The Devil Patiently Awaits

Satan patiently awaits in the darkness... you better take care!

The Devil Patiently Awaits

 

Comments from readers:

 

Doria " Great article!

 

Frenemy " This is a lot to take in. I can't say I agree with a view of "corrupt beliefs"... I do though hear Paul through-out your article:

"For the good that I would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me."

You created an intense office scene. Well done.

 

Clifford " Interesting and well done. As the book of Revelations obviously foretells that there is more than a hint of truth, even if expressed by someone who is mentally ill. I'd advise you to also read the Koran along with books of other religions to truly understand that office. You know, in the end, all is forgiven even that Saint called the Devil. How's that for revelation.

 

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I saw this angel come down from the Heavens clutching the key of the bottomless pit along with a great chain.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil, or Satan, and bound him for thousands of years, casting him into the bottomless pit. Then he placed a great seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more until those thousands of years are fulfilled.

And when the thousand years have expired, Satan shall be let out of prison. He shall go out to deceive the nations once more, which are in the four quarters of the earth to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

 

 

 

The following story is fictional. After reading it, I want you to think if such a scenario could actually take place and if Sam was controlled by the Devil to act in such a horrifying manner.

 

Similar crimes are committed throughout the world every day to where the Devil is the proposed proprietor of such sinful deeds.

 

 

 

Unexpectedly I begin hearing “You b***h! You’re as dumb as they come,” words that were so intense they painfully slammed into my eardrums. “I told you I wanted meatloaf instead of turkey!” the voice screamed. I recognized it as belonging to Sam, a long-time employee of the company for over twenty-two years. And just like myself, I’m sure he was working late on a story to get it in by the two am deadline to make tomorrow morning’s newspaper.

 

I approached the door of my office to investigate what was going on, opening it just enough to have a peek past it towards his office without being seen. I could see him through the glass partition across the pressroom about twenty-five feet away. He was perched on the edge of his seat behind his desk cursing like there was no tomorrow.

 

His anger was directed at Betty, his wife of thirty-something years. Amazingly, she remained calmly seated on the opposite side of that desk, no more than four or five feet away. I’m sure she brought him his supper like I’ve seen her do many times in the twelve years I’ve been employed here.

 

But Sam was being dangerously passionate with his behavior. Betty remained calm despite the physical gesturing in flailing his arms all about as he spoke.

 

Suddenly he springs out of his seat toward her like a jungle cat pouncing on its prey. And in another second he’s punching her squarely in her face. Several times I see her head snap back, her eyeglasses flying off with the first punch.

 

‘Oh my God, what’s Sam doing?’ Betty can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds!

 

His last thunderous punch knocked her completely out of her seat as Betty went sailing to the floor. A hollow thump echoes its way toward me upon impact. Her face was covered in blood as well as Sam’s blistering knuckles.

 

After hitting the floor there was a second of dead silence. But then like some crazed banshee Betty starts screaming uncontrollably, sharp ear-splitting screams that instantly made my skin curl.

 

Not wanting to waste another second I make a mad dash toward Sam to stop his insanity. Focusing on Sam I then see him then jump on top of her, grabbing her head to hold it down much like a pro wrestler would, pressing her face onto the ceramic floor tile. Sam is at least twice her weight so she has virtually no chance from getting out beneath him. Good God, I can’t believe what I’m seeing! She continued to scream despite being hampered by mouthfuls of the floor beneath her.

 

Then like some Wes Craven horror movie, Sam removes a pocketknife from the pocket of his trousers. Quickly flipping the blade open with his thumb as I get to within ten feet of him, he monstrously begins slicing her throat. Suddenly armed with greater desperation my mind goes blank wildly leaving me numb to what’s happening.

 

Betty grasps her throat with both hands attempting to hold the blood in. And as her hands get cut numerous times while Sam continues to be relentless, it quickly became obvious Betty hasn’t a prayer on surviving. Her throat was so shredded by this time it was beyond repair. She was bleeding to death and there was nothing I could do about it.

