| Yikes! |
| Now, didn't I tell you to avoid him. I think he's like the number one creature to avoid. But sadly, I know we have all had our encounters with this being. I am by no means a devil chaser nor do I have a fixation upon the works of darkness, however I do know that there is evil and unrighteousness in this world and even in the towns and cities we call home. It's a unpleasant reality,but we need not be afraid or live in defeat. |
| Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And He said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For god doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (oh man, we're in big trouble now) |
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| When you read this story you need to ask yourself a couple of questions. (1) Where is Adam when all of this is taking place? If you read it carefully, especially in another version (sorry for making you endure the KJV, its the only Bible I had in front of me at the moment) It indicates that Adam was right there beside Eve, listening to the conversation and then she hands the fruit over to Adam to have a bite. Adam what were you doing? speak up man, saves us from the terrible road that you are going to let us all travel. But Adam doesn't speak and the course, or curse, for all mankind is set. (2) Even more disturbing is the question "Where is God?" Theologically God is everywhere, so the answer is God is there the whole time listening to the conversation. Why does God not speak up and keep us from the terrible road that Adam is leading us down? The answer to this question is, God has placed it in the heart and abilities of men and women to stand up for what they believe in and to prevail over the lies and works of darkness. So God is there, waiting for Adam or Eve to rise up and prevail, cuz He knows that the strength is within as He has placed it their. "Show him your heart Adam, show him what your made of, show him your strength." But Adam or Eve does not. Even though they fail, the strength remains. It's a strength He has put into every man and woman. |
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| Something Else to Think About The devil, evil, unrighteosness ,whatever title you want to put on it. It strikes early in our life and tries to deceive or destroy the creation that God has made. We see it in this story, the devil strikes early in human history and messes up the course for all humankind. If we looked at our own life, I would guess that sometime early in our life some evil force or being did something to try and deceive us, or destroy us, in an attempt to keep us from being what God has made you and I to be, "a child of God, a mighty warrior". The sad reality is the attack generally comes through a person or people we know. Most abuse, violence, or evil that we encounter is from someone close to us, happens early in our life and thus sets our course. It's why some people live in anger or fear all the time, even some Christians. They just don't know how or who to talk to about it, and so they continue to live that way not knowing Jesus has life for them and life more abundantly. |
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| One More Thing The enemy of our souls is a subtil being, in other words he's very crafty or sneaky. Our enemy does not battle or attack us in ways that our obvious, as he likes to operate in an anonymous way. As though he wasn't really there. The enemy tries to send us on wild goose chases in pursuit of him, he seems to be quite successful at it. Because our churches consistenty fall into the trap and end up doing all kinds of things in an attempt to overpower our enemy, or evil. It's all an attempt to draw our attention away from our source of strength, the champion of our souls, our deliverer and Saviour, Jesus Christ. |
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