Debbie W. Wilson

Refreshing Faith

Are You a Victim of the Enemy’s Deception?

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An email from the address of a friend said she was stranded overseas. Someone had stolen her passport and wallet. She urgently needed to borrow some money. However, the tone of the email didn’t sound like my friend. Suspecting deception, I didn’t send money.

A week later, my friend emailed to say her account had been hacked. “Don’t send money. I’m not overseas,” she said.

The source of a message affects its interpretation. Knowing its validity determines our response and whether or not we become victims.

Fraud is a bigger issue than having our money scammed. People’s souls and quality of life are at stake. Below are some considerations to protect you from being duped.Continue Reading

5 Tips for Dealing with Doubt

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Time was ticking and I had to give my decision. I knew what I wanted. But every time I thought about saying, “no,” doubt assailed me. You’re wimping out. If you had faith you’d say yes.

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I thought my doubt was a nebulous feeling that sprang from uncertainty. But, I’ve learned some doubts have a diabolical side.

What feels like paralyzing indecision may be a taunt from the enemy. Just like the devil gave King David the idea to take a census of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1-3) and Ananias and Sapphira the idea to lie about a gift they gave to the church (Acts 5:3-5), he also plants thoughts in our minds.

Jesus called the devil a liar (John 8:44) and the thief that comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). The Bible also says he’s a slanderer and accuser (Revelation 12:10). The better we know Jesus, the better we’re able to identify Satan’s influence.Continue Reading

How to Win at Spiritual Warfare

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C. S. Lewis’s book series The Chronicles of Narnia transports us to far away places and portrays the spiritual battles we face in life. In The Magician’s Nephew, a beautiful and cruel witch eavesdrops on two children, Digory and Polly, and learns Digory’s heartbreak—his mother is dying.

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This is just the ammunition the witch needs to coerce him to become her pawn and disobey Aslan, the great lion and Christ-figure. She approaches Digory with the promise she has the knowledge to make him happy for the rest of his life. If he will take his magical apple to his mother instead of to Aslan, “Soon she will be well again. All will be well again.”[1]

Digory gasps as if he’s been struck. What a terrible choice he must make. The witch pushes harder. “And what would your Mother think if she knew that you could have taken her pain away and given her back her life and saved your Father’s heart from being broken, and that you wouldn’t—that you’d rather run messages for a wild animal in a strange world that is no business of yours?”[2]

The sad reality is that there is no vacation from spiritual warfare. Just like Digory, we must always be on guard, for we live in a spiritually hostile territory. Like our nation’s peace-keepers, we must diligently guard our minds from the tormenting thoughts and emotions that try to manipulate and oppress us.Continue Reading

Doubt or Dart?

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Is doubt a nebulous feeling that springs from lack of confidence? Sometimes. But, often what we call doubt is really spiritual warfare.

By: Ano Lobb

What feels like paralyzing indecision may be a taunt from the enemy. Jesus called the devil a liar (John 8:44). This thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He also is a slanderer, accuser of Christians (Revelation 12:10b), and blasphemer of God. The better we know Jesus, the better we’re able to identify Satan’s influence.

The devil tries to steer our thoughts. Wanting to provoke God’s anger, he planted the thought in King David’s mind to take a census of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1-3). He also gave Ananias and Sapphira the idea to lie about a gift they gave to the church (Acts 5:3-5). Do you think these people would have cooperated if they’d recognized the maleficence behind their ideas?

I’ve received emails from friends asking me to send cash to help them because they lost their passports. Even though the emails came from my friends’ accounts, the messages didn’t sound like them. I recognized the hoax because I knew my friends. The better we know someone the less likely we are to be taken in by fraud.

Here are some ways to recognize our enemy’s darts.Continue Reading

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