Warning

The materials in course one that include Handbook for Followers of Jesus, by author Winkie Pratney, are not to be copied inside the United States or Canada due to copyright restrictions. These materials are for use only in those countries where this book is not distributed.

Used by permission for ISOB students Handbook for followers of Jesus Winkie Pratney author

Bethany House Publishers Copyright 1977 not authorized for resale

a handbook for FOLLOWERS OF JESUS

Chapters 51-79

(Short Form with various chapters omitted)

Used by permission for ISOB students in Africa Handbook for followers of Jesus Winkie Pratney author Bethany House Publishers Copyright 1977 not authorized for resale

Chapter 55

Music Has Power to Get to You

The voice of youth is the voice of music. Music is the single biggest link of young people around the world. It has become the way young people of our time share all their fears, hopes and ideas. Many young people today do not read a lot of books. Kids brought up on TV have grown a taste for in-depth feeling, although they know they can't always watch a screen. But music can go everywhere. You don't have to think hard to listen to it.

Youth music has seen very fast changes over the past twenty-five years. Rock music has become the number one means of young people talking to each other. Record sales in the U.S.A. climbed from less than 200 million dollars in 1964 to close to one billion dollars in 1968. About 70% of this was pop music. In 1955 most homes owned a radio, but by 1965 over half the 10 to 13 year aids had radios of their own! New hits are instantly spread over the world through radio, TV films and records, and groups appearing in person. The whole world is listening to music. The church, too, is writing new songs and creating new sound. Disciples of Jesus must take care not to copy the world's sounds without thinking.

'There are some kinds of sound that God cannot bless because they can actually hurt our bodies or our minds. We must not let ourselves feed on such sounds or we will grieve God. Neither must we use these kinds of sounds as part of new church music.

This is not to say that any new sound must be a bad sound. Sometimes parents are not fair to young people who are trying to write new songs. Just because people are used to one kind of music does not make that sound the only one Jesus can honor. Some church adults have been unfair in this area. It might help if they could see that many of the hymns and choruses of today that they think are Christian tunes shocked the Christians of a century ago. They were used to another kind of Christian music.

A century before that, people were shocked even to hear organ music go with Christian singing. Jesus and His message never change, but times do. We must not mix up which is which! Each new song must be judged by itself, not by the standards of "Christian" fashion or culture. We must judge by the Bible, not by our own tastes or ideas.

Parents must be careful not to let culture get in their way of deciding what is Christian music or not. They can make mistakes here three ways: (1) By thinking only quietness in music is reverence; (2) by feeling angry at music being too loud; (3) by being put off because new musical instruments and forms are used.

There is a place for quiet. We need times to be still and wait on God. There are some kinds of soft music that help this mood. But there is other music in the Bible. There are sounds of praise and worship that are loud and bright with joy. Worship does not always mean quietness.

Kids today do not just like to listen to music. They have learned to live in it, be a part of it. ']'hey have a habit of making all their music loud. And often it is far louder than parents are used to.

Parents often put thin like guitars and drums automatically into the bad bag. Yet forms of these were used in the Bible. God has not told us to outlaw new instruments.

No one ties the right to say what new Jesus music will sound like. God has some sounds for His children no one has ever heard yet. The Holy Spirit is deeply creative and can make all kinds of new music that brings glory to Jesus. All over the world, wherever God is moving, people are writing new songs of praise. Every revival has brought with it two things: deep sorrow for sin and intense praise. That joy always comes out in song. When the Lord Jesus really saves from sin, He may give them a new song in their mouths. We do not know what these new son will sound like. But we can to some degree say what they will not sound like.

Chapter 56

Don't Let the Media Be Your Master

"HOW shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Ps. 137:4).

Music has great power to affect our lives. You know how easy it is to feel a little afraid when someone plays spooky music on a dark night. But a happy song in the same place can make the whole room seem different. Because there are many different ways of people giving you messages in music, you must be careful to listen only for the glory of God.

Most people do not listen to records or tapes just because they like the singer or the song. People get records because they feel what the singer is saying, or because they want the kind of feeling that that record gets across. This means that most people really like only songs they can identify with, the songs they themselves can sing. This is also often true about singers. People buy their recordings because in the back of their minds they like to pretend that they can sing like them. That is why not all of today's singers have good voices. If a kid can sound like the one he admires, he does not mind how that singer sounds. It is easy to make idols of rock stars.

This is one of the key dangers of the secular music world. It is so easy to grow to like a catchy tune and, by putting things together in the back of one's head, grow to took up to and admire the singer. And the trouble with this is, the singer may not be the greatest kind of example in the world to look up to.

The Lord Jesus warned us against taking our standards from the world around us. If we allow our admiration for a recording artist to lead us into sin, we are not followers of Jesus. If we spend more time in listening to records than we do listening to God, we are hurting Him. If we sing more about the world than we sing about Jesus, we can know where our hearts are really fixed. When the Lord Jesus is at the center of our lives, He is our life, He is our love, He is our song. He must be number one, or He is not our Lord.

Do not go to places where you know there will be sound loud or freaky enough to bend your head, or where there will be light shows and psychedelic displays that will affect your mind for evil. Stay away from media that you have no control over. If you let yourself get in a place where something begins to take over you, you have gotten away from Jesus. Paul said, "Think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But now you have new life because of Jesus Christ our Lord. You are living this new life for God. So do not let sin have power over your body here on earth. Do not give any part of your body for sinful use . . . Sin must not have power over you" (Rom. 6:11-14).

The same applies to TV and the films. We must not deliberately expose ourselves to influences that will turn our hearts from God. We dare not let our hearts and minds feed on ideas that can take control of our thoughts. Some scene can be carried by a screen that can make a permanent mark in our memories for life. The TV and film media are more powerful than simple sound. To make sense of what happens on the screen you must be fully involved in what is being shown. Be careful what you watch. There is a knob on a TV screen that turns it off. Use it when God speaks to you in warning. You do not have to go to a movie just because everyone else has gone- Von ran t ask God to help you in being careful about what you watch. if you just have to see something, it will be good discipline for you to not go, just to prove to yourself and to Jesus that nothing rules your life except His love.

Neither ought a disciple of Jesus think that just because he could sing or play before, that Jesus wants him to now. Jesus does not need our talent. Jesus wants us. If our talent takes His place, we are wrong. Every disciple of Jesus with talent must be willing to give it up forever if Jesus asks him. Until that has happened, we do not truly belong to Jesus. This may be hard sometimes. But Jesus did not say, "You shall have no other bad gods before me." He just said, "No other gods." And He meant it.

Chapter 57

Ideas in Music

It is important that Christians stay in touch with what is happening around them. We must retain our sense of what the world is like so we will know how to reach it for Jesus. We are in the world, but we are not to be like it. Jesus said to His Father, "I have given Your Word to My followers. The world hated them because they do not belong to the world even as I do not belong to the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world. I ask You to keep them from the devil" (John 17:14-15). We are to live holy lives but not be hermits. Living in a hole will not make us holy! We must know what the world is doing so we can speak in the language they will understand when we speak for God and right. But there are some things we must watch. The ideas which worldly songs get across can stick in our minds. If we are not careful we will mix these into our Christian thinking. Worse still, we may come to think that that is the way things really are and accept wrong things as right.

You have all heard ideas like, "No adult understands young people"; "Old people never know where it's at"; "Never trust anyone over thirty." Scores of songs over the past ten years have sold this idea. Bob Dylan's song, "Times Are A Changing,' " was one of the first with its "Come, mothers and fathers throughout the land; and don't criticize what you can't understand." Of course, there are a lot of adults who don't know where it's at. But there are just as many kids with the same problem. The Bible tells us to respect the advice of the old and not put them down. Some of us may even live to be over thirty ourselves. Then what will we say to our kids?

The "now" ethic says that only today is important, that we should forget the past, and no one needs to think about history. Many songs have wiped out faith that there will be any future, starting far back with songs like Barry McGuire's giant hit, "Eve of Destruction." A lot of kids do not care about the past. Yet if we don't learn from it we will make the same mistakes people made before us. History is important. Tire Bible is a history book. The future also means something to the Christian. God has a "new world coming." Christians will have new bodies. We are not to worry about the future, but we are to "lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven."

Other song ideas will hurt our thought life. The media is filled with music that says in so many words that sex outside of God's laws is natural and fun; that drugs are an acceptable means of reaching reality; that all adults are hypocrites; that God is rather irrelevant or Jesus was nothing much more than a misguided, middle-aged hippie. Even when songs are about Jesus, we must think and check it carefully against the Bible, All songs about Jesus or God may not be about the right Jesus or God. The real Jesus said, "Be careful that no one leads you the wrong way. Many people will come using My name ... they will fool many people and turn them the wrong way" (Matt. 24:4-5).

I'll say it again: The chief danger a young Christian person will have will come from his or her music. Guard your mind by guarding your ears. Don't spend God's money on the devil's messages, no matter how attractively they are packaged.

Christian Music: What Is It?

