July 6, 2020

Minute of Transparency: The endless summer…

Intro: Last week we introduced the idea of temptation, and that it is Satan’s weapon in the controversy. This week we take a closer look at how Satan preps us for temptation, some categories temptations fall into and how we can start to combat these temptations.  

Today’s Basic Assumption: Temptation Comes In Many Different Flavors

1. Temptation flavors

2. Personal Temptation Plans (PTPs)

3. Other temptation flavors

4. Fighting temptation

// 1. TEMPTATION FLAVORS

It will soon become clear that there are literally hundreds of thousands of ways to be tempted, or things to be tempted with.  

Each of us is tempted by different things and there are temptations in our future we can’t even see coming. 

This leads us to a very important piece of information about temptation. We need to define the real issue - what Satan is really trying to do each time he tempts us:

So let’s look at an example of each:

• Stealing. God has asked us not to steal things that don’t belong to us. Satan would like nothing more than for us to start taking other peoples things

• Love others. God has asked us to put others before ourselves. Satan wants us to be selfish and only think of ourselves

So now that we have a good grasp on the reason for temptation, let’s look at the way the Bible categorizes temptation.

This will help us define what the real root of the temptation is, and if what element of our life the temptation is attacking.

There are two very powerful temptation stories in the Bible - stories that help us understand not only the power of Satan’s temptations - but also the categories they fall into.

Interestingly enough, the stories seem to mirror each other - with the protagonist being tempted in three distinct ways.

In 1 John, there is a verse that seems to explain what these three things are: 

"For all that is in the world, [1] the lust of the flesh, and [2] the lust of the eyes, and [3] the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:16

So we have:

• The lust of the flesh

• The lust of the eyes

• The pride of life

So let’s apply these three things to the two stories we were talking about…

Eve - The first temptation ever recorded

•  We know how the story goes:

  • Satan appeared to Eve in or near the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

  • You know - the tree God had asked Adam and Eve to stay away from...

  • Satan appeared as a talking serpent

  • He offered her fruit to eat and explained that it was too good - and would open her eyes to what was really going on

  • That God was just trying to keep them from becoming like Him

  • Spoiler alert: Adam and Eve eat the fruit, their eyes were opened and the Sin Virus found its way into our their perfect world

• So let’s look at the three categories we identified above:

  • The lust of the flesh: Satan appealed to Eve’s physical needs - what her flesh wanted. He talked up the fruit, how amazing it was - that she had never had such tasty fruit that could satisfy the way this fruit could

  • The lust of the eyes: Satan then appealed to her senses. The fruit was beautiful, like nothing she had ever seen. And it probably smelled good too. And such a beautiful creature talking to her and offering it to her

  • The pride of life: And finally, Satan made his real case. He convinced Eve that she would become like God, know good from evil, and be wise

But don’t take my word for it. Here is the Bible’s explanation in Genesis 3:

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened…” Genesis 3:6-7a

You can see it right there within the verse. Eve saw that it was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eye, and that it could make her wise. The three things we just talked about.

Jesus - temptations for a perfect Being

• We know from the Bible that Jesus lived the perfect life - that He did not sin

• So it’s interesting the Bible gives a specific account of the ways Satan tried to tempt Him

• It can be found in three of the four gospels - but let’s use the account from Luke:

  • Luke describes that Jesus was “called” or “led" into the wilderness to fast and pray

  • We know He was there for 40 days

  • And we know that Satan used this time to wear Him down and get Him to sin

  • Satan tried three different approaches - which should sound familiar:

    • First, Satan tempted Him to turn rocks into bread since He was starving

    • Second, Satan tempted Him with power, and position - offering Him rulership of the entire world if He would just bow and worship Satan

    • Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to test God by jumping off a cliff to see if God would save Him

The Temptations of Christ: https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/temptations-of-christ/

Here are some interesting takeaways from these temptation stories:

• Satan tries to wear you down before he hits you with temptation:

  • In the story of Eve, we don’t know this for sure - but there is a chance she was hungry - and Satan may have known this

  • There is also a chance he waited until she was away from Adam - so she had no support system

  • And finally, he waited until she had already made a bad decision by walking near the tree

  • In doing this he knew she was already primed for his temptation

  • In the story of Jesus, again He was hungry and weak

  • It doesn’t say when Satan did his tempting, but I would guess he waited until day 35 and then really started to lay it on about the rocks to bread thing...

