BRAINWASHED AND INDOCTRINATED- HOW ONE

IS CONVINCED OF WHAT IS CERTAINLY NOT TRUE…

By Edward O’Hara

In a conversation I was having with an acquaintance it became apparent that he was seeing things in the Bible that just weren’t there. I thought to myself, how can he believe what he is saying? He says he believes the Bible. But, then proceeds to read into it things that are just not there.

Have you ever had a conversation like that? It can be really frustrating, right? But, if we are mindful that brainwashing and indoctrination is a real and powerful thing, we will remember that our real purpose in witnessing is not to show people how much we know about the Bible. But, it is to show people how much God loves them. So that we will always try to free them from the captivity of satan.

When someone really sees what isn’t actually written on the page it means that they are actually either quite crazy. Or they have been convinced through a form of manipulation known as brainwashing or indoctrination that it really is there. So this brainwashing is not in a good way like what we see described in Titus3:5 where Paul says “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”. 

Here are some examples of what I mean. The man I was conversing with read the verse in Gen.3 where Adam is explaining to God why he hid from Him. He read the verse out loud as it is written word for word. Then when he began to tell me what he just read word for word, he told me something completely different from what is written there. 

The passage in question reads like this word for word. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Now when reading this passage word for word it says that Adam hid because he was afraid, right? Does anyone read that Adam hid because he was ashamed? Why then do so many who teach God’s word after reading it word for word say that Adam hid because he was ashamed?  

The answer is that through a false method of interpretation called “systematic theology”, they have been lied to, conditioned, brainwashed, and indoctrinated to think that behavior that causes shame and guilt is the reason men are separated from God and go to hell. They actually come to believe that the reason men go to hell is because they are bad. 

But, Jesus plainly said in John17:3 the reason men don’t have eternal life is because to have eternal life is to know Him. Jesus also said in John16 that if men go to hell it is because “They believe not on me”. And not because they are bad. This means that being a better person is not the way to heaven. It is only a by-product of knowing Jesus. This is why Jesus said in John16:9 that the sin of the world He sent the Holy Spirit to reprove the world of is “they believe not on me”. Not every naughty thing a man might have done. 

In the same conversation with this man he told me after reading out loud, again word for word, this time from Gen.5:3, that to him the passage plainly said Adam had a sin nature he passed on to Seth. Here is that passage word for word. “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth”

Do you see anything about Adam having a sin nature in this verse? Or that he passed a sin nature to Seth? In the words we read in this verse none of this is there. But, this man was so adamant that this is what it actually said he got angry that I could not see it. And now will not even speak with me anymore. Truly Jesus spoke the truth when He said, “I came not to bring peace, but a sword”. 

This brainwashing is a technique that convinces people to believe and see things that are not really there. With this they try to form an idea in another person’s mind, a person who is not believing what the Bible plainly says, by telling and retelling the same lie until that person begins to believe it. And the more they tell it the more they believe it. Until pretty soon everything they are told or that they read is understood through the prism of that lie. This is how this acquaintance of mine came to believe he actually saw the words ashamed and sin nature in these passages. 

Have you been lied to, conditioned, and brainwashed by man’s wisdom as my acquaintance has? So that when you read the Bible you believe what is not written there? If so only God can “renew your mind” so that you will think and believe as you must to have eternal life.

Remember, man’s ways are not God’s ways. Neither are man’s thoughts God’s thoughts. 

He wants you to know Him. Will you turn from believing in what is not written? Will you turn to the truth as it is plainly written in the Bible? Only then will you know Him for eternal life. If you will then you can begin with this simple prayer. 

Dear Jesus, Thank you for showing me how I have been lied to, conditioned, and brainwashed. Thank you for showing me examples of this so that I can plainly see my errors in reading and interpreting your word. Help me to think as you think. And to make my ways your ways. Thank you for joining with me in death. So that I can join with you in eternal life. Thank you that the Holy Spirit guides me now in the truth of your word so I can know you in a greater and greater way. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

If you prayed with me then that means you have seen that what you were lied to about is not true because it is not what the Bible actually says. And now as you read the Bible you will begin to see in a whole new way what it means to be saved. God bless you in your new life with the Lord. 

See you there or in the air!

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