Are there any rules for Christian music? Can we say anything about a sound that will be marked in any generation or any culture as Christian? Many say this is not possible; that all we can really say in any generation is that music should be conformed to reality and should be true to what actually is. This means that we have no guidelines in writing sounds that will be of honor to God; because Christ is Lord of all, anything at all can be used, including the hard and the acid sounds generated by the subculture in the early sixties.

But is this true? We know this about truth that will help us decide: If something is biblically true, it will always apply in every culture, at every time in history, in its basic principles. And while it is difficult to define the actual structure or chording and the harmony and consonance of a sound which will honor God, the Bible has not left us without guidelines.

All biblical music is music of worship. There is fundamentally no other form in Scripture. Worship can be generated from only two ultimate bases: a supreme regard for the glory of God, or an ultimate preference for ourselves, Music is a mobilization of the power of worship. And a principle we can analyze music by is this: What is its motive? Is it self-centered or God-centered? Does it point to man or to God? Is it the music of love or the music of selfishness? To find this we can look at 1 Corinthians 13 again and ask ourselves:

What Does the Music of Love Sound Like?

1. Love's music is patient. People resist change. Each new sound in Christian history has been firmly resisted by the backslidden dropouts of the previous awakening; and if new forms of music are brought to the church, they cannot be forced. Is your music patient? Music that demands its own way is not love's sound; love challenges without forcing.

2. Love's music is kind. It is not bitter or hostile, violent or vicious. In Romans, chapter one, Paul lists the characteristics of a society that has heart-rejected God; the end result of such a world is people without natural affection, without pity or mercy. Love's music is not ruthless; kindness is goodness and graciousness which gently breaks down resistance. The end a t a music a hardness is a callused conscience; does your music reflect kindness?

3. Love's music is not envious. It has no desire to copy or emulate the gods of a pagan world. Music can be a prop for acceptance; if it is your whole life, it is not enough! Groups that sing and play must ask themselves this: "Is this the overflow of my love and gratitude to God?" A music which see recognition is not a ministry but a mission field.

4. Love's music is not proud. It does not show off. It is not driven by desire to push its sound, its group, its talent. Love's music knows who it is; it doesn't have to talk itself up or talk itself down. It doesn't think much about itself at all, but its object is love, its focus is worship. Is that the Lord Jesus? Who do people think about when they hear your kind of sound? We must know the difference between vision and ambition.

5. Love's music doesn't misbehave. It does nothing deliberately to offend. Posture, display and affectation have no place in the music of God. It is not rude, unmannerly, or indecent. The Greek word hyperion means "actor" and is the word the New Testament translates in English as "hypocrite." In our quest for spiritual reality, are we real? For music to be a genuine expression of a life-style, there must be no acting. Your true self will be revealed in the music you delight in: what kind of person do you show the world?

6. Love's music doesn't seek her own. Self-centered music is reflected from self-centered living, The world is polarizing into two groups who earn respect: the vile and the virtuous. The man who wants to walk between will never change it. Love doesn't seek its own way, insist on its own rights, chase rainbows that were never generated by the Son.

7. Love's music is not easily provoked. Christian music is not reaction but action. All of God's decisions come from the internal pressure of His wisdom and love; none come from external pressures or problems. Too much music is written in reaction: "Here is what people think or do; I'll write something relevant against it." But love isn't pushed into reply. Love generates her sound from the loveliness of her Lover; it keeps no score of wrongs.

8. Love's music thinks no evil There is great pressure in the world of ideas. We must not give in to secular concepts; we must not surrender to the pressure of society. Remember this fundamental fact: the world is always wrong. According to the Bible, the world is forever against the true Church; and it will only court her to try to rape her and murder her. Any passing interest it displays will always prove shallow, self-centered and short-lived.

9. Love's music does not rejoice in iniquity. It finds no happiness in sin. Love's music will not glorify or magnify rottenness; no major time will be spent on the wrongness of the world-gloating over others' sin, being glad when people go wrong. When it touches sin, it will do so as God does- in sadness, in holy hatred, in judgment, and in brief.

10. Love's music rejoices in truth. This is her joy and delight- the truth of God; not just what He does, but who He is. All biblical music can be tested ultimately by this: does it center its excitement around God? Does it worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24)'? This tells us two things about the music of love: (1) It has a genuine truth content. It must be real and biblical; it must be filled with the great thoughts of the Word of God. It is this more than anything else that will focus the sound on reality, turn sentiment into love, add power to sweetness. Is your music real? Do you live constantly in the thoughts of God? (2) It must be joyous, even in sadness. There is no biblical precedent for hopelessness in worship; love's music has unquenchable faith, limitless vision, eagerness to dare for the best because of the greatness of her Lord. The cross is a positive sign. It was for the "joy that was set before him" that the Son of God gave himself in agony for the sins of the world. Love's music isn't minor; it majors on the power and the glory of the great God.

This must be the firm resolution of our hearts: to reject from our worship the music that does not conform to the gentle criteria of charity, the agape love of the Bible. Worship is the sole function of music in Scripture and love is the only motive the Word of God will allow for those that represent the Son. And will it touch the world with power? Will it reach out to those that do not know Him, speaking a language that is strange to their ears? Can such music really be used for anything else other than people who love and enjoy God?

"I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil; they are not of this world, even as I am not of the world. Make them holy by the truth; as you have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I set Myself apart, that they may be thoroughly dedicated in the truth."

But I am not thinking of them only; but I pray for them also which shall believe on Me through their word,- that they may all be one; as You, Father, are in union with Me; and I am in union with you, let them be in union with us that the world may believe that You have sent Me; and the glory which you gave me, I have given them,- that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be made Perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent Me and have loved them, as you have loved Me."

(John 17:14-23, Combined Trans.)

Chapter 62

What About Evolution?

"Keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding foolish and unthinking babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6:20).

Life covers our earth in myriads of complex forms. There are thousands of creatures great and small on our planet, from germs to man. How did it all get here? We have only two possible basic explanations. Here are both of them.

1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1: 1, 2).

2. "Once upon a time, perhaps 2 1/2 billion years ago, under a deadly sun, in an ammoniated ocean topped by a poisonous atmosphere, in the midst of a soup of organic molecules, a nucleic acid molecule came accidentally into being that could some-how bring about the existence of another like itself-Isaac Asimov Now whichever of the above explanations we take for the start of life on earth will mean a great deal for our future. It may even help decide whether we have one. Some people talk today as if smart people can only believe that life came from time, chance and matter. That is not true. There are many questions that idea doesn't answer. Think, for instance, about this problem:

Suppose the universe is about ten billion years old. (That is a big "suppose" to begin with.) Think how long it would take for a watch to put itself back together if you first pulled it totally to bits from the strap to the springs. Drop all its parts into a frying pan. Pour in some cooking oil and boil them. How long do you think it would take for these parts to bump into each other long enough for the watch to properly join itself together and wind itself up? Probably quite a long time! Then, if you pulled a car to bits and did the same thing with it, one thing is certain: it would take even longer. And how long would it take to fill itself up with gas and drive off on its own down the road? Now a watch has only about 200 parts. Even a car has only about 200,000 parts. And these examples are nothing compared to how complex a man or woman is. Now how on earth did this complicated crea-ture called man put himself together (without knowing what he was supposed to be like) and become alive?

An average man is made up of literally millions of parts. They work together and depend on each other. A human body alone has about 1014 cells in it-that number is a one followed by fourteen zeros (100,000,000,000,000). A brain has about another 109 cells in it. And that is not the end. Each cell is incredibly complex. It has in it nearly one million molecules. And each mole-cule contains between one thousand and ten thousand atoms, all in the right place. You can see that it is going to be hard, to say the least, to make a man by chance. Think about it again. Suppose we took just a human body without a brain. This brainless body would have in it 1014 X 106 X 103 atoms in it, or 1023 atoms, all arranged in just the right way. This is a very big number. The supposed ten billion years age of the universe we talked about earlier turned into seconds is only 1017 seconds. If all the right atoms joined together in the right places, at least one a second, there would still not be enough time in the whole age of the universe to even make a mindless man. You can see it is not fair to say that people are foolish who believe in a wise God who created life as a product of His infinite knowledge and genius. It is actually easier to believe the Bible way than any other way with the facts we have.

Disciples of Jesus do not worry about evolution. They can afford to take the simple Bible statements just as they are. Even if man (with all his genius in biology and chemistry, sided by the most modern fourth-generation computers) could finally make some-thing he could call life, it would simply underline what the Bible says: Life did not come by accident. It takes a very high order of intelligence and knowledge to make it, and it had to be put together intelligently. That is why Murray Eden, who worked for some years at M.I.T. with high-speed computers, got an interesting answer to his question, "Given only time, chance, and undirected matter, what is the possibility that life now exists on earth? The answer he got at the end of his complex work was , 'zero.:: There is nobody here! Life could not have happened by chance. To use such infinite concepts of chance and time is to make probability a worthless concept. By such logic we could prove any-thing. No, man is not an accident. It took a creator, a genius of immense power and wisdom. The Bible tells us His Name.

If you have studied or been taught false concepts of evolution, do not be worried that they will shake your faith. Many men of science are writing today on the subject. Some of their new findings actually throw out ones that people previously used against the Bible position. There are many books written on this problem by Christians who are men of science.

