Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Lou K. Coleman | WSS News Contributor
Jesus said to them, don’t you understand this parable? The deception of distractions? [Mark 4:1–8; Mark 4: 13-17; Mark 4:21–25; Mark 4:26–32]. All that you are seeing and are hearings are distractions from the real reality. Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise [Ephesians 5:15-16].
Remember what the Weeping Prophet Jeremiah said in the Old Testament [Jeremiah 9:6]… “You live in the midst of deception.” So be like, Nehemiah and see through their ploy [Nehemiah 6:3]. Let no one deceive you [Matthew 24:4] because distraction from reality will lead you to Hell.
Understand how the devil wages war. First, he will turn your attention from God through distractions, and second, he will make you doubt through deception. Know that distractions and subtleties are one of the major tools that Satan uses to get as many souls that he can. Satan is a master deceiver. He deceived one third of the angels to follow him. He deceived Eve. He deceived Judas and many others. I tell you, we must choose to focus on following the Lord, no matter the distraction.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear [Mark 4:23].
We have a supernatural enemy whose aim is to use distractions and deceptiveness to make us blind, stupid, and miserable — forever. The Bible calls him “the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world . . . the accuser” [Revelation 12:9–10], “the ruler of this world” [John 12:31], and “the god of this age” [2 Corinthians 4:4]. He is our “adversary who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” [1 Peter 5:8] and yet, in the most appalling and unwitting bondage, the whole world willingly “follows the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” [Ephesians 2:2]. At his most successful, his subjects march obliviously to destruction and take as many with them as they can. Distractions – deceiving, divisive, and deadly!
I admonish you, do not believe everything you see or hear. While we ought not be cynical, we ought to be sober and seek to verify what we see and hear with God’s revealed truth. Do not be deceived.
Life moves very fast. We have only a short time before it’s over. Let us not get caught in the distractions. Be alert and discerning because the Time is Near!
God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside [Psalms 53: 2-3].
Jesus Weep!
Distractions – Deceiving, Divisive, and Deadly.
