Several year ago during the Christmas season my brothers and I were in a Birmingham area mall with our dad. We have never been big on shopping. We do research on products and then go purchase the product.
Dad was mesmerized
by a man playing with a mouse. This was long before the day before a computer
mouse. This mouse was running up the man’s stomach. The man would shift his
hands up and down making the mouse jump from hand to hand. The mouse was for
sale.
Dad bought
the mouse only to realize that he was deceived. The mouse was plastic and
attached to a long female hair. The mouse was suspended hanging by a long hair.
The mouse never moved. The man manipulated his hands making the mouse appear to
be running. We all laughed but learned to watch for deceit.
Today’s
technological world has personified deceit. I am afraid that we have reached
the societal age where critical thinking has become a lost virtue. Our
reasoning ability is such that if it is posted on social media or the world
wide web it must be true.
This is
not a new phenomenon. Lisa and I watch old movies. The Life and Legend of
Wyatt Earp is our present favorite. Filmed in the late 1950’s, high-definition
television makes the flaws more evident in the black and white photography.
Fake mustaches, beards, wigs, and makeup are more pronounced.
Stunt
doubles are obvious as are fake rocks, trees, and the fights. Producers use
trick photography to transform fake into reality. Fast forward to the present
and old movies seem archaic, even comical. What was scary and frightening in the 1905’s appears
comical today.
Even episodes
IV, V, and VI of Star Wars pales to I, II, and III. Producers adjusted
the originals to blend the old to the new. It is amazing how Artificial Intelligence
and Green Screen Lighting have made deception more realistic.
Madison Avenue
marketing and the Media has used deception for decades. They have desensitized the
masses of people to the reality of reality. Credit debt must be paid, possessions
do not bring happiness, and bad choices have detrimental consequences.
Until the
Lord returns, deception will continue to fool, and true wisdom will be able to distinguish
the difference between the real and the fantasy. One day the Antichrist, will
be the ultimate deceiver.
Even
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved.1 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
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