If you are bothered, don't just avoid it. Make it a special study if you can. Ask God to help you find answers to people's questions. And, remember, discovered facts can be interpreted different ways. Check the facts first as best as you know how to see if they are wholly true. If they seem to be, then see if you can find a different way to explain in the light of the Bible what has been found. But don't make the Bible try to say what it doesn't say to science; and don't fall into the trap of trying to show that every new idea of science is proved by the Bible. Science makes mistakes too. The God who made the worlds and us also gave us the Bible. He knows both what His Word actually says and means, and what is actually true about His world. We can rest assured that He can defend His own position. He has all of eternity to show us what He actually meant.

Chapter 63

What Do Disciples of Jesus Believe About Creation?

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).

Disciples of Jesus have three main ideas about how God created the earth and what the things we have found about the rocks of the past mean. God does not tell us how He created the world; that is up to us to guess about or study if we want to. The Bible is not made to be a scientific textbook; it is simply a history of what actually happened. To find the "hows" we must match, as best as we can, what we know from the Bible records with what we find in science. Here are the three basic ideas that Christians have had concerning the making of the earth and concerning the fossil records:

1. The day-age theory. This idea fits the long age some men of science think are the record of our past with the days of Gene-sis. It says that God created each distinct species in each era, then watched over their growth and changes as they spread through all the world. Because the Bible word for day is sometimes used for ages, or long periods of time, the day-age theory simply thinks of each Genesis day as a long age, as long as needed to fit into the concepts of our time as interpreted by one group of scientists. The Genesis record is thought of as being put in a logical rather than chronological order; it is simply an account of what happened back there, not necessarily in the right time order. It gives a divine reason for the origin of life without challenging assumptions of our supposedly super-ancient planet and its history.

2. The gap theory. This idea was popular especially in the last century. It says that there was an original creation, perhaps mil-lions or billions of years ago, which in some way was wiped out by terrific destruction that turned our planet into ruin and waste. Then, on these ruins, God created our modern world's ancestors in six literal days. That long time between the original creation and the one we know today is explained by the silence between two verses at the very start of the Bible. Under the gap theory, Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 would read something like this:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (creation of the ancient fossil world, perhaps millions of years ago). Then, the gap, an awesome wipeout of that first world, possibly connected with the fall of Satan and the dark angels in a war in heaven. Then, verse two: "And the earth was [be-came] without form [tohu, a Hebrew word which can mean 'confusion, desolation'; see Is. 45:181, and void [bohu, an indistinguishable ruin']; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." From this point, the Spirit of God begins a recreation work. The original wipeout may have been in the form of a flood, which was followed much later by Noah's flood.

This theory gave some answers for these problems: some fossils are found in very hard rock like those from the Archaezoic to the Cretaceous layers; but fossils dated from the Pateocene to the Pleistocene era seem quite young, with soft surroundings that can be dug out with only a pick and shovel. Also evidence points to a sudden destruction of the reptile age and the equally sudden appearance of mammals and men.

3. The apparent age theory. This is more modern, holding to a literal six-day creation but challenging the idea that the earth really is very old. This theory says that our planet is actually quite young. but was formed under such totally different conditions than those existing today that some major scientific techniques we trust have to be rethought for the birth of this planet.

Basically, this idea says that God made in six literal days a full grown planet, just as He made Adam a fully mature man. In other words in one day God created Adam as a, say, thirty-year-old man; He created the world with an apparent age of, say, many thousands or millions of years, but in a few literal days. If we believe in the supernatural in creation, it is certainly hard to disprove this theory! There is no reason why God could not do it this way; again, the Bible doesn't tell us how, but only that He did do it.

All three of these theories are studied and held by different disciples of Jesus. There are others to think about, but these three are the only current Christian ones. The idea that God created through a process of accidental evolution is the same that God didn't even have to be there, either then or rue disciples of Jesus don't buy that.

scientists who are Christians believe that the flood(s) were judgments sent on our planet, possibly by bringing an ice moon through our solar system and collapsing it over our magnetic poles. This giant "ice-dump" created an unearthly deep-freeze over the poles and total flooding of our world, wiping out all life. The fossil record, then, is not a history of life's growth, but a record of death, with creatures that were buried by floodwaters loosely arranging into layers by their size and density after being mixed by tides from 5,000 to 10,000 feet high. Of course, some small fossils would be found in upper layers, just as a few larger ones would be found in lower ones. This is what is actually found when we look at the fossil layers. Much study is going on in this area. The important thing for us to understand as disciples of Jesus is this: the Bible account has better answers for life and earth's origin than any others. And we have answers not only for earth's creation but also why we are here on it.

Chapter 66

The Stars, Stances and Satan Worship

"And the soul that goes after those that have familiar spirits and after wizards that make themselves prostitute to them- I will set My face against that soul and cut him off from among his people" (Lev. 20:6).

Another false teaching to fool people into being involved with the occult is astrology. Astrology is the occult art of using star and planet motions to try to predict the future. The zodiac is the basis of this system. It is a "pretend" ring that goes right around a set of stars that is cut up into twelve parts. Each part has a name or label for its star clusters, like Leo or Virgo or Cancer. People born under the signs of the zodiac are said to he alike in many ways. Astrologers use the stars to try to advise people on what to do in life, in everything from love affairs to big business decisions. There are at least 10,000 astrologers in the U.S.A. alone. They make over $200,000,000 a year casting horoscopes or star maps of life for people. God is wholly against astrology because it causes people to look to stars instead of to Him. We are not to turn to the things God made for guidance when God longs to show us how to run our lives wisely and wonderfully. God has given us good laws and told us how to seek Him for help in every decision in life.

The Bible warns us to not seek to be guided by the stars "lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars ... should be driven to worship them" (Deut. 4:19). God says the astrologer or his horoscopes have no power to tell you what He will do to a land if He has to judge it for the sin of astrology (Isa. 47:10-14). To study astrology, even in fun, is to learn about an evil thing that God hates. No true disciple of Jesus lives under a sign or reads a daily horoscope when God has warned us against this. No stars can guide. No sign is the real thing; it only points towards the real thing.

The stars were placed in the heavens as a testimony to the power and great glory of their mighty Creator. They point only to Him as our help. The seance is another deadly tool of the devil. It is usually held around a table with someone who is a medium. (A medium is a person who claims to have a spirit guide.) Often the seance poses as a religious (or even Christian) service. Religious prayer or hymns may be used as long as they do not hold up in love, and glory the Risen Lord Jesus or talk about His blood shed for our sins. Through the lips of the medium, the spirit guide can speak when the conditions are right, and pass on information about dead relatives or give direction to those participating in ,, seance. Sometimes strange apparitions are seen; the table may, rise, or voices may speak from the darkness.

Although many times seances have been shown to be clever fake for the deception of a gullible audience, some spirit contacts are real. It is about these that the Bible warns us so strongly Being a true medium is something that God deeply hates. It is one of the things for which He has allowed judgment to come to a nation which practiced this by letting the land be put to war. You can read about it in Deuteronomy 18:9-12. The Bible words for mediums here are "necromancer" (medium who consults the dead) and "consulter with familiar spirits" (a medium with a spirit guide or advising angel).

The medium's spirit guide is revealed in the Bible to be really a demon from hell. Demons apparently keep records of all people who live on earth. They can copy their voices and looks just easily as you or I could use a videotape recorder. People have had loved ones die are easy prey of these creatures of Satan They trick these sad people into thinking they are their dead friends, come back to speak with them- God hates so deeply this horrible deception (Lev. 19:31; 20:27). He had people put to death -1- kept talking with these demons that pretend to be friends because they led hundreds of people into the clutch of hell. No true disciple of Jesus would willingly attend a seance and put himself in the way of enemy attack any more than he would think o sleeping in a pit of angry rattlesnakes and black widow to see what it would be like.

Chapter 67

Quija Boards and the Occult Movement

God forbids all forms of spiritual knowledge outside of His truth. Many people today do not care about Him but still want to explore the spiritual world. There are many practices and tools that can be used to connect people to the spirit world, but it will not be God's world. It is both foolish and dangerous to use or be involved with any of these kinds of things. Often they are sold as games for kids. But Satan never plays for fun.

There are three bridges that can build a doorway into the occult. No true disciple of Jesus has the right to build any of these bridges. If you have done any of these before giving your life to God, you must take steps to destroy them. Any of these can open you to occult deception and demonic attack. - Continuance in any of these is an open invitation to invasion.

1. Sin. Any person who lives as the slave of sin can also be blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:4). Any form of sin can be a platform for demonic attack. The real base of the devil's invasions are the twin roots of pride and unbelief (Pride is the refusal to be known for what we really are; unbelief is the rejecting of what God has said to be true.) To protect ourselves from these, every Christian must be open and honest before God. We must trust God's Word as our guide. But out of the roots of pride and un- belief, there are another three sins that stem from these and lack of self-control. These three forms of sin especially lay the ground for occult attack: anger (violence), sexual sin, and bitterness. Disciples of Jesus must be meek, with yielded rights. They must be clean from sex sins. They must always be willing to forgive those that hurt them. To do this will help guard our lives against enemy attack.

