Due to Google's change in search criteria, my readership dropped significantly overnight. It appears that unless the blog is profit-making, the readership is limited by preventing keywords from retrieving my posts. That in itself has been discouraging.
Then, I was led to write about the end-of-time titled "Revelation". Readership, in just a few days, dropped 75%. My supposition is that either Revelation is too complicated for the readers, or that the reader cares little about the future. Unless one is righteous, indeed, the future is frightening! I come up short in righteousness, and that scares me as well.
Overnight I made the decision with much remorse, for the time-being, to abandon ship. Hence, at least for now, I will cease writing about the end-of-times, and sail elsewhere. If you want more on Revelation, it is yours for the asking. If one reads the four parts already written, you would find that it is not the typical rehash of others commentary. I was thoroughly researching on my own without resorting to the understanding of others.
Today, I will write on something which was revealed to me last evening. I was watching a documentary on how the Third Reich used entertainment to indoctrinate stubborn people to National Socialism. That initiative was called "Power Through Joy". Today's commentary is not about Nazism. I'll leave that to historians. However, the premise of power through joy is as old as time!
Kraft durch Freude - "power or strength through joy" was part of the German Labor Front's initiative to make willing workers out of the unwilling. The plan was to use entertainment to provide a joyous life. They knew that if things improved for the German worker, the workers would coalesce around National Socialism. However, the entertainment didn't come cheaply. Everything was saturated with propaganda.
Propaganda relies on distortion of truth as a means of deceiving the people. That is "ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Being a history buff, I had always wondered how socialism could persuade so many people; at least all the ones remaining after dissenters were destroyed. I'm not referring only to the Nazi version of socialism but Marxism in general. People were persuaded by entertainment. Nazis made life seemingly more pleasurable.
They persuaded by three ways: (1) constant repetition of things people wanted to hear, (2) distorting the truth to fit their ideology, and (3) using entertainment, comfort, and pleasure to provide a comfortable milieu. Does those methods sound familiar? They should.
That type of indoctrination was a technique to use in all aspects of society; hence, totalitarianism. Hitler wanted to remold Germans society to become his super-race. His method of "power through joy" worked wonders. One big difference between National Socialism and Bolshevism in nearby Russia, was that the latter used primarily force and intimidation, whereas Hitler used pleasure before he resorted to intimidation and death. (Of course the Jews were not part of his Kraft durch Freude.)
As one cognitively travels back in time, "power through joy" was not a new technique of remolding. During the French Revolution, the national religion was changed from Christianity to Reason. In what had been churches, became dens of harlots. In all honesty, that alternate religion provided pleasure, and that principle has always been an attractive one to deceive!
Further back in time, the Roman Empire wooed the citizens by the arenas, public baths, rich food, and all sorts of conveniences non-existent in lesser societies. Historians propose that their society fell because of the pursuit of pleasure. The "pleasure principle" worked for quite some time, but rather than creating a strong national mood, Rome became complacent. Joy, it seems, spoils society. Pleasure does induce apathetic workers to work harder, but the inducement is temporary. Once society is enlightened that entertainment is more pleasurable than work, they abandon ship so to speak, leaving the farms and factories for the arenas, beaches, and restaurants.
In Germany, they were entertained to their own destruction. Prosperity and joy moved quickly to despair and hunger. They had been deceived! Germany became a pile of rubble, advancing the cause only of the deceiver. While Hitler certainly was to blame, Satan instigated him: Kraft durch Freude is Satan's method, and he uses it time and time again!
Traveling further back in time, we find the first time Satan used "power through joy". Linguists say that freude means much more than "joy". It's some sort of transcendence where nature is all about contentment and living for pleasure. Of course, in the Third Reich, the government created a super-nature for the super-German people. With the use of all-inclusive cruises, resorts, and sports events; their life was changed from the misery of work to the joy of living. Their willingness to work became their means to the pursuit of pleasure.
The first time "power through pleasure" was used was back in Paradise. You have read this many times before but consider it again:
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.The serpent was not Satan! He was the mouthpiece of Satan. He told Eve things that she wanted to hear. Eve even guided the serpent toward believing the lie by adding "neither shall ye touch it". She wanted to have the pleasures offered on the tree, and as the tempter tempted her, she led the serpent so as to reinforce the lie. Eve wanted to sin. Why? Because sin is pleasurable, Satan used it to control her - to have power over mankind. She willingly went along with the temptation because that's the path she, in her heart, wanted to follow.
