He (the devil) always sends errors into the world in pairs–pairs of opposites…He relies on your extra dislike of one to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them. – C.S. Lewis
I actually agree with the various Christians who are claiming that Satan is deeply involved in this election and that Christians need to be careful to analyze and vote in such a way as to deal Satan a blow. I simply disagree as to what Satan is doing. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that he is doing excellent work, sadly for Christians. C.S. Lewis warned us about the wiles of Satan over and over again. The quote above is a most apropos quote for this particular election.
The work of Satan in this election has been the work of convincing Christians not to truly analyze the political camp they dislike. Rather, the demonization of the camp they do not dislike has had the effect of driving Christians into precisely the danger of which he warned. A significant number of theologically orthodox Christians have been drawn completely into either the Republican or Democratic parties, to the point that they question whether any true and aware Christian could vote for the party with which they do not personally agree. Facebook, and other social media are filled with posts from theologically conservative Christians that either appear to advocate secession in case the one party wins, or resistance to fascism in case the other party wins. The most outrageous and blindly-untrue memes are posted about the other party. Any attempt to point out mistakes is simply proof that you are part of the conspiracy of the other party.
In fact, conspiracy theories of the most unbelievable types have abounded. At this point, I will say that conspiracy theories are largely to be found among the right-wing, but they also clearly exist among the left-wing. Most of those conspiracy theories must have been designed by Satan himself, both because of the subtlety of some of them and the way in which others of them destroy the rationality that is part of what is necessary for us to correctly exercise the free will which God has given us. The conspiracy theories mostly have had the effect of destroying any way to share common truths among ourselves. They are believable only as long as one does not truly examine the resources that would be needed in order to successfully carry the conspiracy off. Once one actually does that, the conspiracy theory falls apart under its own weight of complexity. Another way to put it is that most conspiracy theories fail the test of Occam’s Razor.
But, the worst effect of many of these conspiracy theories is the destruction of any common trust between citizens. Once one begins to believe that a massive number of authorities are liars, it is not a great stretch to begin to believe that the vast majority of people are sheeple. Once one believes that, one no longer has to listen to them, one just quotes the conspiracy theory. Worse, no one from the other side is ever able to offer any evidence that one’s conclusion is wrong because one knows that the other side only lies or manufactures data (another conspiracy theory that fails the test of Occam’s Razor). Worst even, should even one of the people one fully agrees with say that one is wrong, then this is proof that the person has been deluded and need not be believed. They have become a sheeple, no longer to be a trusted friend. As C.S. Lewis showed in the last book of the Narnia series, the attitude of all too many theologically orthodox believers today is akin to, “The dwarves are for the dwarves.” No one else is to be trusted, and any inside your camp who disagree must be dismissed. Satan’s goals have been accomplished. All too many theologically orthodox believers are safely locked away in a world of potential violence, secession, and inability to listen, even to their own authorities. “The dwarves are for the dwarves.”
But, the ones who have most been attacked in this election have actually been the more moderate believers. Any attempt to say that each party has some good points and thus it is an open decision as to whom to support is met with derision, or worse, a type of intellectual excommunication. A moderate is considered either a sheeple by both sides or a false flag type of person who is (believe it or not) considered to be more dangerous than a full member of one or another side. And, those who think that are actually correct. Satan must stop people who think. Satan must stop those who can see both the positive points either side makes and the errors that each side makes. It is no wonder that moderates are despised by the true believers of both sides. There is nothing more dangerous to Satan than a person who think, evaluates, and then decides. He has mostly been able to do away with this during this election, and is not about to allow it to return if he can help it.
Oddly enough, both sides are correct about one thing. We are on the “eve of destruction.” The great work of Satan in this election has been in driving all too many theologically orthodox Christians to one extreme or another and in stopping them from thinking. The loss of moderation, the loss of logic, and the loss of rationality will destroy us much more surely than any political party. For, the loss of those three things is the loss of part of what makes us humans who were created in the image of God. And, that may be Satan’s biggest coup from the last 16 years.
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