A Story of a recent convention! (Modified by me, Homiletics Online has the original I used for the idea)
There was a worldwide convention of all who opposed God. The keynote speaker addressed the crowd and showed many pictures of Christians. The speaker commented on their task of undermining the work of God: “We can’t keep the 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 Biblical values.
“But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to church, let them have their Biblical lifestyles, but steal their time so they can’t gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”
“How shall we do this?” shouted the convention goers.
“Keep them busy in the non essentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.
What kinds of things? The crowd shouted back
“Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow.
Do not let them be satisfied with what they have, Tempt them with bigger and better things, a better car, a better computer, a better cell phone. Advertise, on billboards and TV ads, radio ads and on the Internet!
This will result in convince men and women to go to work for long hours, to work six or seven days a week, ten to 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their families and friends. Soon their main source of meaning and purpose will be in their work, and how much they can produce. They will not invest in their family or friends relationships, and soon they will get the message that they don’t really need relationships outside of the work. Divorces will become more and more common and soon the will to remain in relationships will be diminished, people will become happy with Face book and texting, and they won’t have relationships that will satisfy their souls.
What else? the gathered asked.
The Keynote speaker continued, “Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that small, still voice of God. Entice them to play the radio, or IPOD whenever they drive, go to the gym, or while taking walks to keep the TV, VCR, DVDs, Cd's and their PCs going constantly in their homes. Do not allow the mind to wander from this constant input. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.
“Fill their 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, sweepstakes, mail-order catalog and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.
The crowd was working itself into a frenzy: “What about their free time?”
“Even in their recreation let them be excessive. Have them return from the recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out to nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Introduce drugs to help them work when they are exhausted, and more drugs to have them calm down when they are at play.
Cause them to think this is all normal!
The Crowd went crazy: We love it, tell us more!
“When they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions.
And let’s champion the cause that people should not forgive each other, lift up revenge and envy as the way people as normal ways to resolve conflict, increase war and decrease peace. If we increase their fear of being harmed, they will forget how Jesus taught them to forgive one another.
“Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their lives with so many causes that they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”
This is the most important part of our plan because if we can distract the Christians it will weaken the churches, cause congregations to fight amongst one another, we can divide them with theological battles, and keep them from uniting, so they will not be connected to God’s power to which can change the world.
Lastly, we must convince the world that the problems they face are too big and too complex to solve. Let us keep them separated by religious beliefs, culture, race, age, so they will not discover the power of connection, of being united as brothers and sisters in Christ.
It was quite a convention in the end. The evil ones went to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has their mission been successful?
You be the judge.
Their goal is to take our minds away from Christ and steer us toward the cares of the world. When we become disconnected from the Holy Spirit, soon we feel overwhelmed and under prepared for the cares of this life. God wants us to enjoy life, but God must be first. If we are too busy for God, then we are too busy!
—Source unknown.( Revised by SPM)
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