How To Get Devoured

My Younger Brother Praying - He had not stepped into a church in over 18 years.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8

As most of you know I love many types & styles of photography. I was viewing photos on Pbase, it’s a site that hosts all types of photo galleries & I came across this one gallery where a pride of lions devoured this zebra in under an hour.

The photographer claims that the zebra came down to the river to drink some water, I suspect that the zebra either did not pay attention to its surroundings or either didn’t notice all the lions in the area, either way one thing is clear. The zebra had separated itself from the rest of the herd & in so doing became an easy target for the lions.

Have you ever heard the term “There is safety in numbers”?  Let’s assume that the zebra would’ve walked up to the river with a few of its pals & that their combined instincts would have made them all more aware of all that was taking place around them. Would the zebra have been an easy target? Would it have turned itself into an all you can eat buffet? I’d like to think not.

But you see there is an analogy & a bit of wisdom to be gained from the demise of the lone zebra. In many ways this applies to Christians who for some reason or another make a decision not to be a part of a church body or associate with like minded believers; this is not to say that being by oneself will cause you to be devoured by Satan but my sense is that being by oneself exposes you to even more spiritual danger & increases your chances of being spiritually devoured. The word devour means, to eat up greedily, to destroy, consume, or waste, to take in eagerly.

The bible describes Satan as a roaring lion. Lions by nature will always look for the weakest & loneliest animal in a herd; they are always searching for an easy meal. They are opportunistic creatures. Satan is the same exact way; he will search for a weak Christian & calmly wait for the right moment to attack. A Christian can make a decision to go off by himself, but who will be there to help him get up if he falls? Who will come to his aid?

In Ecclesiastes we read the following scripture:

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:12

It basically states that being alone and apart you will be broken, united & combined you’ll be able to withstand an adversary. A group of praying believers are more powerful than one praying believer. There is safety in numbers friend!

Allow me to share a thought or two.

I completely understand why non believers don’t associate with Christians or even bother getting near a church. You can’t blame them really. What I find more disturbing is when you have Christians not wanting to associate with other Christians, than you know there are bigger underlying issues within the body.

Apostolic Christians can sometimes be some of the worst people to deal with & I mean that. Maybe you’ve been hurt by someone in a church. I’ve only been a Christian & a part of this thing for about 8 years & in those years I’ve experienced some of the downsides of being a Christian. Yeah! There’s downsides did you know that? For example when I first started attending church I was called a backslider by a minister in the church & for whatever reason he felt the need to call me out in front of the whole congregation. I guess he felt the need to finish off my testimony & give his version of it or maybe he wanted to take it upon himself to feed me a slice of some humble pie or maybe even remind me of where I came from but wait I thought that was Satan’s job.

Sadly, sometimes even ministers & people in church do Satan’s work. Satan is everywhere, just waiting for any open door.

Afterward I thought about this minister & what had occurred & I asked myself some questions. The first question I asked myself was, did I do something wrong? Why did he feel the urge to call me out, did he not like my testimony? Was I not eloquent enough for him? Maybe I wasn’t holy enough for him. Why did he do that too me in front of the whole congregation? Could he not have approached me after service pulled me to the side & say it to my face? Or maybe it just made him feel better about himself. Or maybe he wanted to feel more authoritative & he wanted to demonstrate his authority before all? Is that the way new converts should be treated after giving a testimony?  When you know nothing about a persons past should a leader in a church embarrass a child of God to make themselves look good? This man of God just had no clue. How foolish. I feel sorry for people with his mindset, thing is there are many people like him in churches all over this country. In all their learning & self righteousness they may never get it. I’m not going to name that person so as not to embarrass them but they clearly have issues to work out.

I find it sad that people who’ve been raised in church all their lives & have been cocooned by most of this worlds evils find no problem in pointing out a small teeny, tiny speck in a new converts life and all the while never looking at themselves & seeing that they have an entire telephone pole along with all the power lines in both their eyes.

Nevertheless, after all these years I’m no longer angry about it; but I can tell you one thing. I’ve never forgotten about it. And every time I see this man, shake his hand or talk to him, Satan’s always there to remind me of what he did. But this has never caused me to waiver in my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I forgave & moved on. I could have easily allowed it to fester within me & take me out of church but it didn’t. I’ve never forgotten that I am a son of God!! You are a son & daughter of God! And we were created in His image not in the image of those who impose man made doctrines.

I wasn’t raised in this, and I’m so glad I wasn’t born & raised in it. I may have been a different person who’s to know.  But if you were, that’s great! I’m not knocking you for it. I’ve just had a few negative experiences with some of these types of people. I’m sure you know some, their involved in the church & also involved in ministry. For the most part many in the church are God fearing, loving people who genuinely have a heart for the church & the work of Christ.

