“We demolish arguments and every
pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God…” 2 Corinthians 10:5
“…She gave birth to a son, a male
child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to
His throne…And there was war in heaven…The great dragon was hurled to the
earth, and his angels with him…The the dragon was enraged at the woman and went
off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s
commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Revelation 12: 5,7,9,17
There
is more than one reason that Satan wants us to become ignorant about God, but
certainly a foundational one is revenge. Revelation 12 tells us all about it. We
are given fits by him because we are those offspring in this story. We are the
targets of the Enemy’s wrath, simply because we hold to the testimony of Jesus.
When
weak ones are taken captive by cults or gangs, crafty leaders know that chains
and cells are not strong enough to cause their victims to become submissive
followers. A submissive and subservient
following is the core motivation of any cult leader; unreserved adoration and
obedience is what he feeds on. And just controlling and limiting the freedom of
the body has nothing to do with inspiring adoration. The leader must control the victim’s
thinking; he must have power over the mind
of his captives. Thus, the victim’s mind
must be washed clean of its definition of truth. No lesser degree of brainwashing could go far
enough to achieve total dependence and trust.
It’s
hard for me to imagine how that could happen so completely—
how someone’s whole framework of
truth could be torn down and obliterated in a relatively short period of time. But if I stop and recall some of the things I
have done that have made me ashamed of myself, I realize that I should have at
least an inkling of an idea how, on a less drastic but still dangerous level,
brainwashing happens to most of us.
I find some new truth in the Word and
become so excited that my tongue practically knocks my teeth out trying to tell
people about it…for a while. It feels,
for a while, like the most important thing I have ever learned, and woe be unto
me if I do not help others to see it. It changes my life…for a while.
I don’t know exactly what
happens that changes things—
probably that answer is many pronged—
but I think a lot of it has to do with some kind of sinister and perverted idea
of vacation I buy into from time to
time. Perhaps I have spent so much time studying and writing and teaching that
I listen to a voice that starts yammering on about “balance,” so I taper off
and give my brain some less crucial and more relaxing fare for a few days. With
me it doesn’t have to be anything immoral or even borderline; just something
mild and harmless that leaves my thinking in
neutral. I simply quit growing for a while.
Then pretty soon I realize
I am not only not thinking about much
that matters; I am also not doing
much that matters, and although I won’t go so far as to say I am not saying
much, I really am not saying much that matters.
If
anybody can relate, can we just admit right now to each other that too much of
this kind of thing can kick the teeth out of our holding to the testimony of
Jesus?
Please
don’t think I am not for playing. I am
BIG for playing! I just think we need to
be watchful about subtle ways that enraged, vengeful dragon might be trying to
weaken our memories of the knowledge of God, just like Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
