A devious plot

Spiritual Warfare – Part 10: The Dark Knight   A Devious Plot for a Blinded Nation     by Berit Kjos  ~   Home	Paradigm Shift August 2012
“O our God… we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us;  nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”  2 Chronicles 20:12

Remember
Paul Harvey’s 47-year-old warning to
America! What he envisioned back in 1965 has become reality. Ponder these
excerpts from his message titled “If I were the devil.” 

“If I were the prince of darkness I’d want to engulf the
whole world in darkness…. I’d
subvert the churches first. I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With
the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, “Do
as you please.”

“To the
young I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them
that man created God, instead of the other way around. I would confide
that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is square….”

“And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors on how to make lurid
literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and
uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d
peddle narcotics…

“If I were
the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches that
war with themselves and nations that war with themselves; until
each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d
have mesmerizing media fanning the flame.

“If I were
the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects and
neglect to discipline emotions—just let those run wild…

“Within a
decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting
pornography. Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, and
then the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His
own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify
science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls,
and church money….

“If I were
the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those who
wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious…. In other
words, if I were the devil I’d keep on doing on what he’s doing. 

“Paul
Harvey, good day. ” 
[Here is his video:  If
I Were the Devil]

That warning was heard and read across
America decades ago. But our nation ignored it!  Now we face
unthinkable consequences.  It reminds me of an occult children’s book used in public schools
back in the nineties called
The Dark is Rising.  Indeed, it is!  And the spreading
darkness is clouding minds and blinding people — both to the pressing evils and
to God’s saving love.

Even before the social revolution of the sixties,
our
media
establishment and
transformational schools were steering the war on God’s Word and ways. Soon
mystical thrills replaced Truth and certainty,  while
strange beliefs and corrupting values
fed the minds of the masses. Few of our youth would resist the depravity.

We may be shocked by the recent news reports about
Colorado’s latest mass killing spree. But it could happen anywhere. 
Remember, America’s
moral compass has been crumbling for a long time!

Matt Barber articulated what many of us felt as
the news reports spread. His
article,
Our culture of death and the Batman shooting,
summarized it well:

“…in the early
morning hours of July 20, 2012, a deranged, fame-starved gunman shot
dead at least 12 innocent people and wounded scores more at a midnight
showing of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ a Batman sequel….  Please join me in the coming hours, days and
weeks in, yes, praying for the victims, their families
and the state of our lost union….One of the victims killed
was a 3-month-old baby. Another was 6.”

Barber’s article includes a link to an earlier article that
clears away the fog that hides much of today’s cultural evil. Written in 2008 by
British reviewer Jenny McCartney,
the title alone is sobering:  “Our attitude to violence is beyond a joke as new Batman
film, The Dark Knight, shows.” Her warning shows us how far we have fallen:

“If I were 10 years old, would I be badgering my parents to take me to see
the [2008 version] Batman film, The Dark Knight? You bet I would.
It’s the latest and biggest release in the superhero genre …

“If I were the parent who relented and took a 10-year-old child to see The
Dark Knight, would I be sorry? Once again, you bet I would. It’s different from
other superhero films…. But the
greatest surprise of all …has been the sustained level of intensely
sadistic brutality throughout the film.

“…the film begins with
a heist carried out by men in sinister clown masks. As each clown completes a
task, another shoots him point-blank in the head…. A man’s face is
filleted by a knife, and another’s is burned half off. A man’s eye is slammed
into a pencil. A bomb can be seen crudely stitched inside another man’s stomach,
which subsequently explodes. A trussed-up man is bound to a chair and set alight
atop a pile of banknotes.

“A plainly terrorised child is threatened at gunpoint by a man with a melted
face. It is all intensely realistic. Oh but don’t worry, folks: there isn’t any
nudity….

“It’s all a comic-book fantasy, and comic
books are well known for their surreal, cartoonish bursts of violence. But the
director, Christopher Nolan… has tried instead to make the violence and
fear as believable as possible, and in this he has succeeded.

“The Dark Knight, however, has been rated 12A by the British Board of Film
Classification, which means that although the BBFC believes it is best suited to
children aged 12 and over, any under-12 can see it provided he or she is
accompanied by an adult….

“Casino Royale (2006), the most recent James Bond film, was also given a
12A certificate: young boys in particular are attracted to Bond….  But Casino Royale… was in fact a new kind of Bond film, shot like a
realistic action thriller. Parents and their open-mouthed children found themselves watching a scene in
which a bloodied Bond, stripped naked and tied to a chair, is tortured by having
his genitals beaten with a length of rope.

“A friend of mine was somewhat
dismayed afterwards to witness his two young boys, aged nine and seven,
diligently re-enacting the torture scene with an outsize teddy bear strapped to
a chair and a flail constructed from a knotted dressing-gown cord….

“… there is some distinction between violence which is
clearly fantastical in origin, such as that in
Harry Potter, and that which is
realistic and sadistic in tone, such as that in The Dark Knight. The former
might well bother younger children afterwards… but the latter is more likely
to taint their fundamental vision of the world and adult norms of behaviour.
The intensity of violence in The Dark Knight is a grimly logical progression
from the sort of distilled brutality that has rapidly become the norm
in films
rated 15 and 18: the only difference is that now small children are permitted to
watch it, too.

“…Quentin Tarantino was the edgy enfant terrible of Hollywood. Now he is a
member of its establishment, encouraging younger, mainstream ‘torture porn‘ directors
…to push the boundaries of explicit, ingenious
cruelty ever further….

“‘… in the US, where any film
critic who expresses measured dislike of The Dark Knight faces hundreds of
intensely hostile online responses. The more violent the source of
entertainment, the more vitriolic its fans grow in defence of it: there is a
whiff of the enraged mob at Tyburn, furious at anyone who attacks its right
to thrilling, primal pleasures….’

Are we facing the end of civil discourse in America? Could factual debates
soon fade from the public square? Will irrational rage and spreading violence
quench our voices and destroy our freedom?

I’m tempted to say yes, but I don’t really know the answers. 
Yet, I am confident that we can trust my
sovereign Shepherd and King to lead us. No matter what happens in coming years,
He will surely guard His sheep and care for His people!  What a joy to be
part of His family!

Our Spiritual
Warfare Series:  

Part
1:

The Unseen Foe Behind Rising Evil

Part 2:

America’s Perilous Partnership with China

Part 3:

Hating Truth and Primed for Deception!

 Part 4:

Post-Christian Culture Welcomes Witchcraft!

Part 5:

Behind the Peaceful Scenes of Christmas

Part 6:
The Misguided Aims of the Counterfeit Church

Part 7:


Good or Evil – Who Wins?

Part 8:


Rising Persecution in the “Land of the Free”

Part 9:


Transforming the World through Violence, War, Deception & Chaos

 Part 10:

A Devious Plot for a Blinded Nation

Part 11:
Marching toward Global
Solidarity