CDT07 | Understanding the Battle
Date: February 21, 2022
Welcome back to the podcast! More specifically the Conscience Driven Therapy Series.
A quick review on the structure of the series:
Conscience Driven Therapy
Learning to Transcend the Human Condition
PART I: THINGS WE CANNOT CONTROL
Chapter 1: A Lot of Things Came Before Us
Chapter 2: We Were Sent In a Specific Direction
Chapter 3: There Were Landmines & Minefields Along the Way
PART II: THINGS WE CAN CONTROL
Chapter 4: The First Step Toward Health & Healing
Chapter 5: Hold on to the Good - Release the Bad
Chapter 6: Locus of Control & ETOTO
Chapter 7: Understanding the Battle
Chapter 8: Knowing Is Half the Battle
Chapter 9: Transcend Human
Chapter 10: Becoming a CDT Ambassador
Minute of Transparency: Anger Management
Today we dive into Chapter 7: Understanding the Battle
Revisiting the Controversy
Satan's Game Plan: Revenge
God's Game Plan: Rescue Mission
// 1. REVISITING THE CONTROVERSY
The Controversy concept is the Big Idea behind everything I've worked on...
From the manuscript I wrote back in 2001 called Controversy Theory
To The Trilogy - my idea for a fiction novel series
To Transcend Human
And the Transcend Human Podcast
And now - Conscience Driven Therapy
The Controversy concept is at the heart of each of these endeavors.
So let's start at the beginning - with the definition from Controversy Theory:
We actually discussed this in the first Chapter of Conscience Driven Therapy as well. But here it is again:
“The Controversy is the battle that exists between God and Satan for the allegiance of every human being on Earth – past, present and future.”
If you've been around for any length of time this should sound familiar.
The Controversy is very similar to The Force. For those of you who grew up loving Star Wars and the myriad of books, movies and television series that have followed:
You recognize what I'm talking about
The Force is an unseen power in the Star Wars universe
Something that existed outside of the three dimensions they could see
The Force had a light side and a dark side
Meaning it could be used for good, or evil
Most people lived oblivious to the fact that The Force even existed
But the Jedi, the Sith and others were able to connect with The Force when they learned about it and studied it
This connection gave them power - but it was up to them to choose how they used it - for good or evil
And finally - the oblivious people - though they couldn't see The Force - we greatly impacted by it
They had no idea that their very lives depended on it
Sound familiar?
The Controversy works the same way!
God and Satan are powerful forces that exist outside our three dimensions
There is light and dark - good and evil
Most people walk through life oblivious to the fact that this is important - or that it has the power to impact them in any way
But little do they know - their very existence is because of this power
They have no idea that the power in this fourth dimension is intricately linked to every part of our three dimensions
And then there are those who have come to an understanding about the Controversy
They learn about it, look into it and eventually realize the importance of it
They realize that the power is there for the taking
And that each of us can choose which part to leverage - the good or the evil
And that's the illustration I want us to be thinking about as we dive into the rest of this episode.
The Controversy being similar to The Force from Star Wars...
Now, the Controversy itself has a back story - but we spent a big chunk of time on that in Chapter 1 - so we won't repeat it here.
Plus - we have a lot to get to today - so let's dive in, and "May the force be with us..."
Okay - that was cliche - sorry...
// 2. SATAN'S GAME PLAN: REVENGE
Now I'm not going to drag the Star Wars analogy out for too long - because I know not everyone enjoys science fiction...
But we'll use it at least in this first section - when we talk about Satan.
Because there are are a bunch of bad guys in the Star Wars series - and the similarities are hard to miss.
The first, and arguably the most powerful antagonist in the series is Darth Sidious. Also known as the Emperor.
According to screenrant.com:
"First and foremost, he was a master of all lightsaber forms of combat, and his comprehension of the Force and the Sith lore was unmatched. Second of all, he not only orchestrated and manipulated a war that tore apart the Galaxy, destroyed the Jedi, and put him in the highest position of political power, but he ruled over the Empire as its leader for two decades, making the Galaxy believe the Jedi were evil, and ruling the Galaxy with an iron fist."
If that doesn't sound like Satan, I'm not sure what does...