• Next - the three categories of temptation seem to impact three very important pieces of our humanity:

  • The lust of the flesh is a PHYSICAL temptation - it appeals to our flesh, our physical needs and desires

  • The lust of the eyes is a WORSHIP temptation - trying to get us to move sincere worship from God to another person or thing in our life

  • The pride of life is a TRUST temptation - suggesting we forego our trust in God and instead do things to tempt Him, or test Him in some way. And to put trust in ourselves over Him

• And finally, these stories help us see what we can do to combat temptation. We’ll spend a bit more time on that at the end of this episode

// 2. PERSONAL TEMPTATION PLANS (PTPs)

Controversy Theory at its core - is an explanation as to why there is pain and suffering in the world. It describes the battle between God and Satan, and that because of the Sin Virus, our world is no longer the perfect place it once was. 

We’ve talked about how the Sin Virus impacts the physical environment - and that the Earth is slowly dying just like us.

But at the same time, Satan is working to get each and every one of us to join him in his rebellion against God.

IMPORTANT!!! Before we go any further we need to admit something. We don’t fully understand the role Satan plays in temptation and the role demons play. However:

• It is commonly believed that Satan is not able to be in more than one place at one time - the way God is

• If this is true - it suggests he is not the one tempting everyone. In fact it suggests that demons are most likely doing the tempting and Satan is supervising

• There is a good chance Satan takes it upon himself to do the heavy lifting - tempting kings, presidents, high level entertainers, and other social influencers 

• Either way - just understand that Satan and his demons are working together - and they’re up to no good

CT suggests that temptation has become a very personal matter for Satan. So personal in fact that he (or his demons) creates a Personal Temptation Plan (PTP) for each and every person.

When I was a clinician we had a very specific process for working with a new patient, or client. The first thing we completed was a PSA - or Psychosocial Assessment. This form took 1-2 hours to complete and basically walked through every facet of a person’s life. When this was complete, we created what we called an ITP or Individualized Treatment Plan which contained the following elements:

• The official diagnosis

• A statement of the main problem that brought the client in for treatment

• Strengths: Things the client had going for them - things that could be leveraged to aid in the treatment process

• Weaknesses: Things that were not helpful - things that could actually get in the way of treatment

• A set of goals (Long term, Medium range and Short term goals)

• Then under the goals goals you would have a list of action steps to reach the goal:

  • These were actual things that client could accomplish

  • And to come up with these we used the phrase: Who, will do What, by When?

  • This ensured the client understood that they, would be accomplishing x, y, or z by a specific date

• The plan was very transparent. Created by the clinician and the client together, and agreed upon prior to starting regular sessions

  • It drove the counseling process from that day forward

  • It kept you on track

  • And it helped you track progress or lack thereof

So apparently, Satan saw this concept, liked it and decided to take it to the next level for his own purposes. So he and his Damaging Demons follow a similar pattern for each and every human being: 

1. They complete a PSA - a Psychosocial Assessment in order to fully understand what makes us tick

2. Next, they create a create a Personal Temptation Plan (PTP) for specific to each person

And these PTPs have the following elements:

• The official diagnosis: Most likely an overall classification of some sort that helps them identify us, and our life situation

• Vulnerability quotient: On a scale from 1-10 how likely it is that we fall for general temptations

• Weaknesses: A list of the soft spots where we’re the weakest, and most easily led into temptation

• Strengths: A list of the areas where we appear to be stronger and able to resist temptation

• Defense mechanism(s) of choice: Denial, repression, projection, displacement, regression, rationalization, sublimation, reaction formation, compartmentalization, intellectualization 

• Go to emotion: Fear, anger, sadness, joy and disgust

• Anchor events from the past: Satan knows that events in a person’s past that can be used, or called upon to impact the present or future. Things like being verbally, physically or sexually abused. Loss of a loved one. Being given up for adoption. Being left by a spouse, etc.

• Family history: This is seen in two ways:

  • Genetic history: DNA passed traits

  • Modeled family history: Things like being raised by racist parents, witnessing addictive behavior first hand, being taught that materialism is an important thing in life, etc.

