Plan B

Follow me here. You have been a good person all your life. You have never done anything wrong and have made sure that you abide by the law and do things right. You owe nothing to anyone. You have been a model of a person and have no regrets in life. Yet after recognizing all these facts, you feel as though you are constantly behind another, and one step forward is quickly followed by two steps back. You feel as though you are unevenly compensated and life itself begins to feel like an unfair challenge. 

Let’s take another scenario, shall we? You are a believer. You perform your daily devotionals and consider yourself a person of God. You read your Bible and feel quite content with the relationship you have with your Creator, yet you feel as though while one door of opportunity opens for you, three more would close in your face moving forward. Your prayers take too long to be answered or maybe you don’t even feel they are answered at all! It seems that even faith now becomes unreliable and beyond being a challenge, life begins to feel like a burden. Something you begin to care less about. Perhaps you can identify with these scenarios and may ask yourself the same question I formulated to my soul years ago, what is going on?

And as years of study and perseverance flew by, I can honestly say that although I may not have all the definite answers, I did find some that I would like to share with you in this episode. Because time is of the essence, and we need to be aware of some things. We need to understand. As part of my Theology studies, I read a great deal of sermons, heard them, and even saw many of them in video format. I was always trying to learn and to figure some of these questions out, and most of these sermons clarify things for me.  But no one ever hit me harder than Pastor Paul Washer when he said in one of his messages, that the best evidence you will find when you are doing the right thing is the resistance and the opposition you will find from the world. There is a cosmic spiritual warfare going on. Many of us are unaware of this. Satan is utilizing his army from the mass quarter of rebellious angels that decided to join him when he fell. His plan of attack is constant, repetitive, but most importantly, very effective. He has devised ways to effectively hurt us. To make us all blind and deaf to the Word of God. He has wisely diverted our attention to the real message while creating a false one where we feel better while losing our souls. I call it his Plan B.

This plan is designed to hit the immediate and most intimate areas of our lives. It is not a soft methodology of approach, but rather a precise targeting of life itself and the continuity of it. Since he knows that the fight with God is one, he would never win, his focus is on inflicting as much damage as he possibly can before his time is over. Keeping this episode in mind, I will only share the ones that I was directly hit with. I want you to understand what happened to me and the way he inflicted his damage on these areas. You may be able to identify with some of them. If so, let’s talk about them together. 
One of the things that automatically happens to the soul of a person while connected with his or her Creator is that this person inevitably changes! Ephesians 4:22 says that the old person we used to be begins to be replaced by a new one. One that has been reshaped and remade by the grace of God. The old things are gone, now all of them are new! Satan hates that. It interferes with his Plan B, that in my case, included the loss of many close friends. That was his first target. He knew I valued my dear friends, so he took them away from me. How, you may ask. Part of the changes in life included the cease and desist from drinking and partying. I took a stand against that style of living that was no longer satisfying my immediate needs. Plus, as a man of God, I felt responsible to take care of my body, as it is something mentioned in the bible. For that same reason, I did not fit in any longer. I was the boring Christian man that changed and was less interesting or cool! I was no longer invited to social venues. I was cast out. I was rejected.

Another area that was also included in this evil plan for my life was his immediate interference in my previous matrimony. He was successful in invading the thoughts and decisions of the woman I once called my wife to the point of derailing her from the truth, and the once spiritual and firm woman, became an irrational soul that rejected the truth and the help provided to her to recover from her mental warfare. That divorce sent me on a downward spiral that took me many years to recover from. Plan B is designed to also destroy personal relationships. Couples, mothers, fathers, sons, sisters, brothers, are all put face to face to fight towards discord and separation. The long line of acceptance and unity is forever tarnished by his satanic touch. Blasted away from the light of God.

This method of attack is as tactical as to being able to create new addictions in you. Yes, he wants you to be addicted. But in the worse possible ways. In my case, and for a long time, I dealt with alcohol and tobacco. My two reliable partners in every meeting, at every party…wherever I went! I was slowly destroying my body with these demons that granted me temporary escapes from the real world, only to solve nothing in the long run. They damaged more in my life than they ever repaired. It is a vicious slow death that is being laid upon us, and one that is hard to overcome. 
Another addiction now rampant and active as a demon in this world is pornography. Even inside the churches we find individuals of leadership with long tenure in the faith, fighting against this demon that seems to get stronger every day. It became hard for me to topple that structure of a cell, but by divine intervention, God made it happen. Those chains that kept me captive were also released upon the realization that it formed part of a strategic plan of attack from the enemy to destroy me…to destroy all of us. Plan B has many different parts and ways to be implemented, and it is an effective one.
Until you talk to Jesus!

My personal experience began to change when I decided to display a high level of humility. And by humility I do not mean a personality trait. I am talking about the biblical humility. The one meaning that you recognize that by yourself you cannot conquer anything, and that you will need to fall on your knees to ask for help. You will surrender to the will of the Almighty and begin to veer towards him. I began to do that genuinely. I began to ask for help admitting my incapacity to fix myself…to find hope.

I remember reading in the Bible when Jesus explained to his disciples that in order to effectively fight and defeat the demons we now face, we have to practice three essential steps: fasting, praying, and reading the Word of God. These three exercises would grant us victory over any undesirable attack. In Mark 9:29 the Words says, “And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” This is not optional. It must be done. Included in this verse alone are two of the three exclusive ways to conquer the enemy. John 14: 13-14 says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” The full power of prayer is on display here. This is a promise He made to us all. It is a fact! If you pray believing that what you may be asking for will be done in faith, it will happen! This is why it is so important to continuously practice it. I have been doing it, although I have to admit, I can be doing better. 
And last, but not least, the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” What a beautiful way to express such power! The Word of God does not only protect us, but it also makes us all anew one verse, one book at a time. It has the power to deliver us all from the darkest pit.
Satan and his army are defenseless against these biblical promises. They do not stand a chance. It is possible to raise from the ashes like a phoenix by simply displaying a generous level of humility and asking God himself to intervene in our lives daily. I am not trying to convince anyone to believe in this. What I am trying to say is that this message is as real as the demonic attacks happening constantly all over the world and in our lives. The only thing that helped me is to understand what I just shared with you in this episode. Time is short. We need to react. Plan B is destroying us all and way too many people are dying without knowing about it…without knowing the real power of God.

And if I may provide one last advise, it would be to ask you trust no man! No pastor, no deacon, no spiritual leader, or healer can save you. Only Jesus and the Word of God. Seek Him first and the rest of the things will be added to you…one by one. It happened to me. It can also happen to you. Believe. I do.

— R. Cortes / TITD Podcast / 2024