LURED IN--Occasionally this author picks up a reel and rod. Although I prefer a net (the Bible method), there are places where a net cannot be used. Using the reel and rod requires a great deal of skill. It, like net fishing, is a skill that is acquired slowly. I suppose the #1 lesson to learn is the correct use of bait. There are natural baits (worms, minnows, crayfish, shrimp, frogs, grass­hoppers) and artificial baits (flies, plugs, spinners, spoons). These artificial baits are called "lures". Artificial bait is my preference. It is a very rewarding moment to know you have outsmarted a big fish, especially on something artificial. Most of the lures today look so life-like! (No wonder the fish gets mixed up!) Lures are so designed that when being retrieved, they will twirl, wobble, or make popping sounds to attract the fish just like the real thing!

You say, "Stupid fish, to get 'lured in' artificially!", but have you ever felt like this has happened to you on the land": Some artificial something comes by that looks like the real thing, and before long you're on the line--like it or not! Maybe it was a sale sign in a window or magazine. As a fish goes for the bait, you swam that direction to find out later it was a trick to get you to buy a product you did not even want. In your mouth hangs the brightly colored lure called "SALE". Be careful of the world's baits, especially so in religion. Satan has pulled before many a soul, artificial religious baits. Oh, the promises of religious groups and denominations! Like lures, they catch the souls of poor sinners with their promises. For attending, joining, an offering, a dip, a sprinkle or who-knows-what, you can have healing, financial success, and may even get to go to heaven. Go ahead--try it all. Some of you already have the hooks still in your mouth. Religion with its hooks has been used by Satan since his promise in Genesis 3:5, "...ye shall be as gods... ". Adam and Eve did not become gods; they became lost sinners, trying to hide from God.

Salvation, not religion, is offered by God-­salvation as provided by God's Son, Jesus Christ. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ is called the "gospel" (I Cor. 15:1-4). Now that is the bait I took years ago. Wow! What a swim!

I wonder what you're hooked on--lured into? Satan has a boat full and is daily devouring all those pulled in. Are you on his hook?

"Lured in"--it's worth thinking about. Oh, what a blessing to have Jesus (the heavenly fisherman) as Saviour and soon to have Him literally reel us up to our harbored home. By the way, Jesus keeps all his catch ALIVE. "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" (John 3:16).

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