Required reading
Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Chapter 2, Devices 7 and 8.
My notes and thoughts
Device 7: 'By making the soul bold to venture upon the occasions of sin'. Brooks' provides so many good illustrations against this device: 'To venture upon the occasion of sin, and then to pray, 'Lead us not into temptation,' is all one as to thrust thy finger into the fire and then to pray that it might not be burnt.' And 'As long as there is fuel in our hearts for a temptation, we cannot be secure. He that hath gunpowder about him had need keep far enough off from sparkles.'
Device 8: 'By representing to the soul the outward mercies that vain men enjoy...' This is indeed a difficult device to counteract. Our sinful mind loves to judge something by the pleasurable experiences that it produces. Instead Brooks reminds us: 'Prosperity hath been a stumbling-block at which millions have stumbled and fallen, and broke the neck of their souls for ever.' This illustrates the point that experience is not to be trusted as our final authority, rather it is the word of God.
Remedy 5 for this device reminded me of the Hollywood celebrities that we see in the media: 'They have, indeed, a glorious outside, but if you view their insides, you will easily find that they fill the head full of cares, and the heart full of fears.' Michael Jackson? Britney Spears? How many of these celebrities are looked upon as having fantastic lives apart from God, yet time and time again we read of the breakdown of their marriages, their addiction to drugs and alcohol, etc.
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