The Devil and the Information Overload Trap

1 John 2:15, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 

James 4:7, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." 

Hello my dear readers! I was going to change it up a little bit and post something a little more positive but as it would be, the Lord had different plans! My intentions were good though and all week I had a "focus" of what this article would be about. That is, until I went to one of my favorite places yesterday to listen to God while drinking in His absolute beautiful Creation! Let me set the stage for you and give you a little backstory on the exact moment I realized that what I wanted to write about all week, wasn't in His itinerary for me and He made sure I would find His way, one way or the other!

I want to begin by saying I had an extremely difficult week! It's actually been a difficult month on all fronts, relational, spiritual, personal and professional. But this past week was especially difficult. By the end of the week, I was exhausted beyond belief and all I wanted to do was find solace outside of my four walls at home. Although my best fur baby friend is a wonderful distraction to my everyday life and situations, I just needed a little more. Saturday proved to be an exceptionally warm and sunny day for this time of year so I charged my batteries, grabbed my camera and off to my sanctuary I went! It isn't a literal sanctuary but it IS my sanctuary! It's a nice 30 minute drive and since the leaves are late in changing colors, I figured this would be a good, last ditch effort to catch some colorful trees in different stages of undress. This sanctuary is truly a gift! It's a forest. An absolutely, amazing, breathtakingly beautiful forest. An Arboretum & Research Forest which is a natural woodland habitat that features native trees & wildlife plus groomed trails, gardens & fields. This amazing 14,000 acres of absolute beauty was given to our state from a German immigrant who started off as a peddler and became widely successful in business and as a result, returned his gratitude by giving his land to the people of the state and in turn, the public, to enjoy forever! Of course it came with a little stipulation and "understanding" that it was to be forever maintained and developed and be used for a park, for an arboretum, and, under certain conditions, for a museum. It was, and is, to foster love of  the beauty in nature, art and cultural subjects which also remains to this day, educational!

Distractions - This Way Please!

Usually when I arrive, I go directly to the first lake which has plenty of photo opportunities. I spend some time there, people watching, gazing out into the lake and catching the trees reflections in the glistening waters! Ahhh, it started off being a great day indeed. I took my usual walk, then hopped in my car and drove around until I landed at a trail I hadn't walked before. Before I journeyed down that uncharted territory, for a reason unknown at the time, but became my inspiration for this post, I felt compelled to walk the other direction to the silo's and what is called "The Emerging" stone statue that was donated by a local artist. During this time of year, the silos prove to be a grand photo opp with all the fallen leaves and the background. As I'm making my way up the trail to the silos, I notice a young lady walking with her head down, clearly in her phone. She wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her, or for the beauty that was waiting to hold her. Instead, she was paying more attention to her phone than where she was going. I saw her heading right in front of my path so I slowed and eventually stopped to wait for her to decide where she was going next. Suddenly, she looked up, possibly from seeing me out of the corner of her eye, and said very matter-of-factly, but unapologetically, "Oh, go on. I'm just distracted by my phone is all." Did I just hear that correctly, I asked myself. It came out of her so intentionally that in some ways, it took me aback. I smiled and politely said, "Thank you, I find this area absolutely breathtaking and didn't want to miss a photo opp. If you would like to pass before I do, that's fine. I'm taking in the beauty. Try to enjoy it!" She glanced down at her phone one more time, walked in front of me and to the other side of the pavilion while I took my pictures. Yes, I had my phone with me, but not to be distracted by. For whatever reason, I felt she "received" what I was saying to her without actually having to SPELL IT OUT!

