The Age of Deceit - Part 8 - Ron Matsen

in the classic book the art of war the celebrated military strategist and author sun tzu writes engage people with what they expect it's what they are able to discern and confirms their projections it settles them into predictable patterns of response occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment that which they cannot anticipate deception by diversion has always been a tactic used successfully by military commanders from the trojan horse employed by the greeks and the 13th century bc to the japanese surprise attack on pearl harbor in 1941. tactical diversion has been a useful tool to gain an advantage on the battlefield we can see an example of this type of deception in the allied strategy for the invasion of europe as early as 1942 adolf hitler knew that a large-scale allied invasion of france could turn the tide of war in europe to ready for an invasion the germans began construction on the atlantic wall a 2400 mile network of bunkers pillboxes mines and landing obstacles up and down the french coastline from the start the top candidate for an allied invasion was believed to be the french port city of calais only 20.7 miles across the english channel from dover the reason germany chose to double down nazi defenses along the calais coastline was not only because its proximity to england but because hitler fell hook line and sinker for one of the most successful military deception schemes since the trojan horse code name operation fortitude the allies use deception by diversion to convince german intelligence that the d-day invasion would absolutely occur in calais to give the appearance of a massive troop buildup in southeast england the allies created a largely phantom fighting force the first u.s army group headed by george patton the american general whom the nazis considered to be the enemy's best commander and the logical man to lead a cross-channel invasion they deceived nazi aerial reconnaissance planes by fashioning dummy aircraft and an armada of decoy landing crafts composed only of painted canvases pulled over steel frames around the mouth of the river thames they even deployed inflatable sherman tanks which they moved to different locations under the cover of night and use rollers to simulate tire tracks left behind in their wake thanks in large part to a brilliant allied deception campaign by diverting attention away from the intended invasion site on the normandy beaches of france the d-day invasion of june 6 1944 became precisely the turning point that the germans most feared our senses are the windows of our soul they feed information to our mind which in turn determines our actions jesus taught in luke chapter 11 the lamp of the body is the eye therefore when your eye is good your whole body is also full of light but when your eye is bad your body also is full of darkness attention diversion is the key to illusion discerning the difference between helpful information and harmful illusion is key it's all about managing our perceptions attention is like mental money be careful how you spend it therefore if an illusion fools our senses then our perception will be poisoned and our subsequent understanding will be flawed constant acceptance of an illusion as true information can lead us to be complacent where our mind is comfortable with the repeated and predictable patterns of the deception we now hold as truth in other words we only notice the change when it occurs within the field of our narrow focus we do not detect change where we do not think a change should appear just as the pickpocket relies on the victim being distracted satan also seeks to distract and destroy we are all basically single processors one function at a time which means that we will not notice a change in the peripheral areas outside our prime focus as a result we suffer from a kind of multi-processing blindness or as others call it change-blindness according to a 2005 study published in the journal trends in cognitive science the term change blindness refers to the surprising difficulty observers have in noticing large changes to the visual scenes this blindness leaves the victim vulnerable to illusion misinformation and outright deception today what are the major influences in the world that are constantly trying to gain power over our hearts what is the greatest source of input into people's minds today the answer is entertainment from the colosseum in rome to the cinemas around the world people seem to crave diversion from rather than connection to real life i constantly see people with their faces looking down at their mobile world rather than looking up to engage the real world they hardly acknowledge according to future source global entertainment spending is to grow to 439 billion us dollars by the end of 2021 with s vod that is subscription video on demand surging one of the most popular programs on an s vod service was game of thrones during its 73 episodes from 2011 to 2019 it was awarded 59 primetime emmy awards this is disturbing to me as game of thrones was heavily criticized for its depiction of women and sexual violence women are raped forced into sexual slavery are subjected to other gender-based violence they rarely have a choice of who they marry a situation all too common for women and girls in the real world today based on this terrible plot line the series was incredibly popular how can this happen in today's world where on the one hand society champions the cause of women and then on the other hand are entertained by their horrible mistreatment violence is a popular theme in entertainment it is the sad fruit of objectification by characterization villainization and ultimately dehumanization as a prime entertainment element it promotes the devaluing of human life another means of soft selling violence is to present it as a benevolent act of a superhero of the top 30 highest grossing films of all time as of the end of 2019 18 are about either alien or superhuman saving the earth through violence the quest for entertainment reaches beyond the domain of tv and movies this is where viewers become participants in their own adventure through the virtual world of gaming according to nuzu.com 2020 saw an annual rise in video game revenue to 178 billion us dollars involving 2.81 billion players that is more than one-third of the world's population of 7.77 billion people statista.com reports the most popular games in the us are call of duty war and violence 68 million players grand theft auto action and violence 64 million players fortnight action and violence 59 million players super smash brothers fighting and violence 51 million players pokemon go augmented reality violence 51 million players the elder scrolls v skyrim action and violence 40 million players halo war and violence 40 million players overwatch war and violence 38 million players league of legends war and violence 32 million players do you see a pattern here with all these entertainment portals in all formats violence in one form or another is a dominant feature psychology today reports according to the market research group nielsen adults spend over 11 hours per day interacting with media that's up from nine hours and 32 minutes just four years ago of those 11 hours 4 hours and 46 minutes are spent watching tv for kids ages 8 to 12 the same common sense media survey report found that they spent six hours per day interacting with media kids ages two to five spent around four hours and 35 minutes per day in front of a screen example watching tv videos and gaming therefore the average person devotes 20 of their 24-hour day to some form of video entertainment what starts as fascination becomes an obsession to the point of captivating our minds so let me ask again what is the greatest source of input into people's minds today by now i believe you can see that the answer is entertainment one of the most effective ways of neutralizing the detecting devices of the enemy is through sensor saturation this covert countermeasure overwhelms the observer and blinds their defensive sensors in the early hours of the allied invasion of france the raf dropped around 500 dummy paratroopers far from the actual d-day airborne landing zone as part of operation titanic in addition paper strips covered with aluminum were deployed along the french coast which on german radar appeared to be a continuous blip that could be mistaken for an approaching fleet the blinding and binding effect of the global data deluge is taking its toll every day we are witnessing the result of over-stimulated ostrich-like humans who have their heads buried in a world of harmful self-indulgence a world where they are blind to the real threats surrounding them the double-a cap reports hundreds of studies of the effects of tb violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become immune or numb to the horror of violence begin to accept violence as a way to solve problems imitate the violence they observe on television and identify with certain characters victims and or victimizers we have seen plenty of evidence that in a wartime scenario keeping a clear head is paramount the apostle paul warned his young apprentice timothy in 2 timothy chapter 2 you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of jesus christ no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier what is the answer to this troubling trend is there a survival guide for the soul under siege please do not get me wrong here i'm not advocating that we run and hide in a cave somewhere the bible gives us all the answers we need to safely transit the minefield of the modern media onslaught king solomon warned in proverbs chapter 4 the way of the wicked is like darkness they do not know what makes them stumble my son give attention to my words incline your ear to my sayings do not let them depart from your eyes keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far from you let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established do not turn to the right or to the left remove your foot from evil the apostle paul offers this encouragement in ephesians chapter 6 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of darkness of his sage against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand may god bless you as you continue to study his word you

Channel: Koinonia House

Views: 11,507

Rating: 4.9431281 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, christ, koinonia, house, khouse, institute

Id: ZIA8ggepkU4

Length: 13min 31sec (811 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021