Another interesting thing to me is what it took to engage with the dark side of The Force:
This requirement was nothing less than getting in touch with your anger
You had to give in to your anger in order to grow stronger and be able to access the powerful dark side of The Force
This anger was obvious in all of the antagonists throughout the series - The Emperor, Darth Vader, Darth Maul and even Kylo Ren
This battle between holding on to your anger, and letting it go was a major story arc with Anakin Skywalker
Who eventually succumbed to his anger - becoming Darth Vader
All that to say, I find correlations like these fascinating:
How story arcs in pop culture can so closely match the real world battle we call the Controversy
The way Star Wars illustrates evil, and the evil we see in the world around us
How Satan, like Anakin Skywalker, had it all. Up and coming, a leader among leaders, respected and powerful
But both allowed a flaw to overtake them
Something that kept tugging at them until they finally gave in:
For Anakin - it was his anger
For Satan - it was his pride
And the pride Satan gave into, led to the Sin Virus, which led to open rebellion, which led to war in heaven, which led to him being banished to Planet Earth.
And now, Satan is the Emperor on Earth - the top dog - the Sith Lord to rule all Sith.
And his power? Absolutely driven by anger, his pride, and his desire for revenge.
That's really the long and short of it. This is a Revenge story...
Satan is angry with God because he wanted to be God - he wanted the power and authority that only God has.
And because he didn't get what he wanted - he is out for revenge. And unfortunately that revenge is worked out right here on our little planet.
We're the full recipients of his anger and we are pawns in his game plan to get back at God.
He knows that he can't physically harm God - so the next best thing is to harm Him emotionally - by kidnapping and harming His children.
Now we're going to go into detail on this in a minute. But for now - just understand that this is the Modus Operandi, the pièce de ré·sis·tance - the Big Idea - the Ultimate Goal in Satan's world...
Satan wants revenge. And we're his way of getting it.
That said, let's dig into it a bit deeper. Here are two of the elements that make up Satan's Master Plan:
Weapons of Choice
Personalized Temptation Plans (PTPs)
So let's walk through each of these in order to fully understand what he's up to.
We're going to start with Satan's Weapons of Choice:
Now I'm not going to assume I can list every possible weapon Satan uses to trap us
But if this sort of thing sounds really interesting to you - there is a book you can read:
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The book is a work of religious satire - telling a tale of Screwtape, a mid level demon, writing letters of encouragement and training to his nephew Wormwood - a lower level demon
The letters center around temptation, and the tried and true methods for ensnaring human beings
It's quite comical, and at the same time sobering as you realize that many of these methods exist in real life - and are ways Satan tricks and traps us
Like I said - if that sounds interesting - pick up a copy and give it a read
But let's look at some of the major weapons Satan uses:
I'm going to use the Story of Job in the Bible as my reference for this
Because the Book of Job has long been viewed as the book describing human suffering
And considering Satan is typically behind that sort of thing - it seemed like a good place to look
Quick summary of the story:
Job is a wealthy and righteous man
He had a growing family, he had great wealth and he believed in God - even saying specific prayers for the safety of his family on a regular basis
Around this time, God hosts holds a Zoom call in heaven
He invites a bunch of the top ambassadors from around the universe to join the call
And who shows up? Satan of course - possibly the first ever recorded incident of "Zoombombing"
And of course Satan wants to pick a fight - so he explains that people on Earth only love God because He rewards them
God points to Job as an example of a man who was simply righteous
Satan pushes back and says that if his wealth and possessions were taken away he would no longer be so righteous
So God allows Satan to test his theory on Job
Long story short...
Satan did a bunch of bad things to Job
Job suffered in many different ways, and during this time:
Three friends stopped by and tried to blame the bad things on Job
And eventually Job's wife gave up, and encouraged Job to curse God and die
But in the end - Job remained righteous:
He cursed the day HE was born - but did NOT curse God
He continued to believe in God and His goodness
Now, let's go back and look at the things Satan did to Job - because I want us to see two things:
First, these were afflictions specific to Job
But second, I believe they are categories of afflictions - or weapons that Satan uses against all of us
So here we go:
Physical/Natural Afflictions
In the story of Job, Satan used the physical or natural world twice:
First, Satan caused "fire to fall from heaven" (possibly lightning that started a fast moving fire) that burned Job's sheep and his servants
Second, Satan caused a "great wind" (most likely a tornado) to destroy the home where Job's children were gathered - causing their deaths
Does this sound familiar? These are the same things we see in our world today:
Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, etc.
