Adventures in Denver: September 2008

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Life Without Cable

Happy Post-Labor Day to everyone! I hope there was much joy and merriment for all. We had a short, but wonderful Labor Day weekend. On our way to Chillicothe, my little brother Dan called to tell us that he got Engaged to Breeann!...very exciting! We also got to watch a very tiny parade in Wheeling, and Stella entered a baby contest. Jules entered last year and won, so we had to give it a go. Stella didn't win, but she did get second, and she really enjoyed getting to chew on her red ribbon. :) This week has been pretty exciting as well. Elijah started preschool! He had his first day on Wednesday, and he met his teacher, Mrs. Manning. It was raining, so he got to wear his raincoat (which he loves), and he got to wear his brand new Speedracer backpack that he picked out himself. I gotta say that it was fairly frightening to just leave him at preschool for three hours. I can't imagine how I would've felt if he was in all-day preschool. I worried about whether he'd listen to his teacher, I worried about him being able to make it to the bathroom on time since it's all the way down the hall, I worried about him being able to make friends because sometimes he's a little too "in your face", I worried about him not being able to count high enough...pretty much I worried about him the whole time he was gone. Then I picked him up from school and his teacher didn't say anything...and I waited a little just to make sure, but the verdict was in...there was nothing worth mentioning. No major catastrophies. Whew. I asked him how his first day at Preschool went and all I could get out of him was that he "played and played" and that he didn't get to turn the spinny thing on the weather thing, so he cried. Did I mention that I missed him. I'm pretty sure Stella missed him too. Stella didn't have anyone (besides me) to play her favorite games of Peekaboo, Put things on My Head, Pretzel Stick Dangle, and Hold onto the Stationary Laundry Basket. So that was our week, oh, and Ben worked A LOT! We miss you, Benjamin!

Devotions

Click the link above for the Daily Devotional, daily excerpts from the book "A Day's Journey" by Pastor Jon Courson.

Selected Article from Abiding Life Ministries Intl.

Coming to a Place of Deception

By Michael Wells

James 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

I am starting to believe that people are deceived because there is something in them desiring the deception. First, if Satan has the ability to deceive all men, then all men would be deceived. Obviously he does not have that kind of power. So what does he look for in a man that would allow for a deception? Satan is looking for something in the heart of man where the deception can begin. It would be impossible for Christ to deceive any person, for there is nothing in Christ that the flesh desires. True Christianity cannot deceive, for again, nothing in the flesh wants anything at all to do with Christianity.

Christianity has one message for my flesh: “Move over!” So what is it that makes man’s heart open to deception? I believe it is the desire of a heart that says, “I can be God.” Rephrased, it is the desire of the heart to be independent from God. This is why the Mormon religion is so successful; it is cleverer than the early Catholics who embraced the local gods of the people, or just gave them different names. As you know, many “Catholic” countries are rife with blends of Catholicism and witchcraft. Haiti is an example. However, the Mormons offer something more: man can actually become a god. Man can invite his wife to his celestial kingdom, where she can be eternally pregnant. This “deception” has incredible drawing power to those who have suffered under the hand of their unjust god, or who have served a god all of their lives. After all, who would not want to believe that he could become the one who hands out punishment and receives gifts from others?

Such a person is deceived with a ludicrous teaching, but moving past the cobweb to the spider, we see at the root a heart that says, “I want to be God.” Deceptions all offer the flesh something, and Christ is always taking something away from the flesh. When someone converts to Mormonism, or any of the other “-isms,” I never feel that the Mormons won one while the Christians lost one. Instead, I believe that the person, in believing the deception of Mormonism, actually revealed a heart previously hidden that is anti-Christ. Again, we see that nothing is working against us. God is permitting all the “-isms” for the revelation of hearts. The germ of every cult is this promise of keeping the flesh alive through some kind of God-playing. The amazing thing is that it holds any attraction, when it is so much easier to have a God than to play God.