The self righteous people can be very insensitive & ignorant at times. They are prone to being quick & point out another believer’s lack of spiritual maturity. In a sense they become just like the Pharisees of Jesus day. The Pharisees were self righteous religious leaders. Let me say that again they were self righteous religious leaders. They were self righteous leaders. They were religious! They were leaders! They saw the wrong in others with a God centered eye. They lacked sensitivity, they lacked love, they lacked mercy, they lacked grace, they lacked a heart for the people, they lacked a heart for the apple of God’s eye, His hand formed creation. The self righteous were merciless in their condemnation. And likewise Christ was merciless in His judgment against them.

The self righteous typically don’t seem to understand what those of us who have been on the outside coming in have had to deal with prior to making our way into an altar of repentance. I mean you’re attacked, broken & almost destroyed by all sorts of sin on the outside but than you come inside to what is supposed to be a place of sanctuary & your attacked, broken & destroyed inside the sanctuary of God by the people of God. It’s ironic in some sense. You may not know what that person sitting next you is going through or has been through. And yet sometimes these people just don’t hold back.

I’m just being honest people, it’s the truth! And some of you know what I’m saying is true.

Even so I’ve seen it & I’ve experienced my share of dealing with the Pharisee types, hypocrites, cheaters, liars, haters, racists, bigots & many types of self righteous people who proclaim to love Christ. Some of these people are church leaders & ministers. Let me also be clear with what I’m saying here because I don’t want anything I post to be taken out of context. It is what it is and I mean what I’m saying.

The Christian walk is what it is. But a big part of that is that you also make it what it is. The end result is no matter who does what, your still responsible for making sure things are right between you & God. It shouldn’t matter who doesn’t say hi to you. It shouldn’t matter who ignores you, it shouldn’t matter if someone chooses not to talk to you. It shouldn’t matter. What are you losing from not talking to a certain person who ordinarily wouldn’t have talked to you out in public anyway? Who cares? What are you losing from it? Nothing. Let it go, move on. Regardless of who’s saying what, regardless of who’s doing what, stay true! Stay true to God & stay true to yourself. Don’t get distracted; keep your eyes on Christ. Whatever you do, don’t go off on your own, stay connected. By opening that door up you’re giving the enemy a place to come in & attack you.

Now that I’ve shared that with you let me also be clear with this next comment. There is in the church a small minority of believers. There is a small group of believers within this body that truly love Christ, truly love His word & truly have a love for others. And this friend makes all the difference in this nasty, dirty sin filled world.

There is a remnant. There is hope & there is love within the body of Christ. I encourage you to find these types of people around you, stick to these people, surround yourself with these people & you will be safe, don’t harden your heart, its okay to get angry but do not sin. In the end forgive & move on.

The Apostle Paul quoted God in the book of Romans where it says:

But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to [the image of] Baal. – Romans 11:4

Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. – Romans 11:5

The Apostle Paul proclaimed to the Christians of his day by reminding them of the prophet Elijah that in Elijah’s time there was a remnant of believers who had not bowed their knee to Baal. God told Elijah that He had reserved a remnant. Elijah thought he was the only person serving God. Elijah thought he was the only man being faithful to God. Elijah thought he was the only righteous man who had not bowed to Baal. Elijah thought. Elijah was wrong! God had to remind Elijah that he was not the only person serving God. God had to remind Elijah that he was not the only faithful man on earth. God had to remind Elijah that he was not the only righteous one. Likewise Paul during the time of this writing, wanted to reminded the Christian believers in Rome that there was also a remnant in their time. And just as in Elijah & Paul’s day I would like to proclaim the same message that in the year 2008 this same message holds true, there is a remnant among us today. There is a remnant of Christian believers who will not bow down to Baal.

No matter who you’re dealing with, no matter what you’re dealing with, no matter whose hurt you, it just doesn’t matter. We need to hold fast to what is righteous & true. We need to intentionally, persistently & consistently hold on to the word of God & what is right.  Stay connected, don’t wander off alone. Don’t be as that zebra that foolishly walked away from the protection of the herd. In so doing you may find yourself inside the stomach of the devourer. I don’t know about you but I’m not planning on turning into anyone’s lunchtime buffet.

Stay faithful, stay strong & be encouraged in the Lord your God.

If you’re still interested in viewing a lone zebra get devoured you can view the photo gallery by following this link here: http://www.pbase.com/chillmanafrica/zebrakill

God Bless!!

Carlos

~ by carloshernandezphoto on July 12, 2008.