The Weevil Strategies

Okay, you rookie demons, I am starting you out at the shallow end of the pool. When it comes to deceiving human beings, few tools have been as useful as this one: Fear Of Missing Out (or FOMO for short). Just look back at the beginning of the human race, and see how our Leader (Long live Lucifer!) deceived Adam and Eve. It is a remarkable work of evil genius that remains forever instructive to us demons. Notice how Lucifer employs what I call the “Deadly D’s”: doubt, distraction, discouragement, deception. After initially getting Eve to hesitate about what God has really said (always a good move, take note), the Crafty Serpent lies straight to her face: “You will not certainly die.” And then look how he deploys FOMO in the next sentence: “God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He makes it seem like she is missing out and it is all God’s fault. Brilliant. Our Master then highlights to Eve how delicious the forbidden fruit looks. He suggests the fruit is her ticket to get in on whatever she is afraid of missing out on. She takes the bait. Then — boom — sin, fall, separation, death. Game over. Exquisitely hideous, is it not? We keep playing these same tricks down through the generations because they work so well. FOMO is infinitely useful to us. In the Information Age, FOMO has become ridiculously easy. Humans have created a stream of information that is literally endless. Endless are the opportunities they could be missing out on at every moment. And it is our job to keep reminding them of what they are missing out on every chance we get. We want them to be afraid of missing the latest news, the hottest deal, the current trends, the inside joke, the funny video, that event, that experience, that possession, that person, that place, that thing, that feeling. Whatever “that” is, we want them afraid of missing out on it. We have kept many people running the rat race of FOMO from childhood to death. They experienced no peace or rest or lasting happiness in life. And they certainly won’t since death has claimed them. Many happy marriages have been devastated simply by the use of FOMO. I have helped many spouses break their most sacred vows simply because they were scared of missing out on some sexual pleasure with someone else. Generations of complication exchanged for a moment of exhilaration. Fools! It’s like Esau giving up his whole future for a bowl of soup all over again. Ha! Through FOMO we inflict so much addiction, relational dysfunction, and discontentment on the human race. Do you know how much sleeplessness-turned-exhaustion-turned-mental-illness results from people who won’t shut off their screen and get a good night’s rest? And what’s the root cause? FOMO. Now, of course we have lots of other options for developing mental illness besides overuse of screens. But never underestimate the use of seemingly harmless things like screens to nudge people in the direction we want them to go. I love using FOMO, especially against the young. Consider one of my current case subjects: Jordyn. She is young, bright, attractive, from a Christian background, trying to figure out her place in the world. She used to be a rather happy and content child, in spite of the fact of her father’s absence. She enjoyed the present moment. She was engaged with her family. Now, with a relentless feed of information and images to trigger her FOMO, she has become much more emotionally unstable. Her emotional instability is a symptom of the deep insecurity we pump into her while she is busy comparing herself to the best sides of everyone on her screen. Delicious victory. Now a word of caution here, my fellow demons. Since none of you are as illustriously intelligent as I am…you no doubt need me to tell you: beware that FOMO has a bright side. The bright side is this — there really are important things that humans could miss out on: real love, authentic peace...eternal salvation. Satan forbid! We do not want people to be concerned about such great things. Or if they are, we want them to be so concerned about them that they drive themselves and everyone around them crazy. No need to worry. Most people will give up on important things if we just keep them busy with immediate things. Another word of caution: be careful not to mistake FOMO and hope. Hope is a healthy anticipation of good things ahead. Hope is awful for us. It gives such strength and life to humans. Such playfulness. Do not let humans have such a happy, positive outlook on the future. Instead, fill them with worries that their future won’t be as successful as it should be. Make them think that right now everyone else is doing bigger and better things than they are, and that they are increasingly further and further behind from where they should be. Fear, not hope, is what we’re after. Play that “Deadly D” of distraction — of FOMO — frequently. Furiously. FOMO is a carrot on a stick. Use it to lead humans around in circles. Then lead them off a cliff.