SENSELESS FEAR – DON’T LET YOUR HEART BECOME UPSET; BELIEVE IN GOD, ALSO BELIEVE IN ME
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Sinnelose vrees – Laat julle hart nie ontsteld word nie; glo in God, glo ook in My.
Translator: Lynda Botha
I just want to mention at the start of this letter that if I seem angry, it is not so. But I just get a little upset when people preach things, which misleads people into confusing them with nonsense, like the person who wrote to me who are really trying to serve our Lord in spirit and in truth.
I've received a letter from someone mentioning the following:
(I am protecting the person's privacy, and have therefore made changes here and there, which are indicated by the bolded text).
"We as a family were disillusioned by this DVD. We could not believe how many of these things existed and how God must feel when we bring this into our homes. My attention was once again drawn to the scripture that states:
“Thou shalt HAVE no other gods before me”, and you don’t necessarily have to worship them, you only need to have them.
I could not believe how many Spiderman and Batman clothes my children have. I even saw the following words printed onto one of Jannie’s underpants, which came with the Spiderman parcel: WARNING – I WILL NOT LISTEN. Not to mention the story books on their shelves. I must still look through their toys as well.
I would like to have your opinion on this matter. I shared the information of the DVD with my friends and acquaintances. Some of them think that I am on the wrong track."
I also received another letter regarding an advertisement broadcasted with the 2010 soccer world cup event. I want to start by saying, I obviously did not see the ad, but my wife explained the ad too me. In the ad someone is carrying the spirit of Africa in a calabash from Cairo to the Cape. For this person the problem with the ad is seemingly the spirit of Africa that would be in the calabash.
You know, Satan is sly, but when I study the Word of God, he is not exactly one of the brightest I’ve ever heard off. If he really was so smart, he would not have done such a fatal thing such as trying to take over Heaven. And he would not have done such a useless thing, by trying to tempt God in the flesh in the desert. Therefore, he always uses the same old tricks to mislead God's children. It turned out that he did not even need new tricks, because it seems that he gets away with using his old tricks every time.
Such as in this case, senseless fear.
Back to the advertisement.
A person, who receives regular communications from me, received a letter from someone stating the following:
"I'm so upset, because the spirit of Africa, in my opinion, only brings poverty, war, murder, rape and corruption."
It is almost inconceivable that a child of God can get so upset by a useless calabash, which at worst could be filled with humid air, but see how this person is blinded and deceived by Satan.
This person wrote:
"The spirit of Africa, in my opinion, brought only poverty, war, murder, rape and corruption."
How many continents in the world do you know off, where none of the said abominations occurs, except perhaps for war?
Let us draw the circle smaller:
How many nations in the world do you know off where none of the said abominations occurs, except perhaps for war?
Let us draw the circle even smaller:
How many cities in the world do you know off where none of the said abominations occurs, except perhaps for war?
Let us draw the circle even smaller:
How many towns or villages in this world do you know off where none of the said abominations occurs, except perhaps for war? Satan successfully accomplished upsetting this person, by means of the advertised spirit which are present all over this world, and therefore condemning Africa over an empty and useless calabash.
Now Satan successfully managed to upset at least one of God’s children.
I now want to say something about the other letter I received. This person wrote, among some other things:
“Thou shalt HAVE no other gods before me”, and you don’t necessarily have to worship them, you only need to have them.
I could not believe how many Spiderman and Batman clothes my children have.”
People give all sorts of forces and powers to things like: Spiderman, Batman, Christmas father suits and a whole lot of different things. Even my Christmas tree had been occasionally called my idol.
Just to show you how Satan sometimes trick us in senseless, useless fear.
The person above also wrote:
“I even saw the following words printed onto one of Jannie’s underpants, which came with the Spiderman parcel: WARNING – I WILL NOT LISTEN.”