• Next are the goals:

  • Long term goal: (This is typically the same for every person):

    1. Get the person to choose against God in the controversy:

    2. Either by choosing Satan and the things he is offering

    3. Or by getting so distracted by the things of this world that the person chooses not to choose - and misses out on the antidote to the Sin Virus

  • Medium range goals: (A little more individualized - but still very similar for everyone):

    1. The lust of the flesh: Determine the most successful “fleshly” temptation for this person and determine ways to use it effectively

    2. The lust of the eyes: Determine what things capture this person’s attention, distracts them and could keep them occupied to their detriment

    3. The pride of life: What are areas where this person has a hard time trusting God? Look for ways to pick at this, and inject even more skepticism into their thinking. Push individualization, and the idea that they have everything they need within themselves - that they don’t need a God to help them

  • Short term goals: (Direct action items):

    1. Remember the formula: Who will do what by when?

    2. Examples:

       1. Satan will work to disrupt the relationship between John and his wife before Christmas

       2. Demon Z will continue to present Sarah with opportunities in her friend group to try Heroin in the next 6 months

       3. Demon X and Y will tag team Frank in order to remind him 3x/week about his many failures with alcohol in an attempt to get him to start drinking again in 3 months

For those of us in the mental health field, or in medical fields like physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc. This is something we understand. We are required to have treatment plans in place for many reasons - but two of the biggest are:

1. To hold us accountable to the patient or client and to the insurance companies. The burden of proof is on us - that we actually have a plan, are putting it into place and that we’re making progress

2. But second - having a treatment plan is also good for us. Imagine seeing 10-15 people a day, every day. As the next person walks in you have to pull up in your mind the next thing you need to work on with that person. It wouldn’t be long before you started forgetting what that next thing was. Or accidentally working on the wrong things with the wrong person. Having a treatment plan makes sure we know who we’re working with, what we’re working on, and what is left to do

Now for those of you not in these fields, the concept of a treatment plan might be new. So when I talked about Satan and his demons using a plan this specific just for you and your life - you may have laughed and thought, “Wow…this guy has lost his marbles…ain’t nobody got that much time on their hands…” But unfortunately - that’s exactly the case. Satan and his demonic host have nothing better to do with their time. It is their destiny, it’s the only thing they have left since they lost the perfection of heaven. And if you think treatment plans are good for humans to use - you don’t even want to see the level Satan will go to in order to tempt you away from his arch enemy.

We won’t spend a lot of time on PTPs in these episodes - as we’re focused on summarizing Controversy Theory. But just know that PTPs are one of the key elements of Conscience-Driven Therapy, the follow up book to CT - written to help hurting people extend the theory into practical, everyday action steps for growth, health and well-being.

// 3. OTHER TEMPTATION FLAVORS

When we talk about PTPs we’re really talking about traditional, Micro level spiritual warfare. Satan and his demons working one on one with a people in order to tempt them away from their Creator.

But there are other ways he influences us as well. Here are just a few examples:

• Blanket temptations: Ultimately, these come from Mezzo level spiritual warfare. They are things Satan has manipulated on a socially or cultural level, knowing that it will provide a quality temptation to a large number of people. Here are just a few examples:

  • Food: Satan is a genius in so many ways. If human scientists and medical professionals can research chemicals, and tell us the impact they have on our bodies, think how much more Satan knows and understands! If Satan can influence humans to try new things, push the envelope, slide chemicals in without people knowing in order to enhance flavor or make the food last longer. Think about the ripple effect it could have on an entire society. Think high sugar usage, MSGs, saccharine, food dyes, trans fats in margarine, and the list goes on and on. Not to mention the increased use of Rx medications - the true impact of which we don’t often understand for generations (Can you say Ritalin?)

  • Pornography: An industry that has a HUGE impact on men - who are stereotypically more visual than women. Not that there aren’t a growing number of women who are reporting being addicted to it as well

  • Media: I’m not sure there is a more intrusive industry in the world today than the media industry. I’m talking about music, television, movies, video games, online video content, social media, online shopping (not even buying! Surfing alone takes a lot of our time…), virtual reality, augmented reality, etc. There are two very important things to understand about media:

    • First is the content itself: Media has an amazing ability to teach, train and unfortunately brainwash. If you’re not careful, and able to think critically about what you’re consuming, you will find yourself thinking and believing things that aren’t even close to being true

    • Second, is media’s power to take over your life. Regardless whether the content is appropriate or inappropriate. It can distract and distance you from those you love, and from being everything you were created to be. When all we do is consume, we fail to contribute the things we were uniquely created to give to the world

  • Productivity: Rarely seen as a bad thing. But productivity has a dark secret. At the core - productivity is also a distraction from living the life we were called to live. I’m not talking about being productive during your work day, or when you’re focused on a big project. I’m talking about living a life dedicated to productivity. Creating lists of things to do, never sitting still, always looking for something new to add to your routine, getting your kids into six new activities, keeping up with the Jones’, etc. It’s the non-stop, adrenaline-paced lifestyle that we think is the goal - the pinnacle in making it in life. But in the end, a lot of it is just there to take the place of our true identity. We fill our lives with things and activities in order to feel like we are valuable and important - all the while digging our own graves one pointless activity at a time. Sorry… got a little dark there...