That's when it hit me. That's when I felt it deep in my spirit that I'm in a world of utter distractions. Even in a place as wonderful as this forest. I was a bit perplexed at why one would choose, make the conscience decision, to go someplace as peaceful and beautiful as this place is and not enjoy what it has to offer, but instead, keep one's head down the whole time, staring at a device, and remaining in a distracted state of mind, oblivious as to what is around them and possibly what lies in front of them. Ah, there's the voice of the Lord again! My post was born at that infantile moment! I realized not only was this going to be what the Lord wanted me to write about, but also HOW He led me to be at that place, at that very moment by compelling me to take pictures of the silos first before heading to the uncharted trail I'd never been on before! He sure goes before us!! So anyway, I continued to enjoy everything I went there for, including finding a peace and renewal! I found myself thinking about that young lady from time to time and remember just a "brief but quick" statement my mind said to the Lord, "She's so distracted. How sad! Let her see what you've put before her." I would subsequently run into her two more times. Now pause here to think about what those chances are like in a 14,000 acre forest! Exactly! Divine appointments! All three times! The next two times I saw her, she was with a disabled man, which I'd assumed was her father, in a wheelchair! Both times, her phone was NOT in her hands! She was fully engaged with him and with what was around her. Praise the Lord! I overheard a few words spoken to him and I knew she'd "heard" what I'd said back at the silos. I wasn't sure where this man was in the wheelchair when her and I first crossed paths, but God did!

There is a wealth of distractions at our disposal in the 21st century, more than any other century before us! This wealth of distractions purports an incapacity for strategic thinking, much less, obtaining invaluable information. This world is decidedly swimming in a sea of stimulation that is clogging the brainwaves of intellectuals. All information is not good information. And all information is not always needed and relevant. Anyone can put out "words" and call it information. The problem is, nobody is taught these days to find out if those words are true or not. The attention span of the day has drastically dropped and continues to do so as we speak. There is this idea of valuable media for communicating a message, but this equally valuable media is also being used to communicate no certain valuable messages at all. It's just information to clog the mind's ability to reason, to strategically think and disseminate information clearly. All one has do is direct that inundation of irrelevancy into one's head by all possible avenues that are currently available to completely distract one's attention from the "real world" and "real" information around them, to know the avenues are in abundance. There's RSS feeds to keep people informed of what's important of the day and what's taking place at any given moment. But WHO determines what's important? WHO determines what's newsworthy in the first place? The majority of these "feeds" are for entertainment updates, nothing "news-worthy" or ground breaking and are simply meant to dull one's senses and shrivel his heart. That's how the enemy works. It's been said over and over, that the enemy will continue to convince people that what is really, truly important are those things, those quick bits of information, that comes to someone quickly and second-hand. The more media that is at one's fingertips and within reach in seconds time, the weaker our capacity becomes to make observations and conclusions on our own and, therefore, the less likely we are to uncover our traps. How can we uncover Satan's traps when we are so distracted BY his traps that he set up for us to get snared up in?!

Then there is "social media" which is obviously, and painfully the evidence, of the human’s emotional dullness on all different levels, and that which is contained in that very description. The enemy will assist those humans to remain blissfully, joyfully convinced that what it really means to be social is to blabber on incessantly about every meaningless, uninteresting event from morning until night. This, my friends, brothers and sisters, is NOT being social! Satan knew exactly what he was doing when he allowed the inventors, movers and shakers, to convince blindly, nonetheless, the world of their "need" to be social and "connect" to their "friends and family" through a platform that actually destroys relationships, destroys communication, and certainly destroys human interactions! Nothing is more destructive and abrasive to human "society" than the "me-monster." Because, really, that's what social ME-dia is all about anyway! I've written about this very thing before and for those who haven't read it, you can find it here. What a delightful oxymoron social media is! Think about it, seriously. It's called "social" media and has been promoted as an avenue in "connecting" to everyone, yet, the oxymoron can be found in the subject itself: SELF! Media should never be included in something that is supposed to "connect" you to others. It's NOT media. It's all focused around self. Around accolades that can be given to "self." Self-worth by how many "friends" you can collect. Around daily "self" absorbed postings. The closest thing I have to "social media" forums is what you're reading right now! This is my ministry. This is what I've been called to do. I do not, and will not, connect to "friends and family" under the guise of "social media." It isn't social. It's disconnecting. It's impersonal at best. It's not communicating with your loved ones on a real and personal level which is the most insensitive thing you can do to someone you love and care about - disconnect by being impersonal.

