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Brain Washed
by Tom Brown
 "For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
—Is. 55:8
Thoughts precede actions. Every deed came forth from a
thought. People often say, "I don’t know what got into
me to do that." They did that because a thought got into
them. The thought may have been brooding for a long time, but
finally the seed of thought produced a harvest of action. You
might as well accept the fact that all actions are preceded by
thoughts.
Quit saying, "I wonder why this cult killed
themselves." They killed themselves because they were
constantly thinking about it. They did what they thought to do.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) says, "For as he thinketh in his
heart, so is he". The word "thinketh" is a
continual verb. It means that a person becomes what he constantly
thinks about. Proverbs 4:23 reaffirms this, "Above all else,
guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life." Put in
contemporary terms, "Your mind is the manufacturing center
of your life. It produces your life." Jesus is even more
pointed:
The good man brings good things out of the good stored
up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the
evil stored up in him. (Matt. 12:35)
The Mind is a Computer
Your mind is like a computer—it stores information. A
computer can only perform functions according to the software
that is in it. The mind is the hard drive. The software is the
information your mind has received and accepted. Just as there
are viruses in the computer world, there are viruses of the mind.
Viruses are contracted when people copy unauthorized software.
Listen, when you receive unauthorized knowledge from people,
you are copying unauthorized software and may receive viruses
from them. This will cause your mind to malfunction. The only
hope is to clean your mind from these diseases that others have
given you. No one is authorized to impart knowledge to you. The
only authorized software is "Word Perfect—the
Bible." This will make your mind perfect.
Herff Applewhite, who was into computers, thought that he was
the authorized man to impart knowledge to people. He was
deceived. The Bible is the only authorized software available.
This is why God says, "My thoughts are not your
thoughts." God shows us that He is the only One authorized
to change your mind. He is the only One Who can brain wash
you—clean your mind from filth.
God says, "Without My thoughts, you will continue
on your ways." We want to follow God’s
ways, not our own. This can only be done by receiving God’s
thoughts. His thoughts are in the Bible.
The Bible is God’s Thoughts
No one knows the thoughts of a man, except the man himself.
You cannot read minds. There is only one way to find out what a
person is thinking, and that is to listen to what he says. Words
reveal the thoughts of a person.
1 Corinthians 2:11 says, "…no one knows the thoughts
of God except the Spirit of God." The Bible was produced
when "men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). The Bible is a Spirit-produced
book. "All Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Tim. 3:16).
God breathed on the Bible. Have you copied on the computer of
your mind this wonderful software?
Renewed Minds Produces Transformed People
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you
will be able to test and approve what God’s will
is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
One translation of this verse says, "Don’t let the
world around you squeeze you into its own mold" (Phi).
Squeezing describes perfectly what the world is trying to do to
you. It’s trying to squeeze the life of God out of you.
Don’t let it.
God put His divine nature and power inside your spirit. Your
spirit is the new person created like God. Your spirit has all
the divine attributes to radically change your life. But the
world wants you to act like them—sinful, sick, defeated, and
poor!
Many Christians act like the world because their minds have
never been renewed with the Word of God. Worldliness is more than
living an immoral lifestyle. It is living like the world. The
world is powerless. God wants believers to live in the power of
God.
God wants "transformed" believers. Be transformed
by the renewing of the mind. The word "transformed"
is the same word that is used in the "transfiguration"
of Christ. The Greek word is metamorphoo. It is where we
get our modern word "metamorphosis."
A metamorphosis is a complete transformation, much like a
caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly. You can’t
tell by looking at a butterfly that it once was a creepy, ugly
caterpillar. This is the way it should be with us. We should not
resemble the ugly world. We are set apart. We are a
"peculiar" people. The only way to change is by
renewing our minds.
We are to be "transformed into [Christ] likeness" (2
Cor. 3:18). A believer thinks he is transformed if he is a nice
moral person. Even sinners can act moral. We are called to be
radically changed so that we resemble Christ in every way.
