Manipulation of Your Mind

I finished reading the book, Hidden in Dreams, by Davis Bunn.  This fiction book is about a medicine which was developed for ADHD but a side effect was manipulation of the dream state in people.  And people wanting power and control used it for their own evil purposes to create dreams in people who were in positions of power and leadership.

And this morning, I began reading The Bishop of Rwanda by Bishop John Rucyahana.  (On sale on Amazon)  This book tells the story of how the Belgians created so much animosity and division among the Tutsi and Hutu people that the end result was a genocide of over 1 million people.  Bishop John makes the point that before the evil work of the Belgians to divide a nation, it would be like trying to find a difference between the Irish & Norwegians who'd been in America for generations.  There was no tribal or language division.  In fact, there had been so much intermarriage, you couldn't tell substantial differences between the two peoples.  They'd lived in peace for over 500 years.  And yet...there was a mass genocide.

Reading these two books back-to-back has startled me.  Both books are about manipulation of the mind.  In the first book, people had no idea they were being manipulated.  The second book was a slow and subtle division of people by manipulation.  And it made me start thinking about how our minds are being manipulated today.  I remember the first time I went to Tibet (well, actually, the only time!).  A loud speaker came on across the city of Lhasa each morning.  The message lasted about 30 minutes.  When I asked Marcy what they were saying, her response was, "The government's propoganda."  Immediately, I began to think of our own government.  Do we have propoganda?  And if so, how is it issued?

Recently, I've been very disturbed by the political anger and seeming hatred being thrown about on Facebook.  It disturbs me.  I'm not suggesting that we be silent when we need to speak up.  But I'm wondering if the hatred is a part of our minds being manipulated.  Bishop John said that by the time of the genocide, pastors were luring their membership into the safe haven of their churches with the intent of killing them.  How do church leaders get to that point?  By allowing their minds to be manipulated.

I'm just advocating that each of us examine ourselves.  Have we been manipulated by the enemy?  I'm reminded of the Bible verse that says, "[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)..."   Take your thoughts captive.  Don't be manipulated.  Be a seeker of TRUTH and love.  Anger leads to murder...even if it's only in your heart.