The Bible warns against the influence of those who spread negativity and evil, as they can corrupt good character and lead others astray. In 1 Corinthians 15:33, the apostle Paul cautions that bad company can have a destructive effect on one's life. Proverbs 22:24 advises against making friends with a hot-tempered person, lest you learn their ways and suffer harm. Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:1-2 and Mark 7:20-23 that the heart is the source of evil thoughts and actions, and invites the weary to come to Him for rest in Matthew 11:28, offering a refuge from the negative influences that surround us.
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Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,
“Do not judge, or you will be judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds— He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,
These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”— my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path. For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it! But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors. Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech: “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge? If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you. Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you, when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD. They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”
And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal.
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.