This episode is about getting insight into the strategies of our enemies. Mike Winther dives into some of the evil strategies used to hide the truth and deceive the public. We are called to be people of integrity and righteousness.
Our strategies, techniques, and everything we do should be above board. We should have ethics and be children of the light. This lecture about defending against public deception was given in June of 2012 in Colorado.
You'll Learn:
- [01:47] Just because we are children of the light, it doesn't mean the whole world operates that way. Christians sometimes have a hard time discerning, because they don't think people out there are evil.
- [02:14] Matthew 10:16 talks about sheep in the midst of wolves.
- [04:40] Modern Christians engage as if we are playing against random moves. We need to realize we are playing chess against a living, breathing, and thinking opponent.
- [05:14] Our spiritual opponent is Satan. He uses deception to try to make his work seem light. We also have temporal enemies or people with different views who want to direct our family, institutions, and society in a different way than we would like for it to go.
- [06:52] We should understand the direction of our enemy.
- [07:58] 1. The centralization of institutions. God prefers to work through decentralization. Satan prefers centralization.
- [11:56] 2. Dependence. We should really only be dependent on Christ.
- [13:52] 3. Relativism. Both our spiritual and temporal enemies want to eliminate absolute truth.
- [14:56] 4. Separation from God and God's word.
- [16:34] 5. Our enemies want to move away from accountability. God says that we are all accountable.
- [21:39] Methods of our enemies.
- [22:08] 1. Inaccurate labels. Improper labeling can be used to advance an agenda.
- [33:27] 2. Peer influence. We become vulnerable to people who have the same labels as us. We need to evaluate truth and facts from the beginning no matter who we're talking to.
- [34:35] 3. False leadership. We need to be very careful about leadership.
- [37:06] 4. The dialectic, a philosophical theory developed by Hegel that describes how societal change happens.
- [41:40] 5. The action is in the reaction. Sometimes we try to fix something and make it worse.
- [43:14] 6. Understanding the case and plan. The plan is the policy and the case is the reason.
- [47:17] 7. Fear. We become irrational when we become afraid. This is a tool used by Satan and our mortal enemies.
- [49:44] 8. Duplicate of choice. This is where we're given two choices and convinced that those are the only two choices.
- [57:10] 9. My enemy's enemy is not necessarily my friend. Often we choose someone because they have the same enemy that we do.
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