A subtle and dangerous war is on! It’s going on all over the world right now! This war is history’s most destructive conflict, far surpassing World Wars I and II, Vietnam, and today’s Middle East conflict.
The appalling thing about this war is that few are prepared to do anything about it. It would probably shock us all to know how many people don’t even know the conflict is raging.
Every war has its instigator or cause, and this one’s no exception. This war is being waged by none other than Satan himself. The battleground is your and my minds. The weapons? They’re so numerous, we could not begin to cover them in this short article.
As I pondered this war for man’s mind, I thought about one of Satan’s main weapons in our age. To be specific, I’m thinking about the mass media. These media include television, radio, newspapers, newsmagazines, and the Internet.
The thing that really set me thinking about how Satan can use the mass media was perhaps the most memorable event in 1974—the fall of President Nixon. I’m not about to pass judgment on Nixon’s guilt or all his reasons for resigning, but I am concerned about the effect the mass media had on the nation’s attitudes toward the man.
Recently I recalled how the reporters and commentators molded the nation’s opinions of President Nixon over 30 years ago. Even many of Nixon’s staunch supporters turned against him, so great was the furor. It seems to me the whole country was taught to hate the President. People were calling for everything from a trial to execution. Again the nation’s news service molded people’s minds.
I shuddered when I thought how people’s minds were molded by the things they saw, heard, and read. Though my only contact with the mass media was the daily newspaper, I found myself fighting to keep my attitudes right toward the man everyone seemed “out to get.”
“What other dangerous brainwashing could the same people do?” I pondered. The same mass media that helped oust a president can also provide helpful information and motivate people to conserve fuel or prepare for an emergency.
Sadly, the same media propagates violence, sexual vice, drug culture, rock music, and a host of other things that tear down society.
Television, radio, magazines, and the Internet in the hands of the wrong people, can subtly influence thousands to do things they never would have dreamed of doing. They are insidiously anti-Christian.
What will those who control the media do next? Will they advocate drug use, abortion, mercy killing, and persecution of those who don’t “conform” to the majority? It’s anybody’s guess!
In light of how Satan has taken possession of the mass media, where do I stand? What can I do? God made me with a free will and the ability to make choices. Will I let Satan, through what I see or hear, program my mind to blindly follow the voices and pictures that beckon me?
Satan’s drive to control our minds through the media and the Internet is nightmarish. If only we could wake up and find it was all an unpleasant dream. Unfortunately it isn’t a dream, it’s real, it’s facing us. The battle is on for the control of our minds.
Praise God there’s still hope in such a dismal, demon-controlled world. Deliverance from Satan’s power can be yours and mine if we turn our minds over to God.
Through His Word, God can insulate our minds from satanic controls, if we let Him. I’ve heard of Christians who, through the power of God, resisted even intensive Communist and Nazi brainwashing that would have broken the spirit of any ordinary person.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
What can Christians do to resist Satan’s subtle brainwashing through the media and other areas?
We must first let God control our minds through Bible reading and prayer. Then we need to avoid being brainwashed. This will mean different things for different people. Perhaps this will mean the giving up of a cherished TV or radio set, for some. For some, this will mean destroying books, CDs, or pornographic magazines. For all of us it will mean guarding our lives from Satan’s numerous avenues of pollution and holding ourselves accountable to God for what we see and listen to. We all need to carefully watch and guard ourselves from Satan’s subtle attacks. If he can’t get us one way, he will try another.
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” could well be our theme verse as we allow Christ to control our minds.
-by Roger L. Berry