Keep the Devil Out!

  I saw changes in my life as I began to read the book Adventist Home by Ellen White. One Friday was a particularly rough day. Instead of turning to YouTube or Facebook for amusement like I used to do, I picked up this book and began to read. I read the chapter about how what we read has such a powerful influence on us. The following quote impressed me: “Works of romance, frivolous, exciting tales, are, in hardly less degree, a curse to the reader. The author may profess to teach a moral lesson; throughout his work he may interweave religious sentiments, but often these serve only to veil the folly and worthlessness beneath.”*

 I thought of my mom and how she loves to watch television movies that play out love stories in various settings.

The next Sabbath afternoon, I felt impressed to read my mom this quote. I started upstairs to my room to pick up the book, praying that it would go over well with her. I fell hard and landed on my left arm as I climbed up the stairs. I immediately recognized this as spiritual warfare. I thought, The devil doesn’t want me to make it up the stairs to get this book to read this quote to Mother. I carefully walked down the stairs, sat down, and read the passages to her. I explained that since the author did not have a television in her day, we could easily apply the same principle of reading to viewing television today. Mother quietly listened and took it all to heart. She said that I had already won the victory over television and that she had done so in the past. Now she needed to claim the victory again. I told her, “Claim it!”

 Throughout the week, I noticed that Mother was very productive and a lot more even-tempered. She didn’t complain of her back hurting her so much. She got up and cleaned the house, painted the kitchen, and scrubbed the floors. I didn’t hear her comment on a great movie she had recently watched. Nor did she rush back to her bedroom with her dinner plate to finish watching the movie she had already started. Praise God! I could clearly see why the devil didn’t want any of this to happen. It just all goes to show you what God can do in your life when you don’t let the devil have an opportunity to be invited into your home.

 Mary C. D. Johnson