Satan's Weapons of Mass Destruction - Introduction

The war for your mind, heart and soul proceeds apace. GOD, with love, grace and mercy vies for your life. Satan in wrath and hatred kills, steals and destroys while promising peace and prosperity.We must discern his lies and identify his weapons of mass destruction, otherwise in ignorance we are prone to destruction.

Proverbs 1:17 "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird."

Let us pray for spiritual eyesight. Wisdom comes from GOD.

Satan desires total dominion on earth. He gauges the extent of his kingdom on earth by whether he has deceived mankind into breaking GOD's law. Satan is a rebel commander, desperate for more recruits to his army, seeking strength in numbers, trusting in his own might. His dominion over the earth is not total or permanent so long as there are many who willfully obey GOD. To strengthen his kingdom, Satan strives to tempt and harden men in decided law breaking, to greater outrages in proud rebellion. He deceives man to destroy himself - it is the spiritual equivalent of suicide-bombing, only the target (the law of GOD) being impregnable stands unhurt while its opponent is defeated and lost. 

All of Satan's WMDs are illegal: they rely on sin for their effectiveness. Through sin, man is separated from GOD, and defenseless against Satanic attack. Yet the devil is more interested in claiming the man's soul and chaining him to sin's bondage. So the man while he yet lives (life is a blessing from GOD) expends that life in the bondage of sin (a curse) in rebellion against GOD, and exhausting his life in the service. Such is Satan's hatred for mankind - in this war his projectiles aimed at GOD are people who his arts have perverted, his shields are human shields, he cares only for his pride.

Satan's weapons of mass destruction are those things he has perverted in order that, as human beings embrace them, knowingly or not, they may bring upon themselves curses.

Proverbs 26:2 
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

This verse tells me that curses do not roam the earth looking to fall upon whomever hapless passerby they randomly chance upon. Curses have specific causes, they can be called the consequences of someone somewhere breaking spiritual laws, or they can be the outcome of misuse of blessings. But let us continue.

The love of GOD for his children is vast, we fall short of understanding it; he strives to save each one of His children. By His omnipotent power and boundless love, GOD gave His only begotten Son to offer salvation freely to everyone who, hearing His warning, will access that salvation BY FAITH, turning from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The devil knowing this designs that souls chained to his miserable service will be deceived into loving their bondage and rejecting that salvation! By the love of the world, by worldliness, the devil satisfies men with this world's illusory "good", so they do not seek a better country, where righteousness dwells. They settle - and fight - for far less: fool's gold, survival for the fittest; a brutal and meaningless existence - but for sin, which alone can stir passions perverted bythe devil's black arts.

We shall go into a step by step analysis of Satan's WMDs - the curses he intends for us to claim under deception - in future posts in this series.

The Close of Probation (in Proverbs!?)

This passage (Proverbs 1:20-33, quoted below) explains a timeless principle about wisdom and folly.

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

But then it also struck me as applicable to the soon coming close of probation and the seven last plagues of the wrath of GOD. This can be deduced from the "fear", "calamity", "desolation", "destruction", "distress," "anguish" (you get the picture) mentioned.  This will be the global condition during the plagues.

Consider also, "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,"... That means "Repent and I will give you the Holy Spirit". That is another prediction of the promised Latter Rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the last generation prior to Christ's second coming.

Also, note in verse 28 that "then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:" it is a situation particular to the close of probation, the one time when prayers for repentance will not be heard any more because Christ will have finished His high priestly ministry preparatory to His second coming. It was foreshadowed by GOD Himself closing the door of Noah's ark seven days before the flood began so that none could enter who ridiculed his message.

Wisdom still "cries out" today calling us to repentance, but humanity must listen today, while grace remains, before it is too late to seek GOD.

I'm admittedly quite surprised to find this in Proverbs. GOD has hidden nuggets of prophetic truth all over the Bible.

Out for weeks

"Mouthballers" had largely absconded this day's training session. Eight of us real aspiring footballers were in attendance. Mouthballers are those teammates who boss others around and complain much more than they eventually play. We were more concerned with ball being played than with arguing with the ceremonial referee's contentious decisions - what does he know? Is he not comfortably seated outside the playing area and declaring his opinions on infractions from far away? Just do what he says anyway and play ball. It was unfolding as the best training session we have ever had.

In the heat of the contest I received a pass on the right wing. With a simple sideways movement beat the defender and dribbled away from him. Just as I was clearing his space his knee struck mine and, alas, there was a sharp heavy impact between them, whence I keenly perceived a dislocation in my knee. I fell with a big shout.

The teammate with whom we suffered that delicate misfortune was genuinely sorry, his first instinct was to forget about the ball and turn towards me, closing in fast with outstretched palm and many expressions of regret. But I recoiled from contact and rolled away to protect the tender joint.

