Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 29 (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 9: “When ‘Beautiful’ Becomes ‘Devilish’!”)
By admin On February 13th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 29
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The Devil Made Me Do It!
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Part 9:
“When ‘Beautiful’ Becomes ‘Devilish’!”
To read Part 1 of this little series, click here…October 13th (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 1)
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“Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
Ephesians 2:2
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Back in the 1970’s, a certain saying was popularized…“The Devil made me do it! The Devil made me do it!”
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And this was merely mocking fundamental Christians who were seemingly obsessed with pointing the finger at the Devil as the cause of so much evil in the world.
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And so, Satan helped out unbelievers of the world by popularizing that sarcastic, mocking saying, “The Devil made me do it!”
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Then the world could all mock “the silly and absurd notion” that Satan is a very active and powerful force controlling the world, by laughingly saying…“The Devil made me do it! The Devil made me do it!”
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Flip Wilson – Wikipedia – Public Domain
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SATAN, “THE GOD OF THIS WORLD”
2nd Corinthians 4:4
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But the horrifying fact is, the Devil does indeed cause the vast percentage of the world’s inhabitants to do a great amount of things!
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After all, this above verse from Ephesians 2:2 reveals that Satan is indeed… “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
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And let’s face it! To admit that the entire world’s inhabitants are filled with this world-loving, antichrist spirit is more than anybody is willing to accept, much less admit!
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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MINSTRELS OF THE WORLD
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Wikipedia has a very complimentary article highlighting certain musicians/singers/songwriters who once dominated a good portion of the folk/pop music scene for many years.
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Their warm and rich ballads and flawless musicianship made such an impact that they are credited for defining much of the folk/pop music of their era.
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End of Guitar – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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SONGS OF LIFE
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And their songs were all about life in this world: songs about work, songs about love and romance.
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Songs about being young, and songs about getting old. Songs about winning and songs about losing.
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Songs about the western culture, and songs about the beauty of life, and even about some of the not-so-beautiful aspects of life!
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12 string guitar – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
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HOW CAN EVIL SEEM SO GOOD?
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So, considering how these nice and pleasant songsters/composers made so many adoring followers fall in love with both them and with their folksy, down-to-earth, breath-of-life, beautiful music, why are they being mentioned in this “The Devil Made Me Do It!” series?
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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THE LINE OF DEMARCATION
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Listen to this revealing verse from Isaiah 8:20…“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
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God has written His Word in such a way that it draws a “red-line-in-the-sand” as they say.
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Ten Commandments – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License 4.0
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A DISTINCT BOUNDARY LINE
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You see, God doesn’t want His people to be deceived into embracing any aspect of this Luciferion world.
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And so, the Bible has such verses as this above verse from Isaiah 8:20 to be a safe-guard, showing us where the actual boundary-lines lay, which God has placed between Heaven and Hell (Hell being this present world, as well as the grave).
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Listen again to Isaiah 8:20…“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
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Book of Isaiah – Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License
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SATAN OBSCURES THAT LINE
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On the other hand, the “the god of this world” would love nothing more than to obscure those boundary lines in attempt to lure God’s sheep back onto his, Satan’s enchanted ground!
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And so, Lucifer (now given the title “The Devil” and “Satan”, and “The Dragon”) has made it his mission to create many seemingly beautiful and wonderful things in the world.
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fence – All fence-sitters are mine I own the fence!
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TRACES OF EDEN STILL REMAIN
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Oh yes, God has allowed various remnants of the former unfallen world to remain.
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The many beauties of nature.
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The joys of our daily labor and nightly rest.
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Our daily bread.
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The innocent laughter of little children.
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The unity of the family.
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But even though these earthly joys cause us to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, we must not confuse these God-given joys and blessings with Satan’s Antichrist kingdom of selfishness! (Psalm 34:8)
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Family Portrait – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD
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Because Satan works hard to confuse the human race.
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This Master-Deceiver has produced so many seemingly good and harmless things to ensnare the simplistic hearts of God’s people!
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But the Bible warns us in 2nd Timothy 3:5…“(The people of the world) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
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And so, we will probably encounter many things which seem to have “a form of godliness”, and yet they do not speak of the law and testimony of Jesus Christ.
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Café de Flore coffee house – Wikipedia – public domain
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“EARTHLY, SENSUAL, DEVILISH”
James 3:15
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Yes, even though Satan so often cloaks his ministers (and even his minstrels) with an aura of supposed goodness and light, let’s not be foolishly ignorant of his craftiness!
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“That spirit which now works” in the people of the world is the spirit of Antichrist! (see the opening verse at the top of the page: Ephesians 2:2)
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And thus, even those warm, sweet, rich lyrics are, in reality, actually inspired from the depths of Hell!
