Interesting questions posed in this article… I’ve certainly seen people who are so convinced that everything is a PsyOp that they trust absolutely nothing. Which doesn’t seem to be a Christian or just generally healthy way to interact with the world. There are, in fact, many things and people who are truly good and are deserving of trust. But this trust has sadly deteriorated after so many lies from the establishment…
The balance is in understanding that deception exists without becoming consumed by its existence and seeing it everywhere. I just finished The Screwtape Letters and that is a great illustration of all of the ways that Satan tries to draw us into despair or self-satisfaction and away from God.
As a general rule, I think it’s good for us to be skeptical of those who are seeking power, fortune, or fame and to question their motives. But we also have to be willing to see goodness and righteousness where it exists, and to not extend all of this skepticism to those who we interact with in our day-to-day lives. Most of the time, people are somewhere on the spectrum of “normal,” and what you say here about not always attributing to malice what can also be incompetence is very key. The true connections that we have in our lives are precious, and trust in one another is a wonderful thing that we should hold onto. There certainly could be powerful people who want to see us all less trusting and more divided, speaking of PsyOps!
Anyways, thanks again for the interesting article— Since you touched on it here, I am curious if you have more to say in the future on how the devil works, as I find this concept interesting & I want to be as aware as I can of not falling into his traps. Or where in Scripture this subject is discussed. I’ve heard people say a lot of things about the devil or demons, but not sure what is actually Biblical and what may be more legend. Thank you!!
Hi GZ, thoughtful comment once again! I'm glad the podcast is helping you to process these things. I like what you say about the difference between seeing deception everywhere while at the same time being suspicious of those who are seeking power etc. Really what I was trying to get at is, we can't tell for sure what the truth is -- but we can assess things from a Biblical perspective. If someone is acting rightly, it will eventually come out. And if what we are being asked to do is wrong, we won't do it -- even if we have been given a reason for it (e.g. being asked to close churches during covid).
One thing I forgot to mention was how we can only really trust those whom we know and love. Real trust is built on relationship, and we simply can't have those relationships with those in power. But I believe that these local community relationships are vital to resist what is coming. I did a podcast some time ago called "Love is our resistance", and I still believe that.
On Satan, I have touched on Satan and evil a few times on the podcast but I haven't done any focussed teaching about who Satan is etc. A couple of things come to mind though. Firstly, I did a podcast a couple of years ago on The Mind Renewed which was focussed on Satan and evil. That's still available here: https://themindrenewed.com/episodes/2022-25/1586-ep071
You might also be interested in the series I did on the book of Revelation, which does obviously touch on Satan and evil. The whole playlist is here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFq4f609fWmZWRZUuPPxG-eKvEZiFS2NQ - but bear in mind it was about 3 years ago so my thinking about current events may have moved on a bit! But the Bible is obviously still relevant.
Appreciate your thoughts & the resources here, I will check those podcasts out.
In these uncertain times, the spiritual battle of good and evil has been very much on my mind, and how to lean into the good and avoid the evil. It just seems that the evil has become so overt that it’s impossible to ignore, and I’m curious about what the Bible & Christian thinkers have to say on the matter.
Wise words. Thank you.
Interesting questions posed in this article… I’ve certainly seen people who are so convinced that everything is a PsyOp that they trust absolutely nothing. Which doesn’t seem to be a Christian or just generally healthy way to interact with the world. There are, in fact, many things and people who are truly good and are deserving of trust. But this trust has sadly deteriorated after so many lies from the establishment…
The balance is in understanding that deception exists without becoming consumed by its existence and seeing it everywhere. I just finished The Screwtape Letters and that is a great illustration of all of the ways that Satan tries to draw us into despair or self-satisfaction and away from God.
As a general rule, I think it’s good for us to be skeptical of those who are seeking power, fortune, or fame and to question their motives. But we also have to be willing to see goodness and righteousness where it exists, and to not extend all of this skepticism to those who we interact with in our day-to-day lives. Most of the time, people are somewhere on the spectrum of “normal,” and what you say here about not always attributing to malice what can also be incompetence is very key. The true connections that we have in our lives are precious, and trust in one another is a wonderful thing that we should hold onto. There certainly could be powerful people who want to see us all less trusting and more divided, speaking of PsyOps!
Anyways, thanks again for the interesting article— Since you touched on it here, I am curious if you have more to say in the future on how the devil works, as I find this concept interesting & I want to be as aware as I can of not falling into his traps. Or where in Scripture this subject is discussed. I’ve heard people say a lot of things about the devil or demons, but not sure what is actually Biblical and what may be more legend. Thank you!!
Hi GZ, thoughtful comment once again! I'm glad the podcast is helping you to process these things. I like what you say about the difference between seeing deception everywhere while at the same time being suspicious of those who are seeking power etc. Really what I was trying to get at is, we can't tell for sure what the truth is -- but we can assess things from a Biblical perspective. If someone is acting rightly, it will eventually come out. And if what we are being asked to do is wrong, we won't do it -- even if we have been given a reason for it (e.g. being asked to close churches during covid).
One thing I forgot to mention was how we can only really trust those whom we know and love. Real trust is built on relationship, and we simply can't have those relationships with those in power. But I believe that these local community relationships are vital to resist what is coming. I did a podcast some time ago called "Love is our resistance", and I still believe that.
On Satan, I have touched on Satan and evil a few times on the podcast but I haven't done any focussed teaching about who Satan is etc. A couple of things come to mind though. Firstly, I did a podcast a couple of years ago on The Mind Renewed which was focussed on Satan and evil. That's still available here: https://themindrenewed.com/episodes/2022-25/1586-ep071
You might also be interested in the series I did on the book of Revelation, which does obviously touch on Satan and evil. The whole playlist is here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFq4f609fWmZWRZUuPPxG-eKvEZiFS2NQ - but bear in mind it was about 3 years ago so my thinking about current events may have moved on a bit! But the Bible is obviously still relevant.
Appreciate your thoughts & the resources here, I will check those podcasts out.
In these uncertain times, the spiritual battle of good and evil has been very much on my mind, and how to lean into the good and avoid the evil. It just seems that the evil has become so overt that it’s impossible to ignore, and I’m curious about what the Bible & Christian thinkers have to say on the matter.
Thanks again!!