FOUR: Am I a rock, Am I an Island? (Are your thoughts really your own?) Paraphrase: ‘Whoever has a spiritual ear, let him hear what the mind says to the people (congregation)’. Many believe in their own isolation; in the independence of their existence, will, and thought. What if such an attitude amounts to turning a blind eye to, or wearing blinders so you just don’t see, what kind of mind you actually have? ‘I am a rock, I am an island’ may be a lie. Would you know if your mind was overpowered by a greater mind? You may not have a talent practiced enough to discern one mind from the other. It may be that all mentality feels the same. I assert that your mind may not be your own. If God is a spirit, and spirit is mind, then every brain built to fit that form and function will house that form and function. To any who deny it, the influence of that form and function will be sporadic and forced, but you may not feel a thing: the thought will seem your own. To any who willingly open to that form and function, strong feelings and energetic displays will be misleading; actually, the thought will seem your own. Let’s review some recorded instances from scripture. You may draw your own conclusions, that is, if you still think they are your own. Check out these references of higher influences. Ezra 6:22, "(God) turned the heart (mind) of the king of Assyria unto them". Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart (mind) is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will". Ezra 7:27, "The Lord God . . . hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart (mind)". Job 12:24-25, "He taketh away the heart (mind) of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man". Here are more of the same. 2 Kings 19:27-28, "But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me. Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest". 2 Chronicles 18:31, "Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him". Job 5:17, "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty". I have plenty more. We see that people normally wear blinders from such verses as Romans 1:28-32, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate (libertine) mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them". That says quite a lot. Finally, the sons of men recognize that something has been added to the mix. Add Jeremiah 10:23 to this list, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps".
So all of humankind is composed of mindless robotic puppets, and all of the problems of the world are the result of the creator, eh? Thanks for that.
