So, let me get this right. Are you saying that just because I don’t worship your Jesus that I’m evil? I have never murdered anyone and I don’t even believe in spanking my kids. I’m not into witchcraft or anything like that you know!
People are playing with our minds and choices all of the time. You have heard about how television is constantly pumping ideas into your children’s heads, but it is not just the young who are being manipulated.
Everybody believes something and everyone has their own reasons why they hold the opinions they do. But what taught us to believe what we believe? If we are not convinced about what God is telling us, we are trusting someone else. That somebody is strongly opposing God’s ways and stating that what is good is stupid and what is bad is very good.
Nobody is saying you are an evil monster, but it is as simple as this: Whoever you believe, you follow. You do the things they say is okay to do and you avoid doing the things they say is irrelevant. So, we all have a leader whether we acknowledge that fact or not. That leader is teaching us and telling us how to think, which in turn, results in how we behave.
Whoever we follow is our god and therefore we are worshipping that god. Christians follow Jesus and therefore he is their master. Those who have been convinced by the devil’s lies to avoid doing what Jesus instructed, are obeying the devil. Similarly, if we do the things Jesus said not to do, we are following the Devil. Therefore, the devil is their master. Is the devil evil? Yes. So indeed, in that sense you most definitely are evil. We all are, until we give our lives over to Jesus, but that evil is still part of our human nature, so we need to maintain a godly lifestyle by depending on Jesus.
The devil is real. He is not part of a fairy story or a Halloween character to dress up as, in order to scare strangers into giving your children sweets. He hates you. He will tell you it is uncool to worship God and to follow his guidelines. He will try to deceive you into thinking only weedy men go to church – that only feeble or effeminate men say they love Jesus.
It doesn’t help when movie and T.V. portrayal of ‘men of God’ are often bespectacled, dopey sandal wearers (all year round and with woolly socks) who speak in a strange whisper and clutch their hands together nervously while they talk. The stereotypes of ‘holy men’ are embedded in documentaries, dramas, and the national news and if you don’t come away thinking of them as pathetic, you have an image of them as perverts who are a little too interested in children and women half their age.
Naturally, with regards to the non-fictional characters who are being talked about by the media, there are exceptions and sadly some ‘men of the cloth’ are exposed as hiding behind the pulpit or doing the job with the ulterior motive of stealing innocent people’s money or abusing kids.
But that’s not the majority and all those guilty of the above will have an angry God answer to. It is also not an excuse for you to shy away from getting to know the one who died to set you free from your sin. We are all born sinners and therefore no matter how philanthropic we’ve been, or how many letters we have trailing behind our name, we need to put things right with a very real God who loves us enough to have his precious son tortured and killed.
I know I am repeating myself here and there, but I am trying to say things simply so that it doesn’t sound like a whole load of churchy sentences stringed together.
Jesus challenged hypocrites and bullies and the devil himself. He chastised people who tried to silence children or demean women. He put ignorant people in their place, but also had the strength to exercise humility and show us that setting our hearts on fame, riches and comfort is not the real meaning to life.
It is not cool to follow the devil and boast that you are into witchcraft practices. But to assume you are not worshipping the devil just because you are not part of a satanic ring or play with Ouija boards, is folly. Do not be deceived, the whole world is either serving Jesus or Satan.
Never have I seen such ugly creatures as the Orcs from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies. Those fearsome battles make us breathe a sigh of relief when the film ends. There are none hiding behind the sofa. When you go to the fridge to make a drink, you won’t be greeted by one nesting among the milk cartons. It’s safe to go upstairs, as none of them have sneaked into your bed, waiting to emerge from beneath the duvet. But the unseen realm probably looks a bit like one of those Orc wars. There is a constant battle going on for your soul. The devil and his ‘orcs’ want to drag you into their pit.
Jesus is calling you to come to him as you are, no matter what you’ve done in the past. He is not waiting for you to be perfect; he’s waiting for your heart. You will never be good enough. You can’t beat the orcs on your own.
Only Jesus had the power to conquer the devil. He is on the winning side, so it will do you much good to make sure you are too.