2. The blank mind. Almost all of the devil's attacks have to do with the mind. He makes thoughts his battleground. We must think of our minds just like a field of war. On no account must we let thoughts from his side stay there, once they are recognized as from hell. They an be recognized by some of the following signs: flashing thoughts that inject themselves into the mind suddenly, that are unclean or blasphemous to God; ideas that POP into the thoughts without any relationship to the train of thinking a continual commentary in the mind; thoughts that depress or puff up the believer into forms of depression or pride.

Such thoughts must be rejected in the power of Jesus. We must check all new-coming thoughts with care, comparing them to what God has said in His Word to be true. And we must never allow our minds to go blank without control. This is the flag "t for enemy attack. God never told us to stop thinking. Only the devil tries to get us to do this. We are to love God with all our minds (Matt. 22:37). This rules out for the Christian every practice or tool that asks us to turn off our minds or thoughts, or surrender our thinking, This will include the use of the Quija board, drugs, preparations for telepathic experiments, astral projection, levitation and hypnotism. Only God has the right to guide our thoughts.

Under this rule, you will see that the disciple of Jesus can have nothing to do with any forms of guidance that do not come by our minds and wills and by the Bible. This includes many so-called innocent games like I Ching, Tarot cards and other for- tune-telling cards or devices. It also means we will not take part in divination, wear lucky charms, or let ourselves be hypnotized (Deut. 18:10; Jer. 27:9; Hos. 4:12).

3. Ignorance. We will not be kept from the enemy only by being sincere. God has promised safety only if we walk carefully in His Word and humbly before His eyes. Some people have thought that guidance and protection from deception comes automatically with being a Christian. But the Bible does not tell us that Christians are immune to deception without conditions being met on their part. We are told to "prove all things; hold fast to that which is good" (I Thess. 5:21). Jesus did not just say, "The truth will set you free." He said, "If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:31, 32). We must read the Bible which warns us against doing wrong things. We must not be ignorant of the ways of the devil. Paul could say, "We are not ignorant of his [Satan's] devices" (2 Cor. 2:11).

Here we must say a word of warning. The word occult means "mystery" or "secret." There are some things which. God cannot show a man until he is proved trustworthy. It would not be wise for God to give People secrets until their lives are truly loving and god. No one is truly loving or good until he has given his life to the Lord Jesus. When a man begins to obey God and live as God wants him to, God will show him everything he needs to know to live happily. To search for spiritual knowledge or power outside of God or His Word is both deadly and wrong. Only God can tell us what we really should know. Only He is qualified to give us the true facts about the spiritual world. Only His power will not harm our lives or that of others. That is why we are not to learn from the occult.

The disciples of Jesus may want to learn something about the devil's tricks. If you pick up a b(>Ok about things you know are satanic, you must be very, very careful. On no account should you ever read about the how-to of occult arts. It may be all right for the mature and spiritually strong Christian to do a little study about the extent of modern witchcraft-how wide- spread it is, some of the major doctrines or practices of the occult as far as what they are. But you must never read books on the how-to of the occult-how to cast a spell, become a witch, or run a black mass or black sabbath. This knowledge is occult and forbidden by the Scripture. We are not to expose ourselves to it. It will infect our minds and spirits. It will hurt our faith and make us afraid. If you read up on the practices of occult powers, you will be affected spiritually by them.

Chapter 68

Drugs and the Bible

Drugs are not a new problem. They have been used by man for thousands of years. The East has always known and used drugs as a part of some of their religious rituals. People have always known about plants or chemicals to eat or smoke that would do things to their feelings or thoughts. What is new is that people all over the world have turned to drugs to find answers to problems that are too big to handle. Science has made it pos-sible for us to make drugs by the millions. And people who have not given into the real God have tried to find the key to life in another God: chemical consciousness. What has happened to our world from this?

The drug abuse explosion has had terrible results. Millions of people have become addicts and cannot give up their drug habits. Multiplied thousands have died from bad chemicals or over-doses, and thousands more from bad trips that led to suicides or accidental death. The drug scene began in Haight-Ashbury with people smoking grass and throwing kisses and flowers. The ap-parent beauty ended within a few short months with people burn-ing each other and throwing rocks, bottles, and knives. Today the terrible results of misused drugs can be seen everywhere. The pleasures of sin are only for a short season; the end of that season is all too often insanity, disease and death.

But the great problem with drugs is not just the bad trips. it is the good ones that cannot be brought down to real life. Here is a young man who goes up with a cap of acid. In his trip he feels artistic as colors and texture seem alive in his head and fingers. He grabs a brush and oil paints, and covers his canvas with what looks like a perfect masterpiece. He has never done anything that looks so beautiful to him. Then, many hours later, he comes down. He sees his painting as it really is without a chemical to color his mind. It is then that the shock hits him. It is here that the empty promise of the drug vision shows itself for what it really is. His picture is nothing but a scribbled scrawl of smeared paint. His masterpiece was an illusion. It was all in his mind, and is now gone forever.

This is what really hurts in the drug scene. The expanded mind is so unreal and unnatural. The colors and scenes really come from chemicals. Your world is only pretty when your mind is the slave of a drug. When it wears off, it is the same old world with the same old problems. You are still the same person that you were before, or sometimes worse! And often it takes bigger doses to get the same levels of experience the next time. Nothing is different. Your guilt, your loneliness and emptiness is still there waiting for you.

How different it is with Jesus! "Heaven above is softer blue; earth around is sweeter green; something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen." Someone who knew the reality of God's Word and God's Son wrote those words. The whole earth becomes beautiful when you know the love of Jesus. Your soul becomes clear, and your inner eyes of the spirit open to see the loveliness of His creation, when your heart is at peace with the Bible God. The loneliness is gone. The world seems no longer empty when your heart is full of Christ.

Listen to what one young man, Samuel Logan Brengle, said about the difference the power of God's Holy Spirit made in his life: "He gave me such a blessing as I have never dreamed a man can have this side of heaven. It was an unutterable revela-tion. It was a heaven of love that came into my heart. My soul melted like wax before the fire. I sobbed and sobbed. I loathed myself that I had ever sinned against Him or lived for myself and not for His glory. Every ambition for self was now gone. The pure flame of love burned like a blazing fire would burn a moth.

"I walked out over Boston Commons before breakfast, weeping and praising God. Oh, how I loved! In that hour I knew Jesus and I loved Him till it seemed my heart would break with love. I was filled with love for all His little creatures. I saw the little sparrows chattering. I loved them. I saw a little worm wrig-gling across my path; I stepped over it; I didn't want to hurt any living thing. I loved the dogs, I loved the horses, I loved the little urchins in the streets, I loved the strangers who hurried past me-I loved the whole world!"

No one who has ever lived and loved the Bible God ever needs drugs again. His joy is real!

The Bible mentions four powerful drugs, three that are stronger than L.S.D. They are wormwood, hemlock, gall and myrrh. None are ever used to induce visions of the Bible God. No prophet of God ever used drugs to speak or to listen to God in the Scrip-tures. Anything that takes away the conscious control of our minds or feelings is a sin against our souls. No one has a right to put himself at the mercy of a chemical that opens the door of the mind to the spirit world outside of Christ's loving protection. No true disciple of Jesus uses drugs. The use of drugs to put us into contact with the spirit world is something that God hates with a holy anger because it brings such deep spiritual damage to the souls He has entrusted to us. It is worth a note to see that Jesus was offered a drug mixture only once in His life-and He refused it.

It is silly to say, "God made pot or peyote (or some other chemical) so it is holy." God made poisonous toadstools and spiders, too, but no one has started a movement to eat these. We are not to eat or drink anything that will confuse our minds or bring spiritual darkness to our hearts. Drugs that break the mind free from conscious control by the will open the dimensional door to the occult world. Over this blank mind bridge, Satan and his dark spirits can invade the cities of our souls. The Bible specifical-ly warns us here. It absolutely forbids the use of drugs. In Revela-tion 18:23 a special word is used. It is sorceries. The word is in Greek "pharmakeia." It is the word we make use of in the English word pharmacy or druggist today. It means "to make religious trips by the use of drugs." God says this will fool all the nations in the last days. God warns that no man who uses drugs or sells them to others for a trip will be in heaven (Rev. 21:8). Beware that you do not get fooled by the tricks of the devil. Many false Christs are coming (Matt. 24:3-5). Only the Jesus of the Bible is the real one. He has told us how He would show himself to us, and it is never by drugs. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (John 14:23, 24).

Chapter 69

Breaking Free From the Dark Dimension

"Give Yourself to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you" (James 4:7).

Have you been in the occult? If you have had contact with any occult powers, you may have built a bridge into the dark world of hell. Check your life with care. Have you had trouble with your mind? Have you felt you were losing it? Do you feel afraid many times without knowing why? Do very strong feelings to do evil things keep coming back to you? Are you hung up with some funny ideas about food, or marriage, or certain days of the week? Do you have voices that keep speaking to you? Do you have real trouble with doubt? Have you had in your thoughts either the idea that you are nothing or that you are God himself Do you think about killing yourself? All these can be signs of mind attacks from the powers of hell.

