This isn’t an article about ping-pong. Having said that, I have been playing ping-pong since I was tall enough to see over the edge of the table. My dad and my oldest brother taught me the game in our basement, and we played a lot.
When my little guys were tall enough, we picked up a used table at the American Rescue Workers. When finances allowed, we went to Dick’s and bought a brand-new table for Christmas. My youngest and I still play when we get the chance. He has become quite good — and even beats the old man on occasion.
Ping-pong is a game of spin. When I play a novice, I tell them where they will hit the ball before I serve. My spin trick amazes them — and then it quickly frustrates them. At that point, I ease up on the spin to keep them interested in playing. If I don’t, they quit. Spin is that effective.
People often ask me how to defend against spin. My strategy is this: match your opponent’s spin. Whatever spin they use, return the ball with the same spin — and more. Watch very good players, and you’ll see this rule used a lot. You see it in tennis, too. Matching spin is used in a lot of sports — including the sport of politics.
Politicians are shameless masters at spin — and so are politically driven news commentators. (Is there any other kind these days?) They know the strategy of matching their opponent’s spin well. The spin has been so intense lately that the term gaslighting is being applied.
Webster describes gaslighting as psychological manipulation. It is spin used so heavily that a victim begins to question the validity of their own experiences, thoughts, perspectives, and memories. Gaslighting typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s own emotional and mental stability, and creates a dependency on the one doing the gaslighting.
Did you catch that last one? Spin applied at the gaslighting level causes the victim to become dependent on the perpetrator. That’s why politicians use it. They want you to believe you need them — that you can’t live without them. Neediness is how they get your vote. As long as spin results in needy victims, politicians will continue to employ it.
Please hear this — spin works only when someone is willing to relinquish their common sense and become a needy victim. There is a lot of neediness out there, so much so that victimhood has become a powerful voting bloc.
Spin is utilized by both political parties. If you can’t see that, then you’re already shoveling their manure. Is it true that one party uses spin more than another? Maybe, but then the other party has to increase their spin to match. That’s the way it is in ping pong and politics. It’s dizzying.
Spin is not new; it’s been around since the very beginning. Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, What has been will be again; what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
The devil used spin to tempt Adam and Eve. See Genesis 3:1-5. Paul warned Timothy about spin’s willing victims in II Timothy 4:3, For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
As believers, we don’t need politicians or the government to meet our needs. We are not victims. We are not needy. We are the children of Almighty God, and by the grace He has provided through Jesus Christ, we are free and have all that we need. Why would we look to politicians and governments to solve our problems? What could they possibly do for us that God hasn’t already done?
Today, there are followers of Jesus living in dangerous places like North Korea. They live under tyrannical leaders and fierce persecution. Jesus lived under brutal Roman occupation. That didn’t stop Him from living life and fulfilling God’s plan. The same was true for His disciples, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Esther, Nehemiah, Moses, and, well, the list could go on and on. We believers come from a long line of overcomers who refused to be needy victims.
Don’t rely on politicians and news outlets to provide you with the Truth. Instead, read and study the Word of God. Mediate on it. Let it teach you the Truth. Ask God’s Spirit to help you apply that Truth within your cultural context. Open your heart and mind to the infilling and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Pray and ask for God’s Spirit to give you wisdom, understanding, and resiliency. Stop whining about politics. Instead, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Look to serve rather than be served. Build healthy and reciprocal relationships in the Body of Christ. Place your full trust in God and His sovereignty. As you do, the Truth will set you free from neediness, and you will become less vulnerable to spin. You will be an overcomer. Listen to Jesus in John 8:31-32 and 16:33, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
