Yes, go ahead. Freak, weird, wacko, whatever you like. Why? Because I believe there is a devil. There, I said it. Go and click on that unsubscribe link now, if you must. I don’t care. But I do care about this subject. So if you’re still with me, read on.
I believe there is a God and also a devil. I believe God is infinitely powerful but His ability to protect people from the devil is limited by their own choices. I like the way Arthur C. Clarke put it: “You can't have it both ways. You can't have both freewill and a benevolent higher power who protects you from yourself.” For a science fiction author, that was pretty real.
And it’s right there — between God and freewill, between knowing good and doing good, between a thought and a feeling — that the devil sneaks in.
No, I’m not here to glorify the devil nor get you to start looking for demons under the kitchen sink. But it really ticks me off when I see how some people make it really easy for the devil to destroy their lives. Forgive my language: some human beings are just too dumb. They are a disgrace to the species.
If Jesus was right, there is a devil who is intent on destroying people. That includes you, by the way. That demonic force wants the opposite of everything God wants for you. You want love, health, and prosperity? He’s thinking more like loneliness, disease, and misery. And a quick look at the world will tell how successful he has been.
But why? Because people choose him and his ways over God. And that includes people who call themselves Christians. Heck, that might even include you. (You haven’t hit that button yet?)
It’s not enough to believe in God. (The devil does too.) It’s just as important to not give the devil a chance.
P.S. - Have you ever felt like giving up? Watch this week's video to learn four reasons why giving up right now may be a bad idea...
15 comments:
Bp Renato,
Oh my goodness!
Compelling & gripping post!
I'll comment some more after the video.......
LillyEV
Bp Renato,
I don't normally write long comments, but I believe this is deserving of one.
You've taken what I'm going to call a "take no prisoner" stance w/ your post - and as I've written previously - your words are gripping. I was definitely pulled in w/ your title - "Call me weird".
I have had difficulty early on in life that led to more difficulties and challenges which resulted in making bad decisions. And, unfortunately, I didn't have solid/positive foundations from which to draw from.
Yes, some people make it easy for the devil... I think, sometimes, it's because of lack of knowledge, not understanding of how to go about things, in essence, not being taught well... And I'm speaking personally.
Honestly, I had not really thought that God's ability to protect people from the devil is limited by their own choices. But now that I know better, I will do better.
Regarding the 4 points of "If you give up"... I don't know where to begin really, they're all so very strong and irrefutable.
"Losing", "Not discovering your full potential", "Not getting what you want", "Setting a precedent for failure" are clearly what I don't want in my life.
Bp Renato, you've done a great thing! We need to hear and be educated about God and the devil. There are people out there who are open and have no clue how to go about using their faith intelligently and these people need to be reached.
Well said!
Thank you!
LillyEV
Bishop Renato,
I logged into your blog this morning because I wanted to be reminded of what you said towards the end of your video "If you give up ..." and to reread my comment. It's not that I needed reminding because it was all so fresh in my mind from the night before - but still, I felt I should listen to it this morning.
Obviously I saw the "Call me wierd" post, LOL, and that aroused my curiosity.
I admit I was a little anxious whilst I was reading it ... but I agree with L E V - well said.
And I'll say it again - well said.
Thank you.
I loved this blog Bishop, it's a question that many people ask themselves, even Christians.
There was a movie we watched today, and in the movie, one question the Pastor was asked by a youth was "If God exists then why is the world the way it is" and what was his response? "I don't know, but we must always believe in God"
I understand the "always believe in God" but the I don't know?, and this was not only in movies many people question themselves, and it all comes down to the fact that God gave us free will, and the devil uses it at his advantage like many other things that were given to men by God.
Thanks for the post Bishop! Very helpful! :-)
This reminds me of a movie that I onced watched where the actor stated; you might not believe in the devil but he believes in you. Some people choose not to believe he exists because it scares them but we must face the fact that he does exist and wants us to perish so we must wake up and fight back.
This is exactly what so many people do not want to hear/accept wrapped up. This is the truth. I find it so hard sometimes to come to terms with those who dont believe so i dont participate in discussions and it always ends up with the term "ok, if thats what you believe". I ust admit however, even though i used to call myself a Christian i never wanted to believe that there was actually a Devil, knowing that there was a God was ok to accept, but the thought of there actually being a "creature" that was out to destroy me and take my soul to hell was a bit to hard to believe so i avoided it. Now obviously i know that my God is greater so i have nothing to fear.
When i saw the title of the blog 'Call me wierd' it caught my eye. Everything you said was really true. People do tend to make it easier for the devil to destroy their lives its just like Maleya said because we have free will the devil takes advatange of this. He makes his way more appealing to the eye he shows the "good" in what he wants us to do but not the consequences of them. And it makes decisions harder for people.
well said Bishop! I see this happen practicly everyday, with just stepping inside my school.Youth's making wrong decisions because THEY choose to. Not because anybody made them or because they may be demon possessed. In the end god gives us free will!!
At the end of the day, giving up has no solutions. But continuing with and not giving up gives a perament soloions! The video really touched me! And at the end of the day, people maek it so easy for the Devil to destory their lives, TIED UP! If the Devil is fighting to take your soul, fight harder to be in God's presence.
It is very true, the devil wants to destroy us and wants the opposite of God wants for us.
Just watched the video about not giving up and how if you do give up you do in fact lose becuase you didn't go throught till the end. It made me think because im most likely to result to that option but I've got to change that way of thinking.
Sometimes things we go through in life is completely our fault; we allow satan to do what ever he wants with our lives. We say we believe in God but live our live contrary to His Word. This showed me that yes we do have free will but theres things we know we are doing for the devil to ruin our life. Also what I was thinking people honestly make there selves believe there is no God. But with every good there is evil, darkness, light, hot cold, right wrong etc.. P.S Satan knows us; we can not decieve him or God.
I thought that this post was very interesting. I also loved to qoute from the science fiction author, it shows that even the world must sometimes acknowledgde the existence of a supernatural being.
Bp
Is very true, before converting, I use to ask myself, how come is it easy for me to do what is wrong and then when it comes to do what is right I chose not to. And you can see that the more I delayed to obey God the worse I was inside and the closer the devil loved it. I was free the moment I recognized the price that Jesus paid for me on the cross. But it was up to me to accept my freedom or still be bound to Satan will. And that is the problem with many people including so called Christian. Jesus did set them free. But the word free is taken for granted.
Thank you.
Carole Basseck
UCKG London, UK
This is so true bishop, nowadays people seem to make themselves believe there no such things as God and the devil, and they even go as far as using science to try and explain why there isn’t. Which automatically makes it easy for the devil to already take control of their lives and then they wonder why they are not happy they wonder why things don’t go well, instead of them trying to educate themselves about God through science they should use what he has given to us and that’s faith to believe in him, then they will truly see he exist.
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