing flood he will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 9God scorns the wicked, but the upright enjoy his favour. Proverbs 14:9 (RSV) 26The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD, the words of the pure are pleasing to him. Proverbs 15:26 (RSV) 8Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath; and fire will consume them. Psalm 21:8-9 (RSV) All the wicked of the earth thou dost count as dross; therefore I love thy testimonies. Psalm 119:119 (RSV) But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. Psalm 68:21 (ESV) He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out. Psalm 94:23 (RSV) 1God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! 2As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! Psalm 68:1-2 (ESV) realchristianity
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 07:09:13 +0000
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