Fay,
That sounds good that you live in a village and
have what you need.
It's sad to hear that much of the reports about
possible winter conditions are actually hype, meant for
distraction.
Apparently propaganda is as alive and well there,
as it is here, where I'm at.
Back in the first part of the '80s, I was asked to
go work in the Soviet Union, for unit startups in refineries.
For about three years, I worked in three different
soviet republics, with the 3rd of these in Siberia.
Initially, I was appalled at the extent of the
propaganda, there.
e.g. on television, they were showing scenes from
the 1930's Depression soup lines, but said that it was current
scenes in the US.
However, when I returned to home, I began to
realize that I had grown up in a world of propaganda, as well,
and never even knew it.
I was of a generation that grew up in a time when
tv commercials dominated our lives and thinking.
e.g. it was never necessary to use advertisements
to get people to buy broccoli, but it was to get people to buy
processed "breakfast cereal".
How were they able to convince people to buy, and
even enjoy, such disgusting junk food?
The same exact way they convinced people to vote
for someone, that they never would have, had there not been
such extensive tv propaganda.
We lived in a dream world, where if we had many of
the distracting things we liked, we would never realize what
the world was actually up to.
The same people who lied to us about junk food and
politicians, were the same ones supposedly informing us about
reality.
In the '90s, I had the opportunity to work in a
refinery in Saudi Arabia.
Another person who came to work there was from
Pakistan.
He was shocked beyond reason at my view of
"reality" in the world.
He asked why I never realized that so many people,
of so many countries, did not trust my country at all, even
despising many things we did.
He was so surprised that I grew up thinking that
"we were the good guys", that we only wanted to help the
world, and that everyone appreciated that.
Okay, after working in Baroda, in Gujarat, India,
I had learned of a completely different history and view of
life in Pakistan, their neighbor.
So, I did not take everything that he said, at
face value, at all - however, I realized that he, like I, had
grown up in an highly propagandized environment.
Then, while working in China, I noticed the same
thing, they too grew up in a world of propaganda.
Since then, the internet and cellphones are now
everywhere, where music, sports, entertainment, education, and
news are digitally altering the world's view of reality.
Propaganda has exponentially exploded in its reach
and effectiveness.
Yet, the truth of the word of God in the gospel,
is still going out into the world.
The scriptures, when heard or read, has something
that propaganda never had:
Romans
10:17 So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Ephesians
6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
However, time is running out, and soon:
II
Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because
they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
There is coming a worldwide propaganda that so
greatly exceeds anything that has come before.
But this time, the results will be absolutely
damning.
.