The Hagmann & Hagmann Report - 05-11-2013 - Steve Quayle & David Lankford

Saturday special: The Great Seduction- Submitting to seducing spirits & the doctrine of the devil

11 May 2013: Tonight we have the distinct honor of welcoming Pastor David Lankford, well known scriptorian, dynamic preacher and speaker of the truth, along with internationally renowned author Steve Quayle, on this very special Saturday night program airing on the eve of Mother’s Day here in America.

As I prepared the promotional entry for this program, I was suddenly taken back nearly four decades in time to an event that I believe will best provide an example of the topics that will be discussed. I ask for your indulgence as I recount this troubling and very personal memory that is difficult, despite the passage of time, to share with you.

As I noted, we celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow in the United States. I will never forget one particular Mother’s Day almost 40 years ago during a time when, in my youthful rebellion as a young man, my relationship with my mother had become strained. It seemed that the entire year, to that point, I had pushed aside my mother’s love and failed to give her my attention, devotion, or even the slightest bit of time she deserved from her only son, her only child.

To make up for the previous extended period of near estrangement, I decided to buy her a delicacy she enjoyed so very much but hardly ever received- a box of strawberries dipped in chocolate. Not just plain chocolate, but the kind with fancy artistry that made each treat individual. The itself box was adorned with cute pictures, wrapped in paper that was bright and colorful, with a velvet ribbon that made the package appear inviting. I planned to see her early that afternoon, present my gift and make amends.

When the time finally came, I proudly presented her with the box and watched in anticipation as she slowly, methodically opened the box while extolling me with compliments for being a good son, casting her love like a net over me despite our troublesome relationship. Once opened, she looked at the delicacies with surprise, hugged me and selected a strawberry from the box. I remember her holding up the strawberry and noting the beautiful design of chocolate confection that covered the fruit. As she bit into the artistic delight, her smile turned to a look of surprise, as the strawberry had rotted from the inside, unnoticeable through the bright reddish exterior. It was rotted from within, forcing her to spit out the rotten, spoiled fruit that was hidden so well.

The artistic chocolate design, the careful and colorful packaging, the ribbon over the box… it did not matter as the fruit itself had become rotten and inedible. The carefully packaged exterior, even down to the fancy chocolate covering, had successfully hidden the rot from within. I recall that occasion, that year, that one day of celebration so vividly because that was the last Mother’s Day present I gave to my mom, for it was her last Mother’s Day on earth.

She passed away unexpectedly a few months later, but during that time, I never once took the time to make up for the holiday gesture that had gone awry for I felt that I had all the time in the world to show her how much I cared. Except I didn’t, and our time together ran out without warning, like a thief in the night.

I share that account as it is analogous to the events of today. People worldwide are being seduced by the deceptive packaging of the ribbons and bows, the colorful packaging and all the entrapments of the artistic designs of a fruit that is rotting from within. Yet we continue to be seduced by the fancy packaging while continually failing to realize that the rot is from within. The deception continues in spades, running rampant and unchecked as we submit to the seduction of the wrapping – a package perhaps wrapped by the devil himself.

Are we not bearing witness to this on a wholesale level? It is this submission to the seductive packaging in the spiritual realm, the doctrine of the devil himself, that we are presently experiencing. Tonight. we’ll discuss this level of deception, and look though the fancy trappings of the outer wrappings to strike at the heart of the deception that exists all around us.

Be sure to tune into this very special broadcast.

Pastor Lankford’s website: http://www.thevoiceofevangelism.com/