Some things speak for themselves. So I will let this do so...
If I were the Devil...
If I were the prince of darkness
I'd want to engulf the whole world in darkness
And I'd have a third of its real estate and 4/5th of its population.
But I wouldn't be happy until I'd seized the ripest apple on the tree: THEE
So I'd set about, however necessary, to take over the United States.
I'd subvert the churches first.
I'd begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: do as you please.
To the young I would whisper that the Bible is a myth.
I would convince them that man created God, instead of the other way around.
I would confide that what's bad is good and what's good is square.
And the old I would teach to pray after me, "Our Father, which art in Washington."
And then I'd get organized.
I'd educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I'd threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa.
I'd peddle narcotics to whom I could. I'd sell alcohol to ladies & gentlemen of distinction.
I'd tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil, I'd soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, & nations at war with themselves, until each, in its turn, was consumed.
And with promises of higher ratings, I'd have mezmerizing media fanning the flames.
If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions...Just let those run wild until before you knew it, you'd have to have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every school house door.
Within a decade I'd have prisions overflowing.
I'd have judges promoting pornography.
Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress.
And in his own churches, I would subsittue psychology for religion and deify science.
I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys & girls & church money.
If I were the devil I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg, & the symbol of Christmas, a bottle.
If I were the devil I'd take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious.
And what'll you bet?! I couldn't get whole states to promote gambling [disguised as a lottery] as the way to get rich.
I would caution against extremes in hard work, in patriotism, in moral conduct.
I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned; that swinging is more fun; that what you see on TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public & I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.
In other words, if I were the devil, I'd just keep right on doing what he's doing. Paul Harvey, good day!
More than ever, I have the responsibility to take My stand against the schemes of the devil. An impossible task if I trust in myself.
ReplyDeletePaul says in Gal.2:20 -"I have been crucified with Christ"; he does not say "I have determined to imitate Christ,' or "I will endeavour to follow Him"- but "I have been crucified with Him in His death." When I come to such a moral decision and act upon it, then all that Christ wrought for me on the Cross is wrought in me. The free committal of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the chance to impart to me the holiness of Jesus Christ. ..."nevertheless I live..." The individuality remains, but the mainspring, the ruling disposition, is radically altered. The same human body remains, but the old satanic right to myself is destroyed. "And the life that I now live in the flesh...," not the life which I long to live and pray to live, but the life I now live in the mortal flesh, the life which men can see, "I live by the faith of the Son of God." This faith is not Paul's faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith that the Son of God has imparted to him "the faith of the Son of God." It is no longer faith in faith, but faith which has overleapt all conscious bounds, the identical faith of the Son of God. For example, with so much competeing for our attention, gifting, talent, money, marriage, children, etc, the only test as to whether we ought to allow an emotion to have it's way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more. But if the emotion is stirred by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level. That is the way sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion is, the deeper the degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequenses be what they will. We cannot stay on the Mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received there; we must act it out. When God gives us a vision, transact business on that line, no matter what it costs.---Oswald chambers--- I'm just sayin'with Oswald!