Satan wants everyone to STAY disconnected and so he makes sure everyone stays at it by ensuring we have way too much technology at our disposal. Satan wants to keep this particular stream of noise flowing into and through anyone that allows it, to go without interruption. Satan wants to make sure that when one is at home, school, work, leisure, vacations or at play, there is a screen of some kind readily available and within one's reach, that is turned on and right in front of them, especially when in the presence of other people! The enemy has always been after the family and relationships since his own fall from grace. He wants to destroy what God has made for good! The enemy is very creative so don't be fooled! He doesn't want anyone to becomes an empathetic listener, or a thoughtful respondent, or to engage in with an actual person face to face. Face to Facebook is far better and far more exciting. He is replacing the sounds of human interaction, human worth, with the incessant pings of Tweets, feeds, updates, and messages. You see, to the enemy, this is more delightful of birds because it let the humans not consider the sparrow!  He doesn't want us to "miss" anything so he's forced everyone to carry a "smart" phone with them everywhere they go so "information" and "disconnect" are at their disposal at any given moment! 1 Corinthians 7:35, "And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction." Take heed! The noise of the world WILL distract you from hearing the voice of the Lord!

No Social Media Needed

And here we are. A distracted people, a distracted society. Then, if we are a distracted people, a distracted society, it would then stand to reason that we would also be a distracted church, a church with a diminished ability to think deeply, reason soundly, to cultivate concentration, to emphasize slow, deliberate, thoughtful meditation. It is what we have become and it is sadly growing rapidly like a cancer spreading through the lymphatic system! What Paul said of the unbelieving Jews of his day could likely be said of many of us today: Romans 10:2, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Here is one of the great dangers we face as Christians and please receive this fully into your spirit: With the ever-present distractions in our lives, we are quickly becoming a people of shallow thoughts, and shallow thoughts will lead to shallow living! Christians may be truly excited about God, and about their relationship with Him, but because they've become a sold out product of the digital world, they've got a quite diminished ability to think deeply about Him, to truly know Him as He is, and not as an afterthought that many now have made Him in their lives. More and more, people are finding that they just can’t stop long enough to read. People in general just can’t sustain their attention long enough to study. They can’t find the time to meet with our Father God who created us in His image in order for us to have a relationship with Him. You see, at one time, prayer used to be the first activity of the day as soon as we woke up in the glorious morning, we sought Him. Now, however, the day is begun with a daily routine of checking e-mail, tweets, feeds and so on. There was a time when the Bible used to be a special Book that we read and studied, to feed our spirits and draw us closer to Him. But now? It’s been reduced to an e-book that ultimately competes with voice mail, text messages, e-mails, and the ever-present lure of the Internet.

How many people around you would you say live a shallow life? Do YOU fall into that category? If so, please read on! We are being reshaped in two major, and dangerous, ways from all of these distractions! First of all, we're being erroneously tempted to forsake quality for quantity, believing the lie that virtue and truth comes through efficiency, speed,  and productivity. People aren't able to think for themselves, to rationalize, to deeply ponder answers to those difficult questions. They are made to believe that more MUST be better, and so people are driving themselves to do more, accomplish more, be more, say more. It's all in a millisecond too! It's made many grow impatient. No longer do we live in a time when we have to work problems out on our own, or find the solutions by trial and error. No longer do we live in an era where we have to wait for ANY answer. Then secondly, as all of this happens, people lose their God given ability to engage in deeper ways of thinking, the concentrated, focused thought that requires time and cannot be rushed. Thereby, dumbing down our capabilities in deeper thinking, problem resolution and strategic thinking. Instead of focusing our efforts in a few directions, we give extremely scant attention to many things at once, ultimately skimming instead of studying. Short attention spans come to mind here! We are in an era where lives are rushed and too many forget how to simply move slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully through life. Proverbs 24:30-34, "I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; v31) And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. v32) When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: v33) A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; v34) So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man."

