Satan's Convention

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Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their scriptures and knowing the truth. We can't keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ.

If they gain the connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that experience with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels: distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection through their day!

"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent unnumbered shams to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work six or seven days a week 10-12 hours as day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player when ever they drive, to keep the TV, and VCR, and their CDs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ. Fill their [homes] with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade any other moments with order catalogues, every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes. Even in their re-creation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, and concerts instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have not time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end.

And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments, causing Mormons everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush, rush, rush here and there. Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.