Through A Demon's Eyes

     I see you looking. I love to play this game with you, it is one of the funnest. As you look I find great happiness in manipulating what you see. Just as in those fun apps we created (my kind and me) that allow you to take an image and move the mouth over here and the eyes over there of a person until they look like a Picasso. I laugh and giggle as you get frustrated looking. I pull what you see here and there until I can see frustration turning into anger. That is the best part because you are so good at placing your anger in all the wrong places. You place it at your Shepard's feet and that makes my job oh so much easier. As your anger converts to self loathing I start whispering loudly in your ear. The Shepard never speaks loud enough for you to hear in these moments, you're too focused on your pathetic self, my little pet. Even when He speaks through your own loved ones you choose to deny it instead of believing it.
     You finally give up and I gleefully celebrate as the day is just getting started. You go about your day and I see you looking again, this time I relish in you trying your hardest not to look, not to confirm what you saw earlier. You are so weak and so lost, my favorite kind of victim. I have no pity for your selfishness for I myself am quite selfish. This time I can distort the entire image of what you see. Your self loathing now strengthens into depression, a favorite emotion of mine to fight back against the Shepard. You foolish pet, even now I make it so you are too busy and too self absorbed to hear His whispers of truth. 
​     Mid day you meet up with more of your pathetic kind. They are all giggles and laughs and as you look at them I whisper loudly again in your ear. You all say "cheese". This allows the worm of envy into your brain. The images you are shown are so much grander and perfect. Little do you know I am working all your group with the same thoughts. For if you are all envious then I can create a creature of bitterness to inject into your hearts towards each other. My plan always works best this way. This time the image you see shows almost perfection, I made it look that way of course. None of your kind are perfect, your revolting at the best of times. But I have a quota to meet so I keep working on the image. This time I perfect everything in the image except one thing. That one thing I distort into a bulky creature that you can't stand to look at. Instead your envious eyes absorb the rest of the perfect image. Eventually it becomes too much, you give up and make up an excuse to leave your group behind. Such a pity you can't see the images I am showing them. If you could you would know they would all be doing the same soon, heading home... to my favorite time.
     Once you are home this is my favorite part of the day to play with you. Isolation is the very best door for me, if only you had been wise enough to choose solitude instead. You sit on the couch and cave into your emotions that I gifted you with today. You indulge in the buffet of gluttony to drown out my voice. Ha! You only make me stronger. As images continue to appear that I make sure show perfection, you can no longer take it. You decide to call it a night. As you get ready for bed I show you one more image, really you do bring this on yourself, it is like you are a glutton for tourture! I distort this image the most, I want to relish in those disgusting fluids building up in your eyes, but I must be careful that I don't cause too many to where you can't see the image. At this point I have you in the perfect place for an intimate night with you.
​     As you lay in bed I continue to whisper loudly into your head. Such sweet nothings, literally nothings for you but sweet things for me. Gently as not to make you aware of what I am doing, I slowing insert my claws into your head. This is a very delicate process, many a times I have rushed this and you have called out to your Shepard for help. But not tonight, I kept you too busy and kept your mind on yourself. Deeper they dig into the soft pieces of your brain. This my pet, this is where I go in for the kill. With one of my claws I stimulate your short term memory, having you relive all the images that disgusted you so much today. The second claw I use to press onto your sleep nerves, I don't want sleep to come too fast. With another claw I dig deep into your long term memory. I dig up in your mind images of things that seem perfect to you as you remember them, oh yes pet, I can manipulate the images even here. I perfect them into a gorgeous image to make you ache with wanting to go back into the past. As more and more tears come, I trigger your head to start hurting with a claw in your pain receptors. A good headache often leads to medication as something to numb your pains and block your thoughts of Him from seeping in. You get out of bed with me still attached to you, I even have a little fun with making myself a visible shadow just to freak you out! 
     Back to bed you go, alone, isolated, with medication to numb your senses. You can no longer even try to hear the Shepard, my presence is too strong now. I drift you off to sleep with self loathing, longing for the past images to be your current reality, with guilt growing for the glutton you were tonight. If I so choose I may even stay the night and play in your dreams, I do love waking you up in fear, your heart racing. Alas, tonight I have your friends to visit as well, I have that quota to meet, so I withdraw my claws (if only you knew it was I causing your pain to withdrawal and not that "medication" you depend on). Ha! Until the morning pet, when I return to you to play another day with the images you see. If only you had not been so absorbed you could have reached out to the Shepard at every attack today and I would have had no choice but to flee. He loves to tell you the truth, but His whispers of love for you and what He sees in you cannot compete with my tactics that you allow me to indulge in. That's why I come back to you every day, your selfishness invites me back to continue in the torture...

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     This blog idea was pressed upon me today by the Spirt after watching a scary but truthful sermon, which I will post the link to down below. This sermon, which was on AI alerted me to the cunning tactics the enemy had used on billions of people, myself included. As Believers of a western culture that is obsessed with themselves (I put myself into this category as well, and say this truth out of deep love and respect) He revealed to me how cunning the enemy is. As I pondered how to outline the blog I came up with five places this warfare happens every day. My prayer is that after you open your eyes to this truth you will be able to fight back against these attacks of the enemy (mothers and teenage girls this is especially a hard one for us, but everyone struggles with it to some degree).

