Misdirection. That’s what it’s called when the magician draws his audience’s attention away from where his trick is occurring. He might use a gesture, for instance, to create a momentary distraction, or instead divert the crowd’s attention to one area while performing his prestidigitation in another. Then with an “abracadabra” and a “presto chango” — behold the new reality! Though part of us wants to believe our eyes and marvel at having witnessed the impossible, we know better. What we really experienced was the mastery of deception.
I believe “the deceiver of the whole world”1 has been misdirecting society over the past several decades in a very specific way. While distracting us with one hand — prosecuting our judgmentalism to the point we fear to discern God’s truth or to speak our convictions — he has, with his other hand, usurped God’s moral law with a new illusory one. What we once recognized as sin is now proudly asserted — and harshly defended — as good. As in Isaiah’s day, we “call evil good and good evil, . . . put darkness for light and light for darkness, . . . put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”2 [Insert your own examples here, for there are many.] Then here is the sinister irony behind all of this: judgmentalism in the new ethos is alive and well, perhaps more harshly than ever. And woe to those who resist this new “morality,” for they shall be canceled. (I speak in a human sense.)
Then how do we live amid such rebellion?
Test yourself. Do you submit to Biblical authority in all matters? Do you feel free to say so when challenged by society? If not, pray that God “grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”3
Don’t be a gullible audience. Acquiescence to falsehood is not peace. Real peace, lasting peace, comes from faith in — and obedience to — Christ Jesus: “The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.”4
Fight the right enemy. Ours is not to tear down people, even our persecutors, but to love them and fight for them against our common enemy, “the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”5
Fight falsity in a heart of love. Instructing his young protégée Timothy, to command against teaching false doctrines, Paul asserted, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”6 This is our goal, too.
The new ethos, it is an illusion. Don’t let the master of deception distract you, but keep your eyes on Jesus. He is truth, and before Him all falsehood is exposed.
Father, shine in the darkness; shine brightly through Your people. May darkness be dispelled and hope resurgent wherever we go in Your name. In Christ I pray. Amen.
1 Revelation 12:9 ESV
2 Isaiah 5:20 NIV
3 Ephesians 3:16 ESV
4 Ephesians 6:12 ESV
5 John 14:27 NLT
6 1 Timothy 1:5 NIV
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Paul Nordman—Author 