Satan is the Father of lies. Therefore it follows that one of his favorite tricks is to separate us from reality.
He’s like that stage magician who uses distraction to keep you from seeing what is really going on. He pulls a trick to turn our attention away from reality.
What is “reality”? Reality is what is. Reality is the way things are in the natural world. Reality is the way we were created. Reality is the destiny God has in store for us. Reality is humble. Reality is down to earth. Reality is simple. Reality is true, beautiful and good.
The devil hates reality. He loves the superficial appearance, the whirligig of lies, the smoke of confusion, the shadowplay, the drama, the vanity, pomp and show. He loves to entertain us, confuse us and distract us with a whole range of tricks.
Anything to keep us from reality itself.
Here are ten cons he uses to keep us from reality. You can probably think of more.
- The Screen – We love the screen. The tablet, the laptop, the PC, the smartphone, the movie theater and the TV. We become addicted to the artificial image, the pretend story, the entertainment and the juice and jazz of the screen. But the screen screens us from reality. Turn off the screen.
- The News – We hear a lot about “fake news”. Most of it is fake inasmuch as it is invariably written with a slant. The editors choose what stories are important and which ones are not. The secular news is always written from a foundation of a secular, atheistic viewpoint. We shouldn’t stick our head in the sand, but on the other hand, we can cut back on the amount of “news” we think we need and be critical of the stuff we do read.
- Fame – celebrity is not real. Its pretend. It is manufactured by publicity people to feed our appetite for gossip and scandal. Accomplishment is real. Focus on real people who have actually accomplished something real and good in their lives. They are very unlikely to be celebrities.
- Shopping and Stuff – Okay. The possessions we own are real inasmuch as they are material things. However, Satan does not want us to appreciate them according to their worth. He wants us to use nice stuff to show off, to feel smug about our prosperity and to revel in un necessary and un necessarily expensive luxury. Love all things according to their worth. The rest is vanity and vanity is not real.
- Gender Identity – I’m sorry. For the vast majority of people your gender identity aligns with your crotch equipment. This is reality. For most people anything else is a bit of fakery and no amount of fake hormones and surgeries by your favorite Dr. Frankenstein will change this.
- False Religion – Any religion that is contrary to reality is false religion. Any religion that is contrary to common sense is false religion. Any religion that condones hypocrisy and humbug is false religion. Any religion that treats people badly while pretending to love God is false religion. Satan loves false religion more than extreme decadence.
- Substance Abuse – Satan loves drugs of all kinds because they separate us from reality. Oh yes, street drugs and booze are real bad, porn and sex addiction are nasty too, but don’t let’s forget the other kinds of drugs: ego trips, addiction to success, financial security, rich boys’ toys, property, prosperity and power. These other addictions are not only socially acceptable–they’re praised.
- Pride – Pride is a false view of ourselves. Humility is reality.
- Self-righteousness – Believing we’re good enough just as we are is not real. God loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way
- Judging others – putting people into pigeonholes, stereotyping, labelling and excluding: that’s not real. Everyone is more interesting and complex and dignified than the category you put them into. Try to give them the benefit of the doubt and get to know them. That would be much more real and true and kind.
Image Creative Commons via Bing
