The Devil's Convention by Richard J. Enrico
Satan called a worldwide 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 relationship with Jesus Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, 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 countless schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then, borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, 10-12 hours 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 they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or CD player whenever they drive. Have them keep the television on at all times, and their computers going constantly."
"Have the DVD and CD players running. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Christian music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union 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 billboards.
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes."
"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 to reflect on God's wonders. 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 emotion.
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be depending on 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?
Comments (39)
This is the second time I've seen this today! This is a message we all need to hear!
uh, Satan's power over us is already broken...remember the cross?
[We can't even keep them from conservative values.]
Wow. If that's the case then we are all doomed. Luckily not all Christians are conservatives... so this statement is false anyway.
@tialoca_talks@xanga - Hmm. Good point you bring up there. But I was led to believe that although Satan might not be the one who has the power over us... we are led into temptations and what nots because we are human. And God made us human, so we can have the choice to choose.
I'm thinking what they are saying in the passage is that these "temptations" are Satan - aka bad, evil things. *shrug* What do you think of my explanation?
don't forget internet porn...
@gongju_bOttle@xanga - I agree with you on this. We were created human and we have a choose, just how we were created... truly its up to you if u wanna do all those things and satan can't make u do anything, only you can.
@Extremegoatmaster@xanga - *forgive me. I use few run on sentences once too often. I hope you understand my comment though*
Your comment is a valid one. But I think you are looking at it from too extreme of an angle..?
I listen to other kinds of music, I order things using catalogs, sometimes borrow money from friends, and etc. But it doesn't mean I'm not a Christian or a bad one. It just means that at the time I could be reading bible or thinking more about God or even asking God for help with my problems, I am spending more time looking at magazines, thinking about money & work, and even listening to music that might just help me hide from my problems - which really doesn't solve anything and is waste of time.
I think the whole point of this entry/ passage is that these are all the things that is used to tempt us to "waste" our precious time that we could be doing something else more to do what God wants us to do.
If what I said doesn't make sense... I don't know how else to try to convey what I think of this passage. But anyways.. :)
@gongju_bOttle@xanga - Well yeah, but you can still be a Christian and be a liberal. I guess I'm just saying, "Christians should endorse conservative values!" is incorrect.
@gongju_bOttle@xanga - sure satan tempts us, but he has absolutely no power over us unless we give it to him...i agree with the article that he tries to get us offtrack by deceit and preoccupation with silly things...i was just disagreeing that they have power over us...Jesus fixed that, all we got to do is take charge...it's why it is called 'the good fight' in the Bible..it is already won...hahah
So very true!!!
yea..how is porn not mentioned in here at all?/
ahh a modern spin on the screwtape letters-good job!
The ScrewTape Letters by C.S. Lewis explains this plot rather thoroughly & enlightens a greater understanding of the book. Slothfulness, purchasing excess, and putting work ahead of family & church are all "harmless" parts of the plan
Funny, because I just started reading the Screwtape Letters a few days ago...
@newbeginningschick@xanga - thanks for that explanation. I've read the above post before, and think it's quite true. I think that when you become/are a Christian that Satan works even harder on you. Because if he can succeed in pulling away one of God's children, it's more sweet for him. Satan knows he's doomed, he know that Christ has won the victory, but before the end of time, his goal is to take as many people down to hell with him as he can. As Christians, we need to be on our guard against Satan and his attacks. Yes, Christ has won the battle, but that doesn't mean we're free of Satan's attacks at all. Don't forget that Satan has a title and it is "Prince of the Earth" - a temporary title, but title nonetheless.
In Dutch there is a saying that roughly translated goes like this: "among nonChristians the devil wears 'klompen' (those hard wooden shoes) but among Christians he wears socks, so we hardly hear that he is there prowling around seeking to devour us"
Just a thought .........
you don't know the truth.
This is a decent reminder. We dod get caught up in a lot of stuff.
this is pretty close to the truth i think.
Great entry!
Just a reminder - whether Satan likes it or not, God was actually sitting on that conference, with veto power....and He didn't say no.
Instead, just before the end of the convention, Satan had to ask God to give a final speech. And God said, "Try all you can. But Satan, too bad for you - in the end, this will show those Christians just how precious I Am to them, and it'll help them grow as they learn to let go of everything, for 'the treasure hidden in the field' and 'the pearl of great value'."
I agree - people need to spend their time on what really matters, like engaging in local and national politics, supporting scientific and social progress, serving the community, and being there for family. Anything else is just distractions, pure and simple.
Ya know, I listen to "non-Christian" music all the time, and I think it's beautiful and quite possibly brings me closer to God at times. This essay makes a good point, somewhere in there, but I think it's unnecessarily preachy and judging. I haven't read the Screwtape Letters though, so maybe the book explains it better.
Also, I agree- conservative lifestyles? Huh?
I think that this is pretty biased and ignorant. No one controls your life except yourself, why think that there's something else out there? Why do Christians, and all other religious groups blame their problems, their downfalls, and their sins on something that is not even in existence? It seems like the weak way out.