Satan called a world-wide convention. In his
opening address to his evil angels he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going
to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't
even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them
from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with
Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their
doctrines, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they
can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do angels. Distract
them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout
their day."
"How shall we do this?" shouted his
angels.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life
and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them
to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and
the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 house a day, so they can afford their
lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments,
soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they
cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player
whenever they drive, to keep the TV the VCR and their CD.s going constantly in their
homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly.
This will jam their minds and will break that union and communion with Christ."
"Fill their coffee tables with magazines and
newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments
with bill boards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail: sweepstakes, mail order catalogs,
and every kind of newsletter and promotion offering, free products, services, and false
hopes."
"Even in their recreation let them be
excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for
the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting
events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve
them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled
emotions."
"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But
crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have no time to seek power from
Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and
family unity for the good of the cause."
It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil
angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy,
busy and rush here and there. Has the devil been successful at his scheme?
