Discernment

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BIBLE DOCTRINE? WHY STUDY DOCTRINE?

Psalms 11 v 3

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3

Why should we study doctrine?

People often object to any talk about doctrine and the study of doctrine, because they wrongly imagine that it is an unnecessary cause of strife and division. The fact is, we cannot have any unity at all if we do not have doctrinal unity. Doctrine is not everything in Christianity; but nothing is more important than doctrine. Gospel doctrine is the foundation of all true faith, the basis of all real comfort, and the inspiration for all worship, obedience, and devotion.

I often hear people say, “Let’s not discuss doctrine. Let’s just get on with evangelism.” “Let’s not talk about doctrine. Let’s just worship the Lord.” “Don’t preach doctrine. Just preach Christ.” That makes about as much sense as a basketball coach saying to his team, “Boys, don’t worry about the baskets, or the ball, or those lines out there on the court. Let’s just play basketball.” You cannot have basketball without the baskets, the ball, and the lines; and you cannot have evangelism, worship, and Christianity without doctrine.

The study of doctrine is important, because it is foundational. In Psalm 11:3, David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Obviously, we recognize that “the foundation of God standeth sure” (2 Tim. 2:19). Yet, we also know that in this dark, apostate age in which wicked religious men and women walk in darkness, without knowledge and without understanding, “all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Ps. 82:5). The religion of the world constantly attacks, assaults, and seeks to destroy the foundation of doctrinal truth. When men seek to destroy the very foundations of our faith, what can the righteous do? Here are three things we can and must do… Continue reading →

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The Sovereignty of God By Don Fortner

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“Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and in all deep places.”  With these words David declares the sovereignty of God and calls for us to give him praise. ( Psalms 135:6 )

There are no attributes of God more comforting and delightful to his children than his great and glorious sovereignty.  Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, and when enduring the most heavy trials, we rejoice to know that our God has sovereignly ordained our afflictions; that he sovereignly overrules them, and that he sovereignly sanctifies them to our good and his own glory.  Every believer rejoices in the sovereignty of God. There is no truth of Holy Scripture for which we must more earnestly contend than God’s dominion over all creation, his sovereignty over all the works of his hands, the supremacy of his throne and his right to sit upon it.

God’s saints rejoice to hear him say, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” (Matt. 20:16).  Nothing is more comforting to God’s saints in this world than the knowledge of the fact that “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Ps. 115:3).  We rejoice in God’s sovereignty!  But there is nothing revealed in the Bible that is more despised by worldlings and self-righteous religionists.  Natural, unregenerate, unbelieving men and women are happy enough to have God everywhere, except upon the throne of total, universal sovereignty.  They are happy to have God in his workshop, creating the world and naming the stars.  They are glad to have God in the hospital to heal the sick.  They are pleased to have God in trouble, to calm the raging seas of life.  And they are delighted to have God in the funeral parlor to ease them of pain and sorrow.  But God upon his throne is, to the unregenerate man, the most contemptible thing in the world.  And any man who dares to preach that it is God’s right to do what he will with his own, to dispose of his creatures as he sees fit, and save whom he will, will be hissed at, despised, and cursed by this religious generation.  Be that as it may, it is God upon the throne whom we love, trust, and worship.  And it is God upon the throne that we preach. Continue reading →

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Christ our Example

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Chapter 92

Christ our Example

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15)

What is the believer’s rule of life? By what standard must our lives be governed, as the children of God in this world? How should we behave? What principles are we to live by, as we walk before God and men in this world? By what law are we to live?

These are questions which concern all of God’s children. None of God’s people are lawless, rebellious antinomians. All who trust Christ want to honor God. All who are born of God want to do the will of God. We want to do what is right before God and men. The grace of God experienced in the soul teaches us to live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12). As we are admonished in Holy Scripture, saved sinners want to “be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).

A man or woman who is chosen, redeemed, and regenerated by the grace of God has a principle of godliness and righteousness created in his or her heart. Such a person wants to live in a manner that will be pleasing and honoring to God, for the glory of Christ. If you do not love God’s law, you neither know God nor love God. Your religion is a refuge of lies. Your pretense of faith is a delusion. Continue reading →

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New ! Discovering Christ Day by Day – by Don Forter PDF Book

Discovering Christ Daily Readings Image Don Fortner

Via Email from Pastor Don Fortner

Dear Family,

As you know, I completed the book of Daily Readings (Discovering Christ Day by Day) on December 31st and will no longer send these out, as I did last year. The book is now at the publishers and should be released in a few months. However, Bro. Larry Brown has put the entire year’s readings together in *.PDF format. I have attached it to this email.