 

Finally reaching Sam I knock him off Betty! Simultaneously getting him in a headlock I scream as loud as the good Lord would allow me, “Oh my God, Sam, why? What in God’s name happened?” Staring down at him in shock then eying Betty on the floor in a growing pool of blood I had to hurriedly look away from her, the ghastly sight was turning my stomach inside out.

 

And as Sam struggled to be free of my grip, Betty’s gurgling of blood yet spouting forth was hitting me so hard the urge to throw up right then and there became uncontrollable. Using all my energy to hold Sam steadfast, I abruptly had to turn my head away from Sam to splatter the contents of my stomach onto the floor nearby.

 

Feeling stronger suddenly I scream at Sam in a fit of rage, “Have you lost your friggin’ mind? What in hell are you doing?”

 

Finally the sound of my voice causes him to stop struggling. And after a few moments of holding him as tight as I could to be sure he was going to go nuts again, I ever-so-slowly release my grip making sure as I did so he was going to remain calm. Then I release him completely.

 

We both stand now facing each other. And quickly I’m looking into eyes of a dead man seemingly, cold and dark. I wondered who he was, assuredly not the Sam I’ve known for all these years.

 

But during the short moment as our eyes are touching something in him begins to change. Seeming a transformation towards remorse , although at that precise moment I couldn’t be sure of anything.

 

As I become more calm I ask him again, “Why Sam? Why? My God, what in God’s name happened?”

 

He didn’t answer me. I sensed he wasn’t able to.

 

Then Sam looks down at Betty to see her breathe her final breath. Abrupt painful distorted expressions inescapable but ever so slight, began impaling his face. I sensed a raw sense of normalcy attempting to return. Reality seemed to be returning to him, the emotion behind over what he has done intensifying. I stayed at arm’s length away to observe his impending emotional breakdown. I.

 

Then Sam bends down to get on one knee to gingerly lift her lifeless body up off the floor. Emotions coming to a boil he passionately begins hugging and kissing her face, in the process smearing her blood upon him.  

 

Lips are quivering. Huge tears are silently streaming down over his cheeks. Unintelligible mumbles are heard in between pain soaked sobbing.   

 

Then pleadingly to her with a voice cracking of severe pain and deep regret he mutters, “Oh Betty, I-I’m s-so s-sorry! Oh God w-what have I d-done?” My friend just committed murder.

 

Suddenly he looks up into the Heavens to plead with God Almighty, “Please forgive me, oh dear God!” Then he quickly returns to his wife to hold her tight, caressing her lovingly telling her that he loves her over and over.

 

Despite my own confusion, compassion swelled within me. My dear friend just committed murder. He’ll need a damn good psychiatrist for sure; a fantastic lawyer and a dedicated friend in me to help him overcome such a demoralizing act against the laws of nature and man.

 

Then suddenly Sam stops his crying to sit up. Abrupt frenzied eye movement quickly ensued unlike I’ve never seen, my emotions suddenly slammed into reverse fearing something unpredictable.

 

Then unimaginably his madness returns. And in sudden swift fashion he places the same blood-covered pocketknife up to his own throat.

 

I yell, “No, Sam, don’t!” lunging at him as fast as I could.

 

Without any delay he shockingly begins gouging his own throat in the worst way, his head thrusting back each time the knife plunges into his neck! After several wounds only then does he keel over on top of Betty!

 

I frantically kneel next to him to grab his head to cradle it in my arms.

 

Pleading, I ask “Why, Sam, why? What the hell happened?” 

 

He couldn’t answer me, his thick also blood gurgling.

 

Then his stare is abruptly on me, looking into my eyes helpless and not understanding of what he just did. In an awkward sensitive way I could tell it was the old Sam. Then he looks away from me to rest his dying eyes upon Betty, the only woman he’s ever loved. And in a second he breathes his last, eyes fixating entrenching themselves upon her passionately, his last act of the love.

