We are constantly caught up in our busy lives. A friend sent this pretty thought-provoking piece. I don't agree with this fully as it goes against the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism and the idea of hard work being rewarded with success and prosperity. But this will definitely set you thinking. So here goes...
SATAN'S MEETING:
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep people from going to pray."
"We can't keep them from reading their holy books and knowing thetruth."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship withtheir GOD."
"Once they gain that connection with GOD, our power over them isbroken."
"So let them go to their prayers; let them have their covered dishdinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop arelationship with GOD.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their GOD and maintaining thatvital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerableschemes 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 the husbands towork 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford theirempty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children."
"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escapefrom the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, smallvoice."
"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever theydrive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly intheir home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the worldplaysnon-biblical music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with God."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter andpromotional offering free products, services and false hopes.."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so theirhusbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, andthey'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "
"Keep the 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 beginto look elsewhere."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Give them distractions to distract them from teaching their childrenthe real meaning of life."
"Even in their recreation, let 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, andmovies instead."
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossipand small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seekpower from GOD."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing theirhealth and family for the good of the cause."
"It will work!"
"It will work!"
It was quite a plan!
The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing people everywhereto get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of GOD to change lives.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?
You be the judge!!!!!
Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?
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5 comments:
SCARY...The evil design of Satan in this depraved blueprint of his seems larger than life and rings very true of what is happening in the modern day world. Despite our busy lifestyles, unless we consciously try to devise means for finding some time towards making the world a better place to live in, we are all doomed to go Satan's way and make him succeed in his malevolent mission.This piece was a real eye opener.
Suffering in silence
A story that must be told
Dear Fellow Bloggers:
I am 44 years old and for all appearances, quite healthy – by the Grace of God. But, for the past three years, I am suffering a painful condition, one which has no remedy. Every once in a while, painful little sores erupt in various places inside my mouth – on the gums, the tongue and the under-lip. These are called Canker Sores. I am not alone. According to most Internet sites on the subject, I share my predicament with roughly 25 per cent of humanity. Apparently, women are its greatest victims.
At first, these sores used to give me trouble while eating. But after some time, they began to hurt all the time. Each sore resembles a shapeless blister, white in colour and tiny in size, each with an amber core. The entire process of each of these little b*****s’ attaining full size takes about 10 days and the pain increases in direct proportion to its size from the third day on. It eases when it reaches maturity, but by that time another one emerges. This is a non-stop process, causing lack of appetite, aversion for spicy food, slur in speech and overall lack of confidence. Even consuming liquids become difficult. Since I am the only member of my family to be afflicted by this scourge, I end up the silent sufferer at the dinner table on most evenings. Who likes a brooding father or a Sad-Sack of a husband? At the worst of times I am a loner, forced by my agony to an exclusive hell. And, as for best, I carry the visage of a man who doesn’t mind chewing glass.
Of late, the trauma has started making visitations even in my sleep. Last night, my tongue may have travelled to a particularly vulnerable spot. I was made aware of it by a stab-like pain that quite shattered my central nervous system and I sat up in a state of profound agony. In the confusion that followed in my head, I realised that my trauma had entered a new stage. Henceforth, there is no place to run.
Its quite disconcerting that medical science, for all its progress, has failed to beat these little monsters. I guess there is no funding available for research into these lowly sores. There are no Nobels to be won for conquering it. No career for biochemistry wiz kids means no cure for canker sores.
Actually, nobody is quite sure as to where it comes from. The most common refrain is “Vitamin (usually B-12) deficiency”. But believe me, I must be the biggest consumer of Becosule capsules, but nothing has changed. The Company that makes them may shortly announce an award for me.
Another (misinformed) school of opinion holds that “stomach disorders” are responsible. But they come even otherwise. When I was a small boy, I used to get these sores once in a blue moon. Say, one small blister every four years or so. But, then too, I was the only one among my siblings to get it. My mother used to say “pet porishkar hocche naa” ( constipation) and administer Isabgul husk. The odd sore that used to come back then, would take its own time to vanish. I can’t say for sure whether Isabgul did the trick.
Now, here’s another angle to it. Canker sores run in the family. I mean, just as you have heart attack-prone families, diabetes families, even cancer families, canker sores too tend to unite cousins and folks separated by generations. You may be the only one among four brothers and three sisters to be invaded by these swine. But, look beyond your immediate family and before long you will find a cousin or uncle ready to fall into your arms crying boo-hoo-hoo.
In my case, I have two.
My father had eight sisters. The second son of the first sister and the second daughter of the fourth happen to live in my city. One year, we got together for Diwali and it was then that I discovered that Poorni, the girl-cousin who is a year older than I, “gets it”. Imagine the outpouring of sibling sympathy (even camaraderie) at the moment of this discovery. The boy-cousin, Vijay, who, incidentally, is the oldest among us, declared that he was the worst sufferer and began to relate the agonising details of each visitation in recent memory. Two other cousins, the first-born of the third aunt and the only son of the eighth, were quite amused at the veritable competition that broke out. But, over time, they began to evince irritation. A year or two down the road, cousin Jadu, the unaffected one, said over the phone that he would be happy to participate in a soon-to-be-held family picnic provided the ‘cankerous’ three don’t inundate the others with their tales of woe.
