How to Deal with SPAM

At first glance, this email looked like any other email. But upon further inspection, it came from an unknown source, with an address similar to one that was familiar, with instructions to click an attachment. This was not productive email, but SPAM - the gateway to foolishness, aggravation, and frustration. The only way to avoid getting caught was to know what the real thing looked like and to be aware that such a thing as SPAM exists.

Have you ever clicked on one of those innocent looking emails thinking it was harmless? I have and here is what happened:

Denial - I couldn't believe I was so foolish! I knew better yet because of curiosity and denial of reality I clicked.

Discovery - Clicking led to a new problem: malware was installed on my computer. Malware is annoying. It takes a special kind of person to write this piece of software. Now every 5 minutes another window opened telling me to click to download. Or a voice started speaking telling me to call a number to have my PC cleaned. And while this was happening, this piece of software was infecting programs on my entire machine. This innocent click produced damaging results that drove me crazy.

Determination - I couldn't solve this problem on my own. Every time I thought I had removed the problem, it showed up somewhere else. I had to call in an expert who had all the tools to remove the problem. In dealing with the expert, I noticed he was calm though I was not. The expert had seen so many people with this problem he was amazed that they still fell for it. Better yet he had become quite efficient at resolving this problem. What took hours for me, seemed to take only 10 minutes for him.

Discernment - At this point, I became more vigilant about SPAM detection. I always check the source, and I delete any email that appears problematic.

The proliferation of spam E-mail mirrors the misinformation we are bombarded with today, some with malicious and insidious intent. For our emails, we are told to create filters, use the SPAM folder, block unwanted senders, and to not open attachments from an unknown source.

We can use these same rules in our lives. Create a filter - set your affections on things above, not on things upon this earth. (Colossians 3:2) Use the SPAM folder - let the Word of God be your guide (Colossians 3:16); seek out wise counsel in everything (Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 11:14); guard your heart and your thoughts (Proverbs 4:23). Block unwanted senders - don't be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14-16); know your purpose (Colossians 3:12-18) so that you're not immersed in a lifestyle you had no intentions of being a part of.

The only way to not be duped by SPAM is to know the real thing. The only way to not be duped by the enemy of our souls is to know Jesus. Get to know Him by spending time with Him. He's the expert who has seen it all before.

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” John 8:32, 36.

How do you deal with SPAM?


--Nylse

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A Chapter A Day - Proverbs 26

Do you remember learning about similes in grade school? A simile is a figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as.

Proverbs 26 strikes a different a tone and uses similes to get its point across. What you learn from the book of Proverbs in addition to all the wisdom gained is that there are many ways to emphasize a point.

Gems
This chapter really breaks down the actions of a fool.
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool (v1,8). Let's go back to the definition of a fool.  When a fool receives honor, it seems unnatural; the fool becomes more conceited as he doesn't know how to accept praise.

Here are two verses that don't fit the simile model and on initial reading seem to contradict each other - Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes (4-5). The point is to know when to respond to a fool - and there are times to respond. Being in the company of a foolish person who is spouting nonsense is interesting - to say the least. If they're speaking of ideas, that just make no sense and you've tried getting through before - answer not a fool. If they're taking a fact and making it fiction - answer a fool (the facts back you up). I think if you can refute a fool based on solid principles, facts, God's word - then provide an answer or a question for him to think about, if not leave him to his folly.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly (v11). Fools go back to their vices - they continue to repeat what is not good for them. The thought of a dog returning to his own vomit turns my stomach; it is the same effect when we see someone continually doing something foolish.

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed (v14). The door moves back and forth, but it's not going anywhere. So is a lazy person, who just turns back and forth but does not get up to accomplish anything. He has to do something different!

Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel, not their own (v 17, 20, 21). Grabbing a dog by the ears is begging for trouble, so is someone who is quick to create arguments that have nothing to do with him.

Do you know people who overuse the phrase, "Just Kidding?" Here are two verses that talk about this phrase - Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” (v 18-19). Our deceptions can be deadly; we can't just wish it away with "just kidding". There is a time and place for laughter and jokes, but when it becomes a habit that's hurtful we need to rethink our actions. In line with this keep in mind that a lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin (v 28). One that gets into the habit of lying whether it is twisting the truth or false flattery does not have your best interests at heart. We really need to watch what we say.

Fools are lazy, slothful, arrogant, conceited, create strife, deceitful, and wicked. If we exhibit these traits, by the grace of God, we can be changed.

Read on.

Timeless Truths

Source

Mornings are my time - it's quiet. I have time to just think and who knows what will come in to my mind. (Of course, if I look at the kitchen sink it totally ruins my peaceful thoughts, but that's another story for another day.)

I also find running in the early morning cathartic, comfortable, and it further allows me to cultivate my relationship with the One who matters. Also, I solve all the world's problems on these early morning runs.

This morning I didn't go for a run, nor did I look at the kitchen sink. I simply sat and sipped a cup of tea (my favorite beverage.) As I sipped, this very old song came in to my mind:

Tis true o yes tis true

God's wonderful promises are true

For I've tested, trusted and tried it

And I know God's promises are true

I'm not sure why that song came to my mind this morning. But it encouraged me in more ways than one:

• Keep pouring in to your children - I learned this song as a child many moons ago at home. In our home we had an old hymnal called The Believers Hymn Book. I think my mom knew every hymn in that book because she sang them with us and to us when ever she can. Funnily enough they stuck, and many times in my life I've relied on the truths from those hymns.
• God's promises are timeless - There are as true today as they were many years ago.
• God's promises are true - In my life, God's promises have proven to be true.
• If it's in you, it will come out; be careful what you take in.

Source

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT)
Are you ever surprised by the songs you find yourself singing?

Truth and Lies

This post is courtesy of what I was fed this Sunday at church, during service and Women's Sunday School.  I hope it blesses you as much as it blesses me.

The first woman Eve, had everything she needed: she had a man - Adam, she lived in a beautiful home - the Garden of Eden, she was provided for - fruit trees, she was loved - by God and Adam.

Yet when Satan approached Eve, she fell. Eve had everything she needed, but Satan caused her to focus on the one thing she did not need. The Bible says Satan was subtle. The definition for subtle is: Characterized by skill or ingenuity; clever; Crafty or sly; devious; Operating in a hidden, usually injurious way; insidious.(dictionary.com)

Eve had no idea who she was dealing with. She was the first women and probably had never dealt with subtlety or she underestimated his capabilities.

When Satan approached Eve:

• She listened - she engaged him in conversation.
• She dwelt on what he said
• She believed what he said
• She acted on the lie.

Once she acted, she sinned and she knew it then, because she was convicted.

The battle for truth over lies often takes place in our minds.Satan's goal is to deceive.

If you know the truth, it will change your thinking; and when you change your thinking you change your life.
Those that speak truth and walk righteously dwell in the Lord's tabernacle - Psalms 15:1, 2. When you have an intimacy with God, you are the recipient of truth.

Nothing else makes sense unless you know the truth - when you think on these things, the first thing that we are told to think on are things that are true - Phil 4:8

God protects our front and our back; he is our shield (protection in the front) and our buckler (protection in the back) Psalms 91:1-4. Therefore, we are protected from Satan's fiery darts of deception and lies.

The truth sets us free - John 8:32

If we know the truth, God's truth it's hard to fall prey to Satan's lies.

Do you know the truth? Do you fall prey to Satan's subtleties?