Attack #1: The mirror

     The first place that I am always attacked is my own mirror. Just as in the above dialog, it is the first "image" we tend to see. It is not a living being or a natural one. It is a man made thing. Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for mirrors, they are not evil in anyway. However, after watching the sermon with AI, I am convinced that the enemy sends his minions to literally stand in front of us when we look in the mirror. A filter if you will. With this filter, the demon has the power to distort what you are seeing reflected back to you. It can be so discouraging that even when a spouse comes in to say how beautiful you look (the Spirit trying to reach you), most of us think it's a lie or they are just trying to me nice. After all you can see exactly what they are looking at... right?

Attack #2: Glass reflections

     The second place the enemy hits us is while we are walking past a glass reflection. Sometimes it seems no matter how hard we try not to look our eyes glance that way. Immediately the demon is there, standing between the glass and you. Legs look bigger and arms, and have you shrunk? That hair could't have looked like that all day right because surely someone would have let you know... right?

Attack #3: The camera

     It never fails does it?  We are with a group of friends and take a picture of all of us, yet when we look we seem to be the only one that is twice the size they thought they were. Face is fatter, body is stocker. The digital camera has made this even harder since you get the picture right away. You complain about how you look but your friends reassure you that you look beautiful, but the demon between me and the picture goes on distorting. Sure we are told the camera adds 10 pounds, but then how come everyone else in the picture looks just like they do in person? As envy to look like your friends sets in you realize they must be lying to you to once again make you not feel bad... right?

Attack #4: Memories

     One of the enemy's best tactics is to use our memories against us along with manipulating our emotions. In our own heads (just like we can do in pictures from years ago) things look... better. We used to look good every day in our memories. We tend to want to go back and live in the past when we felt good about ourselves. However, I can freely admit, at those times in my memories (or pictures) I remember thinking the same thing. The same discouragement about how I looked. I never seem to get there moving forward, it always seems I came from there in the past... right?

Attack #5: The screen

     This is probably the biggest attack they use on us and why the sermon below should be watched. How often do we disengage from reality to indulge in the screen only to start wanting what we see there? That beautiful model, that young guys with a six pack, and how can that actress still look just as young as she did when I was four?! This attack usually leads me to "give up" for the day and in so many words say "screw it, I deserve to wallow and pig out". Yep, being transparent, the beautiful images tend to be the hardest on me. Instead of motivating me (like they do my husband) and give up and decide to do whatever it is that makes me feel better. In my case, (and a besetting sin) is food. That will make me feel better in the long run... right?

The solution has and always will be simple but hard

     Though Jesus says the path is straight (simple) it is narrow (hard to stay on). So often we start, live, and end our days with our own self in mind. Remember I am just as guilty. How many of us know the attack is coming before we even get up and pray for the truth to shine through the images we see? How often do we ask God to show us what He sees before it is too late? I have to say for me... not once. Not once have I asked God before even looking into the mirror to let me see through His eyes. It is always a reaction to what I already see as to when I cry out to Him in despair or allow the above situation to take place.
     THIS IS THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER: There is not a single person living that has ever seen what they truly look like. Every single thing in creation that allows you to see you is NOT necessarily what is really there. Just like everything in creation, the enemy wants to corrupt and manipulate it. When you look in the mirror and hate what you see, does that align with God's word? Nope. What about when your spouse or children say that despite what you are seeing you really look beautiful because of the Spirit speaking through them and you think it's a lie, does that align with God's definition of love? Nope. The reflection in glass then? No, you cannot trust this either. Glass can bend and have different thicknesses and even if it is flat and the correct thickness, you can never be sure what you are seeing is real. Pictures, probably the biggest lie of all. The camera may add 10 pounds because of the 3D image being flat, or is it 4D, doesn't matter! I know 100% I have looked at HUNDREDS of pictures of myself with friends and while I usually hate how I look they ALWAYS look like I see them. It is why our loved ones have such a hard time getting through to us that we are beautiful (and God for that matter). Next, memories, friends I will give you the best piece of advice I have ever received to that. A counselor once told me (while going through the hardest time in my life) that if I could not reminisce without negative antiChrist emotions invading then not to reminisce until I could. This is so true, and night time is the worst. The enemy is slick and knows fatigue and bad emotions make it easy for you to obsess with those images of the past. Yet, if you are honest you know you can't believe what you remember either! If all the images you see of yourself are filtered then the images in your brain can be too. Lastly, screens, in my opinion the worst of the worst. Again, I am not saying to stop watching anything. However, when the day has been like the one in the above dialogue, STAY AWAY FROM THEM. Remember the part about isolation? Well here is the thing. Isolation is you alone with the enemy, however, solitude is you alone with God. So the next time you want to escape because of how you feel about yourself, go to God in solitude. Go to God alone and cry out your feelings to the one who tried to whisper the truth to you all day. That is the ONLY was to quiet everything, including the enemy, so you can He the truth your value.
     Here is the bottom line, GO TO GOD. Start your day off ready for a fight. Believe your loved ones and friends when they say you are beautiful. When those voices get loud or the day gets too busy despite those self loathing feelings about yourself, stop and call out to the one that reassures you of the truth of who you are. Read Ephesians 1 and 2 and pull out all He says you are to Him and believe it. Know you have never ever in this life time actually seen what you really look like. So dear reader, fight back! Don't let the enemy in. We are entering a new era with AI. False perfection is here and it will be flooding every avenue in your life, you must have His armor on. Be discerning, believe your fellow believers with what they say about you. Call out the lies for what they are and cast out the demon trying to pull you down. You must learn to do this so you as a believer can be discerning and know how to tell the difference between The Truth and almost the truth. The enemy is taking this seriously, you should too. Link to sermon below.

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                          The Rise of AI and the Future of the Church | Revelation 13:11-18 | Austin Hamrick           ​