 

And as I remained kneeling holding him, myself covered in Sam’s blood, I try to reason what happened. Some brain tumor perhaps, something he never knew he had? Or was it the damn Devil? I called the police and then went outside to wait for them. I breathed in deep the fresh air, tasking in as much as I could, my senses needed cleansing.

 

Suddenly the hoofing of horses on the street’s pavement is heard quickly approaching. Then appearing through the dark night he began to appear, approaching gallantly as if he was a King. I cringed when he spotted me for I knew who he was " Satan. And I quickly realized I was going to die. For it is Satan " the worst of all things! 

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“And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions and out of their mouths issued fire, smoke and brimstone”. (Revelation 9:17)   

 

 

When you hear the word Devil, what sort of image do you conjure up? Maybe it’s an imaginary creature so horrible that it pains the senses just to think of it? Maybe he’s in the form of an evil poltergeist? Or, maybe you think the Devil is disguised as Osama Bin Laden, President Bush, your neighbor, the mailman, maybe even a stranger on the street, or the worst of all images " your mother-in-law! Everyone has their own perspective of what he, or it, may look like, that is if they believe that the Devil exists at all. For Christians all over the world, he is as real as the air we breathe.

 

Satan goes far back in time as when God first created Adam, the first human being to roam the planet. And getting Eve to take a bite from that apple sealed Adam and Eve’s fate as well as all future generations. God’s displeasure with Eve filled Adam’s heart with contempt for his Creator passing it down to all of future mankind. Today’s world is still reeling from that moment in history.

 

Now what if in today’s world, that pernicious Evil One, that supernatural entity or myth known as Satan, Lucifer, Devil, Prince of Darkness and Antichrist, among many other unverifiable historical allegories, was transformed into the flesh and began roaming the planet at this very moment? What if him and his gang of bloodthirsty henchmen, or demons, began mankind’s final days by torturing and killing unsuspecting men, women and children wherever they went? What if literally all Hell broke loose?

 

What if, what if, what if….

 

It would be difficult to argue that the Devil and all that he stands for (pain, death and destruction) would assuredly have dire consequences across the globe. Never before would the world experience such unsurpassed fear of something so disturbing and maniacally bothersome, despite the Bible’s warnings that foretell of the Devil’s coming and the lack of preparation thereof. And never before would man be confronted with such an adversary, although Hitler’s genocide of six million Jews from the 30’s and 40’s left a dark stain in history to be never forgotten.

 

Across the globe that doomsday mentality that has been blossoming for centuries in the hearts and minds of billions of people would begin to crystallize. Satan had this doomsday mentality when he was prowling in the Garden of Eden. Without question when he falsely assured Eve that she would not die if she ate of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil became the most damning thing he ever said. It placed doubt and suspicion in the heart of Adam, which then led him to disobeying God. Consequently Adam’s spirit of rebellion was passed on to the whole human race and with him the purity of God’s creation falling.

 

Today, God’s creation continues to reel backwards from a most opposing foe " terrorism. Increasing worldwide terrorism threatens the world’s very existence. And if it continues to grow, these fanatics (a word used literally) could destroy mankind.

 

Was the ungodly destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001 a Satan-inspired event? It certainly seems such horror has the Devil’s signature all over it.

 

Is the expansionism of terrorism actually Satan’s work in creating global fear? Are we now living in a time of man’s history that’s heading toward the Apocalypse? Is Satan opening the door to return and destroy the living?

 

Because of the religious motivation that precipitated or justified the terrorism in the minds of its perpetrators, questions about the influence of religion on the events of that day are unavoidable. The terrorists sincerely believed--evidently--that they are on God's errand, bringing to mind the words of Jesus: "The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16:2).

 

It’s sobering to realize that these times are actually referred to in the Bible.

 

Such assassins introduced into our culture is something most Americans have never before contemplated: unstoppable "suicide murderers" who cannot be deterred by threats to their person, who in fact are anxious to die as martyrs in the hope of divine reward for their murderous deeds.

