An interesting article taken from the Indian Orthodox Forum. This was contributed by Mary in the forum under the heading : " How Busy are You? "

In our day to day lives, we get so caught up in the worldly things and
forget to be a true Christian. I just wanted to share this with you
all.

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address
he said, "We cant keep Christians from going to church or from reading
their Bibles and knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from
forming an intimate relationship with their savior. Once they gain
that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So, let
them go to their churches; let them have their potluck dinners, but
steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship
with Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do", said the devil. "Distract them from
gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection
throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable
schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend and borrow, borrow, borrow.
Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and husbands to work
longer hours as well, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep
them from spending time with their children. As their families
fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures
of work!" "Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that
still, small voice." "Entice them to play the radio, or cassette
player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PC's
going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and
restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This
will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their
heads with the news 24hours a day. Invade their driving moments with
billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail orders
catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional
offering free products, services and false hopes."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their
husbands will believe outward beauty is what's important, and they'll
become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep wives too tired to love
their husbands at night. Give them headaches too!! If they don't give
their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere,
That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children
the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't
talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, le them be excessive.. have them return
from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in
nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks,
sporting events, plays, concerts and movies instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, leave them with
troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they
have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working for
their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good
of the cause."

Satan concluded the meeting by saying, "It will work, it WILL work!!"

It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments
causing Christians everywhere having little time for their God or
their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change
lives.

Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.
Does "busy" mean:

B-eing
U-nder
S-atan's
Y-oke?

I hope we don't allow Satan to win at his plan. No matter how busy
our lives are, we all need to find time to spend some quality time
with our families praising God, and connecting with him. Having
daily evening prayers, where the whole family has to be present is
one way of achieving that. If your work schedules don't allow you to
do that, you can be creative and arrange other times. We must make
time for our families and God.

Best wishes
Mary