Ridgell's Originals

I believe we are at war with the forces of evil.  I believe Satan attacks the kingdom at every opportunity.  I believe he he tries to stop, discourage, or destroy every good work.

Here are few ways I think I  have seen him in action.

The church where I am an elder plans a major giving Sunday each year to fund our short-term missions, non-profits we support, and various projects.  It does not count the several missionaries who are part of our regular budget.  We encourage our members to go and many of our members are part of non-profits doing great things for the Lord.  (Full disclosure:  I work for Hope for Life/Herald of Truth and we support that ministry).  On the day of our big contribution, we had an ice storm in west Texas.  Cut our crowd way down.  So we scheduled a make-up Sunday and it happened again.  Ice storm in west Texas.

You might just think that is coincidence, but I wonder if Satan was trying to keep us from raising money to do things that bring people to Jesus.  Should of just killed our Harvest Sunday campaign.

Last time I checked, we were at about 96% of our goal with about 2/3 of the money already given.


I was in Guatemala last week as part of an evangelistic campaign sponsored by Herald of Truth, some of the local congregations in Guatemala City.  Preacher students from the Biblical Institute of Central America helped with door knocking and Bible studies.  Good crowd Friday night with lots of visitors.  Great momentum.  Very excited for Saturday night.  And that is the night there were two major accidents blocking traffic in exactly the part of the city where we were meeting.  Many of those expecting to come could not get there.

So did Satan have a hand in any of that?  I don't know, but I do know this.

Some walked, some came late, and even though the crowd was down there was still energy and excitement for Jesus.  And Sunday night was our biggest crowd.  And so far 11 have been baptized into Christ with many studies still ongoing.

And tonight our elders are having a special time of prayer because almost 1/2 of our elders have significant health issues with themselves, their mates, their parents, or their kids.

Satan trying to distract us?  Discourage us?

Yet, we are baptizing non-believers every week, we are committing to even more mission work.


So I am not sure how much of this is directly tied to Satan and his attacks on the kingdom.  But I do know this.  It is not working.

And God is.  Just like always.  Satan will never win.  We will cling to Jesus, trust God, and fight the good fight till we go home.

Satan loses.

God wins.

And so do we.