Listen For Thoughts That Are Not Your Own, But Sound Patterned On You: Identify The Author

"The One Bible Verse That Saved My Mental Health." By Nathan May

Thoughts that are not from God feel exactly like…

…thoughts that are not from God.

They feel small, jagged, sad, tragic, self-attacking, blaming etc.

The Enemy is the author, but you are the page;

Why do we do this?

(Life stress, prayer neglect, unintentional drift from faith practices, or heart purification, all create the fertile ground for the enemy.)

We let the Enemy put thoughts into our heads, and before we know it we can’t think of a single thing good about ourselves. Not one.

He is very good at what he does.

He will also place anti-love thoughts into the mouths of people we thought we knew well, sometimes for decades. We leave the key in the door, leave the lights on, a meal on the table. And a note.

Come on in… Opposition. (“Enemy,” aka Satan.)

And when Enemy thoughts take over, we are not much fun to be around.

What does the enemy sound like: petty, sour, thin-skinned, afraid, doom-oriented, diagnostic, dis-compassionate, gossipy, and materialist.

What does God sound like: Comfort that is genuine, an impossibility of anything not made of love.

Here’s an offering, on this Tuesday morning: If it is not love, it is not of interest to you.

The enemy loves ill will and gossip.

You may be ready for people you “thought you knew” to disembark your train, rather than make of the old friendship, an idol.

It does not mean that friend is bad, or that you are. It actually means the Enemy finally succeeded—he got between you with his voice. (Diagnosing, accusing, shaming—) Remember: The enemy loves what exactly?

To break a bond.

Like mosquitos love blood, like a gossip loves an idle ear.

All true sacred friendships, as well as all sacred relationships, must be guarded against the voice of the Enemy, by both people being able to hear that voice and rebuke it.

And I wonder: Is “RSD” a concession to the Enemy?

What Nathan May says about how the Enemy will make voices that are pattered in our own, made me think of AI. I’ve always been afraid of something that presents as something else, close but not identical.

This is the source of the profound fright in the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood.

This is why people sit around all day listing to horror tales of narcissists who created a person that was so very much like a real person.

And this is why transparent authenticity is so important.