Recently, I was in line at a bank. The guy in front of me was at least six to seven feet back from the guy in front of him. He had been programmed to distance himself from others, I thought. The messages of the world had altered him.
Ever since 2020 the attempts to program and manipulate the public have been increasingly blatant. Consider the following messages and what they’re doing to us.
Disconnect from others.
Remove the word “social” from “social distancing” and what you’re left with is a subliminal message to disconnect from others. Relationships are dangerous. Curl up in your cocoon with your smartphone and let its soft light soothe you. No need for connection with others, the digital netherworld has everything you need, including sex. Porn and AI boyfriends/girlfriends have eliminated the need for the effort a relationship with a living human demands.
Hide your true self.
Put on a mask. Fake it. Act like you have it all together. Social media is often about creating the version of self we want the world to see; the person who always looks good, is successful, always happy, having fun, is a superstar in ministry or some other endeavor. Faults and mistakes? We don’t go there, unless it’s to point out the failures of others. We’re becoming a shallow society of posers.
FEAR
Fear is meant to drive people to the sirens of the world and its seductions of pleasure and comfort. Fear sells big time, which is why the news is packed with fear-driven headlines. You must read their news article to know what you need to know in order to be safe. Fear breeds anxiety. Sales of anxiety and antidepressant medications are breaking records. Fear opens the door wide to anger, Fear’s cousin, which is everywhere, at every level of society.
Lying is good.
We live in a post-truth society. The average American lies 1.5-2 times a day. The amount of lying and deception that flow nearly unhindered and unchallenged from our leaders is staggering. Trust in our institutions is fading – including the church, where coverups, especially over sexual sin, are an everyday occurrence. Blaming and silencing the person who was abused is commonplace in order to protect the reputation of the church.
AI is god.
Our post-truth society that has evicted God has opened up a huge hole for AI to step in and capture the hearts and minds of its people. AI spawns digital versions of boyfriends, girlfriends, porn, and even false versions of God. Many are turning to AI for answers for everything without considering the ramifications of where AI might take them. Stories of persons who committed suicide at the suggestion of AI are increasingly on the radar. AI is being positioned as a god-substitute… until someone pulls the plug.
Do the math on the above (and I haven’t hit everything) and it’s clear we’re looking at a setup to deceive and destroy many lives.
We must also ask, how are we being programmed at church?
Most (70-80%) modern believers are isolated, disconnected from face to face, transparent relationships. Masks have been prevalent in the church for years. We’re experts at turning on the happy face when asked how we’re doing and lying when we’re hurting. We like our bubbles.
Many have been programmed that the prayer meeting is an unnecessary part of the church or Christian life. I was at a church recently where the pastor stated that the church “should be a house of prayer” yet there are no prayer meetings evident on their website, and I’ve never heard them publicize or challenge God’s people to attend them. Our actions reveal what we believe, not our talk. Without prayer we’re flesh-driven; dead men walking spiritually.
Comfort is king. John the Baptist (and Jesus)-style messages that include the strict warnings of hell (gasp!), spiritual warfare, an in-depth series equipping people in overcoming porn and sexual sin, or the issues people are being attacked with, including suicide, are often muted, or missing. Jesus is coming soon; no need to worry about spiritual warfare. Or how about a Holy-Spirit and prayer fired, all-out challenge to puncture our love of the entertainment and pleasures of this world and make our lives count for eternity?
Some have been programmed that entertainment, the cousin of comfort, has a home in the church. In many churches the worship band, complete with skinny jeans and hip looking musicians, looks and sounds like a rock band with God words. Some sermons fail to cut butter because the truth is softened and blunted to coddle gentle western ears with jokes and stories that distract more than teach, challenge, or provoke. There is no entertainment in a prayer meeting. If we’re not all-in at a prayer meeting it’s dead before it starts.
So we go Rogue and filter and live our lives through the Bible, no matter what others are doing, including the Christian crowd. We make prayer a priority, personally, and by attending prayer meetings (Colossians 4:2). Instead of spending hours watching The Chosen or other forms of Christian entertainment, we spend hours in prayer. We meet with other believers face to face, often. We boast of our weaknesses, even publicly, as the opportunity arises, (2 Cor 12) and confess our sins to others (James 5:16). We don’t pretend that we have it all together. We decrease our time wandering aimlessly in the digital netherworld.
We renounce, refuse, and reject fear and anxiety. We know who God is and that He is infinitely bigger than anything this world or the enemy throws at us. We stand firm in the truth and we’re committed to persevering in His strength until our last breath.
“Devoted to teaching, prayer, and fellowship” is our way of life, not mere talk. We devote ourselves and what little time we have left to bearing fruit, knowing it is God’s desire for us and that our time is short.
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
John 15:7-8
