The FRUIT-BRUISERS

     Bernie Cull, a local evangelist who lived to be 98 years young, was an amazing man.
Whenever he greeted you he would always say "Heaven-O", because he believed

no-one should end up in "Hell". Well Bernie, the name of his org was "Jesus Fire Department" with the slogan "Keeping People From The Flames". He told people far & wide, "Jesus Paid Your Debt at the Cross" and he passed out "tickets to Heaven".

 Bernie was a wonderful "old saint", and I had the pleasure of knowing him for a while ... I got to film him and I viewed his little message videos he made, and even got to edit a few myself. The thing I loved about Bernie the most, was of course, his love for Jesus, his wife (who went on to glory before him), and he absolutely LOVED people! 

One of the things he shared with me, he frequently ran into
"false brethren", he referred to them as "fruit-bruisers". These were folks who liked to "examine fruit" but were mean-spirited and harsh. They went around, targeting the young & the innocent, sensitive ones, perhaps ones with weaknesses, to see if they measured up to "their christianity". These full of "christian pride" ones, these so-called "under-shepherds" and "sheriffs to the body of Christ" would often grill others with many questions, be very legalistic and even challenging to see if these "little ones" were genuine --
or not!

Bernie did not like them, he wanted to see Jesus "straighten them out". Quite frankly, I never saw him so bugged about anything else.
  

 I wanted to call this blog "The Backstabbers" because the topic reminds me of this song

by The O'Jays:
   

      (What they do)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)

(Writer/s: HUFF, LEON / MCFADDEN, GENE / WHITEHEAD, JOHN
Copyright © 1972

Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Released in 1972)

*You can listen to the whole song here:   The Backstabbers Song 

BUT THEN, I realized that some of these yahoo characters actually will stab you right in the front, in your heart!  You meet them, and they pretend to like you and be your friend.

Later, as time wears on, they become "familiar" with you, your personality, your "quirks" and your lifestyle. And then one day, suddenly, they POUNCE! They become "another person" and totally not Christ-like or loving. All of a sudden, they are your JUDGE.
Now to all of you who have never experienced anything like this, consider yourself

very, very fortunate. Very blessed even. And I will give some examples of this soon.
But remember Bernie? He wasn't the only one that had to deal with these "Fruit-Bruisers".

Jesus had the Pharisees & Sadducees. Brrrrrr! They were "cold as ice" and many of them

were blind, and they were the Top Fruit-Bruisers. In Luke 11:53, The Pharisees began to

bombard Jesus with many questions:
 

When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be 

very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects,   

plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

Jesus had to put up with The Parasites, er, I mean Pharisees, for most of his ministry years here on the planet. They were constantly challenging him, all of the time. It was hard to get away from it. But each time, he handled himself brilliantly! I love the way he would answer questions with more questions! There's a lot of record of this in Matthew ... by the time chapter 23 rolls around, Jesus exposes them real good!
What about Paul the Apostle?
I'm glad you asked!

Paul talks about having dealt with "false brethren". He gives a scathing rebuke here:

^{[M]en 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.

(2 Timothy 3)

Paul also had a run-in with a certain "Alexander the Coppersmith".

His response to this episode goes like this:

          Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; 

the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

(2 Timothy 4:14)

Not sure what all happened here ... but suffice it to say, Paul left the judging up

to God, who alone brings righteous vengeance.

Now ... I would like to focus on the 2 Timothy 3 passage above -- NOTICE how all these characteristics are very anti-christ behavior, anti-christian, anti-fruit of the Holy Spirit! I do not fathom how "christians" can operate like this, claiming to be "saved", even some "spirit-filled" and "holy" etc. but they seem to be full of snakes, hate and SELF! Notice also where Paul says "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power"!!!  When you stop to realize that it is IMPOSSIBLE for someone to know God if they are devoid of God's LOVE (1st John, epistle) >>> And then you realize that The Love of God is a "power" of God; The Grace of God is a "power" from God; The Holy Spirit (including the FRUIT, not only the gifts) is the power of God AND The Glorious Gospel of The Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God!! >>> You REALIZE that some people are just "religious" and have "religious pride" and indoctrination, programming, "spiritual pride" and are just plain F A L S E.  They come to you proud of their church-going, with an air of religiosity and sometimes superiority, and look down upon you ever so condescendingly!
Paul says "Avoid such men (or women) as these"!

There is a "true-blue" nature of The True Believer. He has surrendered any "jackass" nature he or she might have had to JESUS ... and in return we have a brand new HEART, brand new MIND and a brand new NATURE, by the power of the gospel, the faith of God, the righteousness of Jesus, and by The Spirit of God! There is TRANSFORMATION.
We are CHANGED!!!
Don't agree? Just read Romans 12. It's in there. Paul uses a Greek word, where we get our word "metamorphosis", describing the process of change, from a lowly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. That's part of the transformation when we believe the Gospel, and receive that free gift of righteousness, and the infilling of The Holy Spirit. We start to feel like Jesus feels, think like Jesus thinks, and we WANT to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. It happens in the Heart, our spirit. Some people want to bring up the "old man" verses, without realizing that we are supposed to be something UNIQUE by that transforming power! And we do. We will. Unless we don't get delivered from some of the junk mentioned above.

EXAMPLES OF THE FALSE

*These things actually happened to me or to some of my friends*
• My Dad just passed away, and my "christian" neighbor responded,
      "Well you know after death comes the judgment ..." I wanted to 

     drop through the floor. Or hit them with a watermelon. One of the two.
• A friend loses his son, and "christians" come out of the woodwork, either 

      to judge or just be plain "cold as ice". Where's the comfort of the Holy Spirit there??
      (which is supposed to be IN christians???)

• A wife gets a phone call from an old friend. Out of the blue, she starts quizzing her

      on how her husband makes money, and for whom does he work? The spirit 

      in which the questions are asked  are "interrogating". Is it any of your business, really?

• A man tries to win a daughter's affection, but by "forcing his will" upon her

      so that she will become "his wife". What planet did you drop off of? Is that

      anyway to win a girl, or better yet, to win her parents??
• A neighbor mows a yard for a man. The next day, he comes over and says,
      "God told me to stop helping you". Really? Which God again??

• An old friend shows up after 25 years ... she wants to take out her friend

       for a "good time". She then spends the next 24+ hours gossiping, asking

       all kinds of personal questions, and in short, making the other friend feel

      very uncomfortable.

Now ... couple this with some wierd voodoo-type witchcraft and some mind-bending

control, manipulating emotions and circumstances, solely for the purpose to enslave

and make "them" look good ... well, it's time to "call it quits"! Get away from them. 
Sound crazy? Well yes it is, in fact, insane. But there is deliverance from all the 

effects of the powers of darkness or from ungodly, unsavory people.

God has called us to PEACE, not to strife, and not to slavery or mind-control or 

anything that will bump us off of His Destiny for us. Please realize that not everybody

that is sent your way, comes "from God". There are handlers, programmers, and false

believers out there who are like PREDATORS, and they just want to screw up your

life!  DON'T LET THEM. And Jesus, the master of "The Question" can surely give you

an amazing answer to any and all of your "opponents". It's time to shut them up,

and expose them for what they really are.
Be Free in Jesus' Name, and don't let yourself become the slaves of men. 

AMEN.