Who is to say that this very threat, this growing phenomenon of unmistakable attempts at proliferation of fanatical social idealism into the minds of millions of people had not been devised by the decadent Devil to begin spreading evil throughout the world to begin man’s demise into oblivion, manipulating those millions of individuals filled with magnitudes of hatred already?

 

Whether this idea seems illogical and/or extreme is not as paramount as it is to realize that it’s feasible to think such a thing, given the condition of today’s world and if religion has any kind of role of your life.

 

These modern-day terrorists are defiant and boldly prudent in their attempts to force one religion, one way of thinking and one way of living upon the whole human race. They believe they have a divine right to impose their will on others.

 

They have succeeded in putting fear into the hearts and minds of billions of people, thus throwing the world into a semi-chaotic state of consciousness, further arguing that Satan would then have an easier time of entering our world as the Bible predicts, posthumously followed by the end of all life.

 

“Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil” (Jeremiah 17:17)

 

Such behavior is a radical implementation of a surreal darkened madness that is as real as the nose on your face.

 

Hitler was an extremist bent on world dominance the same as these modern day blustering browbeating individuals. But waiting for a similar fate of suicide to befall thousands, if not millions of terrorists is not going to happen.

 

Terrorism has developed into having a crucial role in today’s world, regardless of how you may feel about it. It shouldn’t be viewed as something that will go away in its own good time. It’s been around for a long, long time.

 

The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men, they carried on an underground campaign of assassinating Roman occupied forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans. Their motive was an uncompromising belief that they could not remain faithful to the dictates of Judaism while living as Roman subjects. Eventually, the Zealot revolt became open, and they were finally besieged and committed mass suicide at the fortification of Masada.

 

The Assassins were the next group to show recognizable characteristics of terrorism as we know it today. A breakaway faction of Shia Islam called the Nizari Ismalis adopted the tactic of assassination of enemy leaders because the cult's limited manpower prevented open combat. Their leader, Hassam-I Sabbah, based the cult in the mountains of Northern Iran. Their tactic of sending a lone assassin to successfully kill a key enemy leader at the certain sacrifice of his own life (the killers waited next to their victims to be killed or captured) inspired fearful awe in their enemies.

Even though both the Zealots and the Assassins operated in antiquity, they are relevant today: First as forerunners of modern terrorists in aspects of motivation, organization, targeting, and goals. Secondly, although both were ultimate failures, the fact that they are remembered hundreds of years later, demonstrates the deep psychological impact they caused.

From the time of the Assassins (late 13th century) to the1700s, terror and barbarism were widely used in warfare and conflict, but key ingredients for terrorism were lacking. Until the rise of the modern nation state after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the sort of central authority and cohesive society that terrorism attempts to influence barely existed. Communications were inadequate and controlled, and the causes that might inspire terrorism (religious schism, insurrection, ethnic strife) typically led to open warfare. By the time kingdoms and principalities became nations, they had sufficient means to enforce their authority and suppress activities such as terrorism.

The French Revolution provided the first uses of the words "Terrorist" and "Terrorism". Use of the word "terrorism" began in 1795 in reference to the Reign of Terror initiated by the Revolutionary government. The agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention that enforced the policies of "The Terror" were referred to as 'Terrorists". The French Revolution provided an example to future states in oppressing their populations. It also inspired a reaction by royalists and other opponents of the Revolution who employed terrorist tactics such as assassination and intimidation in resistance to the Revolutionary agents. The Parisian mobs played a critical role at key points before, during, and after the Revolution. Such extra-legal activities as killing prominent officials and aristocrats in gruesome spectacles started long before the guillotine was first used.

During the late 19th century, radical political theories and improvements in weapons technology spurred the formation of small groups of revolutionaries who effectively attacked nation-states. Anarchists espousing belief in the "propaganda of the deed" produced some striking successes, assassinating heads of state from Russia, France, Spain, Italy, and the United States. However, their lack of organization and refusal to cooperate with other social movements in political efforts rendered anarchists ineffective as a political movement. In contrast, Communism's role as an ideological basis for political terrorism was just beginning and would become much more significant in the 20th century.