I am sending this to all on our church family mailing list and to a few friends who have expressed an interest in having it. Please feel free to give the attached file to anyone who wants it.

Thank you, Larry, for putting these readings together.

Reply to:     don@donfortner.com

Web Pages : www.DonFortner.com

www.FreeGraceRadio.com

www.Grace-eBooks.com

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road

Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Here is the PDF version : Discovering Christ Day by Day 1 OR click on the Image of Pastor Don to get the PDF Book . 

With  thanks and gratitude to  Don Fortner for the permission to place the PDF book on our website. We pray many will be blessed by the material.  Also see  Discovering Christ in All the Scriptures – FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD BY Don Fortner

Please visit the above websites for more Biblical edifying material by Don Fortner.

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A Needful Lesson

WheatAndTares

The Saints at Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:2

Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church by reminding them that they had been sanctified in Christ and been called of God. He assures them of continued grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his continual thanksgiving to God for the grace bestowed upon them by Christ (vv. 3-4). He then proceeds to assure them of his complete confidence that the gospel and the boundless grace of God had been confirmed to them by the operations of God the Holy Spirit upon them in effectual calling, causing them to ever look for Christ’s coming (vv. 5-6). He goes so far as to assure these Corinthian believers that our ever-faithful God, who had called them into the fellowship of Christ, would at last bring them blameless into glory in the resurrection (vv. 8-9).

The Corinthian Church

All these assurances of grace and glory were given by divine inspiration to the church at Corinth. I cannot imagine a local church anywhere in the world, at any time in history, plagued with more evil than the church atCorinth. Among these saints, horrid immorality was winked at as a matter of indifference (chap. 5). Yet, they embraced the notion that by abstaining from physical pleasure they could make themselves more holy and spiritual (chap 7). God’s faithful servant, by whom they were taught the gospel, was scorned among them. Pride caused them to disdain the poor and the weak. Those who possessed, or thought they possessed, great spiritual gifts looked down their noses at those they considered less spiritual. Though the Corinthian church was probably the wealthiest of the New Testament churches, it was the most miserly in giving. They horribly abused the ordinances of God, making the person by whom they were baptized a matter of pride and spiritual superiority, and turning the Lord’s Table into a carnal, religious feast. And they denied the resurrection of our Lord.

All these things divided the local church at Corinth into factions, threatening to destroy it. Yet, when Paul wrote this Epistle to them, he addressed them as “them that are sanctified (having been sanctified) in Christ, called to be saints” (1:2), assuring them that God would confirm them unto the end and make them “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 6).

A Needful Lesson

I call your attention to these things because they set before us a very, very important lesson, a lesson of which we need to be constantly reminded. ― God’s saints in this world are often plagued with moral weaknesses, poor judgment, spiritual evil, and doctrinal error. So long as we are in this world, God’s saints (all of us) are sinners still. We dare not make excuse for our own sins or the sins of others Continue reading →

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Faith….

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FAITH

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”                                                                                             — Hebrews 11:1-3

WHAT IS FAITH? Very simply stated, faith is taking God at his Word and acting upon God’s revelation. On one occasion, when the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing, the Lord told them to cast their nets on the right side of the ship. Taking him at his word, they cast the nets one more time and took in more fish than their boat could hold (Luke 5:1-7; John 21:3-7). When they needed money to pay taxes, the Lord sent Peter out to catch a fish with the promise that he would find the money needed in the mouth of the first fish he caught (Matt. 17:24-27). Believing Christ, Peter went fishing! When the Lord told Peter to come to him upon the water, Peter believed that he could; and he did (Matt. 14:28-29).

Faith simply believes what God reveals both about himself and about all things in his creation and acts accordingly. Faith submits to God’s revelation regarding himself, his Son, and his salvation, the creation of the world, the fall of man, and the providence of God, grace, the resurrection, and judgment. That is the nature of faith. It takes God at his Word.

THIS FAITH IS AN INDEX OF THE HEART. Continue reading →

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“We Eat Grass To Be Closer To God”, Says A High Profile False Preacher From South Africa

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Pastor Lesego Daniel, who is based in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria, told dozens of followers to eat grass because “it will bring them closer to God”.

