Distraction, Distraction, Distraction

I appreciate the way this book (The Ishbane Conspiracy) makes one think about certain tactics that Satan may (and does) use to distract us from living out our faith. One of the most evident ways is through all of the different entertainment and electronics available to us. As it says, one of the best ways to keep Christians from living their faith is “distraction, distraction, distraction.” These following sections from various letters highlight this, and also look at the topic of parent/children relationships.


To Foulgrin, From Prince Ishbane:

This is the connected generation – connected to computers, telephones, videos, television, music. But they’re also the disconnected generation – disconnected from parents, church, and moral absolutes.
The more hours they spend on the Internet – and their other substitute realities – the more stressed, depressed, and lonely these kids become. It hampers their ability to communicate with real people in real life. The online world is a virtual reality without responsible adults. But the Enemy has made them to need adults, just as adults need them. Our job is to divide the generations. Convince them they don’t need each other, they can’t understand each other. Drive any wedge you can between [them]…

… Parents believe ceaseless activity will keep [their children] out of trouble. What it really does is keep them from pondering what’s missing in their lives. They’ll never turn their attention to the Enemy. Not as long as we can lock them onto our long lineup of alternatives…

… This generation has been given more and less than any other. More wealth, recreation, technology, and free time. Less morals, guidance, discipline, and inspiration. Parents smothering their children with toys and technology is my favourite kind of child abuse. The more they have, the less they enjoy. The more activities thrust upon them, the more they’re bored.

You must bombard [Jillian’s] life with so much noise that she cannot hear the Enemy’s still small voice.
When the Enemy whispers to her about her deepest needs, prompt her to open the refrigerator. Or turn up the radio. Turn on the television. Pick up the phone. Let her do anything besides examine her life, her emptiness, and her morality.

… The Enemy’s music can lift their hearts and deepen their minds. Worst of all, it can lead them to worship. Yet Jillian can sing her horrid little “praise songs” at the church youth group, then pull out of the parking lot that same night singing along to a song on the radio about the pleasures of fornication. She doesn’t think of it in those terms, of course. It’s your job to see she never does…

… Of course you should do everything you can to distract her from the forbidden book. If it’s a seedy romance novel of a video promoting materialism and superficiality, all the better. The media is our most effective gateway to their puny minds. Program her mind like they program a computer – what goes in is what comes out.

… Think how time-consuming it would be to individually deceive every human heart. That’s why we need the media. Through screens and speakers we control their pulses, fuel their passions, and pour their soft squishy minds through our funnel into a Jell-O mold of cultural conformity. Their minds dulled, their senses numbed, they become our automatons. Even in their enslavement, we convince them they’re free. It’s Christianity that enslaves, we tell them. It seems ludicrous to think they’d fall for it. But they’ve been doing it for centuries.Poison a water supply at its source. Their minds are the headwaters of their actions. Our lyrics run down their minds like rust runs down a sink drain. Nothing distracts and contaminates like a nicely placed television commercial or a song on the radio…