The Devil's World

I've taken lots of moments since becoming a Christian in 2011 to really think about the world. Before 2011, my thoughts on where I lived and what went on around me were not really present. My thoughts were all about me. I lived my life how I wanted, and I didn't care about anyone else. I wasn't an atheist, but you could call me a seeker. I didn't know what I believed. I knew about Jesus, I knew about evolution, I knew about weird alien theories, and I believed in ghosts (ghosts meaning : the spirits of the deceased hanging out on earth to haunt us, which they cannot do, by the way).

Then I really got serious about the world, it's origins, and the purpose of life. I did digging, researching, learning, and discovered that Jesus was the way, the reason, the beginning. I made Jesus the king of my life, and it's a daily fight in this fleshy body of mine to live by His standard.

Now take a moment yourself to really look at the world we live in. Open a few news stories.

Everything that is supposed to be good is not. There is no trust. There is no honesty. There is no purity. There is no integrity. There really is no good anywhere. Anything that is good (Holy, Godly) is rare.

Of course, there are the few people who have good intentions, who put band-aids on the problems of the world (putting together money to aid those starving children in Africa, prevention and counselling of child abuse victims, animal abuse centres, alcoholics anonymous, drug clinics, etc).

The people who do good are fighting a losing battle. I'm not saying to stop fighting that fight, however, there is something at work behind the scenes, something - someone - who cannot be stopped until Jesus returns. That someone-something is Satan.

Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. The Beast. Beelzebub. The Great Deceiver. The Evil One. Ruler of Demons. The Wicked One.

The Ruler of this World (the world we are currently living in). This is Satan's world.

Everything bad in this world, all sin, all unrighteousness, all evil, roots from Satan. He is the puppeteer of this horrid and corrupt place. He uses anything and everything to get you under his thumb. And his tactics are working. Just look around you and see how the world bows to him, and spits on God.

No one wants to accept any Biblical teaching. There a number of reasons for this, and Satan is to blame for a lot, if not all of these reasons.

But, in this day and age, in this silly sex-crazed, materialistic, dollar-chaser, selfish, Godless culture we live in, spreading the good news is thankless and seemingly impossible. Who wants to hear that having sex with anyone you want, with however many people you want, before you even get married, is wrong? Who wants to hear that lying is bad, homosexuality is wrong, or stealing is a sin, or being gluttonous is wrong, or swearing is bad, or killing is a sin? Very, very, very few. Satan has done an amazing job at making a lot of these sinful acts, behaviours, "pleasures" and tendencies to become acceptable. It is now becoming a way of life for today's day and age. It may have taken him a few generations, but, he's done it. Now it's the 21st century, and we're closer than ever to having our Saviour come down from the clouds with His Holy angels. Do not be mistaken; we are in end times now.

But, a lot of people don't care. A lot of people don't believe it. A lot of people will call you crazy for warning them. They will laugh at you. Mock you. Reject you. Make fun of you. A lot of people are mislead, and believe we are going to be taken up before the tribulation.

Everyone is caught up in their own lives, doing their own things, loving their sin, and basking in every minute of it. It's like Satan distracts us so much that we forget our life on this earth is only eighty years or so, if you don't die before that. Yes, death happens, in case you forgot.

Do people not understand that 80 years is a drop in the bucket in comparison to eternity?

It's a hard life to live for a Christian, especially when Satan has his hands in every aspect of the world. People are not willing to listen. It takes a lot of prayer and persistence for people to open their ears and eyes, and to actually realize the error in their ways.

One important goal for a Christian in this life is to spread the Gospel. We are supposed to make it known, unashamedly. Satan will try to do everything in his power to make sure that the message is not heard. He wants as many people to go down with him as possible. He will even try to make a Christian turn from his or her ways and fall into sin, to turn from God, to deny Christ. He doesn't even have to do much; all he has to do is plant a seed of doubt.

Ever have an atheist babble their nonsense into your ear? Such an empty existence they lead! So self-centered and wrong. They call theories facts, and their beliefs truths. They mock theists, and God's word. Yet they are taken by their beliefs, and will spit all over yours, all over God. Satan has done a good job at fabricating things like this, left, right and centre. It's easy for an atheist to sew a seed of doubt. Do not be mistaken.

We, until Christ comes back, can fight against Satan and his followers (both human and angel). Christians, true Christians, need to band together to fight against Satan's anti-God, anti-Christ agenda. His goal is to bring us all to hell, to take away our salvation (or at least tempt us into losing it, with all of the riches and glories of this world - which, please remember, is temporary. Heaven, God's Kingdom is ETERNAL, and so is hell). There are so many people who need Jesus, there are so many people who need to be saved. So many people need to be properly educated about the infallible word of God.

