The Meeting

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 saviour.'

'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 Saviour 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, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs 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...

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?

What must I do...?

Pastor Nixon delivered an awesome message today at the Collegedale Church. It is the first in a series on salvation. We watched as he eloquently unfolded to us the story of Paul and Silas singing hymns in the prison, and how the jailer was converted that night, along with his whole family. The jailer asked a question that each of us at some time has wanted to know: "What must I do to be saved?" The answer comes in the very next verse, as Paul and Silas replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). This is something that most of us have always been taught, and maybe we run the risk of knowing it with head knowledge, but never applying it to our lives. We know that salvation is not by works, but by faith, but we still sometimes feel that we must "live good lives" to really be worthy. Pastor Nixon related to us a little experiment he used to perform when he was teaching at Oakwood and CUC: he would ask his class how many of them were baptized, believing christians. Almost everyone would raise their hand. But then he would ask, "If you died tonight, how many of you believe you would be with Jesus at the resurrection?" Invariably, only two or three of the 25 or so students would tentatively raise their hands. The problem here is that too many of us, though we know the answer to the question the jailer asked, do not actually apply it. We do not have the assurance of salvation that comes from truly believing in Christ. Jesus said in John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." The operative there is not "might have", or "will have", or "has a good chance of having", but he "has eternal life." Here and now. All we have to do is believe. Jesus is everything we need, and He is the only path to salvation. I don't know about you, but sometimes I catch myself feeling unsure about whether or not I am saved. Now, I know that a life connected to Jesus will by default demonstrate his character - we will live a good life when He is living in us; I also know that awareness about one's condition is healthy, and to just blindly assume salvation without true belief is presumptuous, but we can have that assurance, if we can but believe in Him. The only thing left for me to do is cry out to Him. "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief!"