Another trend in the late 19th century was the increasing tide of nationalism throughout the world, in which the nation (the identity of a people) and the political state were combined. As states began to emphasize national identities, peoples that had been conquered or colonized could, like the Jews at the times of the Zealots, opt for assimilation or struggle. The best-known nationalist conflict from this time is still unresolved - the multi-century struggle of Irish nationalism. Nationalism, like communism, became a much greater ideological force in the 20th century.

The terrorist group from this period that serves as a model in many ways for what was to come was the Russian Narodnya Volya (Peoples Will). They differed in some ways from modern terrorists, especially in that they would sometimes call off attacks that might endanger individuals other than their intended target. Other than this quirk, we see many of the traits of terrorism here for the first time; clandestine, cellular organization; impatience and inability for the task of organizing the constituents they claim to represent; and a tendency to increase the level of violence as pressures on the group mount.

Postmodern International terrorism goes back as far as the late 1960’s. Most noticeably, the Palestinian secular movements of Al Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) began to target civilians (the innocent) outside the immediate area of conflict, after Palestinian leaders realized that they weren’t military able to confront Israel, following Israel’s defeat of the Arab forces in 1967.

 

The revolutionary movements in Latin America, North Africa, Southeast Asia as well as the Jewish struggle against Britain in Palestine saw the Palestinians move away from classic guerilla, typically rural-based warfare toward urban terrorism.

 

Radical Palestinians took advantage of modern communications and transportations to internationalize their struggle. A series of hijackings, kidnappings, bombings and shootings were launched, culminating in the kidnapping and subsequent deaths of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Unfortunately, they became a model, or springboard, for hundreds of other secular groups to follow. Religious ideals became the mechanics for political reasons to continue their terrorist ways.

 

In 1979 when the US Embassy and its employees in Iran was seized by Iranian militants, who held America and its personnel hostages for 444 days, a growing socialistic slant of deep hatred toward western culture began to spread like a deadly cancer throughout the Middle East, deeming the West ‘infidels’ who must be obliterated from the face of the earth.

 

“America " The Great Satan” was and remains the inspiration for many of these terrorists’ organizations. Their hatred for everything that the West represents is deeply rooted in their own ‘far left’ or extreme philosophical concepts and theories loosely based from the Koran, a book composed of sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad by Allah through the angel Gabriel.

 

It should be made perfectly clear, however, that these extremists are radicals and not your everyday Muslim. Most Muslims are good and decent people who want to live in peace.

 

But these radicals own a philosophy of what I refer to as ‘mind bending thinking’, believing that they alone have been personally chosen by God to take all measures necessary to defend their religious beliefs and political views of the world, as well as their own radical interpretation of the Koran. In sanctifying their behavior, it became a holy mandate for these extremists to eliminate anyone in the name of Allah who possess an ideology different than their own.

 

They nurture their hatred in their children practically from the time they are five or six years old. They are taught in grade school that it is a moral responsibility of every child to commit suicide if necessary in the name of Allah. It is twisted logic from sadistic individuals espousing delusions of a seemingly narcosis (unconscious, stupor) state of mind. Such a deadly pulse of perpetuated death and destruction began to flourish in the Middle East like some incurable disease.

 

In justifying themselves religiously, it gained understanding and sympathy from many throughout the world, the number that is as many as the sand of the sea. Other created groups joined their cause in attempts to free themselves of governments insensitive to their personal agendas.

 

Although religious crusades go back as far as medieval times killing the innocent, whether young or old using religion to justify their behavior is a sin in the eyes of God. It is quite conceivable to think that Satan began using these individuals for his own personal cause, which is to return to Earth one day to begin the Apocalypse.

 

The United States of America has not completely defended itself from such madness. Throughout the world America’s people have been murdered. Even with this country’s monumental nuclear arsenals that have the ability to eliminate entire countries from the face of the earth, America has been futile with its attempts to permanently stop those dedicated to the destruction of others.

