Brainwashing

It’s his last stand…Job, I mean…the Job in the Bible. He’s the one who suffers through so much turmoil, and yet still never curses God throughout. First, his adult children, his servants and his livestock (of which there were plenty making him the richest man in the area) are all lost…killed…to be exact. Then his body is struck with a horrible ailment that’s torturous. At least that’s the gist of what most people know about Job, but reading through chapter by chapter, I’ve learned so much more about his sufferings.


So, here I am at the 27th chapter, verses 1-6. He’s right in the middle of his last chance to speak, and at this point of his speech, he’s once again asserting his innocence. Why? Because, he’s been told over and over again that he must have sinned horribly for such calamity to have cursed him. But God states right in the beginning of the book that Job is a righteous man. So, how could this be? How could it be that we so often feel as though one tragedy after another is bombarding us when we know we’ve been true to His Word? Naturally, we begin to question whether or not we really have. What in the world could have brought on our circumstances? What’s behind these agonizing arguments in our minds?


The verses came across to me with such passion, with such drive; it was as if I could see him. I could see Job on his knees, pounding his fists on the ground with all his strength declaring that he will not give up his stance. As long as he lives…no, as long as God lives, he will not give in to the pressure…he will not believe what those around him are feeding him…he will not sin.


And by “sin”, he means specifically cursing God. What perseverance he has! Constantly being beaten and battered…force fed words from his so-called friends…words that sound so convincing that we begin to wonder if he’s actually wavering. Truth is, a few times, he’s close to collapsing under the pressure…close to giving up hope of being justified…close to giving up his claim to innocence and to actually admit that he truly did bring all this turmoil upon himself.


How could he be so strong? How long have his “buddies” been there pushing and prodding, gnawing and nagging? How could the human soul withstand so much? It would be enough to morph the mind into something completely mad! I know I could not have such strength, but here he is saying one last time, “I will never give up my claim to innocence! I will never give up my integrity!”


There’s been a battle raging in the spiritual realm. These “wise guys” are being used over and over again to tear down this man while he’s already weak…used by Satan himself. But Satan is losing this battle. That’s because Job is stronger than that. I am amazed…I’m amazed at Job’s strength, and I’m amazed at what God is showing me through this scenario.

As I step back and look at the big picture, I’m reminded by God that Satan is working his hardest to get Job to break and to curse God. I see the mind of this man undergoing a process of brainwashing. It’s a technique that works. It’s been proven to work. It works like this: strip away from a man everything he has and remove any trace of a support system. Ensure that everyone who surrounds him is turned against him. Torture him physically, and then bring him to a place of mental exhaustion. Finally, repeat to him over and over again something that he at first did not believe to be true, and in the end, you will have brainwashed him.


That’s it! Satan’s brainwashing Job. Wait a minute. Satan brainwashes us all. Maybe we don’t think about it that way, but it is what it is. I wonder if this could be the first recorded incident of such a tactic? I mean a literal textbook brainwashing. You see, it may appear on the surface that he’s experiencing a series of extreme unfortunate events, but underneath, it parallels a scenario that I’ve read about God knows how many times. I’m talking about countless stories of Christians who have suffered over the last 2000 years in attempts to bring them to a place of denying Christ…of taking back their testimony…of ultimately cursing God. There’s nothing new under the sun. It’s all been a system of psychologically breaking the spirit, the mind, the person. Some of the worst scenarios I’ve read about happened at the hands of atheistic communists.


The communist soldier would strip the Christian of everything including a support system…they would rip him from his family, and place him in solitary confinement. Then they would put the Christian through physical torture, and then deprive him of sleep…mental exhaustion. Well as I mentioned, right from the start, Job has everything taken from him…his children…his servants…his property, and then, as he has lamented throughout the pages of this book, everyone else turns on him. They ignore him, mock him, or abhor him. We know he’s physically suffering, and he’s also made it clear that he can’t sleep therefore, he suffers from mental exhaustion. The stage has perfectly been set for brainwashing.


And so, just as the communist would constantly feed phrases into the mind of the Christian such as, “God does not exist,” “Jesus is dead,” and, “communism is the only way,” Satan has Job’s friends going around and around feeding him with the message that he did this to himself, he must be a godless man, and he’ll just waste away in his wickedness if he doesn’t admit it and change.


But praise God, just as so many were able to find strength to resist the brainwashing of their torturers, and instead stay true to their faith, their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Job has also (by the grace of God) managed to keep his mind sane, and has not given in to these three men who are weapons of Satan’s warfare.


Now, if so many of my predecessors, including one of the most ancient men I’ve ever read about, found the perseverance to stand their ground and believe in truth in spite of their circumstances, how is it I so often get battered down by the lies of the enemy when I know what the Word says?


I know the truth, yet I give in to the brainwashing that “I’ll never change.” I apologize and make excuses…surrendering to defeat instead of victoriously speaking the truth…the truth that I know. If Job was able to persevere…I can too. In fact, I can do better. Because I have the power of the Holy Spirit in me, I can put Satan in his place. I can rebuke his lies and believe the truth. I haven’t even suffered through the process of brainwashing…not literally. Maybe I’ve had many minor versions of it, but I haven’t had everything stripped from me, placed in solitary confinement, and physically tortured, so why should I give Satan the satisfaction? Am I really so weak to surrender?


No! I WILL put him in his place. I will rebuke him because of the power and authority invested in me by my Lord and Savior. I will pound my fists if I have to. As long as I live, as long as my Jesus lives, I will not give in to the pressure of my torturer. I will rise, and because of Jesus and Jesus only, I will be found blameless in the end.


Amie Spruiell 11/19/2010