All things that Satan must have some level of control over - either directly, or by speeding up the deterioration of the Earth - which in turn increases the prevalence of these natural events
And either way - causing great pain and suffering to the human race
Human-to-Human Afflictions
Back to our story...there were groups of people called the Sabeans and the Chaldeans who stole Job's property (livestock) and killed the servants who were watching them
Now, this sort of thing may have happened on the regular back in those days
But given the wealth of Job - he must have been respected enough in the community, or possibly had enough men on the payroll to keep this from happening
But with Satan's help - these raiders were able to successfully take what they wanted and kill Job's servants
Again, this is one of the ways Satan influences us today
He uses other people to do his bidding
Whether he "forces" them to do it or simply plants the seed in their minds and waters it - it really doesn't matter
At the end of the day, people do bad things to other people all the time
And there is no doubt Satan is standing behind the curtain pulling the strings
Grief & Loss
When Satan caused the tornado to destroy the home where Job's children were gathered - it was fatal
Job went from having a large, happy family to it just being him and his wife again
You can imagine the mental and emotional pain he must have gone through because of this
For us today - the correlation is obvious
Everyone knows someone who has lost a child, sibling, spouse, relative or close friend unexpectedly
Death happens all the time
And it makes total sense that Satan pushes the envelope in this area
Without the restraints God has placed on him - this would probably happen 10x as often
Health Afflictions (Medical & Mental Health)
When Satan saw that Job wasn't cursing God, he asked God to allow him to harm Job personally
God agreed to physical harm - but told Satan he couldn't kill Job
So Satan caused Job to have painful boils from head to toe
Now I don't fully understand what that means - but I'm guessing with Satan involved it must be bad
I mean there's a reason he didn't afflict Job with chicken pox, or zits
I'm assuming boils are an extremely painful thing - and that having one or two could make you lose your mind
So having them from head to toe was probably unbearable
But again, think about some of the medical conditions we experience today
There are people living in extreme pain right now due to untreatable medical conditions:
We can't say with certainty that Satan physically afflicted these people - though it's possible
Or, maybe he comes at it from another angle
Maybe he is working hard on the physical/natural environment, the Ozone layer and our food and water supply - causing pollution and contamination in those areas which lead to an increase in these unexplained illnesses
Regardless how it happens, it is happening
And we are left dealing with pain, suffering and discomfort
Now the mental health of Job wasn't specifically mentioned in the story - but I believe it was inferred
I think we can agree that grief, trauma, anger, and severe depression were probably front and center for Job
Think about all of the things he endured in such a short period of time
If that didn't have an impact on his mental health - I'm not sure what would
Peer Pressure & Manipulation
In the story there were two forms of this:
The first came in the form of Job's friends
During the story - we see three friends stop by and debate with Job over his predicament
And each of them come to the same conclusion
If Job had have been more righteous - maybe these things wouldn't have happened
As if Job did something to deserve the bad things that happened to him
Now we know this is not true because God scolds the friends at the end of the story
So imagine the difficulties Job experience having three of his closest friends say the same thing
Next, Job faces pressure from his wife
Call it pressure, or manipulation - but whatever you call it let's not be too hard on the wife
Think about it - aside from the painful sores - she is going through the same things Job is going through!
The loss of wealth, loss of their servants and the loss of her family!
So who knows the state of mental health she was in at the time
But her advice for Job was to curse God and die - the very thing Satan himself was hoping for
It should be obvious that we experience the same things today
We experience peer pressure
We have people who try to manipulate us
And if Satan has anything to say about it - the pressure will be to do the wrong things - and to make the wrong decisions
Individual, or 1:1 Temptation
This final weapon is straight up, in your face temptation
Satan going 1:1 with Job - matching wits - injecting ideas into his brain the whole time
Now this is one I've stretched a bit - because there isn't direct evidence for this in the story
It's not like there is a verse that says, "Satan bent over and whispered into Job's ear that he should curse God and die."
But to me - there is no way Satan would have passed up an opportunity like this:
Not only was he getting to impact Job in the ways we just walked through
But at the same time - he could be right there behind the scenes poking the bear so to speak
Putting little thoughts and doubts into Job's mind - things like:
Job - do you really believe God is good?
Job - you don't need God - I mean it's not like He's helped you here lately
Job - you know all of this is your fault right? If you had just been a bit more religious. If you hadn't sinned those times last week...
Job - you know life is a complete waste of time right?
Job - you know you're nothing right? You have no value. There's nobody wanting to help you
Job - wouldn't it be better to just die and get it over with?
All those little thoughts planted in Job's head in order to get him to give in to his anger - curse God - and die...
And so it is with us today:
This just might be Satan's favorite weapon in the Controversy
It's like hand-to-hand combat for Satan vs. lobbing bombs from afar
It's up close and personal
In our face and in our minds
Not that Satan is the one tempting each and every person
Remember - Satan was removed from heaven with a host of his own followers - angels that chose him vs. God in the Controversy
So Satan probably has an entire infrastructure in place for this
A system to ensure each of us is being tempted on a daily basis
Which brings us to...
