Years ago, my sisters and I watched quite a bit of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts. One of these in particular put me in mind of today’s circumstances. It’s Magic, Charlie Brown is all about how to put on a great magic show. At one point, Snoopy is doing all of these awesome magic tricks and he isn’t necessarily impressing the crowd. One heckler in the crowd even points out that during Snoopy’s pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick, he’s not pulling out an actual rabbit. He shouts, “Fake, Fake! That’s no rabbit! We want our money back!” Watching the events of the past year, I can honestly say that I’ve never so closely identified with an animated character as I do with this kid at this moment in time. Seeing all of the craziness that is going on and all of the “fake” that we are being forced to tolerate is wearing on me, but more than that, it is a direct indication that Satan’s power here on Earth has hit an all-time high. This is, after all, Satan’s playground. This world is where he has power, albeit not as much power as he’d like to have. So, he keeps pushing. For those who don’t know Jesus, it isn’t obvious that it’s all a big show. And it’s very easy for the devil to sink his claws into those who either aren’t paying attention or who aren’t ready to face the truth. Where there is no connection to God, there is no connection to truth.

For example, evil seeks to cancel out every good thing that God has created. Think about the most corrupt areas of our society; the government, Hollywood, the media, the pharmaceutical industry…just to name a few. These areas thrive on creating something that looks good or looks effective, but really isn’t or is only partially so. All of these things depend on deception and the vulnerability of their audience in order to be successful. And when a person enters any of those realms with the intent of interacting in a more genuine manner, they are ostracized, belittled, shamed or vilified by those in control of those areas. In many cases, those who swallow the whole narrative hook, line, and sinker are likely to defend their leaders to the death in order to save face. As long as the right egos are stroked, everyone is happy…except for those who know better.

For me, one thing that stands out these days is the fact that most of our entertainment is desperate to uphold a narrative that encourages the destruction of God’s creation. Teaching and encouraging people (especially children) to embrace alternative lifestyles instead of helping them understand their God-given roles is an abomination, yet our entertainment industry seems to have circled the wagons to bombard the public with television shows and movies that glorify these ideals. However, instead of using their platform to help embrace and uplift the LGBTQ community, they seem to have used it more to tear down and shame the heterosexual “community.” In fact, I can’t think of one television show that I’ve watched recently that hasn’t attempted to push the LGBTQ narrative down the throats of its audience in hopes of normalizing behaviors that God has already said are not acceptable. At the same time, any show or entertainer that attempts to lift up a nuclear family or a family with Christian values is relegated to the B-list and treated as though it is toxic.

A bigger concern here, however, is the any programming that is designed specifically to teach children about being part of the LGBTQ community. When society is pushing so hard for children to be taught about sexuality and sex roles before they are even developmentally able to understand the difference between a man and a woman it’s not an awareness thing, it’s an indoctrination agenda. There is no healthy benefit to pushing this information on a child. It simply plants a seed early on that what you were born as isn’t good enough. Causing a child to question who they are before they have any understanding of how life works is cruel and abusive. In my opinion, it’s a potential gateway to sexual abuse and molestation. And maybe, that’s the point. If we desensitize the kids and then guilt the parents into somehow thinking that they haven’t allowed the child to fully express themselves, we can make everyone think that gender role confusion is normal and then we can work on normalizing sexual relationships with children and we won’t have to hide the giant pedophilia ring that we’ve been working so hard to hide. And yes, it does exist. If you haven’t seen any hint of it, then you must have your head buried pretty deep in the sand.

Personally, I don’t care if someone is choosing to be gay or lesbian or questioning or whatever; however, I will never say that these lifestyles are what God wants for them. I will say that it is between that person and God, just like the decision to live any other sinful lifestyle. Today’s culture would say that my reluctance to accept the LGBTQ agenda means I’m hateful. It’s just the opposite. If I hated someone for being different from me, I wouldn’t tell them that God designed them with a purpose in mind. And that anything that isn’t functioning in the way that God intended it to function is in fact, unhealthy. This goes for addiction, abuse, poverty, etc. God didn’t mean for His people to abuse themselves any more than He meant for us to abuse one another. It’s not my design; it’s God’s. Yet there are those who would have us believe that it’s completely healthy to use our bodies and minds for things that we weren’t designed to do. They aren’t truly supportive of these individuals. They only uphold and applaud the behavior because it thumbs the nose at God.

