Prisoners in our mind!

I saw an article from one of my favorite teachers today – Charles Carrin – entitled “Captivity of the Mind.” He was talking about the Stockholm Syndrome where the hostage or captive learns to see their captor as their savior, even their redemption. This happens because their captor did not kill them and the intense emotions of our human psyche begin to see our captor as the one who sustains us, even though in reality it was our captor who brought us to this terrible and despicable place and this awful internal dilemma.

This is a very, very tough place to live. It’s hard to live with ourselves and now we have this outsider who has spared us further pain – even death! Maybe they see something in us we don’t see? Maybe they see our real value as people? We are mentally abducted by our captor. We are deprived of light, of rest and of food. The three basic ingredients of life are withheld from us until we turn and see our captor as our savior. We are driven, and herded and coaxed into a corral of our mind where we begin to see our captor as the only one who cares about us, the only one who knows our real needs and the only one who is willing to meet those needs. Wow! What a snow job! Yet, this occurs over and over, and over, and over again.

As people, we are so fragile and so easily led into deception. We must come to understand that our foes and our battles are not with other people. The battle is between our ears! The battles we face are those in our own minds. We are all lied to and deceived. We are the targets of a diabolical plot to seize our minds and convince us of something that just is not so. Sometimes, its lies. Sometimes its things we want to hear. Sometimes its things we really want or things we really abhor. The enemy is the father of lies and has been lying since the very beginning! In scripture, it tells us that those who do not have Jesus can be taken at will!

2 Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Imagine that! People can be taken captive by him (satan) at his will! What’s our defense? Jesus, of course! What’s the remedy for those who do not have Jesus? Jesus, of course! He is the answer! He is the light , the life and the way! He is the bread from heaven! He is the Good Shepard! He is our redemption, our salvation and our very life!

Yet, today we see people who are bound, held captive in their minds by the enemy of our souls all around us; actually we are surrounded by them and it is getting worse all the time. They have no hope, no truth and no promise. They are completely and utterly bound to the father of lies because they do not have the Author and Finisher of Life! There is no salvation without Jesus! There is no hope without Jesus! There is no truth without Jesus! And, there is no life without Jesus!

I have talked and talked, and reasoned with these people. It does not help… What is the answer? The answer is the truth! The Word is the truth! Jesus is the truth! We must learn to speak the truth and let it have its way in their lives. You and I are inadequate to the task at hand – but, Jesus is more than enough! These people must hear the truth as we are told that faith comes by hearing:

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We speak the truth by speaking scripture. We let scripture have its way and finish its course. We support that with love and honesty and genuine concern and empathy and God will do the rest! God knows what we need. He knows what each one of us needs. He knows each of us – every single one of us – by name! There is no person who has ever lived that was not created by God! There is no person so far gone that they are beyond the reach of the Almighty One! What an amazing God He is!

Time is growing shorter by the day! We are closer now than we have ever been to the culmination of all things, and the full and in your face manifestation of the Kingdom of God than we have ever been before! We must reach out and touch people! Satan wants to kill them all! He wants to kill us and all we hold dear! We must not waiver or grow faint! We must stand and be counted as warriors of Christ, the Anointed One! The time has arrived! Stand! Arise and stand! Take your place among your brothers and sisters and stand! Speak the truth! Live the truth! Be the truth! Jesus is worthy of it!

Amen!