The same goes with the Third Reich. People went along with totalitarianism because that's where pleasure was. Nazism was the Tree and the pleasures were its fruit. Who had what to gain? As Adam and Eve got temporary pleasure, the German Volk did as well. As Satan gained power for a time, Hitler did as well. Truly, "there is nothing new under the sun" (Solomon in Ecclesiastes)!
Of course, all this history is to no avail unless we consider contemporary life. In these times we have no Hitler. As much as Marxists don't want to hear it, Trump is no Hitler, and is neither a Fascist nor a Nazi. The one who controls America is much more subtle than that! America is controlled by principalities - supernatural entities whose desire is to control. Their power is derived from the people. As the "Confessing Church' in the Third Reich were the few who continued the Christian Way, the German Church went the way of the world.
Today, there are few people in America's "confessing church". That Church are those who remain faithful to the inspired word of God. They are the true church who confesses the will of God. What is God's will? That truth be done. God is truth (John 14:6). Whatever He says is correct and real. God offers contentment, hope, and true joy. Entertainment merely offers pleasure. However, most people are content with pleasure!
In the western world, we are surrounded by entertainment. From the moment people arise until they retire to bed, and many as they sleep, their lives are pervaded by entertainment. (Some I know sleep with their TV's or radios still on. They say they can't go to sleep without it!). If it was truly only entertainment, the problem would still be huge, but it's much deeper than that - all entertainment has a message!
The message within Christian music should be Christ. Of course, if the purpose is mainly for entertainment the message is missed. Therefore, Christian music must be for the glory of God, and not to entertain the congregation. It's a thin line but discerning Christians can recognize the difference.
Secular music also always have messages. Their message, they admit, is not about God. However, they fail to attribute much of their music to it's author. The entertainers are akin to the serpent. They are Satan's mouthpieces. It is his message which they display. Some don't even know it! Others, such as Beyoncé, acknowledge the source of their talent. She claims to be directed by the personality, Sasha Fierce. Sasha, in the Russian, means "defender of man". Fierce is self-descriptive. She knows who she follows, and is proud of it. Her listeners fail to believe that she is possessed. Like Eve, they want to believe the lie, and contribute to it. Many deceived people empower Satan by supporting his messengers. Beyoncé is surely the wily serpent, and Sasha her demon voice.
Other entertainers are less transparent. They may not even know whose message they present. Like the killers of Jesus, they "know not what they do!" I know; I read the Word. If it is not of God, it belongs to Satan. Unfortunately, God allows, for a time, that Satan be "Prince of the Air" (Ephes 2:2). He uses the air well! All through the day and night the air is permeated with his message. Satan uses power to control. Hitler knew that, and did the same thing. Hitler was successful in deluding the volk, and Satan is successful in deluding the folks. Why? The same devil is the author.
I'm not comparing America and the west to the Third Reich. I'm sharing that both are servants of the prince of the air. The message then was nationalism. The message now is atheism. Atheism is, in all honesty, much more pleasurable than theism. Everyone can do what is right in their own eyes! On the other hand, joy really only comes from hope. There is no joy in atheism.
America has been indoctrinated. They are children of pleasure. Most Americans already belong to Satan; even those in the church who merely go to be entertained. In my lifetime, I have watched our children turn from obedience to little devils - doing whatever they want. Parents sit by and are entertained alongside them, not even caring that entertainers are raising their children to be atheists.
An atheist said that children are indoctrinated from infancy to be Christians. That certainly is God's Way:
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.Church songs, scripture, prayer, example, and all things Christian are to teach children to be Christians. Christianity is transparent. On the other hand, little atheists are made the same way! When all they hear is satanic messages as they are entertained, if not little demons such as Jennifer Lawrence and Mily Cyrus, they may be atheists like he current "Bachelor".
I have little use for most entertainers. Not because of them but the message they covertly present. We have become acclimated to sin. Drugs were, in my childhood, a thing done in the dark, and users were the low-lifes of society. Homosexuality existed but the closet was small. Now, the latter is made normal even by law. What we only whispered in shame is force-fed to us through the media. "Fake news" is modern-day propaganda and entertainment is saturated with deception. Americans buy into it as long as they obtain their pleasure.
In the lawless society in the days of Noah people did the unspeakable. The world was destroyed and washed in water. Today, it is as in the days of Noah. Next time it will be washed in fire! So much for Revelation! Who even cares? Abandon ship? Not I.
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