When I asked the boys what story they wanted to look at last week Freddie said, “The Last Battle.” As I sang, they drew!
My most streamed song is not actually Lord Jesus We Enthrone You, but Born Into A Battle.
I wonder why?
The final verse goes
Toward the final conflict, God’s word our command
We move inevitably onward, God’s weapons held in our hands
In Him we shall do more than conquer, before our Lord who can stand
Man shall glorify his maker, God shall be enjoyed
And that one called the deceiver, his works shall be destroyed.
While it is important more than ever to keep our focus on the fact that “It ends well” we do have to be able to discern the work of “the deceiver”
Things are not what they seem. They are on the one hand worse than they seem and on the other hand better than they seem.
In Ephesians 5 we read,
14. “AWAKE sleeper, arise from the dead, and CHRIST WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT.
15. Be very careful then how you live –NOT AS UNWISE BUT AS WISE making the most of every opportunity, because THE DAYS ARE EVIL.
When we “AWAKE” we become aware that “THE DAYS ARE EVIL.”
In the musical Come Lord Jesus we opened with the song Born Into A Battle and then these words of narration,
“We have all been Born into a Battle. It’s not a battle between flesh and blood for things we can touch and see, but it’s a battle between spiritual powers of light and darkness……………for the hearts and minds of men.”
When I say things are much worse than they seem I am not just talking about the number of deaths in China from Covid19, but about something much more sinister than that. I believe the main danger is airborne but not though physical germs so much as through the “prince of the power of the air”-waves.
Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud the psychoanalyst, was known as “the father of propaganda.” His 1928 book, Propaganda, included a famous quote:
“Whatever of social importance is done today, whether in politics, finance, manufacture, agriculture, charity, education, or other fields, must be done with the help of propaganda.”
So how can we avoid being ensnared, controlled and manipulated by “propaganda” ?
Proverbs 6: 20-23 (TPT) says “My son, obey your father’s godly instruction and follow your mother’s life-giving teaching. Fill your heart with their advice and let your life be shaped by what they’ve taught you. Their wisdom will guide you wherever you go and keep you from bringing harm to yourself. Their instruction will whisper to you at every sunrise and direct you through a brand-new day. For truth is a bright beam of light shining into every area of your life, instructing and correcting you to discover the ways to godly living.”
When people become detached from the wisdom of godly forefathers and foremothers, through a broken family experience, they may become more susceptible to ‘propaganda’ as they look for help to outside ‘experts’ to tell them what is “their problem” and what is “the answer”. Someone has said “An expert is a man from another town.” That’s where we go to seek help when our own ‘home’ town has broken down.
Hilary and I have both been blessed to have inherited much from our godly parent’s and ancestor’s reservoir of wisdom.
One of the godly values that got passed down was ‘Hospitality’. Over our 44 years of family life we have and continue to see countless folk healed and transformed by the joy of finally being included in on a (relatively) healthy family unit…..the power of what you might call ‘Social Integration’
To quote John Steinbeck, who I mentioned a few weeks ago, “ A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ.”
There are now many scientific studies confirming this ancient wisdom. Here is a succinct and helpful summary of their findings. https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/13-studies-reveal-how-social-distancing-ie-social-isolation-can-increase-mortalit
As I was typing this, Hilary came into the room. “I just got a text from Shiela” she said. “Deja has just passed away!” We looked at one another and groaned deeply.
Deja was one of those dear souls Father brought through our door. A sweet young indigenous woman, but with a broken and addicted family background. She and her partner Sean, and Sean junior their baby, were with us for a few months. It seemed like things might change. They wanted prayer. They asked for a bible. You could see hope rising in their hearts and light in their eyes!
Then there was a bump on the road: Sean was back in the prison system, and Deja was drawn once again into that downward spiral of ‘unwise’ guides.
…..and now she is gone!
…..leaving three children, for grandma to care for!
Hilary and I don’t claim to be ‘experts’ in anything
…..we just grieve now as a mother and father,
…. because another soul got sadly ‘isolated.’
…..rather than making it joyfully ‘home’….. in this life.
P.S. Again in God’s timing, as I finish the blog, as if to confirm the message, I receive an email from my friend Tom. His lifelong ministry has been to support and strengthen marriages and families. He sent me this interview with a Stanford University, Professor of Medicine, At one point they touch on the role of ‘propaganda’ in the current crisis of Covid 19 and how it is presently being managed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UO3Wd5urg0