FLATTERY

This teaching will borderline on the Advanced category. If you are not completely dedicated to renewing your mind to God’s Word, you will probably become confused with this teaching. Most people like to be flattered by others. But flattery is a counterfeit from the god of this world. It is used to influence people to do things that they normally would not do. On the other hand, a genuine complement is from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and from God. As I have done many times, I will teach on subjects that no one else will go near. I myself, have never heard a teaching on this subject, but I feel it is necessary to strengthen the born again believer and make him or her aware of the enemy’s methods and devices. Let’s now take a look at the book of Psalms and we will see how an enemy is described. I am purposely going to only one verse in Psalms because it mentions the topic of this teaching and it details the facets that entail the makings of flattery. In simpler terms, it defines flattery in a number of ways.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. – Psalm 5: 9

When someone flatters you as compared to giving you a genuine complement, there is no faithfulness or truth in their speech. It is a well-designed counterfeit by the god this world. The verse goes on to say that their inward part, referring to their heart is full of not only wickedness, but very much wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulchre which can be referred to as a grave. Then God concludes the verse by saying, they flatter with their tongue.

That is a good definition of flattery and we are going to look at some examples in God’s Word that illustrate this concept even further. If you are not a true follower of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God Almighty and if you do not study your Bible and pray in the spirit, you may have some difficulty understanding that flattery is a counterfeit. It is used every day probably millions and billions of times. One of the reasons people use flattery is because they want to get you to like them. When you are sharp on the Word, flattery will strike you in a negative way and you will immediately recognize it.

Before moving on to more biblical examples, I would like to mention a synonym for flattery. The following is a dictionary definition and it coincides with one of my recent teachings which covered the topic of extremes. This synonym is referred to as adulation and it is defined as excessive praise or flattery. The keyword to this definition is the word ‘excessive’. You will notice that when someone is flattering you, they will go to extremes and it will actually make you feel uncomfortable. This is the counterfeit. When someone gives you genuine praise from God Almighty, it will edify and exhort you. It will build you up spiritually and give you a genuine overall good feeling. You should be able to tell the difference if your head is into the Word of God every day. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to stay with the word flattery and put adulation on the back burner.

There is a Scripture somewhere in Proverbs that states “where there is no talebearer, the fire goes out.” Think about a person who is always talking about other people. They are really nothing but trouble to a positive thinker. If a person has a problem, we should try to help them and not talk about them behind their back. God warns us in the following Scripture not to fellowship with the person who is a talebearer revealing secrets all the time.

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealing secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. – Proverbs 20: 19

Ironically, this person thinks that by gossiping about others, he is going to make friends with the people who he speaks to. So in his process of revealing his secrets, he will have a tendency to flatter his listeners so that he can have an audience. God warns us not to hang around with this person, but to politely excuse yourself and keep away. This type of person does not come from the true God but comes from the other god. These may sound like trivial examples to you, but they talk about everyday living and the small details that we must put up with every day in this second heaven and earth. The enemy will get in your mind in ways that you are unaware of and then you wonder why you don’t feel so happy and blessed like the Bible says you should be. John 10: 10 states that we should be living the more than abundant life. We wonder why this is not true in our own lives and the reason is because we do not listen to God. We must take God’s Word literally in most cases. When God says to get away from the person who is gossiping all the time, He means what He says and He says what He means. We need to learn to listen to God since He created life. I am sure He knows how to live the best way possible. Does this make sense?

The first epistle of Thessalonians is referred to as a doctrinal epistle. It states correct doctrine. The book’s main subject is the hope of the return of Jesus Christ. But let’s take a good look at what we should be doing as far as sharing the Word is concerned and doing the Will of God. We are not going to skip only to one verse, but we are going to talk about the context of chapter 2 by covering several verses which eventually lead and conclude to our subject which is flattery. To rightly divide God’s Word, you should know by now that the context is one of the main ways in which we can understand God’s Word. Without studying the context, you will never rightly divide God’s Word.

I Thessalonians 2: 1–5

For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain:

When you speak the Word of God, it will never come back void, but will always be profitable. This is mentioned in the book of Isaiah 55: 11.

But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

Even after these believers had suffered and were treated shamefully, they were still bold and fearless to speak the Word of God with much contention – with a good fight. They did not let man discourage them. Man will discourage you from speaking God’s Word if you allow it. Don’t you think I have experienced this time and time again? I will not lay it down because I know what’s out there. It is my greatest belief for you that you also feel the same way, because there is nothing to go back to, but your own vomit. There is nothing that the world can offer you that can even come close to the promises that God gives you in His Word. All you have to do is believe and act upon it and you will see these promises come to pass. It is amazing how stupid man is when he has the answers to all of life and living right in God’s Word and he chooses to use his five senses which are inferior to God to a massive extent. Speak the Word with a good fight and don’t become a coward for God. You have free will. You don’t have to stand up and fight people and you don’t have to seek vengeance. God does all of this for you so that you can be peaceful and at ease.

For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:

When these believers spoke God’s Word in a fearless manner, they never even begun to use deceit in any way. They didn’t have to. They had God’s Word which is the only truth in the world today. They did not speak of things that were unclean. They did not speak in guile. Guile means cunning or craftiness and the obsolete meaning of this word is a ‘trick’. And in the next verse, it is said what they really did as pertaining to handling the Word of God.

