Fortunes, Forecasts, Lucky Charms

The Helm

Welcome back to the ship.

Wind and current and smooth sailing skills are factors that bring us to our destination. Will all waypoints lead us to good places?

We have talked about influence a few times here in Fightin’ Poseidon. Who and what influences us can have a side effect for the better or for the worse.

Haven’t you heard that bad company corrupts good character?

Clash of Tides

“You are on the precipice of a decision. One way, you know is risky and are hesitant to make a move,” said the man as he waved his hand over a crystal ball.

“How’d you know that?” asked William as he peered into the ball of glass. It looked like a trinket at a souvenir shop to him. There was even a smudge where maybe a past patron had touched the ball and the prognosticator’s post-session wipe down had missed it.

“I see great things in your future,” the soothsayer claimed as he leaned back on his chair. “Your heart is good, but deep down it holds onto a desire. You haven’t told anyone because you’re afraid. Your fear is a prison to keep you from your destiny.”

Despite the smudge, William gazed into the ball. How could this fortune teller know about how much he hated his job and had wanted to quit? He had been wanting to quit. That was the hesitant move. There was the whole paycheck thing that William liked. Who wouldn’t like the cash flow? But man, another day of directives from that out of touch boss of his was a cramp on his style. His destiny.

William wrinkled his nose. “How will I know my destiny?”

The fortune teller waved his hands over the crystal ball in a pause. “After you leave this building, you’ll receive a message. The face is blurry,” he said as he scrutinized the ball, “but his direction will be clear.”

“I appreciate this so much,” William said as he slid an extra fifty dollar bill next to the crystal ball. “You have no idea.” He thanked the fortune teller and left with his destiny in his eyes.

As he sat on the bus that would take him home, the mind rush of the soothsayer’s words began to dissipate. This destiny thing was for guys who forsook all their possessions and joined crews on wooden ships to adventure around the world. Not for desk jockeys like him. To set sail on a ship did hold appeal to him. William wondered what the message would be and how soon it would come.

A voice crooned from the phone of the woman sitting next to him. “Brother, if you have even the smallest faith, you can move mountains! Plant that seed of faith today!” William thought this could be the sound of destiny. Maybe fate was the call to faith? He had never been a man of faith but destiny had never called to him, either. He tilted his head to get a better look at the screen. The man wore a suit that looked like it cost more than William made in a month. An intensity carried the man around a stage as if he was part of a live electrical circuit.

“Don’t let fear in. That’s the enemy talking!” William wasn’t sure about any enemies but he listened in curiosity as the man mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “I wonder if that suit is moisture wicking?” he thought to himself.

The live wire preacher jumped up and down as he threw one pointed finger at the floor. It looked like he was scolding a bad dog. “Fight your fear, plant the seed of blessing with your donation today, and prepare to reap the harvest! The seed you put into the ground will grow into a tree one hundred times its size! No man reaps what he does not sow, and brothers and sisters, I have faith for a great harvest! Claim your harvest today!”

There was an awkward moment where William wrestled with his hesitation in silence. Destiny knocked at the door. Don’t be afraid. “Excuse me,” he said to the woman next to him after fate steeled his nerves. “Can I ask what you’re listening to? I’d like to send him something.” She shared the screen, William took a picture of it with his phone, and he thanked her as the bus rolled to a stop.

“Well, praise be,” thought William as he made the short walk to his building. He took the elevator, opened the door, threw the keys on the counter, and flopped on the couch. As he sat in his apartment, William pulled out his phone and went to the man of faith’s website and filled out the donation form. He wanted to reap a big harvest, so he checked the two-hundred and fifty dollar box on the form, entered his bank information, and clicked submit. It was still a week until payday and his funds were at the low end now, but if destiny and the movie Interstellar had taught him anything, there was no time for caution.

The comfort of his sofa made him feel good. He had a destiny. A destiny of faith. He was going to reap a harvest. In his ease, he opened social media and began to scroll. A reel with a pretty woman enticed him to click on it to hear what she had to say. The video had a caption that read Ten traits of an abusive narcissist. “Wow, that is definitely my boss,” William thought. “Maybe my girlfriend. For sure my mother.” As he was drawn into the woman’s beauty, he watched a few more videos. He went to her home page and clicked subscribe. “I’d like to see more of her,” he thought.

