Dave’s Monday Blast – November 21, 2016
The Washington Post just published a lengthy article on what they refer to as the “Post-Election Hate Spike”. More than any election I can remember, (I think you would agree) this campaign has left many in our country bitterly divided against those with whom they disagree. It is a bit like the Civil War…brother against brother.
In light of such vitriol (love this word), the following insight about Satan’s most subtle strategies is poignant; the backwards logic is brilliant: (Sounds like the Screwtape Letters, but is not attributed to C.S. Lewis)
“Be sure that the patient (the person being tempted) remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is ‘out there’ in the ‘broken system’ rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself.”
Does this sound familiar? This was the devil’s first strategy, tempting Eve to blame the serpent and Adam to blame Eve (Genesis 3:12-13). Pastor Jim Denison refers to this as Spiritual Transference and it appears to make us blind us to our responsibility for the state of the world. Whether we blame the recent Supermoon or the political activist next door, we focus on what we cannot change while INTENTIONALLY IGNORING what we can.
The Denison Forum states, “This strategy is lethal because the first step to solving a problem is defining it correctly. When a newspaper recently posed the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” the Catholic thinker G.K. Chesterton reputedly replied: “Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G.K. Chesterton.” As Tim Keller notes in The Prodigal God, “That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.”
What is the solution to Spiritual Transference? How about this from Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
In what things do you delight in today my brothers? As we look forward to this Thanksgiving week…I would encourage you to sit down and do as the song writer of old encouraged, “count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings and see what God has done.”