The next element in Satan's Master Plan: Personalized Temptation Plans (PTPs)
It makes sense to me that Satan will use all of the weapons we just discussed - and more - in order to get his revenge on God.
And because he has nothing better to do with his time - he is a master at it:
I believe Satan works with his army of demons nonstop, 24/7/365 in order to influence every facet our our existence
In CT we referred to this as Spiritual Warfare that occurs on these three levels:
Macro Warfare:
The greatest harm to the greatest number of people
Wars, genocide, environmental issues, natural disasters, pandemics
Mezzo Warfare:
Systems Theory
Impact systems like the educational system, big media, the workplace, governments, technology, etc.
You can look at social media as a massive platform on the mezzo level - platforms Satan has used to promote inappropriate behavior, misinformation and even an increase in mental health issues
Micro Warfare:
Think smaller: Families, small groups, churches, organizations and eventually us - the individual
Using our families to send us in the wrong direction
Using individual temptation to keep us guessing and thinking irrationally
But it's the last one we want to focus on today - Micro Warfare.
Macro and Mezzo Warfare are going to happen no matter what we do. They are outside our control - so all we can do is determine how we will respond to them:
For example:
Macro: A natural disaster that destroys your home isn't something you can control - but you have the freedom to choose your response
Like Job - you can remain open to God and His leading
Or you can curse God and die
Mezzo: Social Media is a juggernaut that is going to keep getting worse - but we can choose:
Either to set boundaries and use it wisely
Or jump in 100% and be swallowed up by it
So Micro Warfare is important because it is very personal - at least the individual temptation part.
Satan's weapon of choice - the hands-on weapon - where he tries to get inside our heads and work his magic there.
But because this is so personal - it also means we have a high level of control over it. We are able to exercise our most powerful weapons in response to these personal attacks.
So back to what we said about Satan having nothing but time on his hands...
I believe Satan has used some of this free time to become an expert in researching a developing Personalized Temptation Plans (or PTPs).
Now for those of you in the mental health field this should sound familiar...
We call them Treatment Plans - and every clinician worth his or her salt will develop one for every client.
In fact, if you don't have one - there's a chance insurance companies won't reimburse you for your sessions with the client!
Because they want to know you have a documented plan for helping their client.
So in the same way - Satan does his research on each of us. When I was a clinician - we called this the Psycho-Social Assessment (or the PSA). It was our initial meeting with the client where we asked hundreds of questions in order to get a feel for the client's life - past and present.
All Satan has to do is watch old game footage, spy on us for a bit, tap our phones, check our browsing history and he has a pretty good idea what makes us tick. And unfortunately what makes us unravel...
And after all that research is complete - he writes up our Personalized Temptation Plan (our PTP)
Now the way I described this process - you're probably thinking this happens out of the blue - like Satan just realized I'm walking on the planet so he sits down and creates a PTP for me.
But that isn't the way it works. Because Satan has been on this Earth since it was created.
So me being on this planet is not a surprise to him. In fact, he was there at my birth and has been actively working against me since that day. My PTP started that day, and is simply revised over time to make it the most impactful PTP it can be.
So let's walk through a fictitious PTP just so you can see how it works:
Jane Doe | Personalized Temptation Plan | For Immediate & Ongoing Use
Demographic Information:
Age: 25
Location: Salem, OR
Current Status: Living in a one bedroom apartment, single with 7y old son
Family:
Estranged from Bio Mother and Father who are extremely religious
They are refusing contact due to pregnancy out of wedlock
No siblings
Connections:
Babies father not in the picture
No significant other
A few friends in the picture - but Jane rarely hangs out with them due to having a child at home
Employment: Works from home answering phones for a large cellphone company - during son's school day
Financial Status: Making just enough to survive. No child support being paid
Simple Diagnosis: Lonely single mom struggling with identity, addiction and severe anxiety
Building Blocks from the Past & Present:
Landmines:
Past:
Incident of sexual abuse by a teacher
Boyfriend left Jane when they got pregnant
Present:
Nothing currently
Minefields:
Past:
History of arguments/fights with parents
History of emotional abuse by parents - told numerous times she would fail, and not amount to anything
Present:
Currently drinking daily
Willing to try new things as they are introduced to her (Heroin soon to be introduced)
Potential Problems / Things that Need Flipped: Satan is completely aware of the things that we have going for us. Things that can help us, or support us in making good decisions. So he works to minimize this list or Flip the Script and actually get us to turn a positive into a negative - this is brilliant...