If you have had even a short contact with any occult method or practice, do not pass it off as harmless. It may have been in fun. It may have only been one time; you may not even have thought much about it at the time. But many times Satan can put a hook into your soul through just one contact. He will pull on that hook when you really need God. Do not laugh this off. God is terribly serious about this. If you know of any time that you did something or studied something occult, you must do this

to be sure you will be free from its power:

1. Give yourself wholly to Jesus. Call His name aloud! Call on Him to help you. Tell Him YOU really want to serve Him. Tell Him you really want to be free. If you cannot call on His name, your mind may be in a fight with the powers of hell. Take your Bible. Make yourself read out aloud some verses that talk about the power of Jesus. Use verses like Luke 10:17 where Jesus said He has given His followers power over all the power of the enemy, and that nothing will hurt us; and 1 John 3:8 which tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

Believe that He can do what He says. He has never told a lie. He has power over all the power of the enemy. Yield your-self to the Lord Jesus! Give your whole self to Him. Submit your being to Him. Let His holy strength hold you up in your heart. Cast yourself on the living Christ. He is the only one who can help you.

2. Confess all sin to the Lord. You must be willing to say good-bye forever to a life of hate and anger, sex sin and bitter-ness. These are the key sins that open a mind to demonic attack. No disciple of Jesus can hold onto such things. You must see how much they hurt God. You must hate what they have done to you, to others, and to Him. And then you must give them up forever.

Confess to Jesus all that you can remember about the occult things you took part in. Pray something like this: "Jesus, I have hurt you and broken your laws by my sin. I have done many sinful things. I have learned about things you have forbidden. I have done wrong in seeing a fortune-teller; I have done wrong in using a Quija board, doing divination, reading a horoscope." Put in all the things you can remember. Tell Him you are really sorry for what you have done. And make a solemn promise that you will never do or study any of these things again.

3. Renounce the devil and all of his works. You must say a firm and final good-bye to everything you learned from him. You must say this aloud and openly. You see, the word occult means "mystery.,, For Jesus to break its power, you must bring the secret sins of the occult studies into the open, into the light of God's justice. Speak to the devil with firm faith that Jesus is with you. Satan is afraid of Him. Use the Word of God. Say, "The Bible says, 'Submit yourself to God.' I have done that. It says, 'Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.' God said that. He does not lie. In Jesus' name, Satan, I resist you. I renounce your hold on my life. I reject you and all that I learned from your world. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my King. Jesus is my Master."

Do this with faith in the Lord Jesus. He has promised to honor His Word. Do it with firm heart. Do it, if you like, with a friend who has strong faith in Jesus. Let him pray with you until you know you are free. You will be able to tell by His peace. "For God did not give us a spirit of fear. He gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a good mind" (2 Tim. 1:7).

4. Destroy all objects, books, records and materials that had any connection with your occult involvement. Nothing must remain, or you will not be delivered. Do this, no matter how much these things cost you or how much sentimental value they had to you. Burn them all. This is what the men of Ephesus who had been involved with occult arts did (Acts 19:19-20). You must also break off with all of your friends who still continue with these things. If you have relatives who go on practicing magic or occult arts, stay away from them as much as possible. As a matter of fact, it may be dangerous to pray for them on your own until you are built up in the Lord and are stronger in His love.

When all this is done, take by faith the promises of the Lord Jesus. If you have met His conditions, you have the right to claim His promises. Rest completely in His forgiveness and peace. He has said, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9; see also James 5:16; 1 Pet. 5:7-11: Eph. 1:17-23; 6:10-18).

Chapter 71

What to Do About Anger

Every disciple of Jesus should get angry. Did you know that you can be angry and not sin? The Bible says, "Be ye angry, and sin not" (Eph. 4:26).

The Lord Jesus Christ, who was completely sinless, showed anger more than once. Matthew 23:13-36 records a long denun-ciation He made against the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees. He was angry with them because they had utterly missed the point of God's law. Read the passage and notice things Jesus said against them.

On another occasion Jesus went into a synagogue on the sab-bath and noticed a man with a paralyzed hand. He called the man to Him, intending to heal the hand. But He noticed something in the attitude of those around Him-something hostile to himself and to the idea of healing on the sabbath, a day when Jewish tradition decreed no work was to be done. He asked a question that should have pricked their hearts, but they stood there in stony silence. Scripture says, "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored as whole as the other" (Mark 3:5). Jesus was angry because those Jewish leaders were less concerned with a suffering human being than they were with their own interpretation of God's laws.

Holy anger is not for our own sake. It is for God's rights and for others' hurts. We ought to be angry over sin or injustice to others. Also, in holy anger you actually care about the one who causes the wrong. You don't condone the wrong, but you do not reject the one who does it. Because you care, you take practical steps to right the wrong, and also to befriend and help the one who caused it.

How can you love anyone that you are angry with? C. S. Lewis points out that you know one person you can be mad at without rejecting him altogether. That person looks back at you from the mirror every morning. When you get sore at yourself for doing some dumb thing, you are angry because you really do care about yourself. The day you don't care is the day you start thinking about suicide. If you really love yourself in the biblical way you will be angry with things you do that are wrong and take steps to change them. This is biblical anger. Learn from this how to treat others who do wrong.

The Lord Jesus never showed anger over His own rights. We have no record that He ever spoke in anger when people put Him down or cruelly wronged Him, even around the cross. And although the disciple of Jesus has a right to be angry at himself over his own wrongs, he does not have a right to be angry with someone who abuses him. The only time he can be angry is when others' rights are being jumped on and others who are weak and helpless are being hurt.

Think for a moment about the last time you got angry. Or maybe you're angry about something right now. What was the cause of that anger?

Were you angry because another person was hurt or wronged, or were you angry because you yourself were hurt?

What do you do about feeling angry when someone does some-thing rotten to you? Understand this: no one can help feeling angry when he is hurt or put down in some way. God does not forbid us to feel hurt. He, too, feels hurt like this, only on a much greater scale than we could ever imagine. It is not our feelings that God wants to control; no place in the Bible are the feelings of anger or hurt called sin. God only tells us what we must do with those feelings.

Feelings are very useful. They are like level meters on a tape recorder or the mercury in a thermometer. They measure our re-sponse to what happens around us. They tell us something about our values. God will not take away your feelings. Being a disciple of Jesus does not mean that you feel less and less hurt or angry if wrong things happen to you. But it does mean that you will learn more and more about how to deal with those feelings and how to react the right way toward those who caused them. Love is not a feeling, it is a wise choice.

Angry emotions can come from one big thing or from a whole lot of little things that niggle away at us during a day and build up to the point of explosion. Sometimes we are irritated by things: the roof leaks, the car won't start, the nail won't drive, the pen won't write. Other times we are put out by people who always do things wrong, and by others who always do things right when we do them wrong. Sometimes we just get mad at ourselves because we don't feel we are making it as we should.

Be glad for irritations. You can't change them or make them go away; as long as you live in this world you will have irritations. But God can use them to help you grow up fast in your Christian life. You can thank Him that because you are His child nothing will ever happen to you that He has not filtered through His loving hands. You can thank Him for these irritations. Ask Him to show you what wrong attitude of yours that irritation has brought to light, and how He wants you to change.

Think of two barrels. One is filled with honey, the other with acid. If I kick the barrel filled with acid, what comes out? Acid. If I kick the barrel filled with honey, instead of getting scarred I get sweetness. The point is that the kick doesn't create what is in the barrel; it just reveals it. The last time that you were kicked by someone, what came out-acid or honey?

An old goldsmith had his flame on a sample of gold. His friend asked him why he kept peering closely at the gold. He said, "When there are still impurities in it, I keep on the flame. The impurities come to the top and form a scum that I can skim off. As long as it is not pure, the gold is dull. But when all the dross is gone, the gold is like a mirror. When I can see my face in it, I turn off the flame." God has us in His fire, and He will not turn it off until we are pure. Welcome irritations; they are not enemies but friends. Used rightly, they can carry us closer to God than blessings. The secret of dealing with anger is to use it to correct your own life if your anger is directed at yourself or at irritations in your life; and use it to help others correct their lives if it involves other people.

Read the following scriptures and make a careful study of them for your benefit: Job 23:10; Zechariah 13:8. 9; 1 Peter 1:6-9; 1 Peter 5: 10.

Apply these scriptures to yourself Perhaps you have been suffering some trial or some irritations. Perhaps people have been treating you badly, or things have not been going well in your life. Talk to God about it; tell Him about the things that have been troubling you, and then use the scriptures you have just studied to help you come up with a commitment to cooperate with God in the work He wants to do in your life.

What can you do about angry feelings? Don't blow up. If you are right, you don't need to lose your temper; if you are wrong, you can't afford to. Check out Proverbs 14:29 and Eccle-siastes 7:9 for some of God's words on anger.

Don't defend your own "rights," for a love slave of the Lord Jesus has given up all personal rights.

Don't try to shift the blame for your angry feelings onto some-one else. It's too easy to make others mad, too, by yelling at them when we are angry (Prov. 15:1; 29:22). That only results in another Viet Nam in your home. It is not Christian to go around like a volcano with a cork in it. Some disciples of Jesus think the proper way to deal with anger is to hold it in, so they go around silently fuming or suffering. No, that is unreal. We are not to let the sun go down on our wrath. The one who nurses anger is called a fool in Scripture (Eph. 4:26; Eccles. 7:9).