A quick thinking team mate convinced me to accept first-aid and he stretched the leg and bent affected knee back and forth a few times. The bones and muscles realigned properly yet not without  some tense friction. But I could soon stand up and limp somewhat.

Thanks to adrenalin the wound seemed alright so that I foolishly completed that training session. Eventually hours later after my excitement level was depleted I felt that the knee was actually badly. It would require a long rest period.

Nothing saddens a footballer more than a long period off the pitch. Even the actual pain hurts less than the long compulsory rest. It always turns into a real test of patience.

Hence the title. I'm out for weeks (maybe months, but optimism is preferred) thanks to injury. Not off the society though. Off the pitch. This should release to me more than enough hours and head space. 

I will report regularly on progress.

Middleman Mentality

That guy or girl who has no original ideas of their own but always hijacks other people's ideas by assuming executive capacity and bending over backwards to fill every power vacuum.

Is not exactly  in the heights of power but certainly anoints oneself with administrative duties.

Monopolizes channels of information. "All inquiries go through me. I will give you feedback."

They screen all comings and goings to protect their interests within the group, therefore they need the oversight role, with minute invasive micromanaging.

Very territorial about their perch on the big shot's shoulder so they may repeatedly parrot their agenda.

The undertone in their over-enthusiastic rhetoric is such: "Everybody owes the success of this endeavor to my neurotic meddling. This endeavor is my middle name."

While the team's success is to their credit, failure has nothing to do with them (you know, their "advice" was not followed properly, etc.)

They will balkanize the group to get themselves ahead via staged conflicts. They will vilify innocent bystanders to knock them down and become heroes.

They will not be sorry.

First Love

One imagines, one believes, that in days past
when one couldn't live without the other,
that the love was spontaneous, unrehearsed;
honest, unschooled by hurts;
awkward, hence unfeigned; 
pure.

One remembers ideal love
(or imagined it to have been thus
before second thoughts came along):
That the terrain was uncharted,
pristine, wild, beautiful, perilous;
so that one marveled and feared,
as wonders and horrors from either's mind
took colossal strides that shook your worlds;
one held fast to one's own mutually vulnerable other,
in turn was held close in pain or pleasure;
one's collateral was one's own heart,
one held nothing back

When one meets one's first other,
one mumbles mundane weather updates;
yet one imagines, one quietly fancies,
wishfully, unjustifiably,
that one knew the other perfectly
first loved and was loved 
as none other ever will

Because when that perfect chapter ended
both devoted the rest of their lives
to protecting themselves
from losing it again
by never finding it

(Or so one dreams.)

Do or Die

When couples commit themselves to counseling, it must be a drudge at first. I can picture each of them - the man in particular - fidgety, filled with reservations, apprehensive and downright suspicious towards the counselor.All these are manifest in his guarded answers, clipped phrases, hostile staring and crossed arms.

Lastly however the blame games his wife enthusiastically initiates with the counselor gradually draw him out of his shell. Finger-pointing Olympics begin in full earnest as he strives to apportion her just share of the train-wreck at hand.

I myself are many light years away from understanding married life, but stick with me. The example illustrates how when you first make a pledge or a resolution, the first few instances of complying with it rely on sheer will power to overcome self-generated resistance.

All this beating around the bush is to explain to you dear readers how comes last month's pledge to regularly update the blog is faring badly. It still feels like the first few sessions marriage counseling. By the time it comes to that, you know you're in hot water.

The first days of blogging, when one sets out, are like the beginning of courtship - thrilling for their uncertainty and unbounded possibilities.One puts one's best foot forward, one revels in the partner's lively qualities. But the years, they come; familiar routines sear themselves into one's mind, until one is thinking three steps ahead of their partner's next move. Unconsciously.

Suddenly, one humdrum day, one wakes up with a cold sweat on one's forehead, facing mid-life crisis and existential doubt.

Is this it?

As always, there's a lot I could (should!) report to you people from the end-times front. Of course. And then time and means must be allocated to encrypt selected episodes from my personal life. It just seems I'm much busier elsewhere lately, with few results to show for it, somehow.

Enough of that. I would now like to turn the spotlight on my fellow bloggers, who have largely gone quiet. It's a deterioration of literature from my point of view, and I'm holding them (you?) responsible for this literary Dark Ages that's started afresh. Sins of omission and that kind of thing. Missing in Action. Downed tools. Deleted blogs. A writer who doesn't write does not deserve the title.

Look who's talking.

If your failure to blog can be paralleled with unwillingness to attend marital counseling, let's brainstorm.

Sleeping Watchmen

Signs of the times are passing without comment from mainstream churches. You might excuse the mainsteam media, after all, they are largely mouthpieces of the powers that be which have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. However, the church, those who ought to be preaching repentance as preparation to meet the LORD are quiet, even strangely content to mention nothing about Signs of the End.

