Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 27 (Planet Earth, Devil’s Island, Part 5: “Name Your Prison!”)

By admin On February 13th, 2021

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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 27

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Planet Earth, Devil’s Island,

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Part 5:

“Name Your Prison!”

To read Part 1, click here…March 13th (Planet Earth: Devil’s Island!)

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“How art thou fallen from heaven,

O Lucifer, son of the morning!

how art thou cut down to the ground,

which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart,

I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,

and consider thee, saying,

Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,

that did shake kingdoms…

that opened not the house of his prisoners?”

Isaiah 14:12, 13, 16

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Whether we like it or not, the plain truth is, that this world is Satan’s prison-house of sin and selfishness!

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It is a type of prison-island in which God has allowed the Devil to keep humanity under lock and key, so to speak.

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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WHAT’S KEEPING US IN BONDAGE?

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So, where are the iron bars to hold us in?

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What keeps us from making a jailbreak?

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What is it that holds us captive here?

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One very important passage which explains our hopeless condition is found in 2nd Corinthians 4:3, 4…“But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

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Here above, we are informed that Satan, “the god of this world”, has blinded our minds to the degree that we cannot see the wonderful and glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ who came to set us free from sin and death!

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A WORLD FILLED WITH EARTHLY PLEASURES & LUSTS

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Now, one way that Satan has kept us under lock and key was to create a world in which we have become the hopeless slaves of sin and selfishness.

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And rather than return to Heaven’s government of selfless brotherly love, we instead have become mired in the selfish wares-and-ways of this sin-cursed world!

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And Satan, whom Ephesians 2:2 refers to as “the prince of the power of the air”, is an indwelling spirit that fills our hearts with the desires of the flesh, and of the mind, so that we take great pleasure in sin and selfishness!

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Thus, we have a world in which we are held captive at Satan’s will.

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New York Times Square – terabass – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License

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SATAN’S PRISON-HOUSE OF SIN

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This Devil’s Island prison-house has been carefully designed by “the god of this world”, Satan, to hold each and every person in a personal prison cell: a prison-cell made of our own selfish desires.

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The Devil well understands that in order to keep the earth’s inhabitants under lock & key, he must provide a lifestyle which causes each person to be content existing without Jesus (the true Jesus which is strictly defined by the entire Bible, since there are many “false Christs”.).

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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WHAT AM I WILLING TO TRADE FOR MY SOUL?

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And so, the question that each of us must ask ourselves is this, “What am I willing to trade my soul for? What lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or proud pursuit will satisfy me to the point that I refuse to renounce this selfish world and refuse to walk the upward pathway to the Celestial City of God?”

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Chess-game – checkmate – by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch – Wikigallery.org – Public domain

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GLUTTONY?

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Perhaps my own personal prison cell is made of a selfish life of watching television, eating and drinking.

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Maybe this is all that I need to trade away my soul.

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Gluttony – cropped and colored image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

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PROUD PURSUITS?

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Or maybe my prison-cell is comprised of some proud pursuit of a prestigious career, which consumes my time, and saps my energy by a life of flurry and over-commitments.

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And along with my “impressive” high-paying career, my prison-cell is made of a great-looking home, nice cars, sports vehicles, and wonderful vacations…just the kind of modern-day gods this opulent, decadent, cornucopian society produces!

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WANDERLUST?

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And maybe my prison-cell is made up of a selfish life of travel, ease, pricey resorts, and exotic restaurants.

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Woman in Mediterranian – Wikipaintings – US Public Domain

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OTHER THINGS?

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Or maybe my personal prison-cell is made of political talk shows and finger-pointing news reports, which consume my time, my thoughts, and crowd out my love for personal Bible study, Bible contemplation, and unceasing prayer.

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politics-March for Womens Lives detail – Wikipedia – share-alike-licence

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THE LUSTS OF THE EYES?

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Maybe my personal prison-cell is made up of shopping malls and buying sprees.

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Shoppers in Toronto – cropped image – Wikimedia – share-alike license

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AMUSEMENTS?

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Or maybe my prison-cell is made of various sports.

