Music and silence-how I detest them both! \u2026 We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress \u2013Screwtape<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The fictional devil, Screwtape, invented by CS Lewis, is an excellent guide to many who would, otherwise, be \u2018unaware of [the devil\u2019s] schemes\u2019. It is essential to satanic strategy that the human thinking process should be hindered in every way possible \u2013 especially thinking about or with God: \u201c…the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers\u2026\u201d 2 Corinthians 4:4) and he seeks tirelessly to control Christian minds also\u2026 \u201cset your minds on things that are above\u201d (Colossians 3:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noise can be measured in decibels or distractions. Satan doesn\u2019t care what preoccupations we have, so long as they keep us from the prayer room and divert our minds from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Question: <\/strong>have you ever considered switching off \u2018notifications\u2019 on your \u2018smart\u2019 phone? (For those whose phones are \u2018dumb\u2019, notifications arrive constantly as little fleeting visual alerts on your screen \u2013 often arriving with an accompanying \u2018ping\u2019 \u2013 which announce that you have received an email, a text message, that someone has sent you a link to an interesting video, a reminder of a diary entry.) Those of us who use smart phones but who are also old enough to recall when the first mobile phone looked like a brick with an aerial twice its length can also recall when life did not grind to a halt because the technology did not yet exist to send us notifications several times in 60 minutes. We learned to consult our little paper pocket diaries at the start of each day and we actually wrote (remember writing?) reminders in them. (Yes, you\u2019re right; it\u2019s so last century\u2026). The real question today though is not whether our phones are smart or dumb, but whether their (Christian) users are smart or dumb. Do you control the \u2018noise\u2019 in your life \u2013 or does it control you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Satan is opposed to thinking \u2013 especially thinking Christians, and especially Christians who think Biblically. He loves ideology because, apart from the half baked ideas of those whose thoughts produced the ideology, thinking is disallowed to their disciples. Unquestioning obedience is expected; thinking is sinful. Education also is hated in Hell. It\u2019s preferred substitute is indoctrination which, in our \u2018smart\u2019 age is convincing boys and girls to ask the question that boys and girls have never asked in over four millennia: \u201cHow can I be sure I\u2019m a boy or a girl?\u201d Classrooms which generate and encourage this kind of confusion are not educational establishments but brainwashing facilities. This is not education, it\u2019s child abuse, grooming for a life preoccupied with sex, brain in neutral, life in turmoil and an early death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerned parents who removed their child from a primary school\u2019s multi-faith curriculum wrote to counter the liberal head\u2019s criticism of \u2018parental indoctrination\u2019: \u201c\u2026 the Bible tells us that it\u2019s the parents, not the school, not the state, who have the principal responsibility for the education of their children. You are free to quarrel with God in this matter \u2013 we wish you well in the dispute and pray that you will cope with your inevitable disappointment\u2026\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you have a mo. \u2026 read the first chapter of Daniel, then make a link back to Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and Proverbs 22:6. Imagine this Hebrew teenager, forcibly removed to Babylon hundreds of miles away, scenes of unspeakable violence etched on his young memory (cf. Ps 137:9), then ask how this young man could resolve to live the holy life he was accustomed to at home? Godly teenagers are not self-made. Either he had godly parents or he was raised by godly mentors who took seriously what God had commanded through Moses \u201c\u2026these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our children\u2019s minds are under attack. What chance do they have if their parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 minds are distracted? Is your child watching you at prayer \u2013 or on Facebook? Christian, is it not time to take back your mind, to control the noise, to make time for God? Wonderful coincidences will happen when you pray.<\/strong> They won\u2019t if you don\u2019t… Amazing victories for your children can be won in the prayer room. Permitting the enemy of your soul to fill your every waking hour with noise and distraction is not smart \u2013 even if your phone is\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you smarter than your smart phone? Music and silence-how I detest them both! \u2026 We will make the whole universe a noise in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[61],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}