Twenty-plus years ago, in this space, we published an article named “The Business of Snatching Minds.”
It was a shocker. At the time, we were incredulous as to how much of people’s waking hours were taken up with media devices. The latest surveys at that time reported that the average person living in North America spent 9.2 hours on such devices (social media, iPhone, internet, radio, TV … etc.) every day. Yes, 9.2 hours per day. This was a stunning increase of 45% from five years before. Surely this trend could not extend much further, we reasoned. After all, people need to sleep too!
However, now two decades later, updating the data, we are shocked again. Perhaps people don’t sleep after all … or have no need of quiet times to rest their brains. (Granted, some of the increased media usage is attributable to Covid-19.)
Consider this statistic: According to recent surveys, people in the US over 18 years of age are spending a seemingly frivolous 11.1 hours a day on their media devices (smartphones, iPads, gaming consoles … etc.). That equates to an average of 70% of one’s waking hours. What to make of these trends?
This and related trends are highly significant and must be seen in an endtime context. However, we should be careful to mention that technology in and of itself is not evil. However, it can facilitate great evil if applied to nefarious agendas … especially so given the power of its globally interconnected infrastructure.
We commented at the time that, just as the concept of “share of wallet” had been used by marketing strategists to great effect, the same would apply to a strategy focused on “share of mind.”
We postulated that Satan himself has masterminded this strategy of “share of mind.” The proof? The “share of mind” that God’s truths or a relationship with Jesus Christ attract in our time—specifically also in so-called Christian nations—is at an all-time low. In fact, the collapsing “share of mind” trend that we reference is actually a phenomenon applying to last-day Bible prophecy (as we will show).
But why is this stratagem to jam people’s minds and thinking so important and effective? Why is the mind such an important facet of Satan’s endtime strategies? And, sadly, why has this strategy been so successful?
Targeting the Mind
The human mind is a strategic focus in the cosmic battle for at least three important reasons. First, our faith involves the mind. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18a). Faith, belief, and obedience are connected to reasoning. As Apostle Paul admonished, we are urged to use our mind … to not put our brains on the shelf: “…I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind” (1 Corinthians 14:15).
In contrast, cultic religions try to immobilize and disable the mind … to circumvent the natural safeguard of the mind. Not so, our Lord. Yes, it is true that our minds are not able to fully understand His greatness and His ways. But that does not mean we do not accept logic and reason to support our beliefs.
The next reason is that our mind is the place of the spiritual battleground. It is precisely what thoughts gain access to the mind—whether through eyes, ears, or spirit—that have an impact upon our hearts and soul. In fact, what the Bible calls the heart is, in essence, what our mind chooses to believe and pursue.
Our thoughts represent reality and are just as eternally important as our physical actions. Christ made this point very clear, saying, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Here we see that the evil thoughts of the mind—if not repulsed—become an actual sin of the heart, whether there has been physical consummation or not.
Lastly, the mind finds its interface in the brain, a fleshly organ that learns and adapts. This grey matter can become habituated to lifestyle, thought patterns, and thinking processes. Just like an exercised muscle becomes stronger, so also the physical pathways of the brain.
These pathways can become trained and expert. To the extent that we have trained our brain to allow bad thoughts and behaviors, we need to undo them. Apostle Paul refers to this as renewal. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
In conclusion, we now understand the main reasons why the human mind is the logical point of assault. It is the essence that exercises faith and chooses a relationship with God. It is the spiritual war zone. And lastly, through our physical brain, our mind can entrench behavior and responses that we may have to strive to unlearn.
Super-Jamming the Human Mind
The onslaught against the attentive human mind continues. Without question, the mind of modern-day humanity remains under assault. The incursions are increasing and coordinated as perhaps never before. Moreover, a global communications bandwidth has rapidly taken form, which plays a pivotal role in enabling the Antichrist and the Beast to deceive the world, both on a macro and personal basis.
(An earlier article published in this space was entitled “The Last Technology.” It explained why the internet-connected smartphone is the last and final technology required for prophetic enablement.)
The result is that the average person’s mind is bombarded with entertaining images and populist messages. With that kind of informational diet, the mind loses its alertness … its ability to discern truth from fiction … to see and recognize the signs of the times.
“So let us not be like the others, but let us be alert and self-controlled” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Fewer and fewer people today have the ability to test and approve what God’s will and plans are. Moreover, Jesus Christ counseled His followers to be alert and to watch. How many find the time and focus to do so today?
The Focus of Mind That the Bible Wants
What “share of mind” does our Lord encourage? The Bible leaves no doubt. Hundreds of Scriptures indicate that Jesus Christ should possess our total being. God’s truth and presence should dominate our minds. Perhaps the most quoted passage is found in Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (vv. 1-2). “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97).
Thoughts to Ponder
Sadly, all of us living in the age of the super-charged media and commercialized culture of our time struggle to attain the type of devotion that Scripture upholds. Apostle Paul was already worried about this type of assault upon the minds of Christians 2,000 years ago.
“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Yes, Paul may not have understood the “somehow.” But today, we do recognize the devices and means being deployed to lead our minds astray.
What can we do? Acknowledge this encouragement: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). But in our time of a massive, coordinated assault upon the functions of people’s minds, more than acknowledgment is required.
We must also willfully act to govern and guard our minds. The Bible provides much counsel on this task. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy'” (I Peter 1:13-16).
“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7).
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Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.
Do you have questions or other perspectives, you can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com. Please note that for reasons of volume and investment securities regulation, he cannot give financial advice.