Lest you think I’m picking on the LGBTQ folks, please understand that this is just one of many areas of our society that are pushing agendas that aren’t quite what they seem. For example, I feel that the current pandemic has been presented by the government and the media as something that it really isn’t. I believe there is an illness, but I also believe that there is a more sinister narrative at play. The government is hiding behind contrived statistics and scare tactics aimed at manipulating the people. The whole thing was definitely meant to keep people from paying attention to some other shenanigans taking place in our government. And even though it is becoming more and more obvious each day that certain promises are not going to be kept, there are still those who steadfastly preach that we must obey the government’s mandates. I’m not going to argue the point of whether or not masks are effective, so don’t bother. In the interest of maintaining a healthy blood pressure, I will just delete your comment and move on. Rational thought should prevail here, but at this point so many have jumped on the bandwagon that they are afraid to jump off; even when the truth is clear to them.

So, how do we get everyone to see that the rabbit in the hat is actually Woodstock? How do we figure out how to get people to see Charlie Brown again now that Snoopy’s magic made him invisible? I mean, how do we get people to admit that they have just witnessed the biggest bait-and-switch ever perpetrated on a society? And how do we get people to see these “leaders” as they really are instead of how the “media” has portrayed them? Is it possible to undo a brainwash? Is it possible to extinguish a gaslight of such massive proportions? The answer, of course, is yes. Though it won’t be easy, it is possible to finally bring the truth to light. Those who are acting rationally need to keep the faith and stay steadfast in their pursuit of justice. Even though it looks like even the idea of justice is all but a memory, we must continue to fight for what is right and true. The things we know as Christians are that God would not want someone in power who approves of abortion. He would not want someone who pushes an agenda which causes His creation to question the way He created them. He would not want someone in power who takes away a person’s ability to live a full and happy life. He would not want someone in power who threatens to take away freedoms; especially spiritual freedoms. He would not want someone who seeks to cover up corruption. God’s chosen are not afraid to expose the evils of society and shine a light on the devil’s attempts to present his counterfeit offerings as something God’s children should want or desire.

I realize that it is not easy to accept that you’ve been lied to, cheated, deceived, or manipulated. It brings up all sorts of insecurities that most of us would prefer not to admit we possess. But the truth is, we’ve all been had. And if we don’t look for our truth in something that isn’t designed to deceive us, then we should expect no better treatment than what we are getting. I put my trust in God because I know that His truth is the whole truth. Nothing in this world will ever measure up to what God can provide for me. Nothing in this world that fails to line up with His word is worthy of my devotion. Only God can provide the security, safety, and sanity that I need. And He is happy to provide it to each and every one of us. But in order to access it, we have to give up our need to be included in this world’s narrative. We have to cancel our subscriptions to the ridiculousness that is parading around our society as righteousness. We have to turn away from Sodom and Gomorrah as we run to Him and we must not look back.

Rebecca Benston is the owner of Higher Ground Books & Media and the author of over twenty titles currently available through Amazon and other outlets. Her books include a mystery series (The Rona Shively Stories), empowerment resources such as Wise Up to Rise Up, Don’t Be Stupid (And I Mean That in the Nicest Way), and From Judgment to Jubilee, children’s books including Grumble D. Grumble Learns to Smile, All the Scary Things, and See How Strong You Are. Benston lives in Springfield, Ohio with her awesome daughter, Mya and enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and telling it like it is. She enjoys being able to help other authors get their stories out there through Higher Ground and has recently expanded her freelance services to offer more extensive guidance as a writing coach and social media manager. For more information, you can contact Benston at highergroundbooksandmedia@gmail.com.

Featured image courtesy of Charles Schultz, Creator of the Peanuts series.

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