SundayReflection
17th September 2023
C. R. Carmichael asks
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Is The Noise Of The World Filling Your Ears?
The noise of this world seems to be increasing to a dizzying pitch: a pulsating babble of glorified sin being loudly trumpeted through the megaphones of this age.
Instagram, Google, Disney, and Netflix (among others) are the transmitters of a constant wave of subversive noise that inundates the soul's receptors with a deafening blast against the truth of God.
Without apology, these unholy instruments of digital dissemination have boosted the bass line of idolatry, lust, and pride until it sounds like a catchy pop tune to our tone-deaf society.
Is it any surprise, then, that Satan himself is the hidden conductor behind this swelling dissonance?
Granted, you won't find a Luciferian radio tower rising up through the stratosphere like a grotesque steel-beamed colossus, but one thing is for certain: Satan and his minions are flooding the surrounding airwaves with a high-voltage broadcast of toxic propaganda.
Even at this moment, whether your ears are tuned to it or not, a cacophony of rebellious and accusatory rhetoric is being transmitted through the metaphysical air, bombarding mankind with an evil static that often permeates into the inner operations of the mind and corrupts almost every school of human thought.
The Bible certainly confirms this unsettling fact.
It is no accident that Paul portrays Satan as
"the prince of the power of the air".
The apostle's inspired wording evokes a fitting vision of Satan and his unseen forces hovering like a menacing swarm under the firmament. According to John Gill, in fact, the people of Paul's day were quite aware of a supernatural climate filled with a multitude of
"noxious and accusing spirits, who fly about in the air."
In a very real sense, then, Satan and his myriad of fallen angels are perfectly positioned like ethereal transmitters to disperse their deadly falsehoods to unsuspecting humanity below.
No wonder Satan is called, even by Jesus Himself, the
"prince of this world",
and rightly revealed by Paul as the
"god of this age,"
who has
"blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ".
Truly, the Bible tells us, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
This is not to say, of course, that Satan rules the world with complete autonomy, for Almighty God is still sovereign.
But it does mean that in His unfathomable wisdom, God has allowed our adversary to have a level of influence over the unbelieving world until such time as the power of the Gospel fulfills God's will in the redemption of lost souls and culminates in His final judgment.
Until then, the fallen world still languishes in a last-ditch frenzy of devilish activity. Satan to this day goes
"to and fro" and walks "up and down"
upon the earth, still prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Surely, such boastful "roaring" should end any speculation that the devil is stalking humanity in timid silence or moving against God without vocal opposition and savage, murderous murmurings.
And yet, thankfully, the informed Christian should never fear the devil's predictable roar.
The Bible tells us all we need to know about Satan and his criminal profile so we can identify his noisy rhetoric and deflect its sinful effects. Surprisingly, for all his deviousness and cunning, Satan appears content with the original blueprint for success he once enjoyed in the garden of Eden.
To this day, Satan is still spreading the same lies he first transmitted to Eve when that serpent of old hissed forth the question,
"Did God actually say..."
and instantly exposed his modus operandi to the world.
Just as he did in the beginning, Satan attacks mankind's sensual weakness to achieve a three-pronged result.
Wide-eyed Eve, confused by the devil's craftiness, succumbed to the flesh and surmised by the promptings of Satan that the tree from which she was forbidden to eat was
"good for food, a delight to the eyes, and was desirable to make one wise".
Thus, Satan's worldwide broadcast of lies follows the familiar ancient pattern:
1) discrediting God, or casting doubt about Him or His existence;
2) minimizing the destructive nature of sin and the due penalty of death; and
3) the promotion of idolatry or the deity of self, which drives a man or woman to dethrone God and do that which is "right in his (or her) own eyes"
These are the flaming darts of temptation which Satan uses against us, transmitting their ungodly ideas like a noise machine that fills the air to mask the inner voice of one's conscience and, if possible, the thunderous voice of Almighty God.
Despite these satanic efforts, however, the happy fact remains that God can never be silenced.
Shout out your testimony to the heavens and join your voice with the great cloud of faithful witnesses.
Blast the melodious tidings of God's grace for all the world to hear.
Is your signal getting stronger?
Un-edited version and Bible references avaiable, on request
The Declaration of The Sacred Sandwich
Having been duly humbled by the grace of God to see the bane and worthlessness of human wisdom in this present world,
and in reaction to the current indifference towards God's clear and unchanging Word as the divine guide of the visible Church;
and called to be found in submission to His will, we account it as incumbent upon us to make a declaration, to the honour of Christ and the glory of His Name,
to affirm anew to our fellow Christians the sufficiency and authority of Scripture,
as being the sole rule of faith and practice, and the clear remedy for the folly and error of the postmodern church.
Website & Contents: "The Sacred Sandwich" & "Sandwichgram" © Copyright 2004-2023 by C.R. Carmichael