As you can see, once you read and really let the above Scriptures sink in deeply, that it was only through his own willingness to slow down, to take his time, that he was able to then draw a lesson from this foolish man and his misused land. He didn't immediately dash off a Twitter update or snap a photo to post to Facebook or google what to do. He stopped; he watched; he waited and more importantly, he learned. Christians have long understood that productivity is not easily measured by any spiritual metric, quite the opposite actually. And when we turn to the Bible we see that there is little demand for constant productivity. Jesus maintained a ministry in which He was always in demand. But as He went from one town to another, the crowds continued to press around Him, asking Him to go this direction or that direction, asking Him to heal the sick, to cure the lame, to perform many miracles. They wanted Him to be pulled in many directions so as to throw "distractions" in His path. But what did Jesus do? Jesus constantly retreated. He'd go out into the wilderness by Himself for extended periods of quiet time with His Father, communicating to and WITH Him; He'd enjoy an intimate dinner with a handful of friends; He'd gather His few disciples around Him and savor their company. Face to Face. Personal. As the pace seemingly continued to grow, Jesus would constantly slow it down in order to keep His focus on what was most important, on what He was supposed to do or where He was supposed to be. While we might be tempted to keep count of the number of people Jesus healed and all those who professed Him as Lord, since it's our fleshly nature to do so, and measure Jesus’ productivity in this way, He kept Himself accountable to a higher measure because much of His time wasn't productive in any measurable way! And yet, His time was sacred, every moment dedicated to the Father, every thought focused on His Father!

Now in reality, in today's world, few people have such self-control, such dedication to what matters most and such discipline to remain focused on the right subject, God. We have been created once in His perfect image but then, we've been re-created in the image of speedy and productive devices, in this digital age, that we find meaning in speed and constant productivity. But ironically, many of those same people wish that life would just slow down and become less overwhelming. They've fallen into the trap of the enemy's devices. Literally and figuratively. We know that there must be something more than the constant distraction, the constant velocity to this life yet find it nearly impossible to slow down long enough to see that the doors of opportunity have been willingly opened by those that heard the tempting knock. In the midst of all of this distraction, the cure is simple. It's to refocus our attention on what really, truly matters most. Family, friends, God, church, empathy for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for those lost souls in the world. If our distracted existence is the fruit of allowing beeps and dings to control our lives and of turning speed and capacity into divine virtues, then we must respond by silencing the beeps and relearning how to focus. And we CAN silence them ALL! It's a choice! It's become a widespread addiction that nobody is addressing! The media focuses on the addiction of the day, or hour for that matter. Drugs, alcohol, food. They do NOT address the addiction of the digital technology and that, my dear readers, is one of the most powerful addictions out there as we speak!

Colossians 1:9-10, "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;" Paul was writing to the Colossian church when he stated the above! Our Christian faith requires us to use our God-given minds, our God-renewed minds, in order to know what is true and reject what is false. There is a lot of FALSE in this world! Paul understood this even then! We need to work diligently and tirelessly to eliminate as much of the distractions in life to give way for us to focus on what matters most, without being drawn away by the wayside by the beeps, dings and buzzes. God created us in such a way that we naturally and immediately respond to stimuli within our environment. When we hear a noise, we listen and respond with a turning of the head or a racing heartbeat; when we see a flashing light, we see and respond with a turning of attention, slowing of a car, or other reactions. God created us this way for our own good and protection. These are not by accident but as with many other "distractions and sins" people have taken what was meant for good and allowed the enemy to use it to trap them. Too much stimulus can keep us from focusing our attention on any one thing. There is good reason that libraries are places of quiet and that there are no strobe lights in church sanctuaries. Although, strobe lights in churches have been brought in by the enemy as well! He's a snake, remember? He will slither into any crack or crevice that is presented to him.

As Christians, we shouldn't be surprised how technologies often work against us. We know that distractions will never fully disappear. We also know that technology, like everything else in creation, is subject to the curse. How much importance do you actually put on notifications from FB, or tweets or buzzes and dings? If you are with someone at lunch or dinner, do you constantly look at your phone, watching for updates, status changes, news flashes instead of being ever present in the moment with the one you are claiming to care about or love or both? Are those things THAT important to you that you forget just how important REAL people in REAL time actually is!? There's enough stimuli in this world by default all around us in our daily lives. Why create MORE? Our world is way too distracted and it's increasingly getting worse. And it’s killing us without us even being able to consciously notice. It’s a war we’re losing. But why? We don’t notice because, well, we’re distracted. See how Satan spins it all around for us? If not, please take notice. We’re being awkwardly sedated by the flickering television sets and abstract, yet meaningless, games that plunge unsuspecting minds into a created reality that doesn’t actually exist, but are made to trick the mind into thinking they do. We’re tranquilized by "walls" and "profiles" and "friend request" lists that suddenly define who we are, who we WANT to be, and our importance, our egotistical importance, more than what we do outside of the screen. We’re lulled soundly to sleep by the buzz of media, movies, gossip magazines, music, private message rooms, text messages, and Candy Crush marathons. Being lulled to sleep by these devices only goes to prove that even while we're asleep, we can't rest. Slowly and surely Satan is making sure that our precious bodies and minds are stupefied and no longer needed for contentment.