I do not know if Jannie is big enough to read yet. If he is big enough to read, I do not know if he is big enough to be able to read English. If he is big enough to read English, then he might already be too big to wear those underpants. Even if he is able to wear those underpants, how many little boys do you know that will read the small text printed on the underpants label?
The only likely person in that household who might ever read the label is the mother of Jannie, and just because someone who is supposedly preaching the Gospel had enough excess time on hand to cry "Wolf! Wolf!", when there was not even a brave, or any other type of mouse, visible on the horizon.
And why would I be thinking of that saying: "Idle hands are the devil’s workshop", and I am not referring to Jannie’s mother, but I wonder what actual point these people are trying to reach by spreading such stories. The only thing they do accomplish is to cooperate with Satan to distract people's attention from the true Gospel and what it is all about.
I will mention one obvious example in this case for me:
Satan probably said to himself:
"Let them concentrate on things like: Spiderman, Batman, Christmas father suits, Christmas trees and empty calabashes, which are not mentioned in their God's Word. Then they won’t realize how they enjoy adultery, violence, corruption, lies, murder, the blasphemous use of their Lord's name and all the other junk they watch on their TV’s night after night which they should not have any part off as mentioned in their God's Word. In other words, how they can actually set an evil example for their children."
The sentence on the label, reminds me off:
A man who travelled the country years ago with a machine/record-player, that could play a record backwards and then you would hear a so-called message on some records, similar to the message on the label which was sent to me. How utterly useless if there actually was a message on the record. Because how many people could play a record backwards? I think that man had the only machine/record-player in the world that could do that. Then someone said that your brain, without you knowing it, can do this if you listen to the record. All I can say is that I cannot even understand most of the words on records when played normally, so my brain would have had a very hard time deciphering the words even if I had the contraption that could play the record backwards.
To conclude with the following:
How would I, a child of God, look at a curse, idol or anything that relates to this?
GAL 4: 7-9
7 “Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, God has made you His heir.”
8 “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.”
9 “So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?”
Read the next section to give some background to the what I wrote above:
1 COR 8: 4-7
4 “So what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God.” (Unless you, yourself, make something of him, of course.)
5 “There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth and some people actually worship many gods and many lords.”
6 “But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.”
7 “However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated.”
I think about things like, Spiderman, Batman, Christmas father suits, Christmas trees and empty calabashes and I remember what our Lord inspired His profit to write in His Word:
HAB 2:18: “What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation – a god that can’t even talk!”
HAB 2:19: “What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols, “Wake up and save us!”. To speechless stone images you say, “Rise up and teach us!” Can an idol tell you what to do? They may be overlaid with gold and silver, but they are lifeless inside.”
One would understand Habakkuk 2:19 like this, or that's how I understood it:
Alas that person who alleges that any image or object like, Spiderman, Batman, Christmas Father suits, Christmas trees and empty calabashes, has a spirit or supernatural power of whatever nature.
Another version translates the Habakkuk 2:19 version as:
HAB 2:19: “Doom to the one saying to the tree, “Wake up” or “Get up” to the silent stone. Does it teach? Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath within it.”
Let your children play while you continuously lead them by your example preaching the true message.
If something seems suspicious in their toys, ask God's blessing on it, and I tell you, there is not a force or power that is strong enough to ignore the blessing you asked from our Lord.
For those who so easily spread fear by DVDs and so-called ministries, by giving things spirit and power, I only want to add to Habakkuk 2:18-19:
Stop trying to spread senseless fear and preach the true Gospel.
These people who spread fear through DVD’s and other things, seems to me like they walk around with these kinds of fears themselves. I would just like to remind them of Jesus’ words to His followers of which I am also one:
I have used a newer, and in my opinion, a better translation:
MAT 10: 27-31
27 “What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!”
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”.
29 “What is the price of two sparrow – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.”
30 “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.”
31 “So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrow.”
With our Lord's Spirit within me, I serve only Him and I accept no other spirit's authority or power over me or over anything I possess.
JOHN 14: 1: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.”
Greetings,
Sakkie