Welcome to the Whyte House Family Spoken Novels podcast: Holiday Edition episode #27. Today we are reading chapter 1 of the novel “Shaking The Gates of Hell” by Daniel Whyte III with Meriqua Whyte.
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Pastor Demarcus Grant and his wife and children exited the Haven Bible Baptist Church on their way home. It had been a taxing Sunday. In fact, the whole week had been a rather strenuous one — more spiritually than anything else. It seemed to Pastor Grant that he spent more time that week putting out fires in the church members’ lives than he had throughout the year. He was ready to crash on the couch for the rest of the evening.
“Here you go, Brother Mitchell,” he said tossing the keys to one of his most faithful members. “It’s all on you today. I’m beat. Make sure everything’s secure.”
The family enjoyed a quiet ride home, a quick, nutritious meal, and a time of rest for the remainder of the evening.
“You know, I don’t quite know why so many families in the church have been hit with so many problems this week,” Pastor Grant shared with his wife. “I believe I have my finger on it, but I’m not sure. I’ll pray about it some more.”
Pastor Grant and his wife, Marlene, had been married for eleven years and had two children, ten and eight years old. He had been in the pastorate for seven of those years following in his father’s footsteps.
Later that evening, his trusted confidant and spiritual mentor, Pastor Johnson, called him on the phone.
“Pastor Grant, I have not heard from you all week. What did you preach on today? Is everything going well?”
“I can’t say yes or no,” Pastor Grant answered. “But I do know that something went out of me today. I can’t really explain it.”
“Maybe I can help shed some light on the situation,” Pastor Johnson said. Walter Johnson had retired from pastoring ten years earlier. He and Pastor Grant’s father were old friends, and after Pastor Grant’s father died, he adopted Pastor Grant as his own son. Pastor Grant looked up to him and valued his advice.
“You said something went out of you today? That something was virtue. Remember when the woman with the issue of blood sought to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment for healing. What did Jesus say after the woman was healed? ‘Who touched Me? Virtue has gone out of Me.’ In other words, God has used you to be a blessing to others,” Pastor Johnson continued. “Just as this woman by faith was drawing virtue out of Jesus, the folks at Haven Bible Baptist are drawing virtue or spiritual blessings out of you. It’s strange, but that’s how the preaching of God’s Word is. And when you have a whole auditorium of people drawing virtue from you like that, you’re going to get spiritually drained. Someone once said that preaching for one hour is like working a ten-hour day. This is why many preachers have to rest on Sunday afternoon and all day Monday to recover lest the devil take advantage of them.”
“That makes sense,” Pastor Grant said. “But even though I was giving out good spiritual food, I felt a spirit of resistance also. Some people just did not want to hear what I had to say even though it was the Word of God.”
Pastor Johnson laughed. “There are always going to be some Pharisees and Sadducees in the crowd. Satan will always have someone in the pews with a contrary spirit. Jesus had a bunch of them constantly following Him around.”
“You’re right. Sometimes while preaching, I feel like I am in a tug-of-war between good and evil.”
“That just comes with preaching the Word, my brother,” Pastor Johnson assured him.
“This past week I had it rough. It seemed as though every family was hit with something: some people lost their jobs, husbands and wives are not getting along, teenagers are acting up and going astray, cars are breaking down, a divorce is pending, and come to find out, one of my married deacons has a girlfriend inside the church. On top of that, one of my faithful young ministers is acting like he is interested in a newly divorced woman who is older than he is and already has four children. And then we got a young transfer couple from a church across town. The young woman is a firecracker who told her husband she does not want to take birth control, but she wants her husband to get a vasectomy. And he is submitting to that, but I have told him that we as Christian men normally don’t do things like that. That blew up in my face this week, and now they are talking about leaving the church. And now preacher, as my accountability partner, you know that my only weakness is fine women. So this week, the devil had the finest sister in the church to come up to me and ask if she can be my personal secretary since I don’t have one.”
“Oh, really? What did you do, preacher?” Pastor Johnson said.
“I burst out laughing and told her no she could not. She was wondering why I was laughing, but I could not tell her,” Pastor Grant said.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Pastor Johnson joked.
“But on a serious note, by the end of the week I could only ask, What is happening here?” Pastor Grant said. “Now I know the devil is constantly hitting us, but it seemed like he hit more this week than any other week that I can recall.”
Pastor Johnson chuckled. “Yes, and he’s going to hit more as this month advances.”
“What do you mean?” Pastor Grant asked.
“This is October — Halloween month. The month the devil thinks is his. I believe more demons are let loose during this month than any other month, and they are running wild and attacking Christian churches and ministries, particularly those who do not cede the month to the devil and actually take it to him by having evangelistic crusades, revivals, and ‘hell house’ events.”
“Do you really believe that, Pastor Johnson?”
“Not only do I believe that, I know that. The funny thing about it is the devil has no new tricks. If you look over the years and follow his track record, you’ll see he uses the same old tricks.”
“If that is the case, why do we keep falling for these tricks year in and year out?” Pastor Grant asked.
“Solomon has the answer. He says, ‘The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.'” Pastor Johnson went on, “Solomon also says that ‘we have no remembrance of former things,’ thus we repeat history, so to speak. The devil has no new tricks; he only intensifies his old tricks and camouflages them so they look brand new.”
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Thank you for joining us for this episode of Whyte House Family stories. You may purchase a copy of this novel and any other Christian fiction books read on this podcast from Amazon.com.
Now, dear listener, please know that God—the divine Author of all things—wants to write a great story with your life as well. But first you must give Him the pen by trusting Him with the life He gave you and surrendering your heart to Jesus Christ as Savior. Here is how:
1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
May God bless you until next time.
BCNN1 WP 