Quote from Forum Archives on May 31, 2002, 12:19 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I haven't shared a message from Neil Anderson in a while.
Today's message from Neil deals with the "dark side" of
spiritual issues - things we prefer not to talk about too often,
but things which sometimes have to be mentioned. For those of us
who believe in the One, true God, it is not too much of a stretch
to also believe that there is one who opposes everything there is
that's good, right, and true, and that is, in fact the case.

While we much prefer to focus on the goodness of God and all that
Jesus Christ has done, it is naive not to constantly be on guard
against the forces that oppose Him - and scripture warns us of
that very thing.

So today, refresh yourself with the full armor of God. Be aware
that God's Word is able to speak against the forces of evil, and
God's armor is available to protect us --- but we must equip
ourselves and use what we've been given by God.

Dear Lord,

I affirm Your Word, and I also affirm the words of your servant,
Neil, who reminds us from words found in both the Old and New
Testaments of scripture that we must turn away from consulting
any other spirit but Your Holy Spirit. Instead, we must
earnestly seek You each moment of each day.

I confess that though I do not seek the forces of evil, I
sometimes allow them too near because I have not maintained my
guard. Please forgive me, help me regain my vigilant watch,
keeping my focus squarely on You and defend my own heart from the
wickedness which deceives and destroys. Please renew my heart,
and help me work out the salvation each day that You have
obtained for me by Your blood and loving sacrifice. Lord Jesus,
I honor You by confessing my carelessness, turning away from it,
and seeking You once again. May every thought I think and every
action I take bring honor and glory to You. Amen.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Thursday, May 30, 2002
Reply-To: Neil Anderson <neilanderson.UM.A.3.35690@lists.crosswalk.com>

N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

May 30

WAKE UP!

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or
his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one
who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a
sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist,
or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is
detestable to the LORD (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

The dark side of Satan's version of spiritual knowledge and power
mentioned by Moses--ritual sacrifice, witchcraft, sorcery--is
also thriving in our culture, though not as openly as some of the
more socially acceptable New Age practices. Our police
departments are trying to tell parents today, "Wake up! Your kids
are not just into drugs and illicit sex. They're into Satanism.
We've seen the blood and the mutilated animals." It's getting so
bad that one of the animal control agencies in our area will no
longer release a black dog or cat at Halloween for fear that it
will become the victim of satanic ritual abuse.

The man who heads up our campus security belongs to a group of
security officers from campuses across Southern California which
meets once a month. When it was our school's turn to host the
meeting, he asked me to speak to the group about spiritual
phenomena in our culture. "There aren't many Christians in the
group," he said, "but they'll be on our campus, so I want you to
speak to them." I agreed to do so.

It was a veteran crowd of former military men and police
officers. When I started talking about the rise of Satanism and
ritual abuse in our community, there wasn't a doubter or a
scoffer in the bunch. Every one of them had a story to share
about finding grisly evidence of Satanism being active on their
respective campuses.

Every aberration of spiritual knowledge and power that Moses
warned the Israelites to avoid in Canaan--from "harmless"
horoscopes to unthinkable atrocities of animal and human
sacrifice--is in place and operating in our culture today. We
must wake up to the reality that "our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against . . . spiritual forces of
wickedness" (Ephesians 6:12).

Mighty Lord, equip me today not just to stand my ground against
the enemy but to actively reclaim in Jesus' name territory he has
stolen.

-----------
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Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
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Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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