 

The foundation of a world social structure that has permitted people of different races, religions and philosophies to co-exist for thousands of years, although admittedly that co-existence has been less than harmonious at times, has weakened. And if these terrorists are allowed to continue their ways, they will turn governments into worthless organizations unable to govern and thus survive.

 

Governments and other efforts have not succeeded because, in the final analysis, we simply do not know the right way to live. Solomon, King of ancient Israel, put it bluntly: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).

 

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God says, “it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Regrettably, mankind has proved the truth of those words for generations. Under human ruler-ship, and influenced by Satan's attitude of getting all we can for ourselves, the world has never seen a time that was free of turmoil, war and suffering.

 

The world suffers from chronic, overwhelming problems because we have rejected God. Under God's inspiration King David wrote: “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:2-3).

 

An example of man’s willingness to shun God is the theory of evolution. It has convinced millions of people that God doesn’t exist, that man evolved from the ape. I don’t know about you but having a monkey for a distant relative sounds a bit absurd to me.

 

Another example is through different corrupt religions. People worship the sun, moon, stars, animals, nature and many types of imaginary gods instead of the actual one. Even among the many varieties of traditional Christianity we find people divided and bickering over whom and what God is, His purpose and what He wants us to do and how we should live. The Devil has done an effective job of confusing people as to what the Bible really says.

When we understand the magnitude of Satan's deception, we can better grasp the roots of so many of humanity's problems. Collectively we have had thousands of years to experiment with governments, philosophies and ways of living, so why have we been unable to solve our problems? Why do so many difficulties persist year after year, century after century?

Satan has been busy demoralizing humanity (through turmoil and suffering) since the beginning of time. It’s mind-boggling to realize that Satan’s deadly rot of evil, through terrorism, has infiltrated such fear into the hearts and minds of the common man.

If you believe that the Devil is behind this terror threat, then it truly is a darkening reality that is numbing millions with the fear of age-old myths and legends of what Hell is truly like now that its crippling aura of death is above ground and spreading like the wind.

 

To imagine the possibility of a world with Satan roaming the planet is difficult to grasp. Horror that we know of would have to be magnified at least a thousand times to truly conceive the concept of such a place.

 

Just imagine all those fears you ever had of the Devil and the dungeons of Hell becoming a reality waiting just outside your door to terrorize and then kill you and your family. Feeling and knowing that the Devil is now a breathing entity would put such fear within you it would be so monumental that it would ignite physical and mental stresses so severe that varying ailments meant for the psychological damaged could conceivably sprout within you.

 

As you helplessly pray to survive another day, the world you once knew crumbles all around. Old values dissolve into painful impairments of thought and perception. Personality detriments spur delusions of a world seeing its last days, hindering the old concepts of a world you once knew. A primeval fear of Satan and the monster that he actually is literally pushes you to that edge of insanity.

 

These ailments would then perpetuate a form of psychosis, schizophrenia or other various mental deficiencies. Realistically, it’s conceivable to think possibly psychopaths and derelicts would begin roaming the streets of our cities and rural areas demonstrating dangerous and deadly anti-social behavior.

 

Is this an extreme imagined reality of things to come? It certainly could be.

 

Is it conceivable to imagine that such things could definitely happen? An overwhelming YES! After all that is said and done, Satan IS the ultimate evil.

 

What if improbable demon-like animal instincts brought on by the Devil infected you? What do you think you would become? How do you think you would react? Delusions of Hell’s previous un-thought-of impalpable nightmares WILL cause you to be susceptible to its fearful invincibility. And when those inflictions overwhelm you it would be difficult not to give in to them. The hysteria created from such behavior would promote more madness.

 

Perception of Lucifer’s haunting evil would then become a twisted obsession, growing and growing inside of you. A Hell where the dead continue to exist, misery, torment and wickedness alive and thriving right outside your door will instill a fear in you not thought of or felt before.

