Stupid People

The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that the world is full of really stupid people.

And it’s easy to see that in countries outside America. For instance, I just returned from a second trip to a Muslim country. And I never realized how many lies those people are believing. For instance, they think America is a Christian nation and is paying missionaries to go into the world and preach the Gospel – Hah! They also think Christians believe in three gods and that God had sex with Mary to produce Jesus. Weird…and totally false!

And these aren’t backwater people. These are metropolitan, Starbucks-drinking, university-educated (some even in America!) Muslims. Believing all these ridiculous lies!

It reminded me of 2 Corinthians 4:2-4, where Paul says,

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Wow. No wonder people believe so many stupid lies – Satan, the king of lies, has blinded them. And it’s not just the Muslims!

I’ve returned to an America whose President decreed that all schools have to allow anybody into any restroom. Think about that. It’s absolutely ridiculous to any fair-minded person. Is nothing sacred anymore? And this isn’t just a Democratic push – the Republican front-runner agrees with letting transgenders into any bathroom! What have we come to? Why is there such amazing stupidity?

Why is it that Christians like myself seem to be the only logical people out there?

Oh wait. When I look at my own heart, I see I’m playing the hypocrite – for I too have been blinded by Satan. I’ve believed so many stinking lies! I believed that Satan’s temptations for pleasure and power would bring me more satisfaction than God. I’ve believed that my flesh is better than Jesus. I’ve pushed God out of my mind – with all His truth – and lived for my own sensuality.

I’m no longer blinded by Satan as an unbeliever – God’s light has shined into my heart and freed me! And yet…I so often return to the darkness.

Yes, the world is full of stupid people…including myself. What we all need to cure our stupidity is the light of the Creator.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” -vs. 6-7

I need that surpassing power. Because as I’ve often blogged about, I’m a cracked jar of clay. So it’s a good thing God’s surpassing power has filled me! Because it’s only by His power that a hardened Muslim, a deceived transgender activist, or a dirty rotten sinner named Matt could ever achieve victory over their own stupidity.

-M@

#NeverSatan

The world is a dangerous place, full of dangerous people. Mom warned me about that as a kid (Happy Mother’s Day, btw!). Don’t trust just anybody because some people just want to hurt you. As the expert theologian Taylor Swift said, “Haters gonna hate.”

And it’s easy to look at the world and pick out those dangerous villains from among mortal men. We all have people we detest, whether that be despotic dictators or people who could be elected as despotic dictators, and we deploy hashtags and hate talk against them. But have we become so distracted by the evil of this world that we forget an evil much worse…beyond this world?

I often live as though there is no such powerful evil. I forget about the real enemy and live apathetically, not realizing that there is someone out there who wants to destroy me.

The Lord reminded me about this enemy through an unusual incident. A good friend of mine came up to me one day and asked if I would act in another one of his cinema projects for class.

“Of course! Who will I be playing?”

“Satan.”

“Oh.”

So, in a three-piece suit, I played the devil himself, trying to convince a Christian to commit a grievous sin. It turned out to be an edifying experience. How interesting that I learned a lot about defeating Satan by portraying Satan! During filming, I often thought of this phrase from 2 Corinthians 2:11

“…we are not ignorant of his [Satan’s] designs.”

The film turned out great, by the way. And it ends with this verse:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” -1 Peter 5:8

VIGILANT. A good word for the title of the film and for life. You see, Satan is not some pretty kitty, toying with you playfully and purring softly. Though often he appears that way. He’s quite the sweet talker. But let me tell you–he doesn’t purr. He ROARS! He doesn’t jump at lasers. He DEVOURS those he finds.

A powerful moment while filming came when the director asked me to pretend like I was “mentoring” the guy I was tempting. Of course, most people know this is one of my favorite words and activities. But it got me thinking: doesn’t Satan try to “mentor” us believers? Doesn’t he try to pretend like he cares about us? When I’m tempted, I feel like that pleasurable sin is the only thing that’s going for me. God doesn’t like me. He never lets me have fun. All He gives me in life are disappointments. But Satan gives me better stuff. He lets me do what I want. He’s always been there for me with the promise of pleasure on good days and bad.

That may sound awful, but it’s how my horrid flesh works. And since I started thinking this way, I’ve noticed these “designs” or “schemes” of Satan more and more. And the more I notice them, the more I can resist them.

Knowing the enemy’s  tactics is half the battle.

And standing behind Truth is the other half. The reality is that Satan hasn’t been there for me. He doesn’t care about me one bit, except for caring to have my soul for breakfast!

Just a few verses prior, Peter says that it’s Christ who really cares about me. He wants what’s best for me, even if that feels like pain sometimes. He’s my real mentor. He gives me real pleasure. That satisfaction Satan gives lasts about as long as it takes to commit the actual sin, if that. And money-back is not guaranteed! He’s a slick salesman, and he’ll leave me dead if he could. He hates my guts.

I taught a lesson on Satan for the kids at church last week. And the illustration that curriculum uses is a black widow spider. Extremely toxic–even more so than a rattlesnake! One bite and without hospital help, you’ll be quickly dead. So we must be wary about black widows. We must know what they look like so we can spot one and stay away from it. But we must not live in daily fear of one. Why? Because we are so much bigger than it!

Similarly, though Satan is extremely dangerous to us, we don’t have to live in fear of him. Not because I’m so much more powerful. No, if it were up to me, I’d fall every time. But our God and Savior is so much bigger than Satan. He has him under control.

And the key to resisting his “designs” is simply to run to that God for help. And what is a massive, ferocious lion to us is actually a measly house-cat to God.

Dependent on God’s power, I’m taking the pledge: I will be #NeverSatan

-M@