Behind the Scenes

The Primary Tactic of Suppressors

There is a single and primary tactic used by suppressors that eclipses all others—the tactic of deceit.

The meaning of deceit ranges from replacing accurate truth with blatant lies to modifying the truth ever so slightly so that the truth is no longer clear and comprehensible. Additionally, the purpose or goal of deceit is the presentation of misinformation meant to persuade people’s thinking to meet a goal, whatever that goal may be. Simple enough!

Of course, deceit is behind every act of disinformation ranging from financial scams to slight-of-hand magic acts to strategic military operations. In fact, the entire world is deceived, or being deceived in one degree or another. The diametrically opposed views of life and the origins of all things, just to name a few, is evidence enough of the fact that people are being deceived. After all, the truth claims that exist do not exist in a vacume—opposing claims cannot all be true. The Scriptures clearly teach the world is under deceit and actively being deceived and says, "...the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:20 ESV).

Deceit in the hand of an accomplished persuader is a powerful tool indeed. Skilled deceivers are able to present information from a particular perspective or slant in such a fashion that a hearer believes a deceiver’s story, often even when evidence points in the opposite direction.

Warfare is often fraught with deceitful tactics. World War 2 saw the one of the greatest feats of deception the world had ever witnessed and is still considered one of the primary reasons for success during the Normandy landings. Here is an excerpt describing Operation Fortitude.

Operation Fortitude was the code name for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two sub-plans, North and South, with the aim of misleading the German High Command as to the location of the invasion. Both Fortitude plans involved the creation of phantom field armies (based in Edinburgh and the south of England) which threatened Norway (Fortitude North) and Pas de Calais (Fortitude South). The operation was intended to divert Axis attention away from Normandy and, after the invasion on 6 June 1944, to delay reinforcement by convincing the Germans that the landings were purely a diversionary attack (taken from https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Operation_Fortitude)

The reason Operation Fortitude was successful was due to the skillful manipulation of the truth by talented deceivers (no negative connotation meant) within the Allied command. The intent of the operation was to deceive the German high command into believing the Normandy landings would occur at Calais, France, rather than the Normandy beaches. The operation gave the appearance of one set of facts while hiding the truth from German onlookers. When the ruse was over, the shock by those deceived could not have been greater.

Adolph Hitler was another who understood the power of deceit. In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler provides advise on how to successfully deceive masses of people:

All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”--Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

The reason deceit works so successfully is because well-spoken rhetoric is persuasive—even if it is incorrect. Furthermore, people often want to believe a certain thing or situation to be true, regardless if the circumstances or reality appears otherwise. Deceit is accomplished when someone armed with lies comes into contact with listeners who are not prepared to defend against the suppression of, or modification of the truth. While deceit in every area of life is serious, it is most dangerous in regards to God. Paul warns us through his letters to beware of those who distort the truth of God. For example, in his letter to the church at Colossae, he writes,

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8 ESV).

People are taken captive by, as Paul puts it, “philosophy and deceit.” This all stands to reason when we consider the number of opposing view points regarding philosophy and religion which exist in the world. Those who suppress the truth of God have themselves fallen prey to deceit (often unaware they were deceived) and they in turn continue the deceit to others. Consider once again a few perspectives by people who distort the truth.

“An atheist doesn't have to be someone who thinks he has a proof that there can't be a god. He only has to be someone who believes that the evidence on the God question is at a similar level to the evidence on the werewolf question.”--John McCarthy

“All thinking men are atheists.”--Ernest Hemingway

“Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?”--Friedrich Nietzsche

“When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.”--Umberto Eco

The primary tactic of suppressors is deceit. Not only do suppressors deceive themselves and others, they also employ numerous methods to disseminate their lies. Let’s take a look at a few of those methods.

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