No more band-aids on the problems of the world! Let's get to the root of the problem. God is being taken out of the equation. He is being taken out altogether. He is being rejected.

If we could all just do proper preaching of the Gospel, if we would all be obedient to what the scripture says, if we would just be true Christians and be what God tells us to be, it would be a decent start. If we believed in Christ with our actions, not just in our hearts. These things would be beneficial to not only fight off Satan and his attacks on this dying world, but to have our walk with Christ blossom, to bring those who are lost to Christ, to really work for God and do something meaningful while we're here.

What better weapon to use other than the inerrant word of God?

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12.

"May the praise of God be in their mouth and a double-edged sword in their hands..." - Psalm 149:6

"Is not my word like fire," declares the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:39

If we stood together, and actually put God and His work as our number one priority, maybe - just maybe - God and His love for us could be made known to the world.

The Dangers of Secular Entertainment for a Practicing Christian - Movies

If you consider yourself on fire for God, chances are, you are striving to be completely obedient to His word. If you are actively studying the Bible, and are meticulous in getting an accurate understanding of it, you are aware that it is quite difficult to be a true Christian.

For those “Christians” who claim to have accepted Christ years ago, and believe that they are a Christian when they continue to live in sin and do what they please (disobedience!), then delving in secular entertainment, such as books, movies, music and the like won’t affect their conscience. Chances are, their conscience isn’t effective anymore. Do you ever have that feeling, that “voice” poke at you when you do something you shouldn’t? Ignore that poking (your conscience) enough, and it won’t bother you anymore. And this is a bad thing.

Christians have a standard to live up to :  God’s standard. It’s an impossible standard to live up to on your own. Humans with a sinful nature cannot possibly live up to such a standard without God. But, we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us by avoiding certain lifestyles and worldly distractions.

One thing we can avoid, limit, or filter is secular entertainment. Movies is what I’ll talk about in this post.

I’m not saying all secular movies are bad. But, I am saying the majority of them are bad. And if you’re not filtering what’s coming into your home, your mind, your child’s mind, you would be surprised at how it is affecting your walk with God.

I’ll use dieting and fitness as an example, just to demonstrate what I’m trying to say. An overweight man, having eaten whatever he wanted over the course of his lifetime, decides he wants to change his lifestyle and get fit. In order to do that, he must change how he eats, and adjust how much activity he gets in a day. Little to no junk food, lots of exercise. It’s very difficult to keep eating junk food and lose weight. Cravings for more, high carbohydrate content, the “great taste” of the food just put stumbling blocks in the way of his ultimate goal. It makes his quest to get fit a lot harder than it has to be. If you put it in your mind to have none or very little junk food in your overall diet, and don’t look back, you’re set.

Same thing goes for a Christian. There are a lot of things that cause you to stumble in your walk. Secular entertainment is a huge thing. Take the majority of movies these days, how they are all full of swearing, nudity, and promotion of violence, lying, cheating, promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, breaking of rules, murdering, sex, and on, and on, and on, and on. Few of these movies have anything good to offer someone dead to their old self, on their way to becoming a hardcore Christian. And from what I’ve learned just from the Bible, God wants us to be hardcore Christians. On fire for Him. Him, and Him only.

“I’m an adult, though. I know what is right and wrong. I see no issue with watching a movie with swearing and stuff.”

We as Christians should be surrounding ourselves with encouragement and uplifting materials. You pick up things from everywhere. Watch enough movies with swearing and violence, you’d be surprised at how okay and normal you think a lot of the behaviors demonstrated are.  If you go long enough without watching movies full of swearing and excessive violence, you’ll see that when you go to watch a movie with such content, that you’re completely repulsed by it. Hearing the F-bomb just makes your stomach churn. Love scenes make you feel uncomfortable. The plots just go against your Christian morals.

Be careful, is all I’m trying to say. There is nothing good in seeing the latest and greatest Hollywood hit, for the most part. The last thing you want is to rent a movie, put it on the television screen in your home and have a naked woman walk by on the screen unexpectedly. Bad, you say? Yes, bad. People these days are so lax when it comes to these things, but sexual immorality is a huge stumbling block, so, having such an unexpected scene could cause your husband (or even you) to fall into sin. Just like that.

Let’s be honest, though. Most times, you are better off without watching a movie in the first place. This life is very short in comparison to eternity and watching a movie is, arguably, a huge waste of  time. We have goals to achieve in this life. Spread the Gospel (the true one! Not a false one…), grow spiritually, become an approved worker in the eyes of God…

Anyhow, if you feel the need to kick back and watch a movie, there are awesome resources and websites you can use to determine ratings and inappropriate content present in a movie. Focusonthefamily.ca is just one of them, I believe pluggedin is an app you can download for your iPhone. Keep your mind on Godly things.

Your sister in Christ.