A Rebel Without A Clue (or How Evil Succeeds )

 For years, I have heard many theories about evil. Some of them assume that greedy and controlling governments are out to enslave the rest of us. Some assume that there is a war between the rich and poor, the Haves and Have Nots. Some assume that there are supernatural forces at war.

Of those A, B, and C choices, if asked, my answer would be D: all of the above.

Think of what has been said about the Devil's greatest trick. I always heard the first quote but only heard the other in the past few years.

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire

I always thought that was the most correct until I heard this one: 

“The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is the good guy”—Ken Ammi”

 Ah! That's the one that fits the world we live in today.

I wonder if it isn't highly moral (and "believers in a higher power") people to whom the first quote most applies and Atheists and evolutionists (highly moral or not) to whom the second applies.

One thing is for sure, Satan was smart about splitting people into different camps. He pits people of differing worldviews against one another.

As a Christian, I find unloving criticism to be an easy trap to fall into. When I hear evolutionists so glibly talk their language - about millions of years and evolving humanity - I have to sometimes grit my teeth. I'm sure that they feel the same way about my beliefs.

So the Devil's greatest trick is taking our eyes and thoughts off of the "big picture". He has us seeing and thinking in a compartmentalized way. We see issues in society or politics or education or finances as separately ruled. We see black and white and American or European or Asian, Indian (American and Eastern). We see our struggles as a group or race or nation - not as a whole and connected human existence.

All the issues that concern us as the groups we divided ourselves into are part of one big puzzle - or maybe all individual pieces on one big gameboard. While we focus on the one pixel, Satan is seeing a very clear picture of how to keep us fighting battles among ourselves.

But as slick as that trick is, Satan has one that is slicker: he has convinced people that he has a chance to come out on top in the end. And many, many people fall into his camp.

Smart.

As smart as Satan is, he has been losing the war from the beginning. As a matter of fact, to quote lyrics from one of my favorite songs, he is fighting a battle that has already been won. Why? Because those on the side of the Lord are redeemed.

Here's the thing, whether people choose to follow Satan or not, that's not the end of their personal stake. If they don't choose the victor, they fall into the lap of the lose (Satan) anyway. 

And Satan does not work under one guise. He comes in many forms. He's every god that is not God. He's god that tells you you can save yourself with your good works. He's the one that says that as long as you are not a murderer or adulterer or fill-in-the-blank-sinner, you are safe. He's the one that tells you it's okay to serve him and whatever other god you choose.

Satan is a disease that infects every good thing that we were given. Patient Zero was Eve. Since then, whatever we are given to enjoy, he bleeds in like a parasite.

Whatever we have that is beautiful, he infects it to induce feelings of self-worship and lust and aggression. Music, art, literature - all of it can be pure and beautiful.

When I was very young, I remember hearing a concerto on record. I didn't understand music or music theory. I just thought that the lush sounds of the instruments playing together were so amazing. That music made me feel indescribably peaceful and happy. Not more than 5 or 6 years later, I heard a song that made me feel lustful and yearning. I didn't understand the meaning of the lyrics so I'm not sure why the song affected me in such a way. The song was "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye.

Think about David soothing Saul with the music of the harp. Now think about how music is used today to hypnotize and drug people. I wouldn't doubt that for most people born before there was the internet music was probably the gateway into a lot of physical sin.

Just as music soothed Saul, I have had music make me feel aggressive. I suppose that is why generations of protestors and activists have their music. Hippie/Folk music, Black Power/Black is Beautiful music, Neo-Nazi/Skinhead music. One kind of music to make you chill out, check out, get stoned, and get "free" (with sex). One kind of music to amp you up, make you "proud", make you get up offa "that thing". One kind of music to get you marching and fighting and killing, maybe.

Literature - as the art of conveying and expressing, of telling stories to entertain. That becomes words on a page to make you feel some sexual thrill or teach you new things about the thrills or make you not feel alone in the sexual thrills you enjoy.

Movies - literature set to moving pictures - has become a medium to induce some kind of pride - of gender, nationalism, race or culture. It's the medium once used to make "stars" of some people and fans (fanatic) of others. Movies made smoking look cool and fashionable. Movies took sex - of all kinds - out of the privacy and exclusivity of the sacred marital bed. Movies took the "sacred" out of sex.

News media and advertising conditioned and guided our daily decisions about everything from food to money to parenting. It tells us what is right or wrong - regardless of morals and propriety. It feeds us information it wants us to have instead of what is useful. It skews our ideas about politics and justice.

All of these things put a lot of power into the hands of a few. Power of entertainment, information, and lifestyle guidance.

