I remember back in
my college days going to a lecture given by B.F. Skinner on conditioning. I remember walking out of that lecture
sobered and a bit scared at how easily it is to manipulate people and how easily
people allow themselves to be manipulated without even knowing it. Then I took a class in Advertising that
sobered me even more. Being a behavioral
science major the two major money draws for careers after graduation were
advertising and criminal investigation, both dealing with what makes people do
what they do. I observed that there was
a fine line between these choices. The
conclusion of my studies made me very aware of how easily people can be
deceived and how easy it is to control other people.
As a believer in
Jesus I am aware that since the beginning there has been a force that is in the
world that is anti God, and the main tool used by that force is deception, and
the place that tool is used is the mind of people. Deception misleads one into error unless the
mind is grounded and centered in the Truth.
Deception uses doubt, distortion, denial, and deformation. Satan used this tool on Adam and Eve in the
garden; he uses it today with all human beings in the world. He attempted to use it with Jesus in the
wilderness but failed. Jesus withstood
Satan’s tool of deception and left for me a lesson and an example.
Jesus stood
grounded and centered in God’s Truth, in the Word of God, and Satan had no
other option except to, “BE GONE.” The
lesson I have learned is to go to the Source; always look behind the curtain
where the controls are and find out whose hands are on the levers.
It is difficult
these days because it takes time and energy to investigate and so the
temptation is to bow to the ways of ease and convenience. It is inconvenient to look for Truth so the
mind set becomes, there is no absolute Truth so just do what’s there, do what
feels right, and be satisfied. With that
mindset comes a disdain for those who disrupt the peace by trying to expose
what is going on behind the curtain, what is not absolute Truth but only
convenient and subjective; this people are labeled negative, naysayers, and
dismissed or destroyed. Prophets of prosperity are easier on the ears than
prophets of doom. This world is being
branded by the enemy of God and is being sold a boatload of goods that are in
Truth, very bad. They are cheap,
artificial, without substance and are not sustainable.
I look for the
Totos who fearlessly and simply pull back the curtain to the one controlling
the levers, the one who yells loudly, “Pay no attention to the one behind the
curtain.” I listen for the voice of the
little boy in the crowd who fearlessly and simply says, “The Emperor is wearing
no clothes.”
I choose to stand
grounded and centered with my mind daily renewed in the Source, in God’s Word
that reveals the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