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Guitar Band set up Lincoln Hall – Wikimedia –
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BIBLE FOCUSED ON THE LAW & TESTIMONY
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Yes, the Bible is concerned about the salvation of the lost souls of this fallen world.
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The Bible, from start to finish always stays focused on this salvational message.
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The Gospel of Jesus is written between each and every line of the Holy scriptures!
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Chaplain reads Bible – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
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THIS WICKED WORLD
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Now as far as the world goes, the Bible plainly reveals that this entire world-system is wicked…“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” 1st John 5:19.
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Satan is called, “the god of this world”! 2nd Corinthians 4:4
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And so, when a poet or novelist attempts to portray this world as “a pretty-nice-place, after all”, God’s people must not be deceived.
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL SINS
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Here in 1st John 2:15-17 is revealed that this present world-system is totally saturated with these three qualities, “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”.
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These three fundamental sins are literally oozing from every pore of this present world-system, though quite often they are not so clearly seen.
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And if the poetry and prose of this world were carefully analyzed, it would be discovered that these three sins are likewise woven into so much of the literary productions of this world, though often veiled behind a thin veneer of false goodness.
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Shakespeare – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
Mark Twain – 1909 – Wikipedia – Public Domain
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HIGH-TECH SOUL-MURDER
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Yes, Satan loves nothing more than to normalize, romanticize, and glorify this fallen, evil world of selfish pleasures and ambitious pursuits!
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And sad to say, God’s people have been deceived to a great extent by his artful gilding of so many aspects of this fallen world.
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And though this has always been Satan’s purpose, yet today, through television, Internet, and the music world, Satan can now more easily conform the minds of men into his selfish image.
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And of course, God’s sheep are his primary targets!
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MUCH MUSIC NOW HATEFUL
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Well, it’s 50 or so years later, and even though much of the music of the past may have been beautiful in many ways, things have devolved, to say the least!
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Instead of the lovely and soft melodies, and the inspiring lyrics, the dominant music of today is just the opposite!
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Just hear what many young people are now listening to. Yes, there’s some really violent and hateful music out there, these days! And violence begets violence as we are now witnessing in major cities!
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Oh, yes, the secularists got their foot in the door by means of the really lovely sounding music/lyrics of the past. But now a good portion of today’s music and television shows have devolved so much, that it appears that God is now judging this debase and perverted society.
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God has allowed Satan to show his true colors in so much of the entertainment world!
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“COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE!”
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Well, the Good News is that God is now calling His true sheep to, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean (thing), and I will receive you, saith the Lord, and will be a Father to you.” 2nd Corinthians 6:17
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Thus, God is now calling us to come out of this Babylonish world.
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Oh yes, we must still work and eat and raise our families.
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But to embrace any aspect of this fallen and corrupt antichrist world-system, thinking it to be good, wholesome, and right, is a fatal error that God no longer tolerates!
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Maybe in times past, God winked at our naivety and ignorance. But no more! The time has fully arrived to come out of this Babylonish confusion!
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It is now time for the Elect of God to shine as the Sun in the purity and holiness of the uncompromised Word of Christ!
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James Tissot – The Flight of the Prisoners – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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TO READ PART 10, GO HERE…
May 12 (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 10: “Mass Insanity, Or Devilish Design (or Both)?”)
Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be wise as a serpent regarding this very deceptive world. Let me not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, nor of his power over this world…
Woman praying – Heinrich Seufferheld – 1893 – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… November 23 (The Two Spirits In The World) or you can also read this shorter article…“March 13th (Planet Earth: Devil’s Island!)“
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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7 HEADS, 10 HORNS, & 7 CROWNS OF THE DRAGON
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“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” Revelation 12:3
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In Revelation, the Dragon of Revelation 12 is described as having seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. However, the Dragon Constellation up in the night sky does not.
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But God has faithfully created the wave of water, in such a way, as to illustrate this same concept of the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. Because this wave of water is basically composed of ten stars.
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The main body of the wave has seven stars (#‘s, 1 thru 7). And the tip of the crest of the wave has the other three stars (#’s, 8, 9 & 10). So we have this 7 and 10 numbering. And this gives us a great clue, as to where in the Bible we should look, to find out the riddle as to just what or who do these 7 heads, 10 crowns, and 7 horns represent. Because, the Bible speaks very much about floods and waters as being associated with Satan (the Dragon).
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… Flood Waters of Satan-Introduction
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW
April 30 (Almost All Is Vanity! Part 6: “Tasting Our Own Mud Pudding!”)
boy with chocolate on face – Wikimedia – GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
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90-MINUTE OPEN FORUM
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THIS 90-MINUTE OPEN FORUM, A QUESTION/ANSWER CALL-IN, TALK SHOW.
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The Open Forum Harold Camping February 4, 2002 (youtube.com)
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ABOVE PICTURE: Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.