So, we exchanged notes. Like golfers who ring each other up at odd hours to compare conquests with “holes” on the course, we thought nothing of invading into each other’s busiest hours with the “latest”, which could be either a particularly traumatic attack or information on a wonder-drug. One day, Vijay told me that he had a nagging constipation problem. He is a project engineer and has to catch first-flights out of town often and that disturbs his metabolism.
I remembered Ma and told him: “Why don’t you try Isabgul? Who knows, it may even cure the sores”.
I forgot about this. One day, about two weeks later, I get this SMS from cousin Vijay.
“Isabgul is GREAT”.
After that, every time I come across a packet of Isabgul, I can almost hear cousin Vijay’s loud AAAAAH.
Another four months passed. One day, Vijay phones me. “Those sons of b*****s are back.”
“What about the bowel movement? “
“Now I am hooked on to Isabgul and still suffering the pain”.
Recently, Poorni had a devastating attack. Can you believe it – one of those damn things formed in the base of her tongue -- the part that stays in the throat? Poor thing had to be admitted to a hospice and fed intravenously for a week. Another tube pumped some high-power pain killer.
We could only nod our heads in grief. Vijay said some high-tech doctor told him recently that it is a genetic condition. “We are prone to fall to some bacteria that others are immune to. We are a cursed family…sob!”
“Generations are doomed”, I seconded him.
Another time, I am in Washington DC. It’s that time of the month (Gawd!) and I go to this party where I meet my old friend Terry.
Terry is the Chief Executive for a Senator. One word with me and he knows I’ve got it.
“I know you have those sores in your mouth. The Senator suffers them highly”, Terry said.
“How bad?” I demanded to know, as if the fact that sharing victimhood with a US Senator could kill the piranhas that were currently nibbling away at my gums and tongue.
“Often times, he ducks his funders and lobbyists. That bad”.
I forced a smile.
“Why don’t you get him to move a Bill for research into Canker Sores?”
“He did, Oh don’t you know? Didn’t work, but some doctor upstate New York brewed him a special toothpaste. Seems to be working, for now”.
And Terry moved on.
The toothpaste, Terry later told me, was a formulation that excluded a particular chemical which its inventor (the Senator’s friend) thought caused canker sores among users of regular toothpaste who are genetically conditioned to suffer cankers.
“I couldn’t give you a tube even if I wanted to. It’s between the Senator and that doctor. Strictly off-FDA, illegal to distribute, especially foreigners. Besides, how many tubes could I possibly filch for you? Can’t possibly run an endless supply all the way to Indiaaaah!”
Point.
Then, one day, Dr Trehan, when he was with Escorts, told me at a reception.
“Yoga can cure it. Yoga can cure everything. That’s why I am planning to dump Escorts. I want to start a Yoga Centre”.
That’s Dr Trehan. Does costly open-heart surgeries on enemies, but recommends Yoga to friends. No wonder he’s bad business for hospital owners. Escorts fired him. Now, he’s hired my friend Dr Sharma to set up a Yoga therapy unit at the new hospital he helped set up. The grapevine adds that he’d approached Baba Ramdev too, but of course, he refused.
According to Dr Sharma, canker sores are mentioned as “Vayapoos” (Vaya = mouth; poos = short for flowers) in ancient Indian medicine.
“They are formed when the stomach gets over-heated”, he began. “The human stomach, you see, is like a cauldron. It’s always on the boil. The temperature is very high. Most of the foods we eat only exacerbate the mismatch between the external body temperature with that inside. Canker sores are the direct result of this”, he said one day.
And then, the usual story. We all could get it, but only those who are genetically vulnerable suffer.
However, the news is that modern-day lifestyles, which is marked by intake of a lot of food cooked away from home, is a major factor. Not because of suspect-quality spices, no Sir-e! Just the lack of familiarity between the body’s internal system and the ingredients used by the airline, hotel, host, whatever.
“The sores are like little eruptions of protest”, the yoga expert explained.
He advised me to have “cool” foods. Lots of “dahi” because “dahi” has zinc in it, which gives relief. Avoid most fruits, including mangoes.
“One piece of raw papaya in the morning is very good to keep the stomach cool”, he stated.
“And, most importantly,” he said, “do Pranayam in the morning”.
I end the day, looking forward to a new Dawn.
Hope my experience is of help to fellow bloggers.
Cheers
****
BUSY we are by Satan's design or otherwise. It's true that work and life needs to be balanced and all Fortune 500 companies see to it that their employees take time off from work for relaxation and/or enjoyment.
"Karoshi" - "Death from overwork" is a common term in Japan. Progress of a nation should never happen at the cost of the employees health, happiness and life.
I enjoyed bullinachinashop's writing but did not understand how it was related to the article in context.
Yeah. Good story bullinchinashop. But cannot establish the correlation between your story and the original post.
Talking of work-life balance, I completely agree with you busybee. I really feel sad for people close to me who work for essential services who have a solid 7-day week. This takes a toll on their health and relationships. They don't even get the time to enjoy the perks their jobs give them. We need to incorporate this aspect so much in our labour laws--especially in India.
Lets put 'bullinchinashop' out of his/her misery..shall we?? Ever tried Abreva? It's good. The best remedy however is swishing your mouth with a concentrated solution of salt water. It'll hurt like hell but will heal the sores real fast. Salt therapy is the best solution for all herpes like viral afflictions. Good luck to you since you seem desperate enough to share your sorrow in a totally unrealted blog post... or are your sores a manifestation of the malevolence of Satan himself ?
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