Surely God would not… -The devil
When I was 16 years old my dad brought me to an indoctrination meeting for a group that he had become a member of. As I was passing into manhood, he suggested it would be good for me.
I remember entering a large auditorium where about 50 other men of various ages were seated, awaiting the program. The moderator asked us to leave for a short time, as they needed to prepare the room for the presentation. So they ushered all of us into a small room to wait.
I remember thinking this is sure a small space for all these men, and there were no chairs. It will probably be a short wait, I thought. It was not. In fact, the wait was nearly an hour. During that time I remember being uncomfortable, as it began to get hot and stuffy. The door was locked so there was no way out.
Pretty soon some of the men were feeling very uncomfortable, even claustrophobic. One of the men started knocking on the door insisting to be let out, only to be told by the man on the other side to be patient. The conversation escalated and the knocking became pounding by not just one but now about 3-4 men. The language became so heated that threats of bodily harm were being thrown in both directions.
When the door finally swung open the mayhem began. Immediately 3-4 of our men grabbed the doorkeeper, tackled him to the ground and began beating him mercilessly. After a minute or so I saw a knife appear and almost instantly there was blood everywhere. They had stabbed this man multiple times.
The scene became eerily quiet as most of us just stood back in utter shock. In very short order emergency responders appeared on the scene, attended the injured man and took him off in an ambulance. The rest of us were then asked to go back to the auditorium and take a seat.
What happened next I will never forget. The moderator took the platform and proceeded to introduce all the actors. None of what we had just experienced was what we had perceived. It was all an act. The moderator told us that this was an illustration of how communism works. An example of how a few well-placed people with a well thought-out plan can establish circumstances designed to manipulate the masses into seeing a reality that does not exist. We were literally pawns.
As I think back upon this experience I cannot help thinking about how much of this goes on today all over our world. Leadership is key here, but we must remember that it can be good or evil depending upon its motivations. Good leadership is always undergirded by truth. In contrast evil leadership is always based upon deception. We all know how far back this goes—it started in the garden when the devil convinced the first couple that there was a different reality than God had shown them.
So, you might ask, why am I sharing this? I am persuaded that to a large extent we are all pawns nurtured and developed by small minorities with motives we often do not perceive. As we go into what might be the most important election cycle in our nation's history I want to give you some things to think and pray about. I also want to say that deception is not associated with any political party or group—it is practiced by all.
We are well aware that the enemy wants to destroy, and throughout history has used people for his evil purposes. As a result we must be discerning always about the intentions of leaders; the higher the level the more potential destruction.
If I were a leader with evil intentions designed to destroy our nation, I would:
- Remove all reference to a moral authority not agreed upon by the state and intimidate the church by proclaiming deep moral issues are political and therefore off limits.
- Indoctrinate upcoming generations of young people with information designed to create a negative attitude toward our nation, established authority, and the rule of law
- Control the basic necessities of life: water, food and natural resources, through a series of far-reaching regulations, and convince people it is in order to save the planet
- Bring about anarchy by exaggerating and making up stories designed to polarize around race, gender, class and lifestyle issues in order to exercise more control (possibly martial law)
- Reduce the ability to protect ourselves through compromising our national defense systems and disarming our citizens
- Create a large poor and homeless population and convince them it is the system around them that is at fault (national slavery)
- Integrate as many immigrants into the culture as possible, especially those with different and oftentimes conflicting ideologies, and whose birthrate far exceeds the majority
- De-emphasize all threats from outside enemies while covertly supporting them
As a Christian reading this I want you to consider what would happen if, God forbid, we ever have leadership that wants to take us in this direction.
So, here are some questions for you to consider in this critical election cycle:
- Are you giving in to deliberate and often-deceptive attempts to get you to evaluate candidates based upon their character flaws, rather than examining the ideologies they stand for and the direction they will pursue?
- Do you buy into a reality defined by Fox news or CNN simply because they are your preferred source of what is truth?
- To what extent are the conclusions you are arriving at supported by your ethnicity, the color of your skin, how you were raised and what you have been taught, rather than prayerfully considered facts?
- Have you prayed and considered, in light of Gods Word, what is truth and what is deception?
Finally, pray God protects us from the evil intentions of our real enemy and for Him to help our leaders who may be influenced by him to see the alternative, His Son.