The devil’s ploy
AS the world celebrates the solemnity of Christ the King, Satan calls a general convention of demons to plan the best strategy to keep human beings away from Christ’s dominion. One demon comes up with a bright idea. He shouts: “Let’s steal their time. Let’s tempt them with countless schemes to occupy their mind, seductive pleasures to inflate their desires, and bewitching sensations that leave them craving for more.”
Satan is delighted with the idea. He proudly announces: “Yes! Let’s deprive them of time — the most precious resource they receive from God! Tempt them to be always busy. Make them yearn for success, wealth, and praise, so they will work themselves to death. Push them to spend, borrow, sell, acquire, lease, and indulge in endless business transactions.
“Prevent them from spending time with their loved ones. Persuade wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to stay in the office 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Brainwash them into thinking that giving their children money is a good substitute for quality time. As their families fragment, homes will disintegrate. Soon they will be spending their time in bars, discos, casinos; or waste their hard-earned money on drugs and other forms of escape.
“Over-stimulate their minds to prevent them from thinking clearly. Muddle their priorities. Entice them to keep their TV, DVD players, iPad, iPod, or PC’s open when they are at home or in the car; keep the cell phones handy and continually upgraded so they will be addicted to it; overwhelm their eyes and ears with news and movies; keep the giant billboards bright and attractive so advertisers can invade their minds even when they are driving or traveling; flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mailorder catalogues, sweepstakes, lotto numbers, and every kind of promotional products, services, and gadgets.
“Put skinny, beautiful models on TV and magazines so women will spend all their time trimming their fat, lifting their noses, faces, and breasts, leaving them no time to uplift their spirits. Make men believe that muscles make a real man, that a macho must keep a mistress, and that success requires them to be dishonest and cunning. Soon, they will end up exhausted, wasted human beings, living immoral or amoral lives, trying to create themselves in the likeness of celebrities.
“Give them Santa Claus, snowman, bright trinkets, and expensive commodities to distract them from the real meaning of Christmas. Keep them busy hunting for Easter Bunny and Easter eggs so they will forget the essence of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Commercialize Mother’s Day and Father’s Day so they will worry more about buying gifts rather than spending time with their mothers and fathers; involve them in gossip and small talk, so they will have no time for self-examination and prayer.”
Satan is happy. He has found the right formula to keep human beings in his power. The demons goes eagerly around the world, causing people everywhere to get busier and more harried, harassed, rushed, and stressed out.
So, if today you’re too busy that you sleep less and less, and work more and more, you must be under Satan’s yoke.