Satan called a worldwide convention of his demons. In his opening address to the evil horde, he said "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and learning the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else."

"We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles ... but steal their time so they cannot gain that vital experience in Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that needed connection throughout their day."

"How shall we do this?" shouted the evil horde.

"Keep them busy with the non-essentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work 6 to 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours each day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."

"Over stimulate their minds so they cannot hear that 'still small voice'. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, the VCR and their CD's going constantly in their homes. See to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, every kind of newsletter, promotional offering, free products, services and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out to nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have no time left to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention and in the end the evil horde went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there on endless tasks.

Has Satan been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.