When you have time to travel down some deep and winding rabbit holes, go and read up on a few things for yourself. I can suggest some starting places:

• Edward Bernaise and why we eat bacon and eggs for breakfast.
• Music's effect on the brain. Music's effects on plants and sand and water.
• This from Truthstream Media on the subliminal messages some of us were subjected to for years.
• Go search out other subliminal messages.
• To see just how much the Satanist Aleister Crowley has affected today's culture, check out the book "Children of the Beast" by William Ramsey.
• Do a search on how the Nazis incorporated black magic and the occult into their ranks.
• Look up something called "Lucifer Publishing Company", Lucis Trust, and what it has to do with the United Nations and education curriculums.
• Look into the origins of Planned Parenthood and the eugenics and racism behind it.

I suggested some of these searches simply to get you to get used to looking up information of things. We are a society with a lot of "surface knowledge" of things - like being familiar with a name or brand - without having any idea about the origins of such. I know people who consider themselves extremely racially proud but are clients of Planned Parenthood. 

For years, before I was saved, Huey Newton was a hero of mine. It wasn't until I got past all the hype that I realized his communist connections. I was a rebel without a clue.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: forgive any sloppy spelling or grammar. It took me hours and hours over 3 days to get this written and I am too tired to do any more editing. My brain is having one of its days...

The Most Serious Thought Experiment

Take some time with this. Take this opportunity to think deeply about this most important thing. 

Imagine that you just died. Now imagine Eternity.

 Maybe you were important enough that the news broke into regular programming. Maybe you were so forgotten on earth that there was no obituary at all. Maybe those of us still alive don't even know that you have died. 

Now you stand before God, facing eternity.

God only asked that you forsake other "gods" and idols. He asked that you believe. He gave you proof of His being. You could look around at nature and the wonders of life and know that He is. 

Maybe you didn't hear about Jesus but you knew that everything that is did not come from nothing. You saw a newborn child, opening their eyes for the first time to see this world. You watched that child come out of the womb, knowing how to breathe and think and wonder. You saw the child learn language and numbers and time. Maybe that told you of God.

Maybe you did hear about Jesus. Maybe you knew and believed but you never finished reading the Bible so you didn't get every detail of what he sacrificed. Maybe you did.

Maybe you were of a brilliant mind and studied the maths and sciences. Maybe you decided that you didn't believe in God because of all that you learned. Maybe you decided that there is a God because of all that you learned.

Maybe you were never very smart. Maybe you never learned to read or write or count. But maybe you still knew of God. 

Maybe you were wealthy and privileged to enjoy every material thing. Maybe you were only well off, or comfortable, or maybe you were poor. 

Maybe you woke up every day, healthy and eager to live. Maybe you struggled with depression or pain or all manner of suffering.

Maybe you were loved by a lot of people, celebrated and lauded and envied. Maybe you just went through life as one of the many people who garner no special attention.

Maybe you were beautiful or handsome; tall and thin, big and robust; shapely and attractive; short and stumpy; ugly of face and plain of body. Maybe you were deformed or crippled or blind or mentally challenged. 

Maybe you were always happy or always sad or just simply living with no expectations of this world.

Maybe you were a good person - generous and kind and loving. Maybe you were a great father, son, wife, husband, or daughter. Maybe you fed the hungry and clothed the poor. 

Maybe you went to church often. Maybe you served in the church you attended. Maybe you never cursed, smoked, drank, took drugs, committed adultery or committed sexual sins. Maybe you were more "moral" and upright than most people who claim to be Christians. 

Maybe you were a good Buddist or Hindu or Muslim or Mormon or Roman Catholic. Maybe you were a committed Mason, Scientologist, or a non-affiliated member of society.  Maybe you never ate meat. Maybe you obeyed all the laws. Maybe you were a good citizen.

Maybe people respected you in your career. Maybe you invented life-saving equipment; discovered life-saving medicines; or found new ways to help people live healthier. 

Maybe you conquered the world with your voice or your intellect or your cunning. Maybe you were charismatic or ruthless or powerful or a titan. 

Maybe you never did anything outstanding or special. Maybe you were un "under-achiever", a "loser", a "slacker", a "drain on society". 

Maybe you traveled the world and saw every wonder on earth. Maybe you slept in fine hotels and dined on meals prepared for royalty. Maybe your home was palatial and luxurious. Maybe cars and airplanes sat ready at your command. Maybe you lived on the streets or ate from charity, or wore clothes thrown out by others. 

Maybe you donated money to open libraries and schools and maybe your name is on buildings of good reputation. 

Maybe you shouted praise from the rooftops or whispered prayers in your heart. Maybe you cursed God eloquently or defied him in the dark.

Back among the living, some might be wishing that you rest in peace. But they can't be sure. But you will know. Eternally.

Some might be wishing that you had a moment to ask forgiveness. But they can't be sure. But you will know. Forever.

Some might believe that they know you are safely in a peaceful rest. But they can't be sure. But you will know. Always.

No one can be sure what is in your heart but God. The God you believe in or the God you rejected? The God you challenged or the God you prayed to? The God you chose or the God you turned away from?

No one here on earth can be sure. But you and God will know because whoever you were, you are now dead. And you stand before God, facing eternity.

