"Who Is My Dictator?" #2

Play with this mental image a bit and see if you can identify with it -

"A frequent flyer boards a afternoon flight in Dallas, Tx to Los Angeles, Ca. As she enters her First Class cabin and settles into her spacious seat she is greeted by a friendly flight attendant who assures her that he is eager to serve any need she might have. Soon the plane begins to back away from the gate and taxis out to the runway for takeoff. Within minutes the plane reaches its assigned cruising altitude and the flight attendant informs the passengers that their flight time to New York City will be 3 hours and 18 minutes. WHAT?!!! Our frequent flyer panics, immediately jumps to her feet and begins to shout at the cabin crew that she is on the wrong flight and they must return to Dallas because her critical business meeting is in Los Angeles NOT New York. The flight attendant's training kicks in and he rushes to the frequent flyer to assure her that everything will be okay, to no avail. By this time the experienced business traveler is hysterical and the captain steps into the cabin to get control of the situation. He calmly informs the frequent flyer that she must relax and just enjoy the flight. He tells the flight attendant to bring her a drink and something special to eat and get her the stereo headphones to listen to some music or watch a movie in HD - no worries!

This is my very inadequate attempt at illustrating how Satan convinces otherwise intelligent people to somehow unintentionally get on the wrong flight, headed in the opposite direction than they wanted to go and puts enough distraction before them that they get the sensation of enjoying the flight to a very wrong destination.

Speaking to a group of people who actually believed in him, Jesus said -
You are of your father the devil and your desire is to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44 ESV

Jesus referred to Satan as "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30), "the evil one" (Matthew 13:19) and various other dictatorial names in John's Revelation. He is called "your adversary (enemy)" (1 Peter 5:8), the "ruler of darkness" (Ephesians 6:12), "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), and "the god of this age" who "blinds the minds of unbelievers". (2 Corinthians 4:4).

But, he's a crafty dictator who knows us much better than we know him. By long experience, he knows just the right ways to appeal to our very human vanity and calm our fears of the obvious. His appeal is made on the basis that we can just relax, have another drink, watch another movie, listen to some soothing music and enjoy the ride. We know this flight will end but if we have enjoyed the ride and had fun on the way, the destination isn't all that big a deal. Jesus pegged him perfectly, "a murder" and "the father of all lies". Satan knows that with the right combination of incentives, he can control how we think and then he can control what we believe, say and do. Its all around us, Every day. But we tend to overlook much of Satan's misdirection. He even has the arrogance to blame God for what he, Satan himself, does in our world.

Here is my plea to all my readers - be on your guard and watch for Satan's footprints and fingerprints in your life. Explore your inner world. Hear the words that come out of your mouth. Learn to filter your thoughts. Always know that "loveless cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community" (Galatians 5:19-21 MSG) are all tools used by Satan to dictate how we humans live out life. If you pay attention, you can hear him, you can see him, you can feel him, you can even smell him. And, it all lies that appear as truth.

Okay, enough of that. Let's turn a corner and get ourselves on the right flight. Next time!