Assets:
Jane still has a connection to her high school youth pastor and his wife - work to keep this from continuing
Jane has a car, a house and a job - look for ways to disrupt these assets and create issues surrounding them
Jane has access to mental health services through her insurance - work to make this difficult for her to access
Strengths:
Jane is intelligent - work to keep her overthinking her life
Jane is creative - keep her from exploring positive creative outlets - reinforce creativity that is dark, and explores themes of death
Present & Future Outside Influencers:
People:
Push the relationship with the two friends that have access to Heroin
Places:
Work to keep Jane's life centered around her apartment, with little outside exposure
Bring negative friends into this environment in order to make it darker and more depressing
Things:
Promote addictive behavior (both Alcohol and Heroin)
Use the COVID-19 Pandemic to further isolate Jane in her home and to strengthen her fear and anxiety
Temptation Strategy:
Cognitive: Temptations to think in specific ways, or believe certain things
Personal:
Pour on the thoughts that Jane won't amount to anything
That she has no value
That there is no point to her struggle
Remind her she missed out on a big chunk of her life by having a child early
Keep her isolated and focused on it
Continue to provoke anxious thoughts and push to see if you can get a panic attack to occur
Family:
Create more tension points between Jane and her parents
Work to get the parents on social media so they will be able to see Jane's posts on the bad days
Will reinforce her lifestyle and keep the parents at arms length
Inject thoughts related to being a bad mother - that she is failing as a mom
Find ways to increase tension between Jane and her son so it becomes harder to parent
Friends:
Remind Jane she has no friends
Inject thoughts that this is her fault - that they don't want to hang out because Jane is not fun and defective in some way
Work to get gossip started among friend group to increase drama and decrease the connectedness Jane could feel - ensure Jane hears this gossip
World View:
Inject fearful thoughts regarding the Pandemic
Inject thoughts about a dark future - and that it would be a lot easier to just not be living
Behavioral: Temptations to act, or behave in a certain ways:
Personal:
Encourage increased Alcohol use and a desire to try other drugs
Encourage continued isolation
Encourage stagnant lifestyle vs. exercise
Family:
Encourage Jane to send drunk texts to parents with angry and hurtful messages
Encourage Jane to say and do mean things to her son - thereby reinforcing her belief that she is a bad parent
Friends:
Encourage Jane to have friends over to the apartment - especially the two friends that have started experimenting with Heroin
Encourage Jane to connect with some old high school friends on social media - those who do drugs and post exciting images about how fun their lives are
Work:
Encourage Jane to call in sick as much as possible in order to cause issues with her boss
World View:
Encourage Jane to follow social media accounts that reinforce the negative in the world, and that the future looks bleak
Encourage Jane to do internet searches that result in links to dark and negative websites - possibly website related to cults in the area
Encourage music that feeds into her anger and negative view on life and society
Push Jane toward movies and television shows that provide good illustrations of people engaging in sexual activity and drug use to feel better about their life situations
Next Steps:
Deliver on all of the above
PTP to be re-evaluated for effectiveness weekly until the end of this humans existence...
Now...my first question for you is this: How did you feel as I was reading that?
Was it scary? Was it too much?
Did you feel like I should write fiction novels because my example seemed a little far fetched?
Or did you resonate with it?
Did you think to yourself, "Ya, I've known this all along - I just choose not to think about it like this because it hits too close to home."
Or maybe you agree with it - but had never thought of it like that before
Maybe your world view was just blown wide open and your mind is reeling with what it means for you and your life
To me, this example was a perfect illustration of the way Satan works in the Controversy:
The depth and breadth of it
How invasive it is
How integrated it is into the Human Condition
And how personalized it is to our set of circumstances
How it chips away at the areas where we're weak
And how it introduces us to the next wrong thing - in order to keep us moving away from our Creator
This sample PTP was a quick look at "A Day In the Life" of Spiritual Warfare:
Now I know, not every Christian agrees on this. Some downplay Spiritual Warfare, while others push the concept even farther than I did with my example.
Transcend Human, and Conscience Driven Therapy resonate with this example - but at the end of the day lean toward the extreme end of the continuum.
In other words, if I was able to come up with that PTP off the top of my head in less than 30 minutes - what type of PTP could Satan develop over our lifetimes?
If that scares us - good! It should!
So why is this important? This whole idea that Satan has PTPs for each of us?
Well, as we said at the top of this episode:
It's a two step process:
The first step is to understand something - to gain knowledge we didn't previously have
The second step is to respond - to act upon that knowledge
So this is important because it is something we need to understand before we can do anything about it.
We need to get to the place where we 100% believe, or have faith that this is true.
That there is a Controversy, that Satan's Game Plan is to use us as revenge against God, and that we each have a PTP that Satan and his demons use in order to make that happen.