The next video was of a well built man with a square jaw and a beard that made William feel irritated. He wasn’t sure why. The well built man walked across the stage like the well dressed man from the woman’s phone on the bus. There was something William didn’t like about this guy. “You need to man up and take some action in your life.” Hadn’t he done that today? He went to the fortune teller for direction. He gave the faith preacher money as a seed of his own faith. He identified the people around him with narcissistic personality disorder. He was doing pretty good, he thought. “Quit thinking about it, quit procrastinating, quit waiting for someone else and be the man you’re supposed to be.” William sat in the weight of what the man said. The screen went to a cut scene with the man in an office with lots of books and a picture of a wooden ship on the wall behind him. “If you liked this video, like and subscribe,” he said. William decided he did like it and he did subscribe.

“Fine.” William closed the app and typed a text to his boss. He hesitated in fear, chose to be a man, and hit send. His boss probably wouldn’t like being called a narcissist but destiny had called William to be a man of faith and action. Fate had spoken to him.

William thought for a second about the events of the day. For half a second, the thought crossed his mind that no one he listened to challenged him. They told him what he wanted to hear and affirmed his own fears and insecurities. Then his mind got back in the driver seat and he knew that was a lie. That was fear again. He had been challenged to grow. He had taken action. He made moves.

“All right destiny, what’s next?” William spoke into the open air. He had to manifest that positive energy after all. No way he was going to become a narcissist. The phone in his hang rang. He answered call from the unknown number.

“Hello?” said William.

“Have you ever felt like you weren’t fulfilling your destiny and your dreams were slipping away?” said the man on the phone as he led with his pain point hook.

“Brother, you have no idea,” said William as he bit the hook. It didn’t matter what was on it at that point.

“Well, sounds like I called you at just the right time. This is your lucky day. It must be fate! Have you ever owned a boat? We’re having a first-time buyers’ sale on boats today. New customers only, but you have to act today.”

William didn’t skip a beat. No way he could miss this. “What’s your address? I’m a man of action. I’ll come down in person.” They exchanged information and William was on his way. It didn’t matter that he only had ninety-seven dollar and thirty-two cents in his checking account. It didn’t matter his savings was dry. It didn’t matter he hadn’t paid the minimum payment on his credit card yet this month. This was a season for faith and destiny. William got on the next bus and arrived at the location the man gave him. “Nice to meet you, William. The name’s Rick,” he said with a smile that reminded him of the faith preacher’s. It did look like Rick’s windbreaker was moisture wicking, William thought. For a brief moment, he hesitated. “Why shouldn’t I have a boat?” That was all it took to nudge him over the edge. He signed on the dotted line and caught the next bus to the pier, title in hand. He was in debt but he was a rich man of destiny, fate, faith, and adventure.

William stood at the helm of his new boat. “Look out world, here I come.” As he looked at the vessel, he entertained the thought of painting “The William” on the each side. Rick said he could add that on for him at the low cost of two-hundred and fifty dollars. William had the faith to plant that as a seed and was expecting a hundred-fold harvest. That’s why he didn’t bat an eye at financing the boat. He didn’t even need a down payment!

“How do you turn this thing on?” William asked himself. When he looked up, the sail had several tears in it. He didn’t know how to work a sail, but it probably involved ropes. “Maybe there’s another one below deck.” He descended the stairs for the first time to find the cabin floor was below several inches of water. “Hmmm,” he said as he pulled several feet of frayed and torn rope out of a cabinet.

As he thought about his fate, his glory, his destiny, his faith, and his action, he looked at the destination he’d arrived at. His ship, The William. For the second half second of the day, he considered again that none of the voices he’d listened to had challenged him. At least, no one challenged him in a way they didn’t benefit from.

“Ah, well, stay positive,” he shrugged to himself. As William stood in the cabin, he noticed a long wooden bench. When he sloshed over to sit down on it, the top budged. He slid the top of the long wooden box off into the water. The box was filled with dirt.

“I wonder what this box of dirt has to do with my destiny?” thought William.