If you get angry, do these things:

1. Examine what happened. Look hard at yourself. Remember that God let that thing happen! Do you believe that He loves you? Do you believe that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28)? Do you believe that if we are "faithful over a few things" (like dealing properly with small irritations) He will make us "ruler over many things" (Matt. 25:23)? Do you believe that Christians will one day judge the world and even angels (1 Car. 6:2, 3)? Then you can thank Him for it, can't you? Take a deep breath, then do it. "Thank you, Lord, for this rotten day. Thank you for this rotten friend."

2. Expose your heart to the Holy Spirit. Let Him run His plow over your heart. Ask God, "What is happening here, Lord? What have I got in my heart that shouldn't be there? Is there something I am still hanging onto that is Yours, and I'm mad because I think it's still mine?" Let the Spirit of God show you what needs changing.

3. Empty your life of these wrong habits of selfishness and anger by the basic steps of honesty, repentance and asking God's forgiveness. We do not know how blind we are to our own faults until the Lord brings things or people across our path to show them to us. Whatever comes up, turn to God with it to get it straightened out. Let God skim you of dross again and again and again. He will not stop until you are as clean as you can be. Let the Holy Spirit show you through these things what kind of man or woman you ought to be. He will make you that man or woman. From now on welcome those miserable days. You will learn more from them about being a real disciple of Jesus than you can learn in a week of blessings.

Through the pen of Paul, God tells us, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thess. 5:18). Have you learned to give thanks in every situation? Perhaps knowing something of God's purpose in our life will help you learn this lesson. We already looked at Romans 8:28, but now let's look at it again, and along with it, verse 29: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Did you get that? We are to be conformed to the image of God's Son, Jesus Christ. That's why God works all things to-gether for good in our lives-the good being our conformity to the image of Christ.

Take some time right now and think about what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ. What is Christ like? What are His qualities? What areas of your life need the most change if they are to become like Him? What areas of your life are already very close to being like Christ? (Don't be lured into false modesty here: if God has been working in your life, there should be some areas that He has brought into conformity with the image of His Son.)

Then think about some of the things that make you angry or irritated. How can God use these things to make you more like Christ? Perhaps you have begun to notice Him doing so al-ready. What must be your part in cooperating with God, allowing Him to use these problems to make you more like His Son?

Before His death and resurrection, Jesus promised His dis-ciples that when He departed from them He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them. And He indicated that the Spirit would teach them further truths. Read this promise in John 16:12-15. The Holy Spirit can work in your life to show you what God wants changed, and then to change it as you cooperate. God even helps you want to make the changes: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

Part of making changes in your life is recognizing that certain things are sinful, and then confessing and turning away from that sin. God's Word says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).

Take some time right now to confess the things that God has shown you are wrong. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what God wants you to be like and to work in your life to make you both will and do God's will.

Chapter 72

How to Get Rid of Worry

Do you worry much? Do you know that God says you shouldn't worry at all?

The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). That phrase, "Be careful for nothing," really means, "Don't worry about anything!"

Why do people worry? Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on any one cause. It may be a whole lot of things that never get dealt with, or it may be one big problem that threatens you. Worry is a form of fear-fear of the future, fear of death, fear of failure. But no disciple of Jesus can afford the luxury of worry. It is a foolish and destructive habit that can kill people like a slow poison. Only a true disciple of Jesus has the power of complete freedom from worry. God is your Father; the Lord Jesus is your friend; the Holy Spirit is your comforter and strength. The triune God is on your side. You don't need to be afraid of anything.

Being worried or afraid comes from lack of faith. If we really trust God, we don't have to worry. One cure for worry is to spend some time reading about who God is. The more we learn about Him the more we can trust Him.

Try it right now. Look up each of the Scriptures listed below, and carefully meditate on what that scripture tells you about God: Genesis 1:1, 27; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 90:2; 145:3; Matthew 19:26; John 3:16; 17:3: Ephesians 1:3; James 1:17; 1 John 1:5; 4:8.

Another step in conquering worry is to give your problems to God-lock, stock and barrel. Sign them over to Him with no hesitations or holding back. If you want to get rid of worries, give them to God and let Him take care of them. Remember Philip-pians 4:6! That's a good verse to memorize. Then when worries come you can recite it to yourself as part of your campaign to get rid of worry.

Here's another practical idea. Let's say you have trouble getting to sleep at night. It's not because your conscience is troubled, but simply because you are worrying. Take a piece of paper and write all your worries on it. Then go to God in prayer. Tell Him, "Father, here are all the things I am worried about. I am Your child. This is too big for me to handle. I can't take it. But I know a little bit about how big You are. You can help where no one else can help. Here are my worries. Take them tonight. I give them to you as a child gives his father a toy he can't fix or a problem he can't solve. Please undertake for me. I claim your promise in 1 Peter 5:7 that says, 'Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.' "

Then go to bed. And if your mind starts to dwell on those wor-ries, chase them out with scripture that you have memorized. Try Philippians 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:7; try some of the scriptures we just studied that tell what God is like. As you fill your mind with scripture, you will leave no room for worries.

What do people worry about? You only worry about things you have never given over completely to God. You have two choices to make about your problems. Either you can try to solve them on your own, or you can give them to God. You can't give them up for a little while and then grab them back to worry about. Have you ever tried to watch a seed grow into a plant by digging it up every day to see how it is doing? It doesn't work that way. You have to leave it alone. You have to trust it to the ground. You can deal with your own needs in the same way. Give them to God. Rest your case in His strong hands. Let Him take total charge.

God will let you get into situations that you can't handle by yourself You should be glad about them rather than worrying about them. This is a chance to prove for yourself how faithful God is when we give Him everything. What is there to worry about? If the problem is so big that you can't think of an answer, it will be more wonderful and amazing to see how God can solve it. Our needs give Him a chance to show himself strong on our behalf.

Try it right now. Use the promises in Philippians 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:7; or use some other scripture that has become mean-ingful to you. Give your biggest problem to God and claim His promises to take care of it. And then leave the problem with God.

Only the man or woman who doesn't know Jesus has a right to worry. If you run your own life, you have good cause to worry. You really have to insure yourself against everything when you run your own life. But all the money or caution or defenses or protections in the world cannot guarantee the life of a selfish man.

Only as a disciple of Jesus do you know you are immortal until your work is finished. Only the disciple of Jesus knows the One who guards and keeps better than armies, the One whose security is stronger than castles. Whatever things we need for living are in His hands to provide for us as He sees we need them.

Jesus spent a lot of time teaching His disciples to trust God rather than worrying about their own needs. One example of His teaching is Matthew 6:25-34. Look up this Scripture, and then an-swer these questions: What is God's person not supposed to be worried, anxious, or concerned about? What is God's person sup-posed to be concerned about?

People feel they have a right to some things in life. The dis-ciple of Jesus has no rights because he doesn't belong to himself anymore. He is the Lord's. Thus, if some right of life is threatened, he can simply say to Christ, "You know my needs. I have done all You have asked me to. If I can still serve You to the best of my ability, You must supply all that I will need for Your work." Working for Jesus is far better than just working for an earthly boss. If we do what He asks us to do, if we are obedient and faithful, He must supply our needs. We have an ironclad guarantee of His faithfulness. But we are men and women who have no rights of our own, and to whom the word rights means only that which is borrowed from God.

Are there rights in your life that you have never given to Je-sus? If there are, you will worry every time those rights are challenged. God will show this to you. He will keep on arranging things to bring the situation to your attention so you can see what you need to give up. People worry about five basic rights:

1. Acceptance-a sense of belonging, being thought well of,

feeling loved and cared for. Everyone wants to be loved.

2. Accomplishment-the right to do something worthwhile

with our talents, time, and abilities.

3. Possessions. All of us need certain possessions-food, clothes, shelter, or money to meet needs and to pay bills and taxes. We need to have things that we can call our own.

4. Safety. Everyone wants the right to have safety-to be pro-tected from hurt, danger or disaster, illness or disability.

5. Security is an important need. We want to be confident about tomorrow, to feel safe about whatever the future holds.

All of us have "rights" to these five things. When we give our lives to the Lord Jesus, our rights become His. We become love-slaves of Christ. Everything we own or have rights to are transferred to His ownership. We are "bought with a price" (I Cor. 6:20).

Let us say you sell a car to a friend. You liked the car but felt you should sell it, and your friend pays a good price to get it from you. You sign the papers, and he gives you the money and takes away the car. Will you then worry day and night whether anyone will scratch it or steal it from him? Not if you really have turned it over to him.

If you insist on worrying about something, that says one thing: you have not yet given up some right to God. There is still one area that is not wholly given up to Christ, one thing that you are willfully holding back from His loving Lordship. Worry means you are taking back the ownership of something that no longer belongs to you.

If you need to be delivered from the bondage of worry, do these things:

1. Ask God to show you what thing it is that you are holding back. It may be your right to be thought well of by someone. It may be the right to be healthy or wise or happy. It may be the right to be sure of everything. Ask yourself: Why am I worried? What is it that I am afraid of? What is that right that I still hold onto and have not given to God?

