WHO HAS BEWITCHED YOU?

Recently, I shot out an eMail entitled, “JESUS: STILL HEALING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.” The response was unexpectedly positive with many requesting the “7 Hindrances to Healing” that I offered at the end (just hit REPLY and type “HEAL” in your SUBJECT Bar). In the section entitled “Third World Miracles,” I made reference to a book we’ve read in our House Church group called “Megashift” by Jim Rutz.

HIGHLY recommended! Two thumbs up!

Today, March 20th, on the WorldNetDaily.com site, a wonderful article of his was published which included the following excerpt that I thought was worth passing along.

He wrote: “I speak across the U.S. on miracles. My desk is swamped with credible reports of astounding, totally “impossible” events worldwide. And always, the same question follows from my interviewer or audience, “So why don’t more of these miracles happen here?”

“Alas, I have to tell you the brutal truth: Compared to the on-fire, highly dedicated Christians in other lands, we’re a bunch of half-hearted, borderline agnostics. It’s not that we’re more evil than our foreign brethren, we’re just distracted and wishy-washy. An Indian or Chinese believer can take a bus to a different neighborhood, preach the gospel on a street corner and plant a house church in the time it takes an American believer to water the lawn, waddle out to his car, take Junior to soccer practice, answer his e-mail and watch a couple of TV programs.

“In other words, Joe American has drifted away from his forefathers’ spiritual roots in the Bible.”

In Luke 18:25, Jesus said, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Why’s that? We’re too affluent. Our backs are burdened with too many “blessings” - so many, in fact, that we assume they are from God (anybody remember Satan tempting Jesus with “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” in Matthew Chapter 4? He said to the Lord, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me”).

Gulp.

There’s a fine line between having stuff and stuff having us. Many of us don’t merely have a busy schedule; our busy schedules have us. You get the idea. Galatians 5:22 says one of the Fruits of the Spirit - the evidence that God resides within and works through a Christian - is self-control. Too many people I know are simply out-of-control, slaves to their helter-skelter calendars, careers and creditors.

Many moons ago, I penned a letter and sent a copy to the President of WalMart, the Founder of Chick-Fil-A and visited a wealthy local businessman who had a reputation for helping local churches. The WalMart guy graciously responded with a phone call. The Chicken Man was kind enough to mail me an autographed book he’d written with a note attached, and the local guy selflessly spent two hours with me, despite my popping in on him unannounced. In each case, my question was, “What’s it like to be wealthy and Christian?” Believe it or not, from what I gathered, it’s tough.

A sermon that I can recall hearing some 8 years ago, lasted less than eleven minutes. It was spoken by a joyful, very pleasant African Christian Bible School student who was leaving our congregation and heading back home. He stole his opening line from Paul’s letter to the Galatians - kinda - by shouting, “You foolish Americans! Who has bewitched you?” He went on to talk about the subtle manner in which Satan has deceived and distracted us, causing us to mistake “good” things for “God” things. Having observed witchcraft in action back home, he easily detected its warmed-over, Western counterpart.

He was spot on.

In honor of that man’s memorable 11-minute message, I’ll keep this one short.

Who has bewitched us? The lyrics for The Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the devil” just came to mind.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long year, stolen many a man’s soul and faith
And I was around when Jesus Christ had His moment of doubt and pain
Made [darn] sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed His fate.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.

Yes, I think we can ALL guess his name.

Every blessing,

Michael Tummillo

A servant of God