Have you ever thought what you would do if you were the devil?
Your purpose would be to thwart God's plans and try to alienate His creation
from Him, but you are aware that big billboards with words such as: "Turn your
back on God and follow me! Signed: The devil" would not have much impact.
Instead your approach will have to more subtle, more underhanded, so that no one
will even realize that they were playing into your hand!
Perhaps such statements as: "It looks fun! Why deny yourself?" "Everybody else
does it! Why shouldn't you?" "Try it at least once!" Or "You are your own god!
Go for it!" These are just simple suggestions, but they lead many into addictive
habits. This gives you victory in your goals!
There is one group, however, that gives you more resistance than the others: The
Christians! Not only are they annoying, but they also threaten to steal away
those you have caused to rebel against God! New tactics have to be devised!
In third world countries, persecution works to your advantage. Many are scared
to even talk to Christians. Past experiences however, have taught you that
persecution often creates the opposite desired effect. What you need to do is
infiltrate the church and render it powerless.
But how can you succeed with Jesus being the "head over everything for the
church" (Eph 1:22 NIV)?
Remember, that what works with the population at large will work in the church
as well. Your approach will need to be subtle and underhanded, so that no one
even realizes that they were playing into your hand!
If it were me, I would attack the church in several different ways, all aimed at
dividing them! As the Romans would say: divide and conquer. Quite a nifty
strategy!
The first step would be to keep individual members really busy. Increase their
pressure at work, at home, and even during their leisure activities. Make sure
they never catch up on their work. Stress them to the maximum and haunt their
dreams at night. Or even better, keep them awake, gasping for air at the mere
thought of the myriads of tasks awaiting them.
Keeping them busy through church activities is also a promising undertaking.
Remember, it doesn't matter what is keeping them busy, and it's easy enough to
make them feel so guilty about not participating that they run non-stop from one
church activity to another.
Next, whenever they take time to breathe, lure them into illicit activities.
Find their weakness and tempt them to the maximum. Throw key thoughts or
pictures into their minds, but do it in such a way that they think those are
their own thoughts! Tempt them non-stop until they finally cave. This will keep
them addicted to their "secret" deceptive sins, and will make them feel
defeated.
Another great strategy is to step up the tension between both spouses, making
them fight as much as possible. This is never very difficult! Eventually you can
lead them to a successful break up. Then they will become even easier prey for
our evil purposes!
Definitely work at discouraging them from praying and reading the Bible. Keep
their live going at such a fast pace that they have no time for such futilities.
If they feel the urge to communicate with God, make sure they talk themselves
out of it. And if they do try to pray, makes sure they keep it brief and
superficial. Reinforce their belief that they are trapped in their defeat. Tell
them that this is quite normal among believers!
The next step will come naturally. They will begin to bicker with fellow
believers and they will begin to distance themselves from the church. All of
this will lead them to eventual defeat, and they will find themselves in our
midst, under out dominionship, nothing but pawns in our hands. Then they can't
be witnesses, and those they try to witness to won't fall away from our grasp!
Pretty clever, don't you think?
"A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation
banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives.
Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but
you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my
guest list.' You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' Only to be
interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing.
You don't know the first thing about me.' That's when you'll find yourselves out
in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the
prophets march into God's kingdom. You'll watch outsiders stream in from east,
west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingdom. And all the
time you'll be outside looking in - and wondering what happened." (Luke 13:24-29
The Message)
Welcome to hell, my friend!
P.S. It isn't too late to getting to know Jesus on a personal level! He is the
only one who can assure your victory! Remember: "Your fellowship with God
enables you to gain a victory over the Evil One." (1 John 2:14 The Message)
P.S.S. To discover how you can be victorious through Jesus Christ, check out the
rest of the series: "When Temptation Looms"!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.