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Or maybe it’s comprised of copious TV sports shows, chips-n-dip, a six-pack of beer or soda pop. Maybe this is all I need to reject the wonderful gift of Salvation!

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Or maybe all I need is a life of selfish hobbies or amusements to fill up my day, and while-away the precious hours of my probation here on Devil’s Island, Planet Earth.

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Super Bowl XLIII Thunderbirds Flyover Feb 1 2009 – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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IRRESPONSIBILITY?

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Or maybe a life of “doing my own thing”, living a life of self-gratification, regardless of God’s call to vacate this selfish world, calling to all others to do the same thing!

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PICTURE: Unfunny Judgment Day Cartoon – companys-coming – revised

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FALSE GOSPELS?

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Or maybe my prison-cell is comprised of a superficial religion with, “another Jesus”, combined with a life of self-seeking.

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Just enough religion to deceive me into thinking I have Heaven in one hand, while clinging to this world in the other hand.

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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel – www.signsofheaven.org

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MANY OTHER TYPES OF PRISON-BARS

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Well, this little exercise is somewhat overly-simplified, since there are a variety of combinations of these selfish pursuits which work together to keep us in chains of bondage and spiritual darkness, we the prisoners of this Devil’s Island prison-house called Planet Earth.

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Pilgrim’s Progress 15 p. 45 – There Sat A Man In An Iron Cage – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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PRISON BARS ABOUT TO BE BURST ASUNDER

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But the Good News is, that God is now calling us out of our prison-cell, offering freedom and liberty to anyone willing to turn once again to the One who came to earth to set us free!

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Listen to Luke…“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18, 19

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Global Warning – Christ Coming by Julian Osley – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share Alike License

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“LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

Exodus 5:1, etc…

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Yes, we have now reached the hour in which the iron-like bars of the Devil’s prison-house of sin are about to be burst asunder!

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And this is the great climactic finale’ to this longstanding battle between Heaven and Hell, in which God is now freeing Satan’s prisoners from their hard bondage to sin!

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And then, we will enter into the New Heaven and New Earth, that soon-coming Promised Land where we will live forever in joy and peace and brotherly love!

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And there we will truly be free, and forever young!

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Christ’s Second Coming – by Jan Luyken – Wikipedia – Public domain

The River Of The Water Of Life by H. Melville – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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TO READ PART 6, CLICK HERE…

May 5 (Planet Earth, Devil’s Island, Part 6: “Are We In Hell?”)

Welcome To Hell – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to make my little corner of the world into a little corner of Heaven! Help me separate myself, as far as possible from the corrupting ungodly influences all around me…

Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

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LOCATING THE DRAGON

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REVELATION 12 DRAGON IS NOT DRACO!

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First, let it be stated, that this Dragon Constellation is not the same constellation commonly referred to as “Draco” (photo to right is Draco).

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This Revelation 12 Dragon from Signs Of Heaven, has not been previously recognized. But you will discover that it is a very intricate and complex constellation, once you are comfortable locating it (picture below, right).

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Draco, (Picture right) Ursa Minor – Wikipedia – share-alike license

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REVELATION 12 DRAGON

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The star-charts below (below, right) are from Wikipedia and are combined into one chart to show these three constellations, which the editor has sketched over with these three constellations, as they appear when in the west. Hopefully, this will be an assist in locating these constellations in the night-sky.

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LOCATION…

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The Revelation 12 Dragon Constellation can be located by finding Orion in winter months. The Dragon is to Orion’s left, and the Dragon’s mouth is right next to Orion’s shield. This Dragon’s mouth is the V-like constellation The Hyades Cluster, which is also known as the head of Taurus the Bull. The Dragon’s tail-tip is Pleiades and the lower shaft of his tail is partly of Aries and Pisces. Then with aid of a dark and starry night, you may begin to connect the mouth and the tail with a very long body in an oval shape. The front and back legs are made of a few stars: the front legs partially of stars from Taurus . The back legs and rear fin are made of 6 stars from the Cetus Constellation.

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BODY HARD TO SEE

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The long oval-shaped body has relatively few stars, but can been seen, howbeit with a dark, starry night. The four stars of the front fins are made partially of Taurus .

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