This is the understanding we must have before we move forward.
// 3. GOD'S GAME PLAN: RESCUE MISSION
Whew...it's going to be hard - but I want to try and explain the feelings I just experienced moving from Satan's Game Plan to God's Game Plan in this episode.
For the past few hours I've been describing Satan, his Game Plan, his weapons, and the PTPs he develops for each of us. And there was just something dark and depressing about it. I felt like I was in a tunnel - a dark, musty foreboding place where the air was stale and heavy. It wasn't a good feeling...
Then, the minute I typed GOD'S GAME PLAN: RESCUE MISSION I felt this calm come over me. It's as if someone turned a light on, opened a door and the cool ocean breeze entered once again.
It was almost supernatural...
Which is why I'm glad I structured the episode the way I did.
We got the dark stuff out of the way and will finish up on a positive note - understanding that there is good news - better news than what we just talked about.
So let's talk about God's Game Plan: Rescue Mission and the two main elements that make up His plan:
The Conscience
Eternal Life Plans (ELPs)
So these are the two weapons God uses in the Controversy. I'm sure you could push back with me and suggest there are other things - but I want to keep it simple here.
God's Game Plan is very different than Satan's because the end goal is totally different. And what God offers is totally different.
Think about the Super Bowl:
Both teams have roughly the same number of players
Both teams have coaches
Both teams have the same objective and have to follow the same rules
And at the end of the game - both teams have the opportunity to win the same trophy
You just need to score more points than your opponent
Now this is very indicative of competitions in our world. We enjoy sporting events - like the Olympics where the games are fair, there are rules and every competitor has the same opportunity to reach the medal stand.
But not so in the Controversy:
Equality, and fairness just aren't a thing
God and Satan are not equals - God is God and Satan is a being created by God
God has ultimate power whereas Satan only has the power God affords him
God created us and wants us back - Satan did not create us and wants to keep us from God
God is perfection and offers is a way back to that perfection - Satan destroyed that perfection on Earth and wants to destroy us
See how this is going?
Nothing like a sporting event. And on paper we would never go for this - because it looks too lopsided. It isn't even a fair fight.
But as we've discussed before - the world has been blinded by the Sin Virus. And because we're sinful beings we fall for Satan's lies. We're blinded to the fact that God is ultimately in control.
Satan convinces us that the "scratch" is all there is. That we should only focus our energy on it.
And he has the upper hand - because the things he shows us are real, tangible, visual and immediate. Whereas God's offer seems distant - almost like a fairy tale ending somewhere down the road.
Sorry - got a little off track there...
We were talking about the two elements God uses in the Controversy.
So let's start with the Conscience:
Now I'm not going to discuss everything there is to discuss about the conscience here
I'm going to try and summarize previous episodes where it was defined in detail
The main one being Chapter 8 of Controversy Theory called "Every Person Has a Conscience"
https://transcendhuman.com/podcast/2020/6/ct08-ba07-every-person-has-a-conscience
I linked to the episode in the show notes in case you want to do a deep dive on it
But let's summarize:
In that episode we used the illustration of a house
Picture your home - with its many different rooms:
In this illustration the home is our mind
The various rooms are for different functions of our mind - sensory input, live assessment of our environment, planning, short-term memory, long-term memory, forming habits, problem solving, technical knowledge, learned skills, etc.
And in one of those rooms there is a television - which illustrates the conscience:
A television is able to bring all sorts of messages into your home - some good and some bad
And we get to choose what we watch
These days we have Smart TVs that are actually able to accept input from the viewer and transmit it back upstream
Similarly - our conscience is a portal within our minds that is directly connected to the spiritual realm
We're able to determine what content lives there and then allow God (through the Holy Spirit) to notify us when behavior is right or wrong
Now that was a little vague - but let's back it up for a minute and grab the official Definition: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/conscience
"The inner senses of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action."
"The complex of ethical and moral principals that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual."
So when we read these definitions the following thoughts emerge:
Talks about a “sense” of what is right or wrong. And then it uses the word “impel” which is to drive forward. So in essence - being driven to action by sensing something...
The second one suggests it more a set of principles within us that control what we do and don’t do. Like a filter for our thinking and behaving
Interesting that both are things that can just happen - they could just be there as part of our brain structure. Without any help, or outside force.
All well and good - but Conscience Driven Therapy suggests we can't leave it there.
The conscience is NOT just a database where all things good and bad are listed - a database we search when questioning if we should do something or not.
