Dr. Mike Jones

Satan’s Weapons of Mass Distractions

By: Dr. Mike Jones

Because of his longevity here on Earth, our arch-enemy is Satan, which means adversary, the one that opposes God, and those that God loves.

Saints, he does everything in his power to distract you from becoming a serious student of sacred Scripture. He’s the master of distractions, deceptions, and divisions – and will use any and all these weapons that are available at his disposal to get our minds away from worshipping and serving the Lord God. Just think for a quick moment – how much more successful you will be in life if you were more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, because you were less distracted with the cares of this world.

Weapons of mass distraction is a New Age phrase that’s being thrown around here in the 21st century. Satan used this tactic/strategy in the New Testament against our Lord. Turn to Luke 4:
Here we see evident that the temptation of Christ lasted the entire 40 days of His fast – even though we’re privy to only three specific temptations:
• Verse 3 – the devil says, “If you’re the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
• Verses 6 & 7 – the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; then said to Jesus, “I will give you all authority and their glory, since it’s been delivered to me, if you will worship me.”
• Verse 9 – Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem to the temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the temple, didn’t God say He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you and bear you up.”

In all three cases, Jesus DIDN’T succumb to the distractions/temptations. All He said was, “IT IS WRITTEN!”

Saints, we live in an age of distractions – and many of them is to get us to conform to this world’s standards. For example, the social media topic that gained traction recently, was about a South Carolina megachurch pastor being criticized for buying his wife a $200 Thousand-dollar Lamborghini. And although he used his own money from his book deal and ‘reality show,’ he would have faired better if he hadn’t publicized the gift via social media. I’m sad to say that a number of our so-called Christian celebrities are chasing the dollars more than the treasures found in studying the Word of God. You would be stunned to find out the number of Christian reality shows on the air, and as a visiting pastor once said, “The one single thing that keeps them on television is DRAMA!”

Dr. David Wells, noted research professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, said, “We are living in what’s called the affliction of distraction.” He explained it this way: “There are thousands of extraordinary bombardments attacking our minds, every day, causing our minds to go in multiple directions. Therefore, how can we receive from Scripture the truth God has for us, if we cannot focus long enough to receive the truth?”

Some of you may be thinking, “Oh, he’s talking about concentrating on the Word of God, when I’m studying – how the distractions try to overwhelm me.” Saints, distractions occur while you’re physically in the service! Synovate, a market research company, conducted a mobile phone survey. Here are the results: 5 in 10 Americans say they just can’t live without their phones. Believe it or not, more and more Americans take their cell phones and computers on vacation with them. Lift your heads up in church on a given Sunday morning and just glance over the congregation. You will see a number of the saints texting and answering emails during worship and praise, as well as during the sermon – thus giving partial attention to Holy God, and what He has to say to us through the message.

Isn’t it ironic that Jesus’ disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray?” and in Matthew 6:9-13, the portion we labelled ‘The Prayer of a Disciple’ in verse 13, says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one?” Here, you’re asking Holy God, your Heavenly Father to keep you through testing/distractions from the evil one.
Remember our intentions are drawn to what’s more important to us, which causes distractions to uncover what we really love more. Therefore, our shifting moves from what should be more important to us (God) to what’s less important (the distractions), causing us to enter the realm of IDOLATRY!
Some of you have heard me use the phrase, “I’m convinced, after studying sacred Scripture for over 40 years, that many Christians are content with having just enough of God’s Holy Spirit active in their lives to say they’re SAVED!”

Before some of you take offense to that statement, let’s look back at a Biblical incident where the Lord Himself visited a family, and there was distraction. Turn to Luke 10:38-42.
Jesus – in the house, her brother Lazarus – dead, and she – anxious about everyone getting something to eat. Notice, she didn’t recognize her distraction until Jesus pointed it out here. Martha, your priorities are in the wrong order.

