WRONG THINKING: THE ROOT OF ALL SIN

With the individual who offended me I used to imagine all kinds of bad things happening to him. When the fleshy mind is hurt, it will devise a way to get even. If you cannot get even with the one who hurt you, you go to the next best thing and all of the other relationships in your life become tainted. I felt someone had to pay for what happened to me. One of the definitions of thinking is the working of the fleshy mind, which is what science calls the brain.

Thinking is the mental process of the things we see, hear and feel. If a child is being constantly abused and raped and no one is there to talk to that child and tell them what is going on with them and why it happened, then that child has to come up with a solution as to why this happened. We can then begin to live in that world we create inside our own imagination, and many can find it hard to come out. The imagination becomes just as real as one’s reality, it has great creative power. It creates emotions, desires and all kinds of things. Consequently, when you cannot get the same responses in reality, you get frustrated with everybody in life. For example, you may be watching a soap opera and you see how Harry treats his wife. You want your husband to come home and treat you like Jane is being treated on the soaps. However, this is not your reality. Therefore, you get frustrated when your husband comes home and treats you the opposite of how Jane was being treated on the soaps. The television has been one of the most destructive tools that the enemy has used to keep us bound and living inside our imagination. We have to live inside of reality.

STRATEGY USED BY SATAN TO TRAIN US

Let us look at the progression of sin. Our thinking produces imagination, imagination produces feeling and our feeling gives us reaction. Reaction equals you. Since wrong thinking is the root of all sin, when you think wrong you are going to feel wrong. We must bring every thought into the obedience of the Word of God. Imagination - is the ability of the soul to produce images or ideas by either extending direct or indirect experiences, or by creating desired experiences which may only be lived out in the mind. Banks’ Expository

YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK. Through suggestions, Satan trained us to live out his lusts through our members, body, ways, mouth, etc. He trained us how to treat one another and to deny one another of love. Remember, after Adam sinned, we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. So, the strategy used by Satan to train us, took us into negative thinking which equals evil imagination, which equals bad feelings, which equals a negative you: iniquity. You will not love a person you think evil about all week long. Your thinking must change. YOU MUST RETAIN GOD IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:28.

Because they refused to retain God in their knowledge, their heart became black. The heart is filled with every evil work fortified by pride. You are held captive by a consuming lust for power and control. Envying, murder, hate, strife, perversion, etc., are locked in the heart. Because of sin, the conscience is dead to the laws of God and locked in the body of sin and death. Only God has the combination to the lock. Sin is never confined to just you, but it touches everyone associated with you. Sin destroys families, friendships and more importantly it destroys our relationship with the Father. Don’t ever think your sin is confined to just you. Whenever we choose to venture outside the boundaries that the Word of God sets in our lives, death and destruction are inevitable. This is why we are in the state we are in now, because man wants to do his own thing. Sin and the unrenewed fleshy mind, which is the brain, has no regard or respect for the laws of God. It is not subject to God and cannot be. The person who does not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is carnal and cannot be subject to the laws of God. They are not righteous and have not been made righteous, only the Spirit of God can do that. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8:7

My purpose here is to show you the evil, because we wonder why people abuse each other, murder, rape, etc. So, let’s look at an analogy. How do men become serial killers? By refusing to retain God in their knowledge, there is a systematic progression of evil that leads to a disregard of God’s law and the God given rights of others. A serial killer may start out reading Playboy magazines, which leads to pornographic movies, which leads to masturbation, which leads to peeping-toms, which leads to rape, which leads to murder, which leads to his part in the lake of fire if repentance is not granted. Lust has no boundaries and is never satisfied, it builds and it builds. If you are unwilling to let the Lord purge you and you hold unforgiveness in your heart, you will be on your way to becoming the abuser. You have to stay within God’s boundaries.

THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

Let’s look at another progression of sin. Take a look at Hitler. In the beginning Hitler probably did not plan on killing millions of Jews. It started with a suggestion outside of the boundaries of God. Then the suggestions, which in Hitler’s case became thoughts, were void of the grace of God and formed evil imagination. Hitler’s evil imagination produced hate, and hate led to total delusion. The definition of delusion is a false belief held in spite of invalidating evidence. Delusion will cause one to accept a lie as truth. The unrenewed fleshy mind has no regard for the laws of God. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:28

Suggestion - The sequential thought process by which one idea or concept leads to another.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-11

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;

Hitler believed his race was superior and that all Jews needed to be killed. He lived inside of a lie, which he became totally delusional and it led to the murder of millions and ultimately his own demise. Hitler was driven by an insatiable desire for power and control. This is what happens usually in domestic abuse. The man or the woman wants the other to bend to their will, and if they don’t they are going to make them bend. This takes us right back to the Garden.

The serpent told Eve that she was not going to die and that she was going to be as gods. He gave her something to think about. Hitler went about establishing his ungodly desires at the expense of other human beings. He lived inside of a lie and that very thing he sought after so diligently became his own demise. If we seek after sin, it is going to destroy us. As devastating as abuse has been to some people, they will become the abusers. A lot of people are asking, “Why me, Lord?” . . . but God did not do this to you. When Adam sinned, God’s law went into effect. There are rules to live by and boundaries set. Men are evil and this is why we have abuse, murder, crime and all manner of evil. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. This is why we have been hurt and the cycle just continues and continues. Adam had a responsibility to obey God, he chose to disobey and we have to pay for that disobedience. This is why God gave us boundaries after he sinned, but the scripture already told us that offenses are going to come. Hurt and pain are a part of life. There is no way to get around this. The only thing we can do is submit ourselves to the Lord. He said He will put no more on us than we can bear (I Corinthians 10:13). He said He cares for us and to put our lives in His hand and He will take us through those times.

Psalm 55:22

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

When we live how God told us to live, we can heal those who are hurt or have been abused. GOD IS NOT TO BLAME FOR THE SIN AND CHAOS ON THE EARTH. You have to stop blaming God. As long as you keep blaming Him, you will never turn to Him. I was a broken person on the inside and I hated life. I was depressed all the time, Satan had stunted my growth, and God did this for me:

Psalm 40:1-4

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

I had to make the Lord my trust and make myself vulnerable again. I had to see the man that molested me as a soul held captive. It used to bother me that he never came back and apologized. I felt he had gone on his way and did not care. This may not be the case. He may not know how to come to me, because he is just as hurt as I was and hurt me out of his weakness. The scripture says if you do not forgive, God will not forgive you. If you are going to get delivered you must accept all of the Word, even when it goes against what you want to do. If your offender never comes back and apologizes, let him go in your heart and forgive him, because you are the one who is bound. When I chose in my heart to open up to God and let His knowledge and truth fill my heart; that is when deliverance came. The Spirit of Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: St. Luke 6:37

God, the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Christ are the only remedy to a sinless society. You can go to all types of programs and they can put all kinds of reform things in place, but nothing is going to deal with the sin issue but God. FLESH CANNOT PURGE FLESH. I could not purge myself. I had to make up my mind that I was going to do it God’s way or no way. You can be free by the grace of God and His Word. Submit your will and stop trying to do it your way. Your way has not freed you yet. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, pick yourself up and go on, don’t waddle around in self-pity. Find the courage to go on. God loves you and He is an expert at taking the negative situations of your past and using them for His glory. If people see that you can come out, they feel they can come out. It is all about PURPOSE. You are important to God and He thinks about you (Psalm 40:17). He loves you! He wants you to have a happy and healthy life, but we have to look at life for what it really is inside of reality. Start giving your mind over to God. You have to have courage to do it God’s way.

God bless you,

Tanya Y. Thomas

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Courage = Being afraid of doing something but doing it anyway.

NOTE: Reference is made to Diagram #2 and Diagram #3, however, no diagrams were seen in the document.