 

Then, after it overtakes your senses, you begin to become a member of Satan’s horde, violently reacting on impulse to maim and kill anything that moves, whether it’s those demon-b******s or the young and innocent. It wouldn’t matter to you. You couldn’t help yourself. That vestigial primitive instinct would turn you into a monster. 

 

Impish and squeamish voices from some dark dream would enter your mind. They would speak of descent and treason in the Heavenly Father’s Kingdom, filling your head with lies and adverse reasoning of why you turned your back on Christ and joined the forces of Lucifer, shaping and molding you into one of their own.

 

The resulting neurosis of this narcosis-like impending impulse would dilute your mind with a fearful sense of who you have become " that very monster. At the most indulging moment when this impulse would be the strongest it would drain your memory completely, as its surging power took control.

 

A creepy sensation so dynamically real would begin to fuel feelings and thoughts of a self-perpetuating darkness. Satan would ignite into a full-blown blitz of imagined images in your head as to what’s happening in a world that is seeing its last days.

 

Illusions of mindless maniacs busting into your house taking you captive and torturing you in ways so horrible that you would pray for a quick death deluge your dreams, that is if you’re able to catch a bit of sleep. You jar awake from graphic images of what the Devil’s misfits are doing to you after they find you. One such scenario might have you held down by these creatures while you’d be deliriously screaming while your skin is being peeled away. You would awake totally freaked and drenched from sweat. You would be so disillusioned that you might wish you were dead, not knowing that you actually were.

 

The entire world would turn into a massive asylum for the mentally deficient " the impudent psychosocial, the disillusioned psychotic and the neurotic schizo, and not to mention the purposefully wicked, man’s own contribution toward his fall from grace.

 

According to the Holy Scriptures non-believers will be damned to burn in Hell for all eternity. Historically written as religious fact, it is never more apparent than now that this remains God’s master plan to rid the world of those who have fallen short of redemption.

 

“But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murders, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  (Revelation 21:8)

 

There would be those who would be resigned to their fate of being hired assassins for their new insufferable leader. You might hear them say how they’re looking forward to purgatory, which the Bible describes as a place where there is excessive weeping and gnashing of teeth. Whether brainwashed or willingly doing so, the forceful passion they have for their intense insanity in carrying out the Devil’s scheme to end the world would be disturbing. They would preemptively embrace their pain, allowing it to flourish beneath their skin.

 

They would be creatures incapable of reasoning, smitten with the Devil’s black magic for lack of better words. They would say they’re proud to wear the mark of the Beast, which are three sixes burned into their forehead or on their right hand. Embracing eternal damnation would leave you to only conclude the Devil had set up shop within their pathetic souls.

Dark of night would come transforming those of lesser faith into creatures thriving on instinct. They would travel nomadically in massive throngs, swarming over everything like maggots until there’s nothing left. Innate demonic sounds of seemingly inborn creatures generate pictures in your mind of the resurrected dead alongside the seemingly insane as they scour for the weak to maim and kill.

They would kill all night long leaving the dead lying in the street when morning came to reveal what they’ve done. Most of the victims would be decapitated. Some would be without arms and legs. And you wouldn’t dare venture outside for fear of it happening to you.

 

Societies once offering safe havens with which to live would dissolve into nothing more than stages built from seemingly cardboard boxes with string puppets as actors taking direction from their Director, the Devil himself.

 

“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever. And they have no rest, day or night, which worship the beast and his image, whosoever received the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-12)

 

According to many doomsayers, society has been degenerating for many centuries. Quite often this belief also has a religious cast, with predictions of the world ending in the Apocalypse. Is there any evidence to support such pessimism? Yes, but it's always anecdotal, such as particularly horrifying news stories about human behavior at the extremes as I have just given you.

However the last 400 years have been ones of astonishing scientific and moral progress, and no one can seriously argue otherwise. Human knowledge has exploded since the 1600’s when Galileo first discovered gravity, resulting in scientific, economic and social miracles. Consider all the advances that have occurred in the West during the last four centuries:

1. The West abolished slavery, serfdom, feudalism, the Inquisition, witch hunts, theocracy, dueling, pogroms, polygamy, state-sanctioned torture, censorship of the press, infanticide, child labor, and capital punishment for misdemeanors.