Let’s view several ways that Satan uses mass distractions to take our focus off God:
• He plants doubt and lies in our minds.
He wants you to believe, based on what you’re seeing and feeling and battling, that he’s stronger than God. If you’re a serious student of Scripture, you immediately know that’s a lie. Why? Because he’s like you and me – he’s a created being. Remember, he’s been here for over 6,000 years on earth since the creation of mankind, and he’s gained the reputation as a master deceiver and can be so persuasive that what he’s whispering in your mind must be true.
Satan says, “Why does a Holy God permit bad things to happen to good people?” And because churches are constantly moving away from preaching what the Bible calls “The Gospel” and preaching a lot more ‘feel good’ sermons, it’s easy for baby Christians to have doubt when they’re in a hard place because they haven’t been taught about the Holiness of God, the Grace of God, the Sovereignty of God, the Providence of God, etc..

• Church Hopping
Over the years, some of you have heard me say in my teachings that I meet saints on the streets in our passing or in restaurants, etc., and since most of them are veteran saints, the conversation usually goes something like this: “Haven’t seen you lately, where are you fellowshipping?” “Well, Dr. Mike, the Lord hasn’t led me to any one church!”
Veteran saints should know better because they’re used to eating the meat of God’s Word. Baby saints that church hop don’t stand a chance because they’re already in the grip of Satan and his army. Because of social media and its influence in America, the local church is becoming more and more obsolete to that generation of trekkers. To maintain my religious status, I’ll listen to this preacher one week, someone else next week. The problem with this scenario is, you’re in err not knowing the Scripture. Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.”

• There’s no such thing as absolute TRUTH!
Most young adults believe that truth is relative. Idea that views differ based on the perception that there is no unusual truth – each point of view has its own truth. There’s a movement in Christendom called, “The Emerging Church,” and it’s growing beyond leaps and bounds. There is no absolute truth: truth is completely subjective – it’s what you and I agree to call it. Satan’s distraction is to move you further away from the absolute truth of God’s Word that’s found on the pages of Scripture. Remember saints, the absolute truth of God’s Word is infallible and unchangeable: God said, “I change not.”

• God is boring, and Satan isn’t real.
The Barna Group, a Christian statistical thinktank, looked at the worldviews of practicing Christians and reported their findings.
Only 17 percent of Christians have a biblical worldview, believing that absolute truth exists. The Bible is totally accurate in all its teachings: Satan is a real force and not symbolic; a person can not earn their way into heaven; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is all powerful and rules the universe.
Here in America, 56 percent of Americans believe in the God of the Bible. Half believe in some higher power or spiritual force in the universe, but elect not to call him God.
Over 40 percent of Christians interviewed strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” Another 10 percent interviewed were not sure what they believed about the existence of Satan. We know (from Scripture) that the Angelic host flies throughout the heavens as well as around His throne daily saying, “HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!” and His Glory and presence are with us 24 hours a day.

• Satan causes division and mistrust amongst Christians.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.” And Matthews 13:38-39, “The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.” Remember, Satan is very skilled at sowing discord amongst the Brethren.

• Satan will distract us through PRIDE!
It is said that the SIN OF PRIDE basically gives birth to other sins. That’s why Satan spends ample time trying to convince us that we’ve arrived in various areas of our lives. Remember, pride is our greatest enemy because it makes God our enemy. Why? Because pride has a way of trying to elevate us above God. It’s revealed in James 4:6, “And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”” And 1 Peter 5:6-8, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

In my conclusion: Saints, there will always be a constant struggle to keep distractions in check. No matter what we do, there will always be a constant battle within between the spirit and flesh according to Romans 7:15-21. Hebrews 12:1-3 sums up best how to avoid distractions:

“Let us lay aside every weight – as those who ran in the Olympic races would throw aside everything that might impede them in their course; so Christians, professing to go to heaven, must throw aside every thing that might hinder them in their Christian race. Whatever weighs down our hearts or affections to earth and sense is to be carefully avoided; for no man, with the love of the world in his heart, can ever reach the kingdom of heaven.”