The Armory

Not all roads lead to good places.

In this world of influencers, sales pitches, product reviews, social media and newsletters (this one included!), there’s a lot of voices coming at you. There’s a lot of persuasion trying to get you to behave in an anticipated way.

We ought to be taking all of our paths to the Lord first, per Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Whoever is speaking to you, whether it’s me or someone else or someone indirect who doesn’t even know you’re watching their videos online, test what the voice of influence is telling you. Don’t be quick to assume good motives, or quick to dismiss crooked self-interested ones.

Dropping Anchor

If you’ve been with me a while, don’t worry. Today’s story isn’t going to turn into another 21-part half-year trek into the abyss like The Story of the Marsh Boy. Although, that was fun to write.

I wanted to drop us into a narrative about how self-deceived we can get when we only hear words that tickle our itching ears. Loving truth is often confrontational.

Who likes to be told they’re wrong? William would’ve benefitted.

If you didn’t catch the reference, the box of dirt at the end of the story harkens to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the last voyage of the Demeter, several caskets of earth were sent out from Romania which were part of the vampire’s plan to make way to England.

Not all glad handing ends well nor does all dirt produce gardens.

Stay Anchored and keep fighting the good fight,

~ J.P. Simons ⚓️

If you’d like to go back and read the posts about influence, I’ve added the links here. You can click on any of the titles to visit the post.

Castles Made of Sand Fall Into the Sea

Fightin’ the Joy Thief

The Peace We Forfeit and the Pain We Bear

The Saturating Corruption of Influence

Below Deck: A Deep Dive

There was a shuffle around of posts over the last couple weeks. I have a draft on secret sin in the queue but it just isn’t coming together the way I want it to. Sin need not be secret to be destructive, though.

We saw as much for William in today’s story.

We’re getting into the meat of Precious Remedies today with Satan’s first device and four remedies against it. This is one of my favorite sections from Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (1652) by Thomas Brooks. and I’ve said it multiple times.

Sometimes it flatters us. Sometimes it tells us what we want to hear.

Sometimes it’s just pleasurable and appealing.

The truth remains the same.

There’s always a hook in the bait.

CHAPTER 2: SATAN'S DEVICES TO DRAW THE SOUL TO SIN

[12 devices and their remedies]

DEVICE 1: TO PRESENT THE BAIT AND HIDE THE HOOK

Satan's first device to draw the soul into sin is, to present the bait—and hide the hook; to present the golden cup—and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin—and to hide from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin. By this device he deceived our first parents, "And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die—for God does know, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:4-5). Your eyes shall he opened, and you shall be as gods! Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit. Oh—but he hides the hook—the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow!

There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy—and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion. He promises them the former—but intends the latter, and so Satan cheats them—giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise, as he deals by thousands now-a-days.

Satan with ease pawns falsehoods upon us, by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool's paradise. He promises the soul honor, pleasure, profit—but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be. By a golden bait he labored to catch Christ (Matt. 4:8, 9). He shows him the beauty and the finery of a bewitching world, which doubtless would have taken many a carnal heart; but here the devil's fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore did not ignite. These tempting objects did not at all win upon his affections, nor dazzle his eyes, though many have eternally died of the 'wound of the eye', and fallen forever by this vile strumpet the world, who, by laying forth her two fair breasts of PROFIT and PLEASURE, has wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition. She has, by the glistening of her pomp and preferment, slain millions; as the serpent Scytale, which, when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, does, with her beautiful colors, dazzle and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away until she has stung them to death! Adversity has slain her thousand—but prosperity her ten thousand.

Remedy (1). First, Keep at the greatest distance from sin, and from playing with the golden bait which Satan holds forth to catch you; for this you have (Romans 12:9), "Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good." When we meet with anything extremely evil and contrary to us, nature abhors it, and retires as far as it can from it. The Greek word that is there rendered "abhor," is very significant; it signifies to hate it as hell itself, to hate it with horror.