The conscience is two things:
It is a database created throughout our lives based on what we were taught, or teach ourself to be right or wrong
AND
It is a direct portal to spiritual direction - like we said - a communication channel that God (Holy Spirit) can use to guide us
This means the following:
The database will be different for everyone - based on how we were raised, our own research, the culture we're surrounded by and the spiritual beliefs we have
The Holy Spirit is able to guide us based on the things in the database
So it makes sense that if we fill the database with things that are right and true - the Holy Spirit will have an easier time reinforcing these things
But this also suggests that if we've filled our database with things that are not right or true - the Holy Spirit will have a harder time getting through to us and helping us navigate difficult decisions
This gets a little complicated - but maybe we can simplify it by saying it this way:
The conscience is a space in our mind where the Holy Spirit is able to live
It's a sandbox, or playground where we wrestle with spiritual and existential decisions
It is meant for good - but like everything else on Earth - we can corrupt it
We can fill our minds with so many negative thoughts and beliefs that the help from the Holy Spirit seems almost non-existent
The final thing we talked about was how the conscience plays the same role the "Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil" played in the Garden of Eden.
That tree was a voting booth where Adam and Eve cast their vote for Satan instead of God.
The conscience plays that role for us today.
Each of us has the freedom of choice in how we live our lives. And the conscience is where we cast our vote for God or Satan:
There is a one time vote - the big one - where we choose to accept or reject the Antidote to the Sin Virus
This is the ultimate decision - one we will all make at some point in our lives
But there are also small, daily decisions we make regardless where we're at on the big one
This is the ongoing Spiritual Warfare we've talked about
Satan using temptation and God using the conscience
And finally - the Holy Spirit works through the conscience in the following ways:
Mediator
Advocate
Consultant
Comforter
Okay - I think we'll leave it there for now. There is so much to talk about related to the conscience - but we don't have time to do that now.
So let's move to the other element of God's Game Plan: The Eternal Life Plans (ELPs)
Just as Satan has a PTP for each of us - so too God has a personalized plan for each of us.
We're going to call it an Eternal Life Plan.
Instead of doing a fully fleshed out example like we did for the PTP - let's just look at the differences...
When God looks at Jane Doe, He smiles - because Jane is his child. And He only has her best interest at heart.
So let's walk through God's Plan for Jane:
Jane Doe | Eternal Life Plan | For Immediate & Ongoing Use
Demographic Information: All the same
Simple Diagnosis: Daughter of a King, with a bright future and a home waiting for her in Heaven
Building Blocks from the Past & Present: All Landmines & Minefields remain the same
Potential Problems: The Assets & Strengths are not seen as problems - they are things to be supported and encouraged
Present & Future Outside Influencers:
People:
Create chance meetings with coworkers who are believers
Have an old friend of the family call to check in on Jane and ask her to lunch
Places:
Create positive interactions with coworkers outside the apartment and not over Zoom
Help Jane find the little coffee shop on the next block - where there are positive influences and outlets for her creativity
Things:
Help Jane remember her love for reading and encourage this as a positive outlet for her anxiety
Continue to use Jane's relationship with her son as a reason to remain clean and sober
Remind Jane about the Controversy - and her vote in the Eternal Election
Help her see how important this first step is
Use people Jane interacts with to encourage this and provide ways for her to have her spiritual questions answered
Support Strategy (Instead of the Temptation Strategy):
Cognitive: Supporting positive and rational thinking:
Personal:
Pour on the reminders that Jane is a child of the King
That she has value
That she has so much potential
Remind her the amazing role she plays as a mom
Calm her mind when anxious thoughts become overwhelming
Family:
Increase positive interactions between Jane and her parents
Work on the hearts of both Jane and her parents
Help them see the relationship they're missing out on
Help Jane see the progress she has made with her son
Support Jane as she works to be there for her son
Friends:
Encourage Jane to find positive friends
Help Jane think rationally about her situation and find friends that will support he in her situation
Help Jane think logically about gossip, and the random drama that occurs between people she knows
World View:
Encourage Jane to see the beauty in the world
Encourage her to participate and contribute to it
Behavioral: Supporting positive behavior and actions:
Personal:
Encourage Jane to stop drinking to numb herself
Encourage Jane to explore her neighborhood, walk more and interact with others
Encourage Jane to try the local coffee shop and see that she could showcase her art there in a few months time
Family:
Encourage Jane to connect with her parents in meaningful ways
Encourage Jane to find new tricks on parenting in order to maintain her solid relationship with her son
Friends:
Encourage Jane to accept the calls from positive coworkers and agree to meet them once and a while
Encourage Jane to reach out to past friends who had a positive influence on her
Work:
Encourage Jane to continue working hard
Encourage her to submit ideas she has that would make her job and the company function more smoothly - instead of assuming they wouldn't go anywhere
World View:
Encourage Jane to stay off social media - or follow accounts with more positive content
Encourage Jane to do internet searches that result in links to community resources, and other positive outlets in the community
Help Jane find uplifting movies and television that support a positive outlook on life and the Human Condition
Help Jane process world events and political division in rational ways - rather than getting overwhelmed by them
Next Steps:
Remain close to Jane, and support her in all of these ways and more
ELP is perfect for Jane and will only grow to be more effective in the future
Okay - so same question as before... How did you feel as I was reading that?