But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

Did you ever wonder what it means to be allowed of God? Did you know that God has the exact right moment in time when a thing should be done? This is a mind blowing principle as far as I am concerned. Many times we are in a hurry to get things done, but God is never in a hurry because He knows the exact right moment in time when that task should be done. We must learn to listen to God.

These believers put their trust in God when it came to the gospel and they did not do anything to please men, but they wanted to please God, which trieth their hearts. It should be our heart’s desire to please God and not to please men. If we live to please men, our lives will surely turn into a living hell in time. Now here is the point that I want to make as concerning men and what they do when they speak. I wanted to go over the whole context of the subject, even though I could’ve gone right to verse five. I wanted you to understand the context and what it was leading up to.

For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:

There you see it! They did not use flattering words, neither a cloak of covetousness. What are flattering words used for? Study the verse and it also says that they did not use a cloak of covetousness. Covetousness is a desire to have something that someone else has. We discussed this before and concluded that a person uses flattery to get something that they normally could not obtain. This is what it means by a cloak of covetousness. Godly believers did not do such things. They did not use flattering words as a cloak of covetousness and they state that God is a witness to their actions.

The Greek word used for flattery is also used for the word smoothness. This is a good alternative definition for flattery because a person who flatters you can be said to be quite smooth. They are being as cool as they can be so that they can influence your actions and manipulate you for their purpose. It can also be said that a smooth operator is liked by most people. Many people very seldom receive compliments for their behavior. But as you should know, a believer does not need to be complemented by man. He cares only to stand approved before God. I become very uneasy when someone flatters me because I know it is a counterfeit. I usually try to get away from that person as soon as possible and you should do the same. If you are walking with God and are strong in the spirit, you will be able to recognize flattery from a genuine complement. You may wonder how we are to handle compliments. Believe it or not, the best way is to say thank you and smile. That’s it.

Now here is a verse from the Old Testament Book of Job. It may appear difficult to understand exactly what the person is saying, but we can get the gist of it. Listen up.

He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. – Job 17: 5

In other words, the wrath of God will fall upon those who speak flattery. Not only will the person suffer, but even his children.

Flattery is a serious sin and a contradiction of the true Word of God. That’s why I am teaching this teaching. Because no one else will pursue these subjects that people think are trivial. This is serious business and if you want to walk with the true God, you will adhere to these teachings. You can either believe that God gives me these ideas or you can choose not to believe. But if you don’t believe, then what are you doing on this website?

There is much learning to obtain from the book of Proverbs which is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I find it most interesting how God covers the subject of whoredom. It talks about the strange woman who is really a prostitute and she seduces many men. You can guess how she does this.

To keep those from the evil one, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. – Proverbs 6: 24

You should be able to ascertain that the strange woman using flattery coming from her mouth is a result of the workings of the evil one. Who do you think is the evil one?

How do you think that a prostitute seduces a man? She uses flattery and this man, who is more than likely a body and soul person – not born again – is taken in by this woman. By the way, I should mention to you at this point something that I remembered from about 30 or 40 years ago. A believer told me that a man who gives in to a prostitute suffers to no extreme for most of his life. He not only sins, he sins against his own body. I thank God that I have never gotten into this situation and I surely never will. If you’re one of those people who was involved in such an entanglement, I am not saying that God will not forgive you. You need to work on forgiving yourself. Every man and woman has an Achilles’ heel and will make mistakes. Remember, that the tongue is an unruly evil according to the book of James. No man can tame it. If you meet a person who uses flattery, you can manifest the love of God towards that person to make an attempt to help them. You need to remember that the love of God never fails. But be careful that the person doesn’t pull you in the hole that they have dug for themselves. When you witness, always give that person several chances to believe. If they refuse to believe, politely excuse yourself and move on. I found another Scripture in Proverbs that I feel should be examined and studied.

Many times people will not say a word to another person who is obviously evil and mischievous and has a big mouth. They will let that person ramble on and never try to correct them. This is due mainly to fear. But a righteous man who walks with God Almighty doesn’t have this fear and he is not afraid to speak up because he knows it will benefit that person. The following proverb illustrates this point very clearly.

He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour then he that flattereth with the tongue. -- Proverbs 28: 23

If a person is doing wrong, many people will be afraid to speak up. So that man or woman continues to do wrong in their life. They probably feel that no one cares otherwise. But then you get a righteous believer and he rebukes that man or woman. The end result is that man finds more favor with the person who rebuked him than the people who flattered him.

There are many gems like this in the book of Proverbs. I am going to give you a few more Scriptures that you can look up on your own that mention flattery – a few mention the strange woman.

Proverbs 2: 16 Proverbs 7: 16 Proverbs 29: 5

There are many more Scriptures in Proverbs and throughout the Old Testament that talk about the subject of flattery. If you are really a dedicated believer, you should not hesitate to purchase a large concordance such as Young’s.

Have I made my case against flattery? Maybe for the first time in your life, you realize that flattery is an evil act. The next time someone flatters you, just get away from them as quickly and as politely as you can. The next time they see you they will hesitate to flatter you ever again. I, like yourself, have been subject to flattery many times. Everyone likes to hear nice things about themselves, but the adversary with his slyness will use this principle to get what he wants from you. As I said before, every person has a weakness. Many people have a weakness to give in to flattery. I am believing it is because they never knew before that flattery was evil in nature. I am believing that because you read this teaching, you now know this for the first time in your life.

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