By Dave Daubenmire
Most Americans recognize the phrase “the Devil made me do it,” from Flip Wilson who hosted a smash comedy show in the 1970’s. That was back when people were permitted to say funny things no matter whom it might offend.
Funny was, and still is, funny. It is just that the Lefties are too boorish to be able to laugh at themselves. Jokes are now offensive…unless they are jokes about Christian men…and there is now an open season on that genre of discrimination. Flip Wilson would be a right-wing Uncle Tom by today’s cultural standards.
But no matter what era one looks at the Truth never changes. Although Mr. Wilson was speaking tongue-in-cheek, he was actually on to something. The Devil, who is real, does not have the power to actually MAKE someone behave in a particular fashion, but Satan does have the power to influence behavior. That was true in the 1970’s and it is still true today.
The Good Lord gave each one of us free will, and although we are easily influenced by things around us, the behavior choices that we make are the results of our personal decisions. The Devil can’t FORCE any of us to do his bidding, but he does have the ability to pressure us into bad decisions. ALL bad behavior begins with stinkin’ thinkin’.
I ask that the non- believers reading this would humor me a bit by permitting me to posit something that needs to be considered. There is such a thing as TRUTH, no matter how much the Devil’s kids try to destroy it. Men are men and women are women and no amount of voodoo science can change those Truths. The Bible actually teaches us that Satan is ‘the father of lies.” Telling lies is the way that Satan advances his agenda. Each individual, because of free will, is given the prerogative to believe the Truth or to believe a lie.
Truth is not, and never can be, merely an opinion. Truth can be muddied over, twisted, denied, ignored, and watered-down, but at the end of the day THE TRUTH is THE TRUTH.
“Did God really say?” That was the first question ever uttered in the Bible. It was spoken by The Serpent to Adam’s spouse, Eve. All lies and deception begin by questioning Truth. We are all prisoners to what we KNOW, and, more importantly, what we BELIEVE. Eve had no firsthand knowledge of what God had actually said because she was not an eyewitness to what God had spoken to Adam. Her knowledge was 2nd hand. She KNEW what God had said, but she didn’t actually BELIEVE it. Old Slew Foot hooked Adam’s wife with one seemingly harmless question. “Did God really say…?”
We have been fighting lies ever since.
The world today is awash in half-truths and miss-truths. So much of what we believe today does not pass the smell test. That is why Satan’s team is so hell-bent on exercising censorship upon those with a differing opinion. If Fauci and team Satan are ever forced to pony up the evidence for the bilge they have been spewing for the past two years their claims will tumble down faster than the Twin Towers in 2001. Just like their daddy the Devil, they must block the Truth from being exposed.
You see, Flip Wilson was partially right. Their daddy IS “making them do it” through the use of liars and deception. It is what the Devil’s kids do. They lie. But the question is who is making you believe them?
All of the problems we face in America are in our minds. That is where all the trouble begins. That is why “mind control” and television “programming” are so essential in this war. Every decision we make begins as a thought. If you can control, or influence, the thoughts of people then it becomes easy to control them. The battle ground, as the Bible teaches, is in the mind. What you THINK and what you BELIEVE makes all the difference in what you DO!
That is the game-changer you see. Jesus, through the Bible, teaches us what we SHOULD do and then leaves the choice up to us. It is called obedience. Obey God and His precepts and life will go much better for everyone. Ignore them, and trouble lurks around every corner. Satan’s role is simply to get you to doubt what God has said. He does that by messing with our minds.
We are told in the book of Romans to “take captive every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” Thoughts lead to actions. Wrong thoughts lead to wrong beliefs. Wrong beliefs lead to wrong behaviors. Wrong behaviors have gotten us into the mess we now find ourselves in. Only Truth, and obeying Truth, can ever get us back on track.
According to the Bible, lying is a sin. Where I come from liars were hated and were considered the low-life’s of America. Lies are destructive. Just look around America. Liars govern all of us. No one is every held accountable for lying anymore. “Parsing words” has become a political art. The best liars get rewarded.
The Bible talks a great deal about demons. They are called, “principalities and powers, evil spirits in high places.” Could the Bible be True? Could evil, demonic spirits actually be controlling people by interfering with their thought process? What did the writer of Romans mean when he exhorted us to “take captive every thought…?” Could our thoughts actually be controlling us? Is it possible for us to control our behaviors by simply “capturing” a thought before it becomes an action?
We are warned that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” Could it be that we are on the highway to hell not because of what we know, but because of what we don’t know? Could our lack of understanding of the spiritual world and the way the Devil operates be hindering the advancement of the Kingdom of God?
Let me ask you a question. Does your Pastor spend much time training you in how to fight against the “wiles of the Devil?” Has he explained the invisible world around us and the influence that the demonic world has on this world? Has he taught you how to recognize and fight against the forces of darkness?
Flip Wilson was partially right. The Devil can’t MAKE you do anything. but he sure can influence those who don’t understand the spiritual war raging around us. Are your eyes open? Do you understand that the battle is between good and evil, light and dark, right and wrong?
All wrong belief leads to wrong behavior. How else can you explain the darkness sweeping across this land?
The Devil is real. Until you accept that Truth nothing will ever make sense.