When confronted with people with diseases, Jesus stretched
forth his hands and healed them. When facing a storm, He rebuked
it, and the storm became calm. When demons used the vocal chords
of the possessed to shout blasphemies at Christ, Jesus simply
told demons to shut up and come out, and they did.
This is the way you should act. You will have to be
transformed to act this way. The only way to change is to renew
your mind.
I believe that the Church is partially responsible for the
rise in cults in our day. Many of the people who have joined
cults were once part of the Christian religion, but they did not
see transformed people in the Church. Instead, they saw
hypocrites. They saw the Church like a country club. It’s
time that we get serious, and be radically changed and be like
Christ. But to do this we have to get rid of a lot of religious
traditions.
Delete? Yes!
Those who work to help get people out of the cults talk about
the need to deprogram those in the cults. Well, not only do those
in the cults need to be deprogrammed, but so does everyone else.
The world and religion has given you a lot of wrong
information about life that you need to erase. When you work on a
computer and program new information, the computer will ask,
"Do you want to delete?" You answer either yes or no.
When you answer yes, it asks, "Are you sure?"
When you are confronted with the truth of God Word, God’s
Spirit will ask you about the old program that you received from
the world, "Do you want to delete?" Answer,
"Yes!" But the devil comes and asks, "Are you
sure?" He wants you to keep the old program of the world.
What wrong information do you need to delete? Everything that
does not line up with the Word of God needs to be deleted. For
example, the world says, "If it feels good do it." Yet,
the Bible says, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge
it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part
of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell" (Matt. 5:29). You need to delete the old and replace
it with the new program of God’s Word.
The world says, "If you’re sick, take two aspirins
and call the doctor." The Bible says, "I am the Lord,
who heals you" (Ex. 15:26). God’s Word is medicine to
all your flesh (Prov. 4:22).
The world teaches, "If someone hurts you, then don’t
get mad—get even." However the Bible says, "Do not
take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s
wrath" (Rom. 12:19). Turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39).
The world convinces people, "If you are in financial
straits, then worry." God’s Word teaches different,
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or
‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’…But seek first his [God’s] kingdom, and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well" (Matt. 6:31, 33).
The world and sometimes religion says, "You’ll be
saved if your good deeds out weigh your bad deeds." But
God’s Word says, "For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ep. 2:8-9).
There are many other philosophies that the world has adopted
which you need to delete from your hard drive—your mind!
Three Sources of Thoughts
All thoughts come from one of three sources: God, the five
senses, or the devil. God’s thoughts are recorded in the
Bible. When you think on that book, then your thoughts come from
God. This is the only sure way of knowing whether the information
you have received is truthful. "Let God be true, and every
man a liar" (Rom. 3:4).
The second source of thoughts come from your five senses. How
do you know whether something is cold or hot, dark or bright,
sweet or sour, loud or soft? You know it by your five senses.
Normally, the five senses do not mislead you. Sometimes, though,
the five senses get in the way of trusting God.
This is why the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all
your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Pro.
3:5). Your own understanding may bring fear, worry, anger, and
all kinds of ungodly emotions. After all, if there is no money in
the bank, it seems logical to worry.
Your senses may tell you what is factual, but
not truthful. Facts can change; God’s Word cannot.
God’s Word will read the same today as it will a thousand
years from now. God’s Word still says, "My God will
meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ
Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). That’s a Scripture that you can
bank on.
Another example of the five senses contradicting God’s
Word is in the area of sickness and health. You may have a
debilitating sickness, and therefore, believe that it is
permanent. God’s Word tells you differently. Not only does
God’s Word tell you that you can be healed, but from
God’s perspective, He does not even see you sick. He sees
you well. The Bible says that you are already healed by the
stripes of Jesus (1 Pet. 2:24).
You may wonder how you can believe this when your five senses
tell you differently. This is faith. "We live by faith, not
by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). Sight is one of the five sense.
Sight represents the senses. You cannot live by faith and go by
the senses at the same time. You must choose either faith or
sight. Abraham had to make this choice:
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that
his body was as good as dead—since he was about a
hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also
dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the
promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave
glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do
what he had promised. (Rom. 4:19-21)
Notice that faith does face the fact. Faith does not
deny the existence of facts; it only affirms the preeminence of
God’s Word. God’s Word overrules any facts.
