Do we have to have rules? External government or self-discipline, is that the question? Throw off restraints, or buckle under, poses the paradox? Cannot I just trust my own conscience? If so, where do I get one that guides trust-worthily? Ah, guidance; how do I stay on the right road, how about my hunches, my intuition? What is true liberty? How do I discern the right way? In the last days we will have “lawlessness” and it will be sourced in a godless philosophy. The Bible calls the spirit of the age a “lukewarm” one, neither hot nor cold. Characteristic of this time will be moral decline but also an apostasy from true meaning and departure of generationally established values and traditions. Totalitarianism gains feet when folks leave “true upper guidance” and go with the flow of their intuitions, senses, emotions and pleasure seeking. This spiritual and cultural phenomena,…
Tag: <span>Deception</span>
Have you ever counseled the strong willed man? Not a chance of turning him. Bent, deeply bent, its like trying to lasso a rhino. Regardless, everything in a man’s heart will be on the table one day. For this cause man would be better off, by exposure to God’s Word, to keep a not so naive, but rather a “what’s in there” inventory. However, not on purpose he might have repressed the stuff right out of his “aware” ability. It might be a blind spot. No problem for God. Circumstances designed specifically for this cause will unearth it all, O unwelcome thought! To our advantage, when God performs this “suppressed frame uncovering” we can ascertain the force of the barbaric inner man; especially one lacking restraints —powerful. Like a dam let loose, it smashes walls and trees and banks. Raucously causing ruckus behind and before, no jars can contain it.…
We ought not to underestimate the psychological effect of the statistical world picture; it displaces the individual in favor of anonymous units that power up into mass formations. Anonymous …..cosmic loneliness tends to lead to one of four kinds of depression depending upon a person’s temperament. So what do these people do? They join the herd, and they forget. They begin to take drugs, alcohol, and become involved in immorality. When people join the herd to escape their problems, immediately they lose their identity and any possibility for proper potential development. Carl Stevens Humanism talks much of man with a capital “M” but hardly anything of the individual man. It has produced humanism out of the Enlightenment that has ended in ugliness. Francis Schaeffer. Apathy and lack of feeling are also defenses against anxiety. When a person continually faces dangers he is powerless to overcome, his final line of…
…… external constraints may be used upon man’s freedom of choice, which makes impossible it’s being carried into effect outwardly; … only God could exercise an inward constraint which would compel man to do that which, in the moment of doing it, is not his own will; and God does not use this power: Delitzsch The Psalmist prayed: “out of the depths I cry unto thee O Lord”. To what refer these depths? The unconscious mind perhaps fits this? In the unconscious mind “Absolutes” die. Absolutes are certainties. So nothing certain and everything random jellifies in the unconscious, because the whole mess marinates in double-mindedness. O, there are still “absolutes” (small a). These are half-truths which deceive the mind into thinking all is well. These little unquestionable (life according to George) concepts, exalt some to the center of their universe in deception. Let’s consider this; a guy builds a real…
As people self-realize, they build. As they think to discover themselves, they actually erect the self, and call it a discovery As we think to uncover ourselves we actually build a big cover system. We cover our self from God. We also insulate ourselves from truth/reality. The process brings a person face to face with some ugly things. Many think that everything perceived in us is accurately ours and part of our identity. They don’t reckon on these findings as optional, because modern psychology has taught it —what you observe in you, is you. There is no “devil” in this thinking. There is no right or wrong. There is only you. Hey, what you find, must be realized, to make you be a “real” person. This may be sincere, unconscious observation; but tough to swallow for some watching from outside.. One, the religious-moral folk really don’t want to see the…
Woods and Snow “That men were ashamed, was the essential consequence of the fact that their glory; that clothing of honor of their body had been perverted into the shame of nakedness… Franz Delitzsch So far, (in this book), we have reviewed an abstract on hair-raising trauma, a treatise of the ego, and a true to life tale about how the downward drag of religion started the negative ball rolling in my young life. What do these three very different thoughts imply? Where do they overlap? Do you relate at all to the parts, or whole? I actually asked myself a similar question; what is a very real similarity in it all? The striking point of cohesion is written in one word: shame. Shame and awareness of inadequacy, awareness of a need for more, a groping to reach for something not yet there, and the thing that brings a…
Pump house from the side door Some guys on T.V. talk about what we have to do, and they use a lot of Bible verses. Most of the talking sets the record straight on our responsibilities, and how to go about accomplishing them. These guys teach us how to not lose God’s favor and maintain a good standing. They are good at this kind of instruction. They speak this way all the time. I notice also how they appear so intelligent and have gained a lot of applause in other circles. Truly they are leaders and generally they know more than me so I must quietly learn from them. Boy, I wish I could learn all of their techniques and how-to-do-its. Some are Doctors and some Bishops or Elders even. When we hang out listening to these men and women, we sure feel good about finally knowing what some things…
Arizona Scenery Let’s begin with dissociation. “a term in psychology describing a wide array of experiences from mild detachment from one’s immediate surroundings to more severe detachment from one’s physical and emotional reality.” “The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality.” Daydreaming and non-pathological altered states of consciousness are mild forms. “On the other end of the spectrum are the dissociative disorders: fugue, depersonalization etc. These are typically experienced as startling, autonomous intrusions into the person’s usual ways of responding or functioning. They are quite unsettling. In mild cases dissociation can be regarded as a coping mechanism or defense mechanism in seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress—including boredom and conflict.” Wikipedia It interests me, and maybe all of us, to see a psychological picture of the wound which effects the dissociation. Before we do that, let us consider what causes the wound: generally associated with…
Coal, grease, and broken chain, on this stoker Darkness creates poverty, just as surely as light creates vitality. The big “D” likes to penetrate a life by creating a deep divide away from true life and light, and then providing a “light” of its own origin, a kind of dark-light. With this, darkness pretends true light, to create in a man a deceptive existence. Consequently, with this empty-light filling in, a person may not figure it out; they are not experiencing the true light, but a vacuum instead. So, what gives? Well, darkness, a false light, keeps a person aloof from the healthy vitamin “d” produced of true light, if we take the natural analogy to start. Secondly, life-killers like mold and fungus grow in this dark, giving us the picture of decay in a soul. See, the darkened soul, slowly dying, has the false impression of being lightened as…
Sea world, Ohio, late 70’s Christian, never let anything destroy you! Destroyers come from within and without, beneath and above, the right and the left, from the buffoon, but also, from the wise. Don’t let them do it, friend, don’t let them. First line of destroyers appear the obvious ones: beer, whiskey, cocaine, heroin, Oxycontin. Then sex, in all of its weird forms outside of God’s design for marriage, stealing, cheating, gambling, carousing, abusing others for gain, angry displays, intimidation, kicking others butts, destroying another’s good name; all hold a place with the overt ones. When overcome, these may lose their active status, and sentence themselves to the soul’s background. Watch, they can reemerge. Next group of enemies are the intimidators. These close in from the deep unknown; seek to mess with sound thinking, the flow of a man’s life, a man’s normal daily function. How? They distract…