In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. - Proverbs 16:9
We left off in part one of our introduction to the Trivium with the reality that our beautiful God-created world is covered, like the neighbor’s porch at Halloween, with a web of lies. Web is a pretty good metaphor: we’ve probably all heard at some point news media being referred to as spin.
And while interconnected wireless data transfer is one of those double-edged swords that can be used for good or for ill, I can’t help but point out the words web and net are used to refer to it - words that signify being caught and ensnared.
Are there ways to avoid entanglement? Yes, we'll get into it (it’s the fun part, so look forward to it!) But first we’re going to take an interlude here to tell two cautionary tales: one that happened to me, and the one that starts off the greatest story ever told...
A TALE OF TWO MEN
I was having a yard sale before a big move. Two older men showed up and meandered about. One man came up to me on the porch and started a conversation about God. I’m sure he could tell I was spiritual based on items I had for sale (which is why they walked around first). This caused me to let my guard down; he got me to believe that he could be trusted, and not only that, but that we were kindred spirits...friends…
His language was very smooth and constant, just esoteric enough that I had to think hard about what he was saying to make sense of it, diverting my mind from the task at hand - my yard. Then he started asking me questions, sinking me deeper into thought. I completely spaced out what was happening around me. By the time his friend showed up with an armload of things, I was in a very receptive mood.
He briefly flashed each item they wanted while telling me these things were not only of no significant value, but that he was actually doing me a favor by taking them off my hands, since I was trying to get rid of things. I nodded in agreement.
After they left, I was dazed. There was something off about that encounter. I also had an anxious feeling, the kind you’d get if someone touched you inappropriately. I realized that my mind had been molested, and when I woke up to what they had walked away with, it was at least $100 in value...and I got $10. Strangely, they found a very handsome vintage knife that I valued and never intended to sell. If it had been any other person, I'd have apologized and said not for sale. But I agreed to let them take it in addition to everything else. I was ill at ease for days - the knife stung, but worse was the psychic violation; I was ashamed for being so easy to fondle.
These men were brilliant con artists. They read the room; they knew how to personalize their game, using me against myself by getting me into a conversation that engaged my pride and full attention. My guess is that they go to yard sales and flea markets and do this as an act, amassing great treasures for a fraction of their value. I thank them in some sense, for revealing to me how vulnerable and naive I can be. Sinister energy lingered around me for days and I had to pray to be released. Be very careful who you invite into your yard, your conversation, your head.
You may be thinking, Come on, $10? I’d never fall for it. I’m telling you, I was brainwashed. How does a person get involved in a cult - to the point of drinking cyanide kool aid? Mormons wearing special underwear? Those friends and family members believing obviously corrupt political agendas, or wild conspiracy theories? It happens to the best of us. It happened to Adam and Eve.
A TALE OF TWO WILLS
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” - Isaiah 53:6
There are two types of persuasion Satan used on Adam and Eve: 1, a flat out lie (“You will not surely die” - Genesis 3:4), and 2, planting a seed of doubt, getting Eve to second-guess: “Did God actually say ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:2)
The Bible refers to the serpent as crafty, also translated as cunning, shrewd, and subtle. The Amplified Bible has in parenthesis, “(skilled in deceit.)” I am taken by the word “skilled” - so...this was well rehearsed? Prepared? And crafty indeed: it is related to what God said but is not exactly what he said. In fact, this is an essential factor in deceit: your lie must contain a shred of truth, or at least resemble something the other party accepts, otherwise it will not be believable.
Eve holds her own at first: she corrects the serpent and repeats what God’s actual statement was. So he moves to another tactic and discredits God’s intentions. This is brilliant, because he doesn’t need to get Eve to deny what God actually said, only question the motive behind it. He cuts deeper, to the meaning behind the words - “God’s psychology”. Now comes her entanglement: she doubts her own understanding, her trust in God, her reasoning.
The real crime is not that she didn’t “trust in herself.”At this point, there were only two wills in existence: the will of God, and the will of Satan. Adam and Eve were still attuned to the will of God. Satan’s strategy was to get man to disengage from God’s will, and he did it through doubt, as well as the promise of something better.
The promise of something better, however, could only come after the seed of doubt was planted, which was the moment they truly separated from God. Up until that moment, what could be better than God’s will? Now, Adam and Eve have their own wills, and they can imagine likewise what Satan imagined:
You said in your heart:
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of assembly,
in the far reaches of the north.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
- Isaiah 14:13-14
Isaiah is prophesying the fall of Babylon, and likening it to the fall of Satan, with these words that Satan spoke - notice: in his heart - in other words, internally. All he had to do was think these things and the separation from God already occurred because this clearly is a will independent of God’s.
Satan’s will, and now our will, is to “make ourselves like the Most High.” This is why Christ teaches us to pray to the Father, “THY will be done, on earth (for mankind) as it is in heaven (for the spiritual realm)” - Matthew 6:10. We need to bring our hearts and minds back into the beloved captivity of His will every moment.
This is the fallen nature we have inherited from Adam and Eve: not their actual sin - we are each accountable for our own and not the sins of our ancestors - but the ability to sin; we inherited the separated will. There are now 7 billion independent wills running around this world. Meanwhile, Satan and his team are also amok trying to manipulate our wills with mind games and lust for power. Sounds like a 12 way intersection at rush hour with no traffic lights.
We understand the importance - the relief! - of verses like:
“I am the way, the truth, the life” John 14:6
“You make known to me the path of my life” - Psalm 16:11
“You lead me through paths of righteousness” - Psalm 23:3
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” - Isaiah 31:21
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” - John 16:3
With all these clamoring wills and skilled malevolence, we see just how crucial it is to have a sound mind and to be rooted and grounded in the truth. Posts on strategies coming up!
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