Better than the first one?
For me - 100% better
God's Plan is all about love, support, encouragement and wanting us to experience the best life possible
What's not to love about that?!
Compared to Satan who is always looking for ways to distract, harm and eventually extinguish us from the universe...
Now I know - this isn't the easiest stuff to think about.
Life is so much easier when we can:
Go on a walk outside and pretend the Earth has always been here and always will be here
Pretend that there are no threats out there
That everyone has your best interest at heart
That our behavior is our own
That we can do whatever feels good to us at the time with no ripple effect
No harm, no foul
Just life for today - be in the moment...
I get that - it's attractive to me as well.
So let's finish up this section on God's Game Plan by explaining the benefits of His plan.
We already know the benefits of Satan's Plan:
We live for the "scratch"
We go hard and do all the things
Everything the world tells us will bring happiness
And in the end, we burn ourselves out on temporary stuff
We refuse the gift God offers us and die alone - with no hope - no future
Who wins? Satan wins - because he was able to keep you from the life you were meant to have
He gets another small piece of revenge against the God of the Universe
But God's Plan is so much better!
An Eternal Life Plan (ELP) offers two things:
A better life here and now:
Satan lies to us and tells us it isn't true
He tries to get us to see all the things we have to say no to
He gets us to focus on the things we would miss out on - after all - everyone's doing it!!!
But it is true - life after accepting the Antidote to the Sin Virus is amazing
Just look at the ELPs God has for us - all the support and encouragement
That's the life we can have right now if accept it and tap into it
The world doesn't change...the Human Condition doesn't change...we still struggle and go through difficult situations
But our response has changed - we learn to rise above the Human Condition and see it for what it is
That we're part of something so much bigger
We move from living for the "scratch" to enjoying the "scratch" while we're here...
We realize that true purpose and meaning exist in using the "scratch" for eternal purposes
Eternal life when it's all over:
Life after the "scratch"
I think this is the piece so many people just can't wrap their brains around
It's too abstract - I mean Heaven, eternal life - I can't see it, can't define it, can't visualize it
But life right here and now - that I can see - that I can sink my teeth into...
But in doing so - we miss the big picture
What if we could live a good life and enjoy the "scratch" - but then life forever after that?
Doesn't that seem like the best possible outcome?
Let’s land the plane:
Friends - this is why the gospel message is also called the Good News...
Why choosing God in the Eternal Election is Good News...
Because we go from a living a short, troubled life to a life of purpose and meaning that will never end.
And that's it - I don't think it can be summarized any better than that.
This week, ask yourself the following questions:
Where are you at with the concept of the Controversy?
Spiritual Warfare?
God and Satan fighting over you?
Does that scare you? Does it help you see how much you are worth? How valuable you are in the grand scheme of things?
Have you ever sat down and thought through Satan's Master Plan?
His insatiable desire for revenge?
How he wants nothing more than to use us against God?
And how personalized his weapons are?
How he has literally studied you since the day you were born in order to use your weaknesses against you?
And finally - do you resonate with God's Master Plan?
Can you see how valuable you are based on the God of the Universe supporting and encouraging you?
Do you see how God's Plan would set you up for a better life here and now?
And can you get on board with delayed gratification? Knowing that when it all ends - we will get to live forever?
Thank you so much for sticking it out again this week. These episodes are really getting long - but it makes sense because we're now into the meat of CDT.
We're talking strategy, action steps and ways to leverage our freedom of choice in the battle between God and Satan.
Next week we continue with: Chapter 8: CDT08 | Knowing is Half the Battle
With that, have a great week, and as always, keep Transcending Human!
References:
https://smile.amazon.com/Control-Your-Anger-Before-Controls/dp/B01DE2UH9E/
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-most-powerful-influential-strongest-villains/
https://smile.amazon.com/Screwtape-Letters-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652934/
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/things-to-know-about-the-story-of-job.html
https://discover.hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/trialsofjob
https://transcendhuman.com/podcast/2020/6/ct08-ba07-every-person-has-a-conscience