SA “pastor” under fire over grass-eating followers

2014-01-13 09:46

Pretoria – A South African church leader has come under fire after reports that he made members of his congregation eat grass.

Pastor Lesego Daniel, who is based in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria, told dozens of followers to eat grass because “it will bring them closer to God”.

Daniel made headlines globally after images were shown of his followers laying down in a field and furiously munching grass. Further images were then shown of some followers vomiting. Continue reading →

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The Crisis of the World

 Planet-Earth-2099

Listen to sermon while reading.

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.”                                                                                                            (John 12:31-33)

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). — This is never more clearly and extraordinarily demonstrated to be the truth than by these statements which fell from the lips of our Savior. It is a great marvel to me that God should, in his infinite wisdom, choose to judge the world, destroy the devil, and save his elect by sending his Son to become a man that he might suffer and die upon the cursed tree! Oh, mystery of mysteries, — “God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Oh, the height of God’s love! Oh, the depth of his mercy! Oh, the breadth of his wisdom! Indeed, his ways and his thoughts are beyond us, as high as the heavens are above the earth. Continue reading →

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The Reversal — Perfect Restoration

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“And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.” (Zechariah 10:6)

In Luke 24:47 our Lord Jesus tells us that he died as our sin-atoning Substitute “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.” “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent,” and sinners must repent. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Gospel preachers call all who hear them to repent. Repentance is turning to Christ. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of masters, and a change of motives. You must repent of your sin (what you are), repent of your sins (what you do), and repent of your righteousness. To repent is to make a complete reversal.

But before any sinner turns to Christ, he must be turned by Christ. Continue reading →

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The Two Natures in a Believer

Spirit vs Flesh

By J. C. Philpot

Among those branches of divine truth which, without special teaching, we cannot enter into, is, that of the two natures in a believer. And yet, though every child of God must in all ages have been experimentally acquainted with the inward conflict between flesh and spirit, nature and grace; and though authors innumerable have written on such subjects as sanctification, the trial of faith, the strength of grace, the power of sin, the deceitfulness of the heart, the commencement and progress, decline and restoration, of the life of God in the soul, yet how few even of these really spiritual and experimental writers have laid out the truth of the case as made known in the Scriptures, and felt in the experience of the saints! How blind have many gracious writers, as, for instance, Dr. Owen, and most of the Puritan authors, been to the distinctness of flesh and spirit! In fact, as it seems to us, many good men have been afraid of the real, actual truth. Our Puritan ancestors especially, living in a day when profanity and ungodliness ran down the streets like water, and holiness, therefore, of heart and life was powerfully urged as the distinctive feature of the children of God, intuitively shrank from anything that seemed in its faintest coloring opposed to their view of gospel sanctification. They feared to believe, and dreaded to proclaim, that “the carnal mind is enmity against God; that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed could be.” They seemed to think, if they once admitted that the flesh, the carnal mind, underwent no spiritual change; in other words, could not be sanctified; it was opening a wide and open door to the worst Antinomianism.  Continue reading →

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“Furnished and Prepared”


1479538_640298522675715_47614827_n“And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.” (Mark 14:10-16)

In Mark 14 we have come to that solemn evening which preceded the most significant event in history. We should always read the things recorded here with great care, asking God the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, asking him to inscribe the lessons in these verses upon our hearts with the finger of omnipotent grace.

From old eternity, before the worlds were made, the Lord God ordained the sacrificial, sin-atoning death of his darling Son at Calvary. He predestined the time, place, and means of his Son’s death as well as its sure accomplishments. God set forth his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to satisfy his justice for the sins of his people, to put away our sins, so that he might be both just and the Justifier of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The holy, just, and true God demands satisfaction for sin. Satisfaction could be made only by the sacrifice of his dear Son. Therefore, as it is written, “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

The Lord Jesus lived as our representative for 33 years in perfect righteousness. He worked out a perfect righteousness for us. But his obedience in life alone could never save anyone. Justice must be satisfied. Our debt had to be paid. Our sins must be punished to the full satisfaction of divine justice. Therefore, “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Continue reading →

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What Is Going On ?

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Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.”

Listen to sermon :  

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Subject: The Judgment of God

Date:  Tuesday Evening — March 23, 2010

Tape # Z-82b

Reading:  Rex Bartley and Romans 1:14-42

Introduction:

We are living in perilous times! I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to live for the glory of God, seeking to do the will of God. I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to faithfully preach the Gospel of Christ.

