LIFE QUEST - POINT OF VIEW


IF I WERE THE DEVIL

FROM PAUL HARVEY

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible, so that the lives of animals are valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation;

I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable, because if the family crumbles, so does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call themselves authorities, and refer to their agenda as politically correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the Bible is for the naive;

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.

Good Day


Life Quest Commentary

While there are many good things man does or tries to do, the Bible says that unregenerate natural man has a sinful nature (the one we are all born with) that is in general rebellion against God. That is why Jesus said we all need to be born again (a second time) from above. This is the new birth that Jesus says, without receiving; we cannot inherit the kingdom of God or even really understand it. John Chapter 3

Spiritual things only can truly be understood by man after God has made the spirit of man alive within him and in harmony with God's spirit. The Bible says that this happens when a person receives Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and becomes a child of God and receives eternal life through God's grace! Only then can man produce the good fruit that Jesus spoke about.

Unless a man abides in Christ he can do nothing!! Natural man can produce only what the Bible terms "works of the flesh". Some of those works look good to us and some look bad. But God looks at our hearts, not our outward appearance. He says that our motives, as natural man, are often wrong - even when we do things that outwardly appear to be good or have a good effect.

Only spiritual man (one that has been born again by the Spirit of God) can produce the spiritual fruit that Jesus was talking about. If it were not for the Spirit of God abiding in the world through the lives of believers, this world would be in a horrible mess (more that it already is), overrun by sin and evil. Thankfully God does work through those who believe in Him and He can even cause unbelievers do things that fit into God's perfect will.
With God all things are possible!!

The book of Revelation gives us a painful look at what life will be like on earth when God removes the Church (true believers everywhere) from the world and the great tribulation period takes place and evil becomes worse than at any time in world history. In fact, Jesus said that if He didn't return at the close of that horrible period (seven years long) to put down evil and establish His kingdom on earth, there would be no flesh left alive on earth!! That would be the inevitable end of man without God's intervention in the affairs of man.

But God has intervened in the lives of believers and brought us to the knowledge of the Truth and salvation through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection to give us a lively hope that will never disappoint us? "For by Grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast!" Ephesians 2:8-9

Even though evil waxes worse and worse in the world, as Jesus warned it would, we have our hope and our Joy in Jesus, through the promise of eternal life and that He never would leave or forsake those who have put their trust in Him!

We hope that you have received Jesus as your Savior and Lord and have found, as we have, the joy and blessing that come only from knowing Him.

If you haven't made this life-changing decision yet, we encourage you to do right now! If you need more information about how to become a Christian, we encourage you to refer to the LIFEQUEST "Food for Thought" topics of Salvation and Gospel which will further explain what He has done for you, how much God loves you and show you how to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

God bless you and have a great day!

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