2. The West also greatly reduced infant mortality, bastardy, religious persecution, racism, misogyny, discrimination, superstition, and war. What few wars do occur tends to be tremendously more violent, but it is also a long-term trend that they are getting rarer. There has also been a sharp drop in institutionalized anti-Semitism -- apparently, the Holocaust shocked Europe out of this 1,500-year tradition.

3. The West has seen a clear rise in individual rights, civil rights, human rights, sexual rights, global trade, travel and telecommunications, computerization, sanitation, hygiene, free markets, private property and increasingly sophisticated economic institutions and banking practices.

4. Democracy has replaced monarchy and aristocracy.

5. Illiteracy once afflicted the vast majority of society, but today has been almost completely wiped out, thanks to the rise of mass education.

6. Economic depressions used to visit the West once every generation or two. But ever since World War II, depressions have been completely eliminated in all nations practicing Keynesian monetary policies.

7. Poverty and income inequality have both been considerably reduced. Prior to the 18th century, peasants and serfs were cruelly exploited under feudalism and manorialism. Even by the turn of the 20th century, over 50 percent of all people in the U.S. lived in poverty. Today, the poverty rate has been reduced to 15 percent. In Europe, it's as low as 3 or 4 percent.

8. Our standard of living is continually rising. Efficiency of survival is greater than ever before.

9. Advances in medical science have more than doubled our life-spans -- from an average of 30 years to 75 years. Plagues that once killed a third of Europe have been wiped out. Epidemics have dwindled in both number and size. Each generation is taller, stronger, healthier, and faster than the previous.

10. Average IQs are rising 3 points per decade, in all nations, races and classes worldwide.

Any one of these by itself would constitute a major improvement. Taken together, they provide overwhelming evidence of humanity's upward trend and a lesser possibility of Satan ever entering our world again.

Regardless of all the successes we have enjoyed, the human race is not completely out of the woods. Over-population, pollution, and nuclear war are serious threats to civilization, along with terrorism, which may still do us in yet.

 

The soul remains despite what good and bad goes on in the world. And to not save it from evil would have consequences as in the following:

 

As your soul leaves your body " you realize something is happening. You hear a sound… getting louder and louder… screaming… weeping… wailing. Terror and fear beyond anything you could imagine overtakes you. "This can’t be happening!" you scream. Your nostrils are filling with the awful stench of burning souls. Your face ignites from the heat. Flames are now blazing from your eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth " every opening in your body, flames are roaring out. Your body is sizzling and crackling from the flames.

Your body is now madly thrashing and convulsing from the horrible pain. "Why don’t I die?" you scream. You begin weeping and gnashing your teeth with the millions. "When will this pain stop?" But you know it will never stop…

The darkness is so terrifying it begins engulfing you. You feel something moving in the darkness… something horrible is happening. "No! No! This can’t be happening" you scream " as your worm is emerging.

You begin cursing the day you were born. You scream " "Oh God, why didn’t you warn me?" But you remember the preacher pleading with you to receive Jesus Christ. You remember reading that gospel tract. You cry " "God don’t you care?" " but you remember John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…" "God is a God of love " He won't allow this", you cry " but you remember John 3:36, "… he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

 

Are you brave enough to step forward and accept the real Christ as your Savior? Believing in Him is the only way to gain eternal life that is full of love and free of fear. Are you brave enough to allow Him into what’s left of your heart?

1. Realize you are a sinner.

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" (Romans 3:10)

"... for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)

2. Realize you CAN NOT save yourself.

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags…" (Isaiah 64:6)

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,…." (Titus 3:5)

3. Realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins.

"Who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, ..." (1 Peter 2:24)

"... Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood," (Revelation 1:5)

4. Simply by faith receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:" (John 1:12)

" ...Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:30,31)

"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

(Any religious views or comments expressed are made from mainstream Christianity beliefs).

 

The End