Will you be thankful for the rest you have earned? Will you be frightened of the consequences of your beliefs? 

You are dead and facing eternity. What will your eternity consist of?

For those of us still alive, we have time - if only this very moment - to think and to be sure. 

Don't reject what you haven't carefully considered. Don't turn away from what you cannot dismiss with certainty. Don't discard out of anger or hatred. Don't dismiss what frightens you without knowing why it frightens you. Know why. Think, think, think, and consider.

No matter what your life is among the living, your eternity is coming. Every day that you live, prepare to be eternally not among the living. The choice you make while you still can choose will be with you for all of the rest of time. 

As you live this part of your existence, prepare for the next part - the eternal part - that is coming.

There is nothing but the blood of Jesus that will be your eternal salvation and mind. Nothing - not a priest, a church, a parent or child; not your career or talent or wealth; not your looks or abilities; not your fame or notoriety; not your social connections; not your good works; not lighting candles or praying to saints; not sitting in a confessional or being blessed by some man or woman. 

Are you sure? Of what you believe or not believe in? Are you absolutely certain? Are you willing to stake all eternity on your choice?

Peace

--Free

P.S.: It occurs to me that, as I was writing this, deaths were occurring. Deaths are always occurring. Think about that. You or I could be next.

I am praying that everyone takes the time to consider their life and their coming death. Many of us are afraid to think about our deaths. We don't want to think about what death will mean to us. We will think about what our death means to those we leave behind before we think about what we are dying into. 

We buy burial insurance and make wills and choose where and whether our bodies will be in the ground, crypt or urn. Our families will have to write an obituary or arrange a wake or memorial of funeral service. Someone will have to clean and dress our dead bodies, comb our hair, apply makeup, and make us presentable for viewing - or ready us from cremation and disposal. But that is just the flesh and bone of what is left of us.

The essential part of what we are, the part that lives on - that is the most important part. What plans have we made for that?

Please take the time to ready yourself for the biggest part of existence, what I think of as the "forever and ever" part.

Is It Spiritual?

 I just finished watching a video over on The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction's YouTube channel. The subject matter was interesting but I came away from the video with something that will stick with me forever.

At one point the channel's host commented on how we should see things. I immediately grabbed that as being really important and this is part of the hurried comment I left:

"...I will always be asking "Is it ~fill in the blank~ or is it spiritual?"  Is it politics or is it spiritual? Is it really necessary news or is it spiritual?  etc. I am guilty of forgetting to look at the world around me through a spiritual lens. Everything is part of this game - either for good or for bad."

As I commented, I have been guilty of not looking at things the way I should. And perspective alters everything.

A few years back, when the country got all up in arms (literally, at one point) over politics, I watched most of the news through my citizen's eye - and not just as a citizen but as a black citizen and a female citizen. That caused so much stress. 

Seeing things as a citizen causes me to react as a citizen. If I remember to stop and see things as a Christian, everything shifts to fit that perspective.

There is a man with a very interesting YouTube channel called Dazed but Not Confuzed. The videos are primarily about his escape from Scientology. The host seems to be so very sincere and kind that my heart aches for what he's been through and I find myself praying for him along with some other online personalities. 

This man has come out of such a tricky and insidious "religion" that I doubt he wants to hear anything about Christ. At least, not yet. I am sure that he sees everything through the eyes of someone who has been duped before.

I know another man - a longtime friend of my family's - who sees everything only as a black man. Racism is real, but this friend is so focused on the issue of racism that he can barely see anything else. If a white person cuts him off in traffic, it's "racial", if someone... Well, you get it. The wildest part is that he seems to only see white people as racist - as if they are the only race of people who don't like black people. And he is the epitome of a stereotype in one way. He has white friends, all of whom he believes are only the "exceptions" to a very hard and fast rule. It's a mirror of the whole "My best friend is black" copout. 

Now, this family friend uses racism as a reason to doubt the validity of a "white" Jesus. You cannot make him understand that Jesus is not the person depicted in those paintings people have in their homes! I remember once pointing out that Jesus was Jewish. The family friend came back with "They're white, ain't they?"

Lord, help the ignorant and stubborn.

The point I came here to make is about myself. I need to make sure that I see everything in this world with the eyes of a Christian. Every day of my life (and yours) on this earth is a spiritual battle. We should never forget that.

As a Christian, I know that a lot of what goes on in politics is spiritual. Same thing with all the manipulations of media. All this uproar over gender and sexuality is spiritual. All the distractions in the media over this celebrity suing or "beefing"" with that celebrity is a distraction. 

Half the time, we are walking around in a daze from being news-bombed. When we have a free minute to think, we are scrolling through our social media - just hunting for new distractions. 

When something is meant to turn us away from God, we should remember that Satan was bold enough to try tempting Jesus. 

Satan is a master of deception, distraction, disinformation, and confusion. We have to remember to be discerning - always.

I will close this post by suggesting you read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It's a total reminder of our daily life being under attack.

Peace

--Free