THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT
Revelation 20:9-10 (KJV) And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
I love a good ending where the bad guy gets his just deserts. BUT! Many of us will not see the devil get his just deserts. Each and every day I watch as more and more of the so called body of Christ kick Him out of their lives and church. There are a few praise and worship songs still saying more and more of Jesus and more and more like Jesus, but the majority of the music out there today says "JC is alright by me!"
Just this last month the great and mighty ( a note of sarcasm) Episcopal Church elected Katherine Jefferts Scholri as their new leader. In her first speech to the convention she declared "Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation. And you and I are His children." Now I am a 52 year old pastor that has 5 children and way too many years of education. Therefore, I think I am qualified to be able to tell the difference between a male and female and Jesus was not my Mother. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus in my Lord. But Jesus is not my mother! This is just one example of how the mainstream church is pushing Jesus out of their ranks. This also happened at the convention of the Episcopal Church on June 20th The House of Deputies of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church overwhelmingly refused to even consider a resolution that affirmed Jesus Christ as the "only name by which any person may be saved." Flip Wilson coined the phrase "the devil made them do it."
Sadly, if you ask them they will tell you they did it in Jesus' name and love for mankind. But someone please explain to me how we can take Jesus out of the Church and claim to do something in Jesus name? The only explanation is the devil made them do it.
Schopenhauer studied the decline of the belief in the devil in the church. He came to the following conclusions. "While the decline in belief in God is discussed with ever new attention and excitement, the decline in belief in the devil has never met with comparable attention. Yet for nearly two thousand years the belief in the devil was an absolute, inseparable component of religion and anyone who doubted the existence of the devil was attacked as an atheist. The Church was not entirely mistaken in its attitude: it understood the danger inherent in the loss of faith in the devil. 'For one cannot remove one pillar from a building without endangering the entire structure'."
Christians you must open your eyes and see what old slue foot has been up too. The building of the body of Christ is weak enough but now Christians are letting the devil convince them in the name of love and tolerance to chip away at the very cornerstone of our faith! How long do you think the building will survive without a firm cornerstone?
Lets take a look at what the Word of God says. Matthew 21:42 (NLT) Then Jesus asked them, "Didn't you ever read this in the Scriptures? 'The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see.' OR Ephesians 2:20 (NLT) We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. OR 1 Peter 2:4 (NLT) 4Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.
The house of God is getting ready to fall and yes the devil is behind it all! Let me ask you, are you the least upset by what is happening? If you are in the Episcopal Church have you stood up and said "NO! you will not remove my Jesus!" You see my friend the house of God is slowly being torn down by our lack of commitment to the Word of God.
You can remove one pillar and a strong building will still stand. But when you remove the cornerstone and the building has a crumbling foundation it will fall. You can take it to the bank it will fall. Don't you see it. Old slue foot started chipping away at the foundation years ago. What did Peter say? 2 Peter 1:5 (KJV) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. You see our faith is the foundation of the Body of Christ. But the old devil started chipping away at our foundation years ago. I ask you when was the last time you saw a miracle? When was the last time you laid hands on someone at church and saw a leg grow back? When was the last time you heard the Lord speak to you personally? What has changed from the times of the Apostles? My God said I am, not I could be. You see my friends we do not have the faith for these things anymore. As our faith grows weak so does the foundation of the Body of Christ. Yep! the devil made us do it. He whispered in our ears, "those things were for the start of the church not for today. You have the word that is all you need!" That is exactly what happened to a pastor friend of mine. He was seeking the Holy Spirit and His power. One morning during prayer this pastor said the Lord told him "You do not need the gifts of the Spirit all you need is my word." That is a lie straight from the pits of Hell and this pastor gave up his call to become a lawyer! Bingo the old devil won that round. Can you see how old slue foot has weakened the foundation and the building is about to fall!
The Next thing that the old devil did was make Christians believe it was politically incorrect to preach a Hell and Damnation sermon. Be honest, the devil has convinced us that he is nothing to worry about. It is so bad I cannot count how many times I have heard Christians tell me that we can just bind the old devil and he cannot harm us. HELLO!!! If that was the case we would live in paradise not the evil world we live in. The devil made us think we had some special power over him. That we were more powerful than Jesus or the Apostles. When Jesus faced the devil He used the Word of God. He did not bind him. Peter tells us to be warned that the devil goes around stalking Christians to see who he can devour. So the devil has effectively removed the pillar of fear of Hell from the Church.
Hum, now we have a weak foundation and a missing pillar. The only thing that is holding up the building of the body of Christ is the cornerstone and guess what, the devil made them do it again. Episcopal Church on 6/20/06 overwhelmingly refused to even consider a resolution that affirmed Jesus Christ as the "only name by which any person may be saved." It is not just this group my friends, in a recent survey 68 percent of evangelical Christians and 98% of Catholics believe "good" people of other faiths can also go to heaven.
Be warned my friends, the devil made them do it. The house of God is crumbling around your heads and you have not even noticed. Step back and just look at the large picture. First the old devil convinced the Christians that the signs and wonders of Pentecost were not for today. We just needed the Word of God. I guess we are better Christians than the Apostles who needed these. Then the devil convinced us we did not need to partake of the Lords Supper even though Paul tells us "many are sick and dying because they were taking it unworthy." Then the devil convinced us we could look just like the world, no holiness. He succeeded in crumbling the foundations of our faith and therefore, weakened the foundation of the body of Christ. Then the old devil either convinced us he was no worry or we could just bind him any time we wished. He succeeded in removing the supporting pillar. Finally old slue foot is chipping away at the cornerstone and no one seems to care but a few watchman that are crying foul! But how are the watchmen treated by the world, and sadly even those in the body of Christ? There are called intolerant bigots, hate mongers and unloving.
Yes my friends, the devil made us do it. If we do not get back to the Bible basics I can guarantee that the house of God will fall. Yes, there will always be those who refuse to give in to the devils lies. But, they will be increasingly hated by both the world and their "Christian" brothers. The names; bigot, intolerant, instigator of hate speech, hate monger, you have no love for others, homophobic, narrow minded, old fashion, purveyors of heresy; does it sound familiar? The devil made us do it. Matthew 10:22 (NLT) 22And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure to the end will be saved.
Now are you willing to get your armor polished up and your sword sharpened? Because if you are not be prepared, soon you will fall in with the rest of the rubble. Or will you stand for truth and be labeled a Bigot. The lines are being drawn which side will you be on? Will you do it for the cause of Christ or will you stand before the Lord on judgement day and say " But Lord the devil made me do it".