The moral decadence around us is astonishing!

  • Adultery!
  • Fornication!
  • Homosexuality!
  • Materialism!
  • Greed!

Even among those who profess to be the children of God, even among those who hold to the doctrines of the Gospel, the doctrines of grace. I see a general laxity, carelessness and open disregard for the love of God (Ephesians 4:17-20).

(Ephesians 4:17-20) “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ.”

The self-centered lawlessness of this age is shocking! There is, in our generation as never before, a general contempt for authority, which is just an outward expression of man’s contempt for God.

  • Where is the child who respects the authority of his parents!
  • Where is the student who respects the authority of his teachers!
  • Where is the wife who respects the authority of her husband?
  • Where is the man who respects the authority of civil government?
  • Where is the politician, or elected official who respects the constitution he is sworn to uphold and serves the people he was elected to serve?

Yet, this is the most religious generation that has ever lived!  Continue reading →

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A CRITIQUE OF THE HIGHER LIFE MOVEMENT

Higher-Purpose

A CRITIQUE OF THE HIGHER LIFE MOVEMENT 

By Jay Wegter

INTRODUCTION

The concept of the higher Christian life arose in the nineteenth century in connection with the holiness tradition in America.  The movement grew in popularity and ultimately spread to England.  Keswick, England became the home of the higher life conventions.  In time, the movement returned to America with great momentum.  “The Higher Life movement has influenced the rise of other theologically conservative movements, the founding of a number of institutions, the growth of foreign missions, and the theological perspective of several denominations.”1

Description of the Movement

          The higher Christian life is an explanation of the means and methods involved in advancing the believer’s progressive sanctification.  The purpose of this paper is to identify the areas where the higher life model of sanctification differs from the scriptural doctrine of sanctification.

          Though not identical, three terms are used synonymously to refer to the movement; “The higher Christian life,” the “Victorious Christian Life,” and “Keswick Teaching.”  In this paper, any of the three terms may be used to refer to the whole body of higher life teaching.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

          The inception of the higher life movement is often identified with the publication of William Edwin Boardman’s book, The Higher Christian Life (1858).  The book argued that Christ was to be received for sanctification sometime after justification. Continue reading →

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He Shall Not Fail

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
(2 Timothy 1:9 KJV)

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
(Psalms 5:5 KJV)

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 KJV)

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
(Romans 9:13-15 KJV)

The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
(Psalms 11:5-7 KJV)

But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  (John 10:26-27 KJV)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
(Isaiah 42:1-5 KJV)

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
(Isaiah 42:6-9 KJV)

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
(Isaiah 42:4 KJV)

Thank you Derek Green for sharing this video. Lord bless your heart my friend.

WHAT IS YOUR HOPE?

Lay the foundation of your hope in Jesus Christ. Begin with Christ and end with Christ. As Christ Jesus becomes more to you, self will grow less and less. If your faith puffs you up – it is not the faith of Christ. God will help us when we are weak. He will bless us as long as we confess our dependence upon His blessing. He will fill us when we are empty. He will feed us when we are hungry. He will be our all when we are nothing. He will forgive us when we are guilty. But the moment we begin to boast in ourselves and feel sufficient, we will be left to learn, in no uncertain terms, that we are naked, poor, blind, and miserable. Terrible will be the day when proud rebels discover, too late, the dust and ashes of human merit.  ~ Henry Mahan

“That calling or condition of life is best for us, and to be chosen by us, which is best for our souls, that which least exposes us to sin and gives us most opportunity of serving and enjoying God.” – Matthew Henry

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The Flattering Tongue

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Flattery is to compliment excessively and often insincerely given, especially in order to win favor.  Sincerity is sorely lacking in human relations today.  Flattery or sweet talk, which is another way that the tongue can be used for evil. People flatter continually starting from home to workplace. In the work place and offices people continually involved in internal politics and flattering in order to seek favour or, to get promoted to higher level.

Flattery is also a sin of the tongue. The Bible speaks of flattery as a characteristic of the wicked and of a sinful person. People from different walks of life trying to keep a record of the flattering speeches and conversations. Flattery is just a form of lying, and it has no place in the life of a Christian. It is an another produce of the misuse of the tongue.

He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery,
(Daniel 11:32-34 ESV)

We are encountering people with flattering nature everywhere, speaking something before us and contrarily with others, in other occasions, in order to please others or to fulfil their self-centred wishes. Continue reading →