Signs like the moon going blood red, twice already, with two more instances to occur within this year. One would expect such omens to have sparked off revivalism in the churches,  or at the very least, a quick glance at Revelation 6:12-13, which predicts just such an event, whether this could be its fulfilment. But for the most part, all we hear is studious silence from the pews broken only by overheard explanations of secular scientists and astronomers rationalizing the redness away. "Okay, nothing to see here, business as usual, as you were."

did you see? (image from therealstevegray.com)

Elsewhere in the Bible we find an explanation for this glaring oversight by our spiritual leaders:

ISAIAH 56:10-12

10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

In which:

watchmen -  shepherds of the flock, spiritual leaders

blind, ignorant - clueless

dumb dogs wont bark - will not warn of danger, seeing none  ("sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber")

"fetch wine, ...fill ourselves with strong drink" -  wrong doctrine, false teachings

"tomorrow shall be as this day" -  there is no danger; eat drink, and be merry.

Experiment to simulate seriousness

I had never seen her before.

We were in church. She sang with the choir, led the congregational singing and served me chapatis generously at lunchtime. 

As service ended in the afternoon, the choir sang again, and I stared at her and wondered how long I could keep my face straight while I made a joke which she would only realize was a joke at the last minute. Could I walk away looking earnest and serious, like one who made an honest mistake, or would I burst into premature laughter midway, like a malicious crime lord with a rolling laugh that he opened his mouth wide for? Well, since the thought alone already had me laughing in bursts, the prospects weren’t good.

Still it had to be tried.

Service ended. I waited until she was alone – her friends encircled her constantly, those coming replaced those leaving in a constant stream. Popular girl, what could I do? It seemed she would never be alone, therefore I turned my attention to others, lastly lost myself in the crowd among familiar faces. At some opportune time when she was the last thing on my mind, the crowd before me parted and behold, her, standing alone at last, apparently looking for someone.

The moment had come. I zeroed in with the straightest face I could muster. 

Offered a grim handshake. “Hello.”

“Hi.”

“I know you, but you don’t know me.” Saying this revived the mental concept of my mischief and I broke into a wide smile.

“You know me?!” she repeated, in consternation, as if a new and grievous injustice had stormed against the universe by surprise. She looked perplexed. Fearful, even. I have that effect on strangers.

I geared towards the punchline. “Yeah! I even know your name.” At this point, the smile I had on, it was all I could do to not burst out laughing.

“You know my name!” she echoed.

“You are called Lupita, right?” Of course she wasn’t, but I tried to look serious, earnest, dead sure, a bit arrogantly, like one merely expecting confirmation, not correction.

She burst out laughing and walked away visibly amused.

Caps Lock

The title is an attempt at humor.

It attempts to convey that I wear so many caps that I need Caps Lock to lock them in place.

Cue polite bad-joke-laughter from the audience.

This guy got caps lock. http://www.engagedmarriage.com/communication/how-many-hats-can-we-wear

Now to the caps. I'm so many things simultaneously that people who ask me what I do are faced with much confusion and headscratching on my part as I struggle to list them in order of priority. The truth is oftentimes I neglect some of those caps, like the Blogger cap, and then when guilt overwhelms me, like now, this blog gets the occasional lazy copied piece in the name of maintenance. If I was to treat a significant other the same way, I would quickly be single again. True story. Apologies to blog readers, many of whom fell by the wayside and disappeared between the cracks in the pile of hats I claim to be wearing.

I'm one of those people who can't choose without crying for the rejected option, and that choice will be procrastinated as far as possible. Jack of all trades, master of none. They say men can't multitask, they haven't seen me refusing to let some things go so as to better focus on others. For one, I can't stop playing football, my thoughts always wander back to it. This "hand in every pie" complex is also literal: things I have no further use for hardly ever enter the bin. I could open a fully-stocked museum with the clatter that crowds my spaces.

But I speak not thus in jest. A major overhaul is in the pipeline. But first I must stock up on tissues for the bitter tears that will flow during the Purge. And the few hats that will remain (including Blogger) had better adhere to Caps Lock, or else.

No January Resolution

As has been the trend, end of last year found me attending Bible camps and congresses. A close relation commented that I am very committed to these things. Even this blog's past posts will confirm the trend of end year narratives mentioning camps in which the Bible is studied.

We learnt a lot. We always learn alot; they mostly teach us the same lots of stuff with a little variation. Still I attend every year, because, left to his own devices, a guy forgets, a guy backslides. This year the light from the Scriptures was particularly bright. Yet it was not all paradise. As always the food and accommodation was scandalous. But that's not why we were going, so let's lay that aside quickly.

Also the Ambassadors (age 16 to 20 or thereabouts) I found to be utterly insufferable. Maybe I'm the one who's growing old and grumpy. But the young ones these days are radiating too much heat and very little light. I know I was once that age but...

Okay I'm off topic. The point here is I don't want to be that guy who's always going and listening to the word of GOD and not practicing it. Let's not be those people. GOD help us.