We are in a constant battle with Satan and his Demons, whether you and I want to recognize it and battle it or not. Fail to battle? You and your family lose. We lose a lot. We Christians as a whole never reach near our potential. Even the best of us fail miserably at times, nay often times. We lose our focus, drop the ball, trip over the net, pull out our hair, bite the apple, and let Satan win. Satan is more intelligent than is ANY human, though we don't want to admit it. None of us are as smart as we think we are. It is even hard to say, but absolutely true.
What are these tricks? Satan's oldest trick is to challenge God's Word and make us wonder if God would really write a particular Word in His Holy Word the Bible? "Yea, hath God said?", began Satan's list of tricks in Genesis.
I have a cousin who is sure there is no hell. He says a good god, couldn't send good meaning people to hell. Now that is pretty foolish cuz. Jesus talked twice as much about Hell as He did Heaven. Hell is a basic concept of the Bible. Throw Hell out of your mind and Satan has won. Game over. Chalk one up for Satan's Army. I hate that; Satan won that one too easy. Pray for my cousin.
Let's list some more of Satan's tricks. Number one, He wants to keep us confused. That's pretty much the same trick as his first one with a few added nuances. Satan the Bible says is "the author of confusion". He wants to keep us off stride, focused on problems rather than solutions, on trouble rather than God's Precepts. It is a pretty slick plan actually. My wife often tells me, "get your mind off Twitter, and Fox News, they keep you focused on trouble". True they do, but I am engaged in the Battle, and I have to know what Satan is up to in order to stay ahead in the fray, I say. I spend all my time fighting from a wheelchair. A keyboard is my legs and my fists. I face Satan's Army via the written word. Literally. I share God's written Word, to conquer Satan's cheap substitute from Media Matters, MSNBC, CNN, and yes Fox News itself. What Satan offers up as the "fairest" is often the most skewed and deceptive.
Watch out for good news as well as bad news. A lot of good people just ignore bad news, turn off the TV News, and just play or think whatever. We hear that someone in Indiana just one the Lottery and think Wow! What I could do with all those millions. A complete waste of our time, not to mention how the poor Lottery winners ruin their own lives. More money just means more folly if you didn't learn life's lessons working for it. You don't respect what you didn't work for, but Satan will never remind you of that.
Vacation, video games, hobbies, reality shows (did you ever notice they have the very least of any reality), sports, NASCAR, music, parties, sex, drugs, alcohol. We recognize those latter ones as Satan's tricks, but they are still all too easy to get involved in. Even a good book can keep you away from the real Good Book. Idle time, even at a good preoccupation, can keep your mind enslaved to this present world and off focus for God's Kingdom.
This week America has been focused on Elections and Election scandals, on Protests and Police Shootings, and oddly enough on a silly new Cell Phone App involving Pokémon cartoons. Now Pokémon in Japanese means Monster or Demon. Actually it is the only word they have for Satan's Demons. Isn't it ironic that Satan's Demons can so successfully cause Church Members Children to play games involving Demonic Challenges. Too silly and harmless to be Satanic? That's what Satan wants us to think; just a harmless little cartoon.
I was told online last night, what a well-meaning Arkansas Church Member and their Youth Minister were planning, "We are talking about using the poke gym and Pokestop at our church as an outreach tool for the community. The youth pastor and I are looking at ways to reach all ages playing". Here was a supposedly Born Again Christian, playing Pokémon with his kids at home, and plotting with a Youth Minister to teach innocent minds to chase Demons around and collect them for fun? In God's own House? Jesus warned us that Satan had planted Tares in the Church, and here is a perfect example. As I write this, yes at this very second, Region 8 News is broadcasting how much fun the new Pokémon App is and showing some kids, one with purple hair, running around the streets of my home town collecting Demons. How sickening and sad. 6:27 A.M. and Satan is on the airwaves recruiting.
How will you spend your time today? Will you be focused for the battle? Or will you be confused and distracted by the buzz around you? Pray, that focuses the mind, the soul. Read God's Word, not just the cross word. Get a devotional to make yourself think, but focus most on the Bible. Drink in goodness, wisdom, grace and mercy, and "think on the good things". Keep your Spiritual Eyes and Spiritual Ears open to watch for Satan's tricks. Don't let him get you angry at all the confusion around you. Focus and meditate on God's Word. This is your day to Win!
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