I like to use the word F.A.C.T. as an acronym for False
Appearance Contradicting Truth. Facts often do contradict truth.
Facts relate to situations and circumstances; truth relates to
God’s Word. Jesus prayed, "Thy word is truth" (Jn.
17:17, KJV). God’s Word is truth. It is not fact. Problems
are facts. Facts can change. They change when we apply God’s
Truth, His Word, to the circumstances.
Knowledge based on the five senses is called by many
"sense knowledge." I like that term. Many try to have
faith based on sense knowledge. You can’t base your faith on
sense knowledge. Paul writes,
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no
ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared
for those who love him."— but God has revealed it
to us by his Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)
The mind that bases its knowledge on what it has seen or heard
can never conceive what good things God has given to the child of
God. You can only know what God has given you if the Spirit
reveals it to you.
We have not received the spirit of the world but the
Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has
freely given us. (1 Cor. 2:12)
This kind of knowledge is "revelation knowledge." It
is knowledge that is supernaturally revealed to you by the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit takes the Scriptures that He inspired and then
reveals them to you. You will receive knowledge that your senses
may not agree is true. But your senses cannot be trusted in
spiritual matters. God’s Word can be trusted!
It is important to base your spiritual life on
"revelation knowledge" instead of "sense
knowledge." This is especially true when it comes to
understanding the devil and demons. You can’t see them, so
how do you know they are real? You know it by the Scriptures.
People often say, "I don’t believe in the devil. I
haven’t seen him." Ironically, in the same breath they
say, "I believe in God." Yet, they haven’t seen
Him! You believe in God the same way you accept the existence of
the devil, and that is through revelation knowledge. This kind of
knowledge is the only bases for understanding the devil and his
kingdom.
Satanic Thoughts
Finally, the third source of thoughts is from Satan. The devil
works on the mind. Paul warns about Satan’s operations in
the mind:
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the
serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray
from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3)
This is what happened to the Heaven’s Gate cult. Many of
them once had a sincere and pure devotion to Christ until
they got caught up with this cult. Applewhite and his wife,
Bonnie, began to subtly introduce teachings that focused on
themselves instead of Jesus Christ. Soon, the people were
worshipping them instead of Christ.
Satan works to lead your mind away from Christ and His Word.
He has done this to many people who started good in their walk
with God. Two biblical examples are Judas and Ananias.
The worse act recorded in the Bible is when Judas betrayed
Christ. What made him do such a terrible thing? John 13:2 (KJV)
tells us what caused him to do it: "the devil having now put
into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray
him." Betrayal began in Judas’s heart and mind. The
Bible says that the devil put the thought in his mind.
This is what happened to Ananias. "Then Peter said,
‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that
you have lied to the Holy Spirit" (Acts 5:3). Ananias’s
lie was produced by Satan filling his heart with a lie. The
thought-seed planted by Satan produced the harvest-action of
lying. Peter asked, "How is it that Satan has so filled your
heart?" The question is rhetorical. The answer is obvious.
How has Satan filled anyone’s mind? By them refusing to
renew it.
Any part of the mind which is not renewed will become fertile
ground for Satan to plant his satanic thoughts. Those areas are
the battleground for Satan. He will fight you there. And you
don’t stand a chance against him, until you renew that part
of your mind.
You will not be prepared to battle Satan with a mind that is
not renewed. The renewed mind has a "NO TRESSPASSING"
sign for Satan. He can’t trespass on a renewed mind.
Conversely, a mind which is not renewed becomes an open door for
the devil.
The point is simple: We cannot think that we are going to free
people from the cults without using the Word of God. No amount of
psychological maneuvers is going to ultimately work. After all,
what makes a psychologist think that he is authorized to change
people’s minds? He is no more authorized to educate people
about spiritual matters than Applewhite was. The answer to
overcoming the cults is to know the Word of God.
 You have read an edited
excerpt
of Tom Brown's book
"The Heaven's Gate Suicide"
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