http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/thoughts.php?tname=tfe10-09
Good Morning!
I guess this would be a real quick testimony to share…cause I had to grin as I read the Thought of the Day this morning. The Gospel Part Three. The grin came at this statement;
“Satan is afraid of this Gospel. He gets nervous when God’s people get close to it. In just about every case I know of, when God starts revealing to one of His children the truth of the Gospel, Satan’s ministers start offering them prestigious titles and responsibilities”.
Yep. I can remember something similar… When I finally gathered the strength & made the meeting w/my pastor to share all these truths that the Spirit had been revealing to me. There we were, at that big conference table, doing a little chit-chat, and before I could even begin with the real reason I came … the pastor basically began offering me a position that I cared about deeply.
I remember thinking “what in the world?”, and almost feeling bad … because there he was, placing a trust of me in this position … and I was about to drop an unannounced BIG bomb!! I was so uncomfortable…and within myself began doubting if that was the time to tell him what I came to tell!
Well, I hung on & stuck to it. I did respectfully listened to all he had to say, and etc. about what he was asking of me. But when it came my turn, I honestly told him that after all he said, he probably may change his mind, once he hears what I came to talk about.
I shared truth, and he listened…but when it was all over with, he hadn’t changed his mind. He still wanted me to take that position.
I was doing my best to be led by the Spirit, and somewhat alone, try to figure that whole thing out! But it didn’t change his mind a bit…and I ended up being in that role for 5 more months…before making that decision to leave earlier this year.
So, here is a question. Now I know that Satan does not know ALL things like God does!
But what is your take? Could Satan have been aware in advance of what I went to do (and how) … and beat me to the punch (since the offer came before I shared truth)? Or maybe could it had been a test to see I would back off…or stay strong and still speak? Makes one wonder.
Melissa
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Hi Melissa.
As I said in that Thought for the Day, this is a fairly common occurrence. It is God, giving you the opportunity to spurn the vain offers of man bound in darkness in order to attain to “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
It is a spiritual matter, Melissa, not an intelligence issue. The spirits of Christian ministers, as well as Satan, can feel it when they are loosing their grip on a good member of their sect. They don’t have to know a thing. Their response is often to try to please that member with extra honor. or load him with extra responsibilities, so he/she will feel obligated to stay there and not to follow Christ out of Babylon.
The difference between that scenario and the way of Christ is that when people begin to walk away from Jesus, he first thanks God that for relieving him of the burden of dealing with those foolish people, and then he invites others who are still with him to leave with them. Consider this scene from John 6:
66. From that time, many of his disciples turned back to former things and no longer walked with him.
67. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to leave, too?”
Melissa, seeing this is the way Jesus is, I have never called or written a soul who has chosen to leave me and go some other way. Everyone here knows very well that they are free to walk away — without me chasing them. They know they will never be bothered by me again. Now, as long as they are here, they will be fed the word of God and protected from evil influences, to the extent that Jesus equips me to do that. I will, as Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word . . reprove, rebuke, exhort with all patience and doctrine.” But if anyone wants to leave, and if I have done my part according to the will of God, then their leaving can only be that to be a part of my work is not given to them by Jesus. So, I rejoice in that judgment of God as much as any other.
This precious light that we see is too wonderful for us to have to beg or try to bribe people to be faithful to it. The truth judges us, Melissa; we cannot judge it. And if the truth judges someone unworthy to participate in this holy and good work, then I rejoice, not complain about it. And then, I will invite you and everyone else here to leave, too. I only want the ones God sends me. They are precious souls, both to me and to the Lord. The merely interested, the half-committed, and those who think of this as just another Christian sect are all dead weight, and its just a matter of time before they are offended at something I do or say.
Pastor John