The tour ended in the trophy room. As Satan had just ended his tour of Hell for his newly appointed CEO staff, someone asked him," Excuse me, but what are all of these trophies for?"
As Satan turned to address the question, he smiled with a proud, devilish grin, as if to be flaunting himself because of the trophies in question.
"My newly appointed CEO staff, these are not just any trophies from just any competition. These my friends, are my trophies of those that once belonged to the most high God above; those that once had a close relationship with the savior of the world, Jesus Christ".
Satan continued, “These are those that turned their backs on God, pretending that everything was okay. What they never understood was, that all the while, I was intervening in their relationship with God, throwing at them my little 'enticements‘, which turned them away from God".
Someone asked, “How were you able to acquire them so easily? Didn’t God put up a fight for them?"
Satan replied, "Oh of course he did. But you see, while he was fighting for their eternal salvation, I was fighting just as hard for their immediate decisions, through my enticements of worldly pleasures that always gratifies their carnal man. You see, God gave his human creation the power of choice. No matter if they know right from wrong, or how much truth of God's word they know; he gave them the power of choice to make their own decisions. These are my most prized possessions. For they once belonged to my ultimate enemy, the most high God. The other ones that you have seen earlier in the tour, mean nothing to me. They were mine already because they never came to the decision to accept Jesus as their savior and fulfill God's plan of salvation. Remember I told you that he gave them the power of choice. So due to the worldly pleasures of life, they never gave their lives over to God to allow him to cleanse them from their sins, which meant that when they died, they were mine".
"Allow me to explain to you how I can usually get one of God's children to become one of mine. Before they become God's children, they are living in sin whether they realize it or not. All humans have fleshly weaknesses. Many times they are not always the same. That doesn't matter though. I can always entice them according to their own individual weaknesses".
Satan continued, “After they make the decision to give their lives over to God, I give them a little time to 'get their feet wet' with him, then I start working. As for some, I don't have to wait too long because they just can't seem to 'let-go‘, of those worldly pleasures. You see, I know that God is going to allow them to go through valleys and storms in their lives. He will also even allow them to go through extremely dry spells in the spirit; as to see if they really mean business with him or not. Sometimes he will allow me to do things to them. Unfortunately though, he limits me. But that doesn't matter; because once I get my foot in their door, I begin to persuade them in the decisions they make as I tap into their power of choice".
"For a while, I’ll let them alone in their prayer life. I’ll let them pray and feel like they are on top of the world, but all the while, I am setting up my plan of action. But then the time comes and I begin my attack. I hit them from every side. I make it hard for them to pray and to read God's word, by continually throwing up worldly pleasures in front of them, which distracts them from God".
"If they are married, I attack their marriages. All humans have little quirks about themselves that their mates don't particularly like. I will intensify them to their spouses and many times it causes an argument between them. Attacking married couples is a lot of fun. I always get a good laugh out of hearing them bicker with each other. Usually, if I play my cards right, I can eventually get God's children to stop praying altogether. Not to mention that they usually stop reading his word also, and that is a huge plus for me".
Satan continues, “Another way that I attack them, is by destroying their desire to worship and praise God when they go to church. Many times they will be spiritually backslid or in the process of backsliding and still go to church services. But when they stop lifting up their hands, stop clapping, or praising God with outward expressions, I can see that my attacks are working. I also place thoughts in their minds, which causes them to expect things in church service to run like clockwork. An example of this is, expecting services to begin at a certain time and end at a certain time without failure; never allowing God to do what he wants to do for them in each service. This increases the complacency in them. I play on their emotions which tears away the excitement of living for God out of them. When this happens, they usually become withdrawn from being involved in their church's outreach program".
"At that point, witnessing to the lost people of the world becomes unimportant to them. They even begin to feel like, ‘what’s the use to witness. Let somebody else do it‘. They eventually develop a selfish attitude of, ‘well thank the Lord I'm saved‘. All the while, as they continue to let down in their reading and praying, I plant thoughts in their minds deceiving them into thinking that they are alright with God, and that they are strong enough in that, they do not have to pray anymore. When they stop praying altogether, it’s as if they have just opened the door to their hearts and asked me to come right on in. This allows me to harden their hearts a little easier, because I am able to do it from the inside".
"As I harden their hearts, I also plant seeds of bitterness into their ground, and they begin to sprout up almost immediately. The bitterness is usually laced with back-biting and rumor-spreading. You see, it’s not so much that I can bring down God's children using worldly pleasures from outside the church; but it is much more fun and rewarding to bring them down using their own brothers and sisters in Christ. Oh what fun!"
Satan continues, “Once I can bring disunity amongst a body of believers, I can then begin to dissolve that church body. I entice some members to leave that church body and begin going to another church. Still with even others, I can stir up the fire of troubles in their lives just enough, to get them to quit going to church altogether. While with others, I can distort God's word in their minds and cause them to believe in his word much differently than before, which will cause them to leave the church also".
"But I guess my favorite way to bring down God's children is in their prayer life, or should I say, the lack of a prayer life. Ha! Ha! You see my friends, I know God's word better than most of those humans on earth. How do you think I was able to deceive Eve, which ultimately led to Adam's fall into sin? It doesn't take much to twist God's word around in the minds of those humans. I’ve been doing it for thousands of years".
"You see, I know what John wrote in his first epistle in chapter four, verse four,(Ye are of God,little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world). But too many times those humans forget that they have the power of the Holy Ghost in them to help them overcome me and my worldly enticements. I also know what Jesus himself said in Luke's gospel in chapter ten, verse nineteen,( Behold, I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing by any means shall hurt you). See I know these things. But those humans get so wrapped up in their materialistic world, that they fail to realize the power that lies within them. That’s why I attack their prayer life so strongly. If I can keep them from praying through whatever means that it takes, then they are not going to learn and really understand just how much damage that they really can do to me and my kingdom".
Satan continued, “I’ll let you people in on a little secret. If those humans would pray everyday and read God's word, and when they pray, if they would pray the scriptures like Jesus did when I tempted him, and if they would take on the armor of God by calling it out when they go into prayer, and if they would pray more in warfare prayer through the intersession of the spirit, then there would be no way that myself or any of my band of demons could cause one of God's children to ever fall into my hands. If they would stay faithful to God even through their tough times, then no matter what I threw at them, they would never fall and become one of my prized trophies on this mantlepiece".
"But I am not going to let up in my attempts to bring down God's children though. I am going to continue to entice them and continue throwing things in their paths to cause them to stumble. What God's children need to realize, is that they have power and authority over me; and even though I am pretty tough, if they would remember and pray the scripture, James 4:7,(Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you). If they would resist my attacks and use the power and authority that they have over me, then I have no choice but to flee from them and leave them alone. I have to, because that's what God's word says".
"But they just do not want to resist me and my lies. They want to give in to my temptations and enticements and as they do, they become weaker and weaker. This is where I get them".
"Unfortunately for me, there will be some that will climb out of their weaknesses, overcome my attacks, and call on God again, and they are the ones that are going to make it. But as for others, well, you will find them here on this continually expanding mantlepiece, in this prized trophy room, and with each new addition, I will be grinning from ear to ear. That’s what this trophy room is for my friends".
"For you see, my newly appointed CEO staff, you too were once children of the most high God,but now you have become, my trophies on Hell's mantlepiece. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Dec27,1997 revised Dec7,2000
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