False Friends

Wow! even false friends?  Yes, false friends. I have had some of those too.  Have you?  It really is dangerous to have false friends, let's see why.

Matthew 7:16  "You will know them by their fruits."

1 Corinthians 15:33  "Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits."

Psalm 28:3  "Do not take me away with the wicked and with the worker of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts."

Psalm 41:9  "Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

Psalm 55:21  "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords."

Proverbs 11:13  "A talebearer reveals secrets,but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter."

Proverbs 12:26  "The righteous should choose his friends carefully.  For the way of the wicked leads them astray."

Proverbs 16:28  "A perverse man sows strife and a whisperer separates the best of friends."

Proverbs 19:6,7  "Many entreat the favor of nobility, and every man is a friend to one who  gives gifts.  All the brothers of the poor hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him!  He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him."

Proverbs 20:19  "He who goes about as a tale bearer reveals secrets;  Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips."

Proverbs 23:6,7  "Do not eat bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he.  Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you."

Proverbs 27:5,6  "Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

Proverbs 21:20  "Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, strife ceases."

Psalm 22:24  "Make no friendship with an angry man.  And with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his way and set a snare for your soul."

Make no mistake, this was a heavy study and well worth the time.  I can see how choosing the right friends can make or break a person.  I have done that and it is hard to deal with when you find out that they are trying to push off their filth on you.  But I was able to handle it with God's help, otherwise I might have been totally undone.  It was so bad that I almost became sick over it.  I don't like to hurt anyone and I really don't think I did, it seemed that I was the one who was hurt, it didn't seem to faze the one that I rebuked.  Just from my experience, I warn you to be very careful who you pick as friends.  Another thing, if the person is well known and people know what they are like, and see you associating with them, they think you are of the same mind, and unless you are you had better run the opposite direction as I have had to do.  Grandma Joan