2. Write out your right. Put it on a piece of paper. Let that slip of paper represent your ownership of that thing. Then take a red pencil and write across it: "Sold to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Then take your slip of paper to God. Ask His for-giveness for holding back that which is rightfully His. Then take a match and burn it. Offer it to Him and in your mind's eye see it taken from you, destroyed, done away with, forever if need be.

3. Thank God for taking back that which is His. Then expect Him to test you. Believe that within the next two weeks He will put you on trial over that which you have surrendered. When it is challenged, remember that you have given it to God so it is no longer yours to worry about. If you want to have anything, you can only borrow it from the Lord, and He can have it back any time He asks for it. That must be your attitude; that must be your stand.

In winding up this study of worry, I want to add one important thought: Do not give God your responsibilities, the things He has told you to do. He does not want you to be a puppet, and He will not do for you the things that He told you to do. Give up only your rights. Rights are those things that you feel you deserve be-cause they are things everybody needs. Responsibilities are duties that must be done and that sometimes are hard to do.

Do not say to God, "Oh, God, I now surrender my right to be a holy man. I give You my right to pray and read Your Word and obey it. Take it, dear Lord, because I don't want to worry about it." That is not surrender; that is sin. You can only be delivered from worry that is caused by some unyielded right. Worry that comes from sin must be taken care of by honest re-pentance, forgiveness and restitution. No private surrender of rights will accomplish that for you.

Chapter 76

Taking Revenge on Sin

"Now I am happy, not that you were made sorry, but that you were sorry enough to repent; for you were made sorry in God's way, that we might not hurt you. For godly sorrow works repentance to a salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death. For see this very same thing: you were made sorry in God's way. What carefulness it wrought in you; yes, what clearing of yourselves; yes, what indignation; yes, what fear; what vehement desire; what zeal; yes, what revenge" (2 Car. 7:9-11).

Here is one of the most interesting verses in the New Testa-ment for street people. It tells us how to handle hurt and how to use this hurt to take revenge in God's way. There are two ways to respond to hurt. One is the world's way. and it always leads to death. It means bitterness, despair, violence, and leads to taking away your reason for living. Perhaps you have known what it means to be hurt and go the way of the world in sorrow. What happened to you made you either so smashed and broken that you felt like killing yourself, or so deeply bitter that you vowed you would get back somehow, somewhere, at the one who hurt you.

There is a Christian way of taking revenge on people who do real wrong to you. We are not referring to the hurts we feel in the ordinary tides of life. We are not talking about hassles and irritations now. We are referring to the hurts from real sin done to you by others, or by things you have done to hurt yourself that were really wrong. When you are hurt by others' sin, take these steps:

1. Learn to be careful. Jesus gave three parables about lost things. The first was about a lost sheep. The sheep got lost simply because he was careless. He didn't stay close to the other sheep or the shepherd. He got so far out that when night came he wasn't with the rest. Being hurt by sin gives you a clear warning: be careful how you live. Let the hurt teach you the lesson that sin always hurts. It hurts God so much that He cannot let a man who lives in sin into His kingdom.

Never treat sin lightly. God doesn't. There will be people who will be lost because of carelessness, lost because they didn't walk softly before God, even people who called themselves disciples of Jesus but didn't bother to be careful about God's conditions for salvation. The Bible does not say, "How shall we escape if we reject so great a salvation." It says only neglect (Heb. 2:3).

Think about the hurt that sin makes. Learn a lesson from it. When you see the grief it has brought to you, know what it has done on an infinitely larger scale to God. And you will never want to do that same thing again, or ever do what was done to you by others. The first thing that godly sorrow does is work carefulness.

2. Learn to clear yourself. If someone hurts you, use that hurt to drive you to your knees before God. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there is something in your life that attracts trouble. Sometimes we carry bad habits or attitudes around with us that we just don't see at all. They are blind spots to us, but others see them. Being hurt often can pinpoint what is wrong with us. Take a spiritual checkup when someone does something wrong to you. If it was in a friendship, ask yourself, "Did I really seek their highest good before God? Did I really have God's mind about this person?"

If you are a girl and have been used by more than one boy, you may have been projecting lustful attitudes that attract the wrong guys. If it was a betrayal of trust, ask: "Did I seek the Lord about this? Did he give me the green light on this matter?" If the hurt came from your own sin in part, the Holy Spirit has spoken to you already. Use your hurt to break before God, and humble yourself so that He can restore you. Clearing yourself means also the willingness to confess and restore to others.

Here are some ways you can clear yourself with others. If your problem is not covered here, ask God what to do. He will show you the beat way the moment you are willing to do it.

1. Stolen things. Perhaps you have been a thief, a shoplifter, burglar or con-artist. If God speaks to you about certain people and their stolen property that you have, you must clear yourself by being willing to make restitution. This is the expressed teaching of the Bible: "If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie to his brother in that which was given to him to take care of, or in a deal, or in a thing taken away by violence, or has conned his neighbor, or has found something lost and has lied about it-in any of these things that a man does, sinning in them-then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he got deceitfully, or that which was given to him to take care of, or the lost thing which he has found, or the thing he has lied and cheated about; he shall even restore it in the principal. . . "(Lev. 6:2-5).

Make a full list of the things God speaks to you about. Put down all the things that you have at home that are not rightfully yours. Purpose to take them all back with an apology to the persons involved and a willingness to take any punishment. If the thing you took is used and is no longer returnable, begin to save up money for its value and determine to pay that back instead. If you did it the Old Testament way, you would be adding 20% interest as well! Sin-your sin of stealing has helped wreck the world and trust between people. Restitution is the act of helping put it back together.

List everything the Holy Spirit speaks to you about. What you should have on your list are the things that have been bother-ing your conscience. Under each person's name or store or house, list what has to be restored or paid for. Then ask God to help you raise the money for that which you should pay for first. You may have to sell something you own, or lose a great deal of what you have, to do it, but you will have a clear heart when it is through. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know what to fix up first. In some cases it may be best to get all the money together and then go; in others it may be better to go first and offer to pay things back on a weekly basis. Watch God move to help you do this. He may work miracles of financial provision to help you. And think of the thrill of knowing you can walk down the road perfectly free of all guilt over the past!

When you go to apologize, remember that you are going now as a new creature in Christ. You are not the same person m the one who once stole and lied and cheated. God has made you different and clean. Ask Him to help give you favor in the eyes of the person you stole from. Work out what you are going to say and how you will try to make restitution. Then go to see them.

You might say something like this: "I wanted to see you about something that has been bothering me for a long time. Just a little while ago I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Since then, He has been speaking to me about things I did wrong in the past. One of the things He brought to my mind was the wrong I did you in-(name the sin). I realize my wrong, and have come to tell you that I am sorry for it and to ask your forgiveness and to be willing to face up to whatever you want to do over it."

This may mean a total forgiveness, a clearing of the debt; on the other hand it could result in some penalty. I know young people who have gone to prison because of their wrongdoing as non-Christians, and who felt God wanted them to pay their debt to society that way. Put your whole case in God's hands.

I am thinking of a friend of mine who went back to own up for some crimes he had committed before he was saved; he was jailed for four years. During that time he had plenty of time to study his Bible. He also had time to evangelize the whole prison. He led numbers of prisoners to Jesus, witnessed to his jailers, and began a Bible study in his cell block and grew strong in the Lord. When he was released, he said that something beautiful happened. In previous times he had felt a sense of freedom and release when he was finally let out of jail for serving his time. This time, when the gates closed behind him as he left, he felt nothing. The Holy Spirit spoke to him. God said, "Son, this is my way of telling you that you have always been free." Prison is not captivity to the man who has been imprisoned by the liber-ating love of Christ. Today he has a great ministry to prisoners in jails. Don't be afraid of going to prison for some time. Jesus was put in prison for His walk with God; the apostles went to prison for their faith; many of them were even executed for the same reason. You will be in good company.

In court cases, get a Christian friend who can pray with you and possibly go with you. I have seen God work many miracles in the hearts of a judge and jury. The Bible says, "The king's heart (the one in authority) is in the hand of the Lord." God can influence their minds and decisions, and reverse them by prayer if that is what He decides is best. But do your part. Obey Him, whatever the cost.

2. Criticism of others. If you have bitterly put people down, you must take steps to go about building up their reputation after a true confession and restitution. Find some good things to say about them. Make a point of holding up their good points before others. If you have been envious or jealous of someone, don't apologize for saying rotten things about him. That wasn't your real sin. Apologize for what caused you to say rotten things: envy regarding their good life or fame. Your envy led you to say bad words about them. Don't confuse the results of sin with the sin itself. No one can forgive the results of sin. If you just apologize for saying rotten things when they didn't even know you did it, you will only succeed in widening the gap between you.

3. Indignation is another important part of taking revenge on sin. Get mad enough to finish with it once and for all. How do you get delivered from sin? You must first see it for what it really is. The blood of Christ does not cleanse excuses. The way to see sin, to know Holy Spirit conviction, is not to try to just feel guilty. To see sin, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Ask Him to show you just how awful it has been. Ask Him to show you what your sin has done to hurt God, to hurt others, to hurt your-self.

