Handsome Devils - Part 1

The Book of Acts, 16:16-18

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Last year, the branches of my beloved weeping larch, hung seemingly lifeless, near the trunk that draws strength from the soil it is planted in. The tiny pine like needles were beige and falling: the greenness of the sap of life was daily being leeched right out of the trees limbs. The culprits, handsome devils in the form of Japanese beetles, were sucking the tree dry. They land, they suck, and they leave an ugly black stain where ever they have been: kill one by squishing, and you will see the smear of darkness they leave behind. 

The damsel possessed with a spirit of divination - in modern terminology, a person possessed with a spirit of divination is known as a fortune teller - made her masters a lot of money by soothsaying - spirits, or demons, supply paying customers with information about their past or future, giving them a false sense of security or knowing, that beings in the spiritual realm can instruct them in the ways they ought to go. It can feel soothing to hear someone say things like, Your aunt Emma is thinking of you, and wanting you to know, Everything will be alright ... when you see a black and blue butterfly, know I am with you, and that you are loved. The Bible has much to say about this type of soul sucking leech. I will give one scripture as a warning against consulting witches or wizards, which is how fortune tellers, or soothsayers, are referred to in the Word of God:

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 19:31)

I didn't know about the handsome devils and their sap sucking abilities, until I saw the damage the Japanese beetles had done to my adorable weeping larch. I tell you, it made me mad each time I saw one of those gorgeous parasites, and I was determined to do something, to be proactive, when spring came around once more. I learned that they do not like coffee grounds, and each time coffee is brewed in this household, the grounds get sprinkled all over my larch, and any other plant the iridescent winged lovelies happen to sample and suck. I am happy to report that the larch is looking mighty fine due to its aromatic repulsiveness: in other words, the coffee grounds did their job, and the pestilence has ceased.  

Dear reader, many a soul in sorrow seeks soothsaying. Many a wounded world wanderer is looking for comfort, and they consult fortune tellers, without knowing that they are not to be engaged or paid for services that are not of God. People have not been taught God's Word, or been warned about the blackness, the darkness that resides within those that practice deception, those that are witches and wizards willing to speak misleading falsehood in exchange for monetary gain. The devils disguised as appealing, handsome or gorgeous guides that prey on the weak that need someone, something, to give them hope in times of trouble or grief, are wicked humans that work against God's will. If you will go to the top of this page and picture the scene described, you will imagine the grief the apostle Paul felt, to see the damsel following him and his friends as they went to prayer, and as he heard the young girl repeating a refrain. Paul could no longer stand seeing her tormented this way, and spoke these words:

I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her

Dear reader, the spirit that she had been possessed with, came out of her that hour ... the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation, had been given the gift of discerning spirits, meaning they could tell when demonic 

forces had taken over a person by speaking through them, and animating them in witchy or wizardly ways; this damsel needed to be set free from an evil spirit of divination. Jesus Christ set the girl free from the oppressive spirit, as it was commanded to come out of her, in his name. 

I have rose bushes, and apparently they are scrumptious to Japanese beetles. While my weeping larch gets the gross of coffee grounds, the roses are now getting some attention via sprinkling of grounds, to keep them blooming, and as pretty as God designed them to be. Surely, Japanese beetles are gorgeous winged things, but they remind me of the descriptions found in The Bible, of Lucifer, the most handsome devil of them all. 

The beetles go right for the blooms, dear reader. They mindlessly draw, and lazily suck, all the live long day. Catching them is easy enough because they are sluggards and slow. Makes sense, doesn't it? They do nothing all day but suck the beauty and life right out of their hosts, and that, is exactly what demons do to those they possess, those that they reside within. Only Jesus Christ can be called upon to have the pests plucked from the soul, and that, dear one, is your lesson for the day, if you were in need of one.