  • Addiction: Probably one of the most sinister blanket temptations. Satan most likely looks at it as the gift that keeps on giving. Because it is one of those unique temptations that he can kick start, and then sit back and watch it unravel a person’s life on its own. Maybe he starts on the Micro level - tempting you to try something for the first time, but once hooked, he only has to check back in every now and then to see how far you’ve fallen. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, pornography, food, work, etc. What’s your drug of choice?   

  • Religion: Oh my goodness - this one is subtle… Satan is a master at turning a good thing into a bad thing. And he can do it in such away that it takes us a long time to figure out when and where it went wrong. And there is no better example than how he has corrupted the way we worship God. He turned Christianity into religion. Being a Jesus follower into a church attender. And sincere worship into token worship. This isn’t anything new - but oh is it pervasive in the world today. He has successfully hidden the proverbial needle in the haystack. If he can get millions of people to worship like robots with ritualistic and legalistic practices - he can keep them from seeing the truth - that God isn’t about lists, and legalism. He’s about having a relationship with His children.    

• And finally, Satan LOVES using Peer Pressure in the following ways:

  • Observed Peer Pressure: Nothing more than a blanket temptation really. When Satan has influenced a society, a culture, a church group, a small group a family group in such a way that some negative behavior is seen as ok, or tolerated - it creates a level of peer pressure for those in the group. Example: You see rampant marijuana use day in and day out and it appears to be acceptable - you’re more likely to engage in the same behavior   

  • Blatant Peer Pressure: This is not a blanket temptation. Actually, this is a very unique form of Micro level spiritual warfare. Satan has in essence employed a human to do his work. He uses us to carry the temptation from his hand to the intended victim. When you think about it this way it should sober you up quick.

    • It’s that time you convinced a friend to just try it one time

    • It’s the time you told your brother to steal something as you distracted the cashier

    • It’s the time you allowed you younger sister to watch the inappropriate movie with your friends even though your parents asked you not to

    • Because Satan uses peer pressure in the controversy, it becomes imperative that we understand the following (which is only amplified when dealing with children and minors):

// 4. FIGHTING TEMPTATION

Our last section deals with combatting temptation. 

However, we’re only going to scratch the surface today. Fighting temptation is one of the main elements in the second book Conscience-Driven Therapy. So keep your eye out for that content at some point in the future…

But for today, here are three high level ways to combat temptation:

1. The Word God: The Bible is one of the best ways to combat temptation. Knowledge is power. And Jesus knew this. When He was tempted he used scripture to respond to Satan. He would say, “It is written…” and then He would recount the specific text that put Satan in his place. And if it worked for Jesus - I’m guessing it will work for us

2. The Holy Spirit: When Jesus left the Earth - he explained that He was sending the “Comforter” or what we refer to as the Holy Spirit - to be our guide. We’ve talked about the work of the Holy Spirit and that He lives within our conscience. So when you hear the phrase, “Let your conscience be your guide,” you are really saying it is God guiding you through the Holy Spirit

3. Prayer: This is our direct connection to God. It is something nobody can take away from you. It will always be there. Think about it this way: Even if you were imprisoned, with your hands and feet bound, and tape placed over your mouth. You would still be able to communicate with your Creator. Prayer can be audible, or it can be a simple thought. God is able to field your requests no mater how they come in. What a powerful tool prayer is. And yet how often do we use it? In the case of temptation - it needs to be at the top of our list. The minute we sense we are being tempted to do something wrong, we need to open up that line of communication and ask God for the strength to stand against Satan

Land the plane:

This week: Ask yourself these questions:

• Have you ever thought about temptation on this level?

• Can you see how temptations fall into the flesh, eyes and pride categories?

• Do you believe Satan has created a Personal Temptation Plan (PTP) just for you? And if so, does that scare you?

• Can you see the way Satan uses blanket temptations in your life?

• How have you been able to fight off temptation in the past?

• If so, what tool has been successful for you?

• And finally, what’s your next step this week? What are some things you can put into place to combat temptations that you face on the regular?

Next week we move away from Satan’s role on the controversy and begin conversations about our role. The Eleventh Basic Assumption: Choices Form Habits Which Develop Character.

Thanks again for joining us today. I hope you’re enjoying the content and telling others about it.  

Have a great week and until next time, keep Transcending Human!