The next steps are to hate it and forsake it. To really get mad about sin, think through what each one has done to your life. What a waster of time and energy and beauty sin has been to you! Do you see your sin? Then hate it; ask God to really open your eyes and to give you such a loathing and anger over that sin that you really despise what you have done. Then you will have the power to forsake it for all that is lovely in Christ's love.

This is part of what it means to fear God. The Bible tells us that the "fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). And taking revenge on sin means that we will learn to really fear God. We will not be scared of Him as someone who is infinitely spooky, but have such an awe and reverence of Him that we will do what He asks us to do, whatever people think of us. The fear of the Lord will help you set yourself against wrong with a perfect hatred.

Here is one thing you can do to take revenge on sin. Get really angry over all material avenues of your temptation. Destroy all sources of sin that are still lying around to tempt you. Take out all your dirty books, rip them up and burn them. Be merciless. Don't take out the anger and hurt you have felt over your wrong on other people or yourself; take it out on these objects of tempta-tion. Get your acid and hard rock records that you used instead of drugs to take you up and bring you down without God. Break them into bits, make Frisbees out of them over a fire. Flush any drugs you have left down the toilet. Smash your needles, pipes and fixings. Throw away or destroy every instrument of sin, every-thing that reminds you of wrong in your past. Tear down your occult posters, your horoscope charts, your peace symbols. Burn all clothes that remind you of your past life. Give away anything valuable that still reminds you of a guilty past.

4. Vehement desire is another part of taking revenge on sin. Being hurt by sin can give us power to speak against it when we are clean. Who knows the hell that sin brings better than the man or woman who has been delivered from it? Who can speak with greater passion against drugs or sexual immorality or bitter-ness than the man or woman who has been its slave? When sin hurts you, use that hurt against the kingdom of hell. Vow before God that it shall not hurt you again, and that as long as you breathe you will do all in your power to stop others from being hurt like you were.

Abraham Lincoln saw the slave markets in New Orleans. He said to his friends in anger, "Let's get out of here, boys. If I ever get a chance, I'll hit this thing hard." When You are clean, something begins to burn in your heart for God. This is part of the zeal that comes from godly sorrow. What a thrill to be on the attack for God! What a thrill can happen in your heart when you are His soldier of love, when your reputation is in the trash can and you are out to burn a hole in hell! The Lord Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). When I first read that shallowly, I thought it meant that although the devil would really hit disciples of Jesus hard, God would see to it that they didn't cave in and give up the fort that they were holding. I could see all the Christians seared stiff, hidden inside a fort, yelling for the Lord to come back and save them out of their plight. I could see white flags being waved all over at the devil's crowd as they advanced.

But I read that verse wrong. That's nut what it says or means. Look at it again and see what will not be able to stand. The gates of hell will not stand! Against the stronghold of hell comes the church militant, terrible as an army with banners, filled with fire and glory, smashing into hell with the battering rams of the gospel of God! C. T. Studd said it best:

Some wish to live within the sound Of church or chapel bell;

I want to build a rescue shop Within a yard of Hell.

This, then, is the way to take revenge on sin. We must learn what it is to be God's angry young men and women-angry over what sin has done to His world and His heart. Amy Carmichael put this power into poetry when she said this:

What though I stand with the winners

Or perish with those that fall;

Only the cowards are sinners,

Fighting the fight is all.

Strong is the foe who advances;

Snapped is my blade, 0 Lord;

See their proud banners and lances,

But spare me the stub of a sword.

Put right all you have ruined, as far as is in your powers. If you have enemies, there is even a Christian way to get rid of them. Go out of your way to do them good! Render good for evil (1 Thess. 5:15). Use the weapon of love, against which there is no earthly defense. If they hate, you love them back more deeply. If they criticize, praise their good points to others; if they slander your name, look for something nice to say about them. If they are thirsty, give them drink; if they hunger, feed them. Never stick up for yourself, defend only the Lord. Let Him do the defending. Kill your enemies with kindness. If you win, you have another friend who may also be God's friend. Take revenge on sin-but do it God's way.

Chapter 77

Making Things Right With Others

Every disciple of Jesus must ask the Lord for courage to confess and restore to those they have wronged. If you hurt God, you know you must get right with Him. But if you hurt both God and other people, you must also put things right with them. God has made your memory to store your past. if you have done wrong, your mind will keep that memory, and when you get tempted you will think back to the last time you did wrong. If it is not put right, you may give in again. Until all wrong has been put right, you will always have trouble from a guilty conscience.

Not putting right all things from the past can give you deep problems. You will always find it hard to have faith or overcome temptation. You will not be bold in witnessing because you will always be afraid that someone somewhere will accuse you of being phony for not getting things right with them. Besides, a dirty conscience makes it hard for you to meet new people and make friends easily. And you will not really live in the joy of full forgiveness. You must put right things with others. God says, "He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy" (Prov. 28:13).

Restitution has already been dealt with. Confession is basically to humble yourself, admit your wrong to the other person, and ask for his forgiveness. Here is what to do to make things right with another:

1. Apologize to God. Make a full list of all the things still bothering you. You should get right what the Holy Spirit talks to you about. You will not have everything brought to your mind by Him. It may be only a few, but these are the things that block your happiness. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you them. Put down everything He brings to your mind. Don't leave out anything you know that ought to be on the list. Ask God to forgive you for those things. Then ask Him for the courage to put them right with others.

2. Find out what the basic sin was in each case. No one can forgive you for the results of sin. What was the basic wrong that you did? Which one of God's laws did you break? Don't write down the results of your wrong because they can't be changed. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and show you the basic sin in each case.

3. Set a time with the other person that will be all right with him. Make some place where you can be alone with him for a few minutes and where you will not embarrass him. If you can't do this, write a letter instead. Try to apologize in person unless it could be either dangerous or embarrassing to the other person.

4. Work out beforehand what you want to say to him. Don't apologize without naming the basic sin, telling him why you are doing it and asking his forgiveness. Here are three sentences to help you apologize: "God has been talking to me about something I did against you. I've been wrong in-(name the sin). I know I've hurt both you and God in this, and I want to ask you, 'Will you forgive me?' " Don't say too much, and don't preach. You only have to say a few words with a truly broken attitude to be effective.

6. Take time first to get the right attitude. If you can't go humbly and take full blame over what you have done, you need to spend more time before God. Think of all the hurt and loss your selfishness has caused. Think of what that sin has done to others. Think of the lives that same wrong has ruined and sent to hell. Think of the heartbreak it has brought to God's world. Think of the trouble it has caused in your own life, the sleepless nights, the guilty memories. Then think of this: that sin nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross; that sin broke the heart of God. Don't go until you have really let the Lord break you and show you how much you were wrong.

6. Be prepared to take all the blame. Even if the other person was really wrong, too, you take all the blame, just as if it were all your fault. Don't expect anything from him at all-even forgiveness. If you go in the right spirit and take full blame, you could start a chain of good that may bring salvation to many others. But even if the one you ask forgiveness of never forgives, 90 in the right attitude so that before God you have done all you can. It is your conscience that needs to be cleansed. Let God deal with the other person over his wrong. You do your thing and let God do His.

7. Before you go, ask a friend to pray for you during that time. If you are writing a letter, have a friend pray when you mail it. Ask God for wisdom as to the right time to apologize. You need His help to prepare the way for you and to prepare the heart of the other person. Deal with the big things first, and save the little ones until last. if you have restitution to make as well, work out what you are going to do about it before you start out.

8. Don't use any words that will take full blame off yourself Don't involve others; you are not apologizing for them. Don't underestimate either your own wrong or how much they have been hurt by it, and don't wait too long in doing it. There is only one time that it is unwise to name the basic sin-when it is a sexual offense. A good phrase to use would be one like this: "I haven't set a decent standard for you"; or, "I haven't been a good example of a Christian before you," if you were a Christian at the time you committed your sexual wrong.

When you have gone through your list as thoroughly as if you were about to meet God before the throne of judgment, and have determined to get right everything you can, begin at once to do what you must do.

Remember this simple rule: The circle of confession must fit the circle of committal This simply means that you only confess to the ones you have wronged. If your wrong is only against God, apologize only to God. Only He needs to know. If your wrong is against God and one other, apologize both to God and then to that one person. No one else should know. If your sin was against God and a number of people, you must put things right both with God and then with the group of people in a public apology.

Don't confess private sins in public meetings; it rarely helps anyone and is embarrassing to some. Don't confess public sins privately; if everyone has been wronged, it must be made right before everyone.

When you have finished getting clean, you will have the joy of burning your list and knowing that you are right with everyone that you know in the world. Think of your excitement and peace when you can walk down the road and can hold your head high before the world. If the enemy should bring back to your mind the bad memories of what you once did wrong, you can say to him, "Satan, you're right. I did once do those things. But there was a day when I got those things right with God, and I remember the day when I put those things right with those I hurt. And that's the thing I'm happy to remember. You can remind me only that now I'm clean."

Get those things squared away with God and with others. You need it. They need it. God requires it. There are thousands of other young people who need your example to give them courage to follow in this. This is Christ's way of triggering social change.