By Rev Bill Woods
1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
It was Thursday, March 5, 2009. I came back into the Church parking lot and found 8 young Mexican men huddled together by the Nursery building.
– I went to see what was going on and what these guys were up to.
The Mexican people that I’d hired to do the yard work knew why these young men were there.
– The young lady told me they’d just escaped from a house in the neighborhood where they were being held prisoner by coyotes.
– The coyotes were demanding $4000 a piece for them to gain their freedom.
The police had been there and now these men were waiting for friends to come pick them up.
COYOTES — PROMISE A BETTER LIFE, THEY’LL TAKE THE VICTIM’S MONEY UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, AND THEN BETRAY THAT PROMISE FOR RANSOM MONEY.
THESE REFUGEES HAD ESCAPED FROM THE COYOTES — THE COYOTES WANTED $4000 RANSOM MONEY FOR EACH OF THEM.
– According to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was Sheriff at that time, many victims have been murdered when the ransom wasn’t met.
– It’s not uncommon for a coyote to abandon his victims to die on the desert if he thinks the authorities might be aware of them.
The next night I noticed a helicopter flying around our house and later learned the police had closed down another coyote house.
It all sounds a lot like Satan:
– SATAN IS THE KING OF THE COYOTES — HE’LL PROMISE ANYTHING TO GET YOU TO FOLLOW HIM.
– HE’LL GET YOU TO INVEST YOURSELF INTO HIS LIES, BUT HE WILL ONLY DELIVER DEATH, DESTRUCTION AND HEARTACHE.
– HE’LL HOLD YOUR SOUL FOR RANSOM, BUT GOD DOESN’T PAY SATAN RANSOM, HE SETS THE SOUL FREE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.
Satan is so deceitful! He will make you think he’s on your side even while he destroys you………….
That’s why we should stay away from things that are questionable……..
Many parents have a hard time explaining to their youth why some music, movies, books, games and magazines aren’t acceptable material for them to bring into the home, for them to see, or hear.
One dad came up with an original idea that’s hard to refute.
He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. – It had their favorite actors. – Everyone else was seeing it. – Even church members said it was great.
It was only rated PG-13 because of a little nudity and the suggestion of sex — they never really showed it.
– The language was pretty good. They only used the Lord’s name in vain 3 times in the whole movie.
– The video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed.
Yes, there WAS one scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. It wasn’t very bad.
Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn’t give in.
He didn’t even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, “No.” He just said, “No.”
Later that evening this same father asked his teens if they’d like some brownies he’d baked.
He explained he’d taken the family’s favorite recipe and added something new.
They asked what it was.
He calmly replied that he’d added dog poop. But, he said, it was only a little bit. All the other ingredients were gourmet quality.
He’d taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb. – But, even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens wouldn’t take one.
The father acted surprised. There was only one little element that would have caused them to act so stubbornly. He assured them they’d hardly notice it if at all. They all held firm and wouldn’t try the brownies. – He then explained the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies.
Satan tries to enter our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little bit of evil won’t matter — just a little gossip, just a little disobedience — after all, I have my rights………..
With the brownies, just a little bit makes all the difference between a great brownie and a totally unacceptable product. – He explained that even though the movie people would have us believe the movies that are coming out are acceptable for adults and young people to see, they’re not.
Now when this father’s kids want to do something or see something they shouldn’t, he merely asks them if they’d like some of his special dog poop brownies — and they never ask about it again.
Satan and his demons are masters at deceiving people into rationalizing why it’s OK to go against what God wants in our lives.
There are a thousand or more varieties of mushrooms that are good to eat….The most dreaded of the poisonous mushrooms are two members of the Amanita group. – One is the death cup, and the other is the fly amanita.
The death cup grows in the woods from June until fall. Its poison acts like the venom of a rattlesnake, as it separates the corpuscles in the blood from the serum. – No antidote is known for the poison of the death cup. – The only hope for anyone who has eaten it is to clean out his stomach promptly with a stomach pump.
It’s small wonder that one variety is known as the destroying angel.
The death cup has often been mistaken for the common mushroom. A person should not make this mistake if he observes carefully. – The poisonous plant has white gills, white spores, and the fatal poison cup around the stem.
The plant that’s safe to eat has pink gills, brown spores, and no cup.
Many of the mistakes come from picking it in the button stage, for it doesn’t show all these differences until it has grown larger.
The problem most people have is they don’t want to obey Jesus and do things His way. – They think Jesus just wants to keep them from enjoying their lives. They want freedom to do their own thing and really enjoy themselves by having no restraints.
Augie, “I’m too old for temptation! Satan doesn’t have anything he can tempt me with.” He’d say this as he displayed temper, bitterness, and wrong judgmental attitudes. We don’t get too old in this life time for Satan to figure out how to trap us and make us fall.
We need to live close to Jesus, no matter how old we get.
Monkey trappers in North Africa have a clever method of catching monkeys.
Several gourds are filled with nuts and firmly fastened to a branch of a tree. Each has a hole just large enough for the unwary monkey to stick his hand into it.
When the hungry monkey discovers this, he quickly grasps a handful of nuts, but the hole is too small for him to withdraw his clenched fist. And he doesn’t have enough sense to open up his hand and let go in order to escape, so he is easily taken captive.
What a picture of many Christians.
The devil with his crafty devices tries to ensnare them. He appeals to the appetites of the flesh which can lead to their spiritual downfall.
As long as they hold on to worldly bait, they cannot escape from Satan’s trap. But he keeps on urging, “Don’t let go! Enjoy the pleasure of your sin just a little bit longer!” So, listening to the tempter’s alluring voice, they continue in their evil way.
Paul explains 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV):
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
These are comforting words. We can open our hand and let go of the “nuts!” God is on our side, he will not let us fall into Satan’s trap. We have to be willing to let go — open our hand and let go of those sinful things we find in the world.
James writes, “When people are tempted, they should not say, ‘God is tempting me’. Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. But people are tempted when their own evil desire leads them away and traps them. This desire leads to sin, and then the sin grows and brings death” (James 1:13-15 — NCV).
The desires of this world lead us to sin. Once we latch on, we find it hard to let go. It continues to grow, until it consumes our life. In the end, this sin leads to death.
Are the sins of this world preventing you from obeying God? If so, you have to let go! It’s the only way out of the trap!
The devil comes to tempt us away from the safe boundaries God has set for us (His Commandments, His Word and His specific area of calling for us).
The devil will come time after time to tempt us and capture us. However, true freedom only comes in being a servant of the Lord! — John 8:36: If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
We should recognize Satan’s tactics and resist him to his face and he will flee — James 4:7-8: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Satan, that Old Coyote, is out to get you, but you don’t need to get got! – “Turn your eyes upon Jesus!”…………..
PODCAST: KING OF THE COYOTES
https://www.buzzsprout.com/824359/6373390
Related
Distinguishing between Coyotes, Wolves and Dogs
https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf/Identification
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