Have you ever been brainwashed? No?

Wake up and smell the coffee! The forces of darkness are playing their mind games every minute of every day. What am I talking about? I am talking about the strongest psychological tool in the world. It is being used to get you to do things the way the prince of this earth (Satan) would have you do them. Systematic Desensitization is a tool used by the professional therapist.

Systematic desensitization is subtle, but very effective. This procedure is used to help those with a phobia (fear) that causes problems in their daily living. For example, if you have a great fear of elevators, in this process you go through a verbal (mental) relaxation process. When you are in a state of total relaxation (mentally) the object of your fear is introduced into the mental picture. When you "tense" at the mental image, the therapist immediately returns to the relaxation exercises. By slowly having you face the object of your fear while in this state of relaxation, the time will come when you can think about it without any tense reaction. Soon, you can mentally do that which you could not even talk about before. Then, you are moved into the physical world and begin the process of facing your worst fear. Using the fear of elevators as an example, you go into tall buildings and look at the elevators. Then, you get in an elevator, leaving the door open -- progressively working toward the time when you close the door and push the up button. The method works!

The Church has been outspoken for a long time about what we watch on TV. The majority of Americans do not see any harm being done. The adult world is asleep at the control or doesn't care. The younger generation can't see the harm and sees any attempt to control what they watch as an unnecessary intrusion into their life. Hollywood is more than willing to provide whatever will attract the largest audience.

Now we probably can see that sex, violence, and many other repulsive things that happen hundreds of times per day on television can and do have an effect on what we do in real life. It is a fact that if you see enough blood in your mind you will have less trouble facing the real thing later. The trained therapist has more control of the situation and knows when to move from fear to relaxation. You are already relaxed, and know the TV isn't real life . . .

APPLICATION:

Consider that the best pilot training, and gunnery training for our military and police forces are now "Virtual Reality" style video games.

Eye witness reports show that in the school shootings the boys involved stood still in one place and fired one round at each target. In one incidence out of 15 shots fired, 12 were "fatal" targets hit. Professional police on a target range do not fare this well, one in six being a very good score with a hand gun and moving targets. They also don’t fire one "fatal" bullet and move to the next target without ever shifting their body or checking around them as these boys did. Where do you fire one shot at the upper body or head and move on to the next target instantly? Try video arcade games! The boys were trained well from all those hours in the arcades.

QUESTION: Have you changed your mind since beginning this discussion about TV or video games? How?

This doesn't say you can't watch any TV or play video games or etc. It does say that you must be careful. The ways of the world are subtle and will "brainwash" you. It is in the "teenage" years that many of our values are set in place. Our enemy (Satan) can and does affect the way we will live the rest of our lives. The broken lives and families of the world are a visible testimony of his effect on the people of the world.

Taking "orders," obeying parents or other adults placed over you is not a sign of weakness. This is what God commands us to do. It is only with God's help that we stand any chance to resist the brainwashing of the devil. We cannot do it our way! We either do it God's way and live, or do it Satan's way and die!

God's way is peace with God and all mankind. When we are in God's family we do the right things because He says so and we want to please Him. We do not need rewards to do what is right. We have the correct motivation, and the world's system will not entrap us. Similarly, we don't have any desire to take part in all the evil things Satan uses to tempt us. We can resist by the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within every believer.

The one concept from the world of the psychologist children of God can readily accept is within a discipline they call "cognitive." This is a method by which they believe if they can expose the problem, that the logical mind of man can solve it. They are only partially right. When we know what the problem is we can trust God's answer for the problem, Jesus Christ. It also adds power to our prayers, because we know where our weakness is and can pray for our exact need. We will not solve anything by ourselves like men believe they can.