Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Enemy's Strategy

I did not write this but thought it very worthy of passing on. It’s funny how we can read something and say, "Wow, that was powerful, true, and right on the money," and then go about our business as usual. It's only a page and a quarter long. Enjoy.

Do you know how satan deceives the children of God? Here are just some of his schemes that he uses for the Christian community. You can see how clever satan is and Christians must be aware of satan's schemes and cleverness. Be aware of it. You might already be a victim of satan's scheme. Be on guard always! Learn his schemes so that you are aware of his strategies.

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep 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 forming an intimate relationship with their savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil: “Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, 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. Keep the TV, VCR, CD’s and their PC’s going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.

"Fill the 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, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes…

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted.

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there, having little time for their God or their families, and having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is. . .has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

MY SNAPSHOT

Fifteen-hundred attendees and I stood in front of our seats at the Vineyard Church’s Prophetic Conference in Albany, Oregon on Friday morning the eighth of January 2010. We’d just finished worshiping God and the prophet was summarizing yesterday’s message. Among many other things, the word of the Lord was this, that 2010 was a year of deliverance and vindication.

The prophet, Chuck Pierce, prophesied that many believers would get quick snapshots, lasting just a matter of seconds, of previous issues from the last season. Supernatural deliverance is coming. Jesus is going to take the grief, the addictions, the hang-ups, and deliver us from them.

We then entered into prayer.

As the prophet prayed, a vision came to me as I stood there with my eyes closed. I saw my mom and dad standing together and holding hands. They were smiling from ear to ear and looking down at me. This, in and of itself, is not unique until you learn that they are both with Jesus; mom in January 2004 and dad in September 2007.

In the last year to two years of their lives, they were both in wheel chairs, but there they were, standing before me with erect backs, holding hands, and looking down on me at the conference.

As I looked into their faces, their expressions said that they were still proud parents and that they didn’t have a care in the world. I couldn’t hold back the tears. They streamed down my face. No longer could I say that I was sorry; no longer could I say, I love you; no longer could I feel their embraces and hear their encouraging words.

My snapshot only lasted about five to 10 seconds and when it faded away, God immediately delivered me of all the guilt that I had concerning them, just as God had promised through His prophet.

I felt guilty about all the times that I could have visited my mom before her death but her passing came upon us quickly. I missed the next to her last birthday but at least called her. I read about it in a journal that I found amongst her effects. Tough to read.

In my entire life, I had never once yelled at my dad. I didn't dare for one, but I respected him enough not to. However, a few months before he passed, he said something that set me off and I could not hold it back. I unloaded on him. It just about killed him. I loved those two people with every fiber of my being. They were tremendous people and they were my parents but I felt terribly guilty about what I had done and didn't do.

I have not told another living soul this until now. My Guilt was so bad and overwhelming that I had suicide thoughts and dreams. However, the Lord allowed me a supernatural encounter with my deceased parents to show me that they were okay and that they couldn’t be happier. They smiled and watched me as I prayed and attended church and I know this pleased them. The big thing though, was that they were finally together.

The engraved plaque on my dad’s tomb reads, “Together” and the plaque on my mom’s tomb reads, “Forever.”

Because of a snapshot given to me from Jesus through His prophet, I am free from any guilt and I know for certainty that my mom and dad are happy, free of disease, and communing with God. As a parent myself, I feel that they never gave those things a second thought. Now they have their own mansion in heaven.

This is the year of vindication and deliverance and your snapshot is coming, that is, unless you've already had it as I have. May the Lord richly bless each and every one of you in this year and new season, 5770-2010.