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One of the biggest weapons the devil uses to ensnare us is what I call the "me-me" attitude. And this is the next trap that my brother was drawn into.
Now that my brother had been kicked out of his church and fired from his paying job for his crimes with minors, how would he support himself? Of course, he hadn’t thought about that initially, and the only work he could land short-term was picking up garbage.
I was actually proud of him when he took this job. It was a humble job, and with it, it looked to me that he was showing some remorse and working on trying to better himself.
Unfortunately, he only stayed with this job for three months, then he quit. He informed our mom that he didn’t have anywhere to go and no money, and she took him in to live with her. My parents had owned the top two floors of an apartment building, and as soon as he moved in, Jimmy took over the entire second floor. From this "perch", he began bullying and threatening my mother. She was terrified of him and gave him everything he demanded.
Our father had left our mother quite well off when he died. She owned a number of buildings around town, and the rent she earned from these buildings was more than enough to give her and my brother a comfortable life. It wasn’t enough for Jimmy, however. Once situated in our mother’s apartment, he again began buying dirty magazines and visiting prostitutes. He spent so much of her money that there was none left over for the bills. This meant that they had to begin selling off the buildings. That was okay with Jimmy. Our father’s will stated that he would receive 1/5 of the proceeds from any sale of property. He would be rich! He even used our mom's money to buy a bordello.
Meanwhile, I was thousands of miles away in Canada. I didn’t know what was happening or what Jimmy was doing. Whenever I called home, they both said everything was just fine, and I had no way of knowing just how far Jimmy had gone. I sensed something was very wrong, but what could I do? I had no proof, and the entire Atlantic Ocean lie between us. I committed the entire thing to prayer, and I found great comfort in 2 Cor. 10:5: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (NIV)
Unfortunately, Jimmy no longer read his Bible. He laughed when I tried to share this with him. He considered himself "king". He thought no one, not even God, could stop him. If only he had paid attention to this verse. If only he had recognized that he had become a slave to sin and the devil. If only he had reached out to the freedom God had for him. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the need. He didn’t care. He thought he was living for himself, but in reality, he was living for the devil.
Don’t follow in the steps of the devil, friends! Don’t live just for yourselves. Live the Jesus’ way, full of love for God and for those around us! His way is a much better way!
I’m sad to say that my brother still had not reached rock bottom…Please join us next Friday for God’s Armament, Part 14
Rob Chaffart
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