Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. Ezekiel 36:25.
It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we can not change them…. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they can not change the heart…. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness….
It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul the apostle saw all this when he exclaimed, “I consent unto the law that it is good.” … But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” He longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and he cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all there is but one answer, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” … With His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made, so that the ministering angels can hold communion with man. Christ connects fallen man in his weakness and helplessness with the Source of infinite power.—Steps to Christ, 20.
With God at Dawn p. 71
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Griff who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke and is unable to see or move. Please keep Griff the family in your prayers. Laticia
—-Please pray for Annie. She had back surgery a few weeks ago and is leaking spinal fluid. She is very miserable and very weak. Pray that the doctor will fix the problem quickly. Rose
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Dear Friends,
My grandfather had a friend named Freddie who lived a few houses down the street. Although my grandfather didn’t go down to Freddie’s house, Freddie came to ours quite regularly. It would have been just fine except for one big problem. Freddie was into the occult. Whenever he had the chance, he would speak to me about ghosts and goblins and other things of the occult. This would frighten me greatly, but I don’t remember ever telling anyone about what he was saying.
We have a very real enemy who will use any means he can to get us into his power. It might be a friend of a relative but more than likely it will be through the media. How careful we must be to shut every avenue that the devil can use to destroy us and our children. How vital to our future it is that we avoid movies, television, books, and stories that deal with the occult. This is not always easy for even the most harmless-appearing program often has references to mystics, wizards, ghosts, or horoscopes. Our language is so full of phrases that deal with such things that we hardly notice. Yet, all these tend to allow an opening for the evil one to enter in.
Our Great Creator declares to us as He did too Israel of old, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov 4:23 “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.” “The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.” Lev 19:31; 20:6 “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.” Deut 18:10-12 Think on this! We would never sacrifice our children to an idol, yet are we sacrificing them to the devil through Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or whatever is today’s popular book or movie dealing with witchcraft and other occult practices? We would never expose our children to the flames to appease some evil idol, yet are we exposing them to evil through the television or through toys that promote some popular monster from some cartoon of the day?
God tells us what will happen to those who deal in the occult, “Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.” Isa 47:13, 14 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal 4:1”The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps 37:20 Precious promises! Someday soon there will be no more devil, no more occult, for evil and all who cling to it will be completely destroyed. Never again will there be evil anywhere in the universe. (Nahum 1:9)
May we guard carefully what we allow in our minds. May we seek out and destroy anything within our home that has to do with the occult whether it is a book, movie, game, or toy that our home and our heart may be pure and upright before God is my prayer.
Rose