Category Archives: Satan’s Attacks

Christian Living, Faith, Satan's Attacks, Tests, Trust, Uncategorized

“Holy Death”

A family, friends of ours, lives in a typical neighborhood in our city that is surrounded by temples to the “holy death” (one of them is pictured above).  On the outside walls of the temples they paint images of a skeleton and build shrines around it so that passers by can stop and worship and pray to it, as seen in the above photo.  People pray to the “holy death” for protection from death, and for the “holy death” to avenge the death of family and loved ones at the hands of others.  This practice was started by narco-traffickers, and sex-traffickers, who are warring against each other, and against police.

People also call upon the “holy death” to commit acts of evil against family members who have wronged them, or who have chosen not to remain under Roman Catholic rule.  Our friends are Evangelical Christians and their families have turned against them.  Some of their family members have called upon witches and witch-doctors to cast evil spells on them in order to force them back into Roman Catholicism.  Every night, one of their daughters sees shadows roaming around her bedroom.  She prays out loud asking God to remove the evil spirits, which He does, and she can finally sleep.  One afternoon, her mother was putting clothes on the line to dry.  Before she got finished, she went in the house for something and both she and her daughter saw some of the clothes being pulled off the line, but there was nobody there doing it.  They prayed together and the evil spirit left.  This is very common.

Some of you may be wondering how the Roman Catholic Church, in Mexico, feels about worshiping and praying to the holy death.  The fact is, even though they would never admit it, the Roman Catholic Church sanctions and encourages it, as you can see in the picture below.

santa-muerte-1

Through all of this, though, our friends have remained faithful to the Lord and have never wavered in their faith, even though they are surrounded by evil and are being persecuted by their own families and friends.

God tells us:

“In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12 HCSB).”

Friends, this is why God has us in Mexico.  He has sent us here to share the Good News of Christ with this very spiritually dark country.  Please pray for us and this precious family as we continue to do battle against evil, every day.  In Christ’s love, thank you.

Please visit our website: covoneministries.com

Awareness, Christian Living, Encouragement, Satan's Attacks, Temptation, Tests

Temptation

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Wow!!!  What a powerful, and encouraging passage of Scripture, especially for us Christians.  Contrary to popular belief, even among Christians, there is no such thing as a superhuman temptation that can overpower us, and force us to summit to sin.  That is great news, is it not?  God, through the Apostle Paul, teaches us a great lesson about temptation.

First, let’s define temptation. Nelson’s Bible Dictionary defines temptation as “an enticement or invitation to sin, with the implied promise of greater good to be derived from following the way of disobedience.”  Notice that temptation is nothing more that an enticement or invitation to which we have the power to decline.  What makes it so hard to resist is the promise of something “good” for our disobedience to God.  Always remember that Satan is the great tempter (Matthew 4:3: 1 Thessalonians 3:5), and the father of all lies (John 8:44).  So, if Satan is enticing us to do something that is wrong in God’s eyes, and promising us something good for doing what is wrong, IT’S A LIE!!!

There are five very important things we are able to take away from today’s passage of Scripture:

  1. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.” – Paul reminds the Corinthian church, and us, that there is no such thing as a superhuman temptation that can not be resisted by humans.  There is no need for us to trow our hands up and give in to temptation.
  2. “God is faithful.” – when we are tempted, God is always there for us.  He “never leaves us or forsakes us”, especially in times of trouble.
  3. “He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,” – God will not allow Satan to tempt us beyond what we are capable of resisting.  God knows the full measure of our strength.  Therefore, He will not allow Satan to tempt us beyond what we are able to resist.
  4. “with the temptation He will provide a way to escape…” – God not only controls how hard we are tempted, He also provides a way to escape temptations.  When we’re in a dark theater we can be comforted in the fact that if something happens, there are always lit exit signs that will help us escape danger.
  5. “so that you are able to bear it.” – so that we are able to resist it.

So, what are our God given defenses against temptation?

  1. God’s Word –  God demands immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands.   The Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11).”  Jesus fought Satan’s temptations by quoting Scriptures (Matthew 4:4-10).  We must make time to study God’s Word: “Oh, how I love thy law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies (Psalms 119:97-98).”
  2. Prayer – The night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus prayed and commanded Peter to pray so that he would not fall into temptation (Mark 14:38).”  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray that we would not be led into temptation (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4).”
  3. Common sense – We must not put ourselves in situations that will exploit our weaknesses.  If gambling is a weakness, do not go to casinos or places where where betting games are offered.  If alcoholic beverages are our weakness, we must stay out of places that serve alcoholic beverages…we get the point, don’t we?

So now that we are well equipped to fight and overcome Satan’s attacks (Ephesians 6),

  • How will we obey what we’ve learned in today’s lesson?
  • With whom will we share what we learned in today’s lesson?
  • With whom will we share the story of our salvation, and the story of what Jesus did for us?

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone

Christian Living, Encouragement, Freedom, God's Power, Hope, Love, Satan's Attacks, Strength, Struggles, Tests

Who Are You Going To Call?

 

“The name of Yahweh is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.” (Proverbs 18:10)

Are you a Christian feeling hopeless, helpless, thinking you have no one to turn to, and no one to call?  THINK AGAIN!  Have you forgotten whose child you are and the name you carry?  Through today’s verse, God wants to remind you of some things you may have forgotten that have caused you to be where you are.  Here’s what He wants you to know:

  1. “The name of Yahweh…” – it alludes to the Person of God, His Character, His personality, and all His attributes.  He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Love, Merciful, Kind, and Just, who loves and cares about His creation.
  2. “is a strong tower;” – another one of His attributes.  A metaphor meaning that, He is the one and only Person in which you can seek, and find, refuge from the attacks of our common enemy, the Devil.
  3. “the righteous…” – Those who have placed all their faith and confidence in Him. He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, be buried, and rise again from the dead, in order to defeat the power of sin and death, and give us eternal life and protection (John 3:16-18).  
  4. “run to it and are protected.” – The Strong Tower of protection (God) is accessible only to those who, by faith in who He is, run to Him.  These are those who have placed their faith in Christ for salvation, and surrendered their lives to Him as their Lord, and Master (Romans 10:9-10).  Only these will receive God’s Omnipotent protection from the relentless attacks from the Devil.  

Sadly, many of us Christinas do not run to, or even call upon, God for help when we’re under attack by the enemy.  We tend to turn to friends who are as far away from God as we are, or alcohol to forget, or drugs to numb the pain, or isolation to hide the guilt and shame. This only leads to a much deeper and more difficult problem, depression.  Too many of us end up in a dark, cold, lonely place, and suffering such an excruciating pain, that they cannot see or find an escape.  God wants you to know several things:

  1. Hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, guilt, and shame are often mental and emotional illusions, created by the Devil to keep you from running back to God.  Because you are a child of God, the Devil cannot have you, so he wants to destroy you and your testimony.  DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!!! Call out to God and run to Him, NOW!!!
  2. God wants you to run to Him, just as you are.  Don’t try to “clean-up” before you run to Him because you can’t.  He will clean you up when you ask Him to forgive you for straying from him.  CALL OUT AND RUN TO HIM, NOW!!!
  3. DO NOT LET THE DEVIL’S LIES KEEP YOU FROM GOD!!! God alone is your refuge and protection.

***If you have reached the stage of depression, God wants you to find a Christian Psychiatrist, and or counselor.  Your pastor should be able to help you with that, if not, you can find one online.*** 

So, who are you going to call?  Who are you going to run to?

In Christ’s love,

Phili Covone