Distraction is Satan's tool to steal your purpose and your dreams from you. The information overload trap has been set a long time ago and as the generation changes and becomes less engaged, more tools are thrown in the mix at an alarming rate! We are all distracted to some degree just by the every day life situations that are presented to us. Distractions are normal. Distractions can't really be avoided in the general sense of the word. But what CAN be avoided is creating MORE distractions by letting the enemy monopolize the precious time God gave to us to share with others in our lives. Face to Face. Person to Person and definitely on a personal level! For instance, I'm slightly distracted right as I write this because I am thinking about not forgetting to take out the trash and what I'll wear tomorrow for work. It's fleeting but nonetheless, it's present. I heard a noise outside and since it's dark, I stopped writing and peeked out of the window to ensure my safety. Little things like that. But when I'm with someone, talking to or with someone, whether it be someone I care about, someone I work with, a family member or a stranger in line, I am ALWAYS ever present for them. I won't pick up my phone and look at it. I won't text while I'm with someone. I won't divert my attention with a human for a distraction of an impersonal text, email or feed update. It's just not worth it to me to jeopardize an opportunity to interact and possibly touch a life by doing so. Afterall, we were made to interact with each other on a personal and intimate level. Keep in mind, DISTRACTION IS A WEAPON OF SATAN TO TRAP AND ENSNARE YOU! Satan cannot kill us because Jesus has already conquered Satan, but He CAN distract us from what is important. The simple fact that Satan steals from us through distraction takes my breath away. Many, many things are stolen from us because we are distracted!

This distraction, although not eternal death, can certainly kill our dreams, damage our relationships, and undermine our faith. This is exactly what Satan wants to accomplish and seeks to destroy through distractions. Unfortunately, we don’t always have "eyes" to recognize Satan’s messengers or his sinister methods. It’s quite frustrating, yes, but yet we have to remind ourselves of Nehemiah, we have hope! There was a conspiracy against Nehemiah as evidenced in Nehemiah 6:1-4, "Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), v2) that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono." But they thought to do me harm. v3) So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" v4) But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner." Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. When they were close, extreme effort to distract came from Nehemiah’s enemies. Nehemiah was so busy doing the work God had called him to do that he he said over and over that he was not to be distracted from his work. Distractions can be tremendous momentum killers at best. Once we’ve realized we’ve come to a screeching halt then the challenge of regaining that same momentum can often be terribly daunting. Satan doesn’t have to launch a huge assault to be effective against us. Sometimes, all it takes is for him to get us to simply look away for a moment. Looking away for just a moment, or even a second, can allow many moments to be stolen and allow many blessings to be halted. Our fatal distractions come from within ourselves and depending on what one is struggling with, determines just how deep one will become ensnared in his lies. Self-destructive behaviors and habits can make you your own worst enemy. So can focusing so much on the lives of other people that you have no time to develop your own life. This happens way too often through "social media" formats!

We need to choose to live a simpler, more personal life. We need to, as a society, live in the present and BE present. We need to participate more in the real world that still has real sunsets and real people and real adventure and real memories to share. We need to participate in all of the beauty in this REAL life that God created just for us to enjoy. We need to read  more books that teach us something we can walk away with. We need to turn off the radio, television or ipods and talk to God for awhile. We need to turn off the phone long enough to share a dinner with those that are important in your life. We need to get back to the simple life when people cared about people and stopped long enough to ask them how they are doing and actually LISTEN and CARE. The devil threw so much of the information overload at the world and set the trap. He gave all too many anxiety over NOT having some form of a device and living vicariously through others via some online social format.

Let's interact more. Let's focus on God more. Let's love more. Let's care more. Let's be present more. Let's LIVE MORE!

Don’t let the world and the devil distract you from all that God has graciously given to you! Don't let the distractions rock you to sleep.



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