|
|
|
|
On Being Christian - How the Devil Keeps a Sinner Enslaved
|
||||||
 |
||||||
| "When the Devil keeps a man in slavery to sin, he takes special care to darken him more and more by spiritual blindness, banishing from him every good thought, which could bring him to realise the perniciousness of his life." In other words, every attempt made by you to help a loved one caught up in this blindness will be countered by the whispers of the Devil into his ear. When you talk about everlasting life, the Devil tells him he's giving up his freedom. When you tell him of the wonderful freedom of trusting in God's will, the Devil tells him he will be poor, penniless and powerless. Ever good aspect of a God-willed existence is perverted by the Devil. The enslavement of this poor rechid soul is through the complete and utter blindness of hope. And every attempt you make to enlighten them to the existence of hope is met with the Devil's insistence that this person is not worthy.
You see how clever the Devil is? As we say, continuously, "Forgive me Father for I am not worthy to receive your mercy." It is said with the utmost humility, that we may be deemed worthy to receive His Grace. But to the blind, this unworthiness is fiercely reinforced by the Devil's insistence that they are indeed not worthy for they have sinned too much, have gone too far for God to ever want them back. Though we know there is no such untruth as "lost" to the Lord Almighty God, the Devil limits God's infinitness in the perception of the sinner. Using the sinner's own self-judgment against them as if God would be as petty. And since all the practices of a Christian life are foreign to the sinner, any attenmpt to pull away from a sinful life is met with unrelenting attacks by the Devil. First in the form of implied unworthiness, followed by thoughts and desires of the former sinful ways. This natural draw to the former life is a powerful pull on the struggling sinner. So without help, the sinner fails to achieve any freedom from the enslavement. Before we begin to examine how we can help those who are blinded, we must examine ourselves when we too become blinded. For the simplest sin can be covered over by pride - meaning we are incapable of admitting to ourselves that we made a mistake, so we ignor the sin, the slight and feign humility while our pride rages within us. So when we try to help the blind, our help is mixed with our pride and we are left with a flawed directive - for us to be right they must be wrong. And thus our introduction to Christian values is imperfect and the Devil takes the moment to shed light on the flaws of our presentation and the sinner turns back to their life of death. Had Jonah sought to evangelize to the Ninevites on his own, his success would have been small if at all. God knew they were ready (depsite Jonah's resistence)(a) and so the Ninevites were saved. Have you lived a life of sin and are seeking a way out? Then the most important lifeline you can hold on to is this simple and unwaivering truth - God knows all that you have done, all that you will ever do. God knows your flaws, your weaknesses and he knows your attempts to return to Him - and He wants your return. he accepts you flawed and sinful. He has never forgotten you, will never forget you and will do He can to bring you back to him up until the very last breathe you take. He knows you, He loves you, and no matter what the Devil tells you, God wants you back! What can we do to help when we come across some one blinded to God's love? Nothing. Let God do everything. Do not judge, enlighten. Do not shun, embrace. Do not challenge, calmly let them rage on. For your lack of challenge gives the Devil no defense. For humilty is alien to the Devil. ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
Based on the writings of Saint Nicodemus in Unseen Warfare.
|
|