Anselm used to say, "That if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pains of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one; he would rather be thrust into hell without sin; than to go into heaven with sin," so great was his hatred and detestation of sin. It is our wisest and our safest course to stand at the farthest distance from sin; not to go near the house of the harlot—but to fly from all appearance of evil (Proverbs 5:8, 1 Thess. 5:22). The best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the greatest distance from it; he who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit, may find by woeful experience that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit. Joseph keeps at a distance from sin, and from playing with Satan's golden baits, and stands. David draws near, and plays with the bait, and falls, and swallows bait and hook! David comes near the snare, and is taken in it, to the breaking of his bones, the wounding of his conscience, and the loss of fellowship with his God.

Sin is a plague, yes, the worst and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there who tremble at it--who keep at a distance from it! (1 Cor. 5:6)— "Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" As soon as one sin had seized upon Adam's heart, all sin entered into his soul and infested it. How has Adam's one sin spread over all mankind! (Romans 5:12)—"Therefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Ah, how does the father's sin infect the child, the husband's infect the wife, the master's the servant! The sin that is in one man's heart is able to infect a whole world, it is of such a spreading and infectious nature.

The story of the Italian, who first made his enemy deny God, and then stabbed him, and so at once murdered both body and soul, declares the unmixed malignity of sin; and oh! that what has been spoken upon this head may prevail with you, to stand at a distance from sin!

Remedy (2). Consider that sin is but a bitter sweet. That seeming sweet that is in sin will quickly vanish; and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will come in the room thereof—"He enjoyed the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue. He savored it, holding it long in his mouth. But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach." (Job 20:12-14). Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vain men, who count madness mirth. Many long to be meddling with the murdering morsels of sin, which nourish not—but rend and consume the belly—and the soul that receives them. Many eat that on earth what they digest in hell. Sin's murdering morsels will deceive those who devour them. Adam's apple was a bitter sweet; Esau's bowl of stew was a bitter sweet; the Israelites' quails a bitter sweet; Jonathan's honey a bitter sweet; and Adonijah's dainties a bitter sweet. After the meal is ended, then comes the reckoning. Men must not think to dance and dine with the devil, and then to sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; to feed upon the poison of asps, and yet that the viper's tongue should not slay them.

When the asp stings a man, it does first tickle him so as it makes him laugh, until the poison, little by little, gets to the heart, and then it pains him more than ever it delighted him. So does sin; it may please a little at first—but it will pain the soul at last; yes, if there were the least real delight in sin, there could be no consummate hell, where men shall most completely be tormented with their sin.

Remedy (3). Solemnly to consider that sin will usher in the greatest and the saddest losses that can be upon our souls. It will usher in the loss of that divine favor which is better than life, and the loss of that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory, and the loss of that peace which passes understanding, and the loss of those divine influences by which the soul has been refreshed, quickened, raised, strengthened, and gladdened, and the loss of many outward desirable mercies, which otherwise the soul might have enjoyed.

Remedy (4). Seriously to consider that sin is of a very deceitful and bewitching nature. Sin is from the greatest deceiver, it is a child of his own begetting, it is the ground of all the deceit in the world, and it is in its own nature exceeding deceitful. "But exhort one another daily, while it is called 'today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb. 3:13. It will kiss the soul, and look enticing to the soul, and yet betray the soul forever. It will with Delilah smile upon us, that it may betray us into the hands of the devil, as she did Samson into the hands of the Philistines. Sin gives Satan a power over us, and an advantage to accuse us and to lay claim to us, as those who wear his badge; it is of a very bewitching nature; it bewitches the soul, where it is upon the throne, that the soul cannot leave it, though it perish eternally by it.

Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; and a soul thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death, at the sword's point with God; let God strike and wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul cares not, fears not—but will still hold on in a course of wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas. Tell the bewitched soul that sin is a viper that will certainly kill when it is not killed, that sin often kills secretly, insensibly, eternally, yet the bewitched soul cannot, and will not, cease from sin.

When the physicians told Theotimus that except he did abstain from drunkenness and uncleanness he would lose his eyes; his heart was so bewitched to his sins, that he answered, "Then farewell, sweet light"; he had rather lose his eyes than leave his sin. So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul— than part with his sin. Oh, therefore, forever take heed of playing with or nibbling at Satan's golden baits

Thomas Brooks