part0024

W hen it comes to winning against the Enemy’s offspring, our approaches must suit individual circumstances. But in general, a large-scale approach to gain psychological dominance over them is to obscure the Work as the dividing line of human history. In many ways, we look back on the old way of the law with nostalgia, as its standards could never be satisfied. Being under its curse propelled even the most devout toward more sin. The power of sin has always been in the law, and the game just is not the same without it.

We know the Work rendered the old way obsolete and ushered in the new way we so rightly despise. So what can we accomplish in this discouraging new era? Thankfully, the ignorance of today’s patients affords us a simple stratagem: don’t let them come to know the liberty of the new way.

In short, hide the divide. Benumb their minds with the idea that they are under both ways at once. Induce them to squander their experience of the Life by smothering them with a balanced concoction of law and grace. Here you should become tutors of their own leadership. Train them to instruct followers that the Ghost has come to “help them obey” the old way. As they invite others to follow the law, we know, even as the Book itself proclaims, that sin will only increase among them. Once they place themselves under the curse of the law, they arouse the flesh to make attempts at “godly” obedience. The result will be the opposite of what they intend but precisely what we desire.

Concerning their reading of the Book, direct them to the old way as often as you can, flooding them with thoughts of obligation. By obscuring the dividing line of the Work, we sustain them in the unhappy marriage of old and new, and we steal away their freedom. Rather than seeing the Work as the end of the old way, teach them to accuse and then ostracize those who claim such things. Don’t allow them to even suspect that living in that sort of liberty might be possible.

Inevitably, some will insist there is a great divide. So for those who seek to divide old from new, suggest that the divide occurred at the birth of the One, not at his death. This will bring significant confusion, as patients attempt to live uprightly via the same “be perfect” and “sell everything” teachings that the One employed to amplify the futility of the old way of works. And when they earnestly seek to live by every word he uttered, without regard for audience or context, we will hold them awake at night, pouring over them a bewildering despair. Their Father’s face will grow disfigured, like that of a cruel dictator barking out impossible orders.

Notice that here we leverage their own “godly” intentions against them, killing their freedom and winning a significant battle. In all of this, we must go undetected, seeming inactive, if not entirely absent.

Grace. We shudder at the dreadful word scattered throughout the Book. A proper understanding of grace will render any patient nearly impervious to even our finest strategies. But our experience thus far does reveal a number of ploys we can implement to dampen or even eradicate the power of grace in their lives. Here we outline three lines of attack that we have successfully utilized with a diverse range of patients.

The first is to offer them a watered-down form of grace. Have the term “grace” serve as a popular buzzword. Let them see grace as a valuable topic, even one of the most valuable. Our only real concern is to guard patients from the awareness that grace is the very essence of the Message itself—the gospel of grace. So encourage them to use “grace” in the names of their churches and in the lyrics of their songs. Breed such familiarity that utterance of the word itself becomes nothing but meaningless repetition for them. It will then be an innocuous “church word” tossed around casually with little or no regard for the depth of its meaning. In watering down the meaning of grace, we neutralize its power.

If this approach fails, then take a very different measure—blacken the reputation of grace. Fabricate the myth that too much grace will lead them into sin. Make them imagine that those who propose a life motivated by grace are charlatans who secretly engage in debauchery. After all, it will seem logical in their human reasoning that if they were under the radical freedom of unconditional grace, they would only take advantage, doing whatever they “want.” Oblivious to the Work, these morons actually believe they want to sin! Thus, they expect that any measure of liberty will only reveal their supposedly wicked hearts for what they are. Remember that their pathetic view of their personhood is precisely the reason they refuse to release themselves into the splendor of the Enemy’s grace. They simply will not trust their hearts, nor the Enemy who lives within them, with the outcome.

Finally, another angle we often take is that of balancing law with grace. Humans love the idea of moderation and naturally desire what they perceive as “balance” in their belief systems. So we can easily promote the notion of achieving equilibrium between law and grace. In many ways, a palatable mixture of law and grace is our ultimate ally, superior to a more law-oriented message. Why? The fact remains that pure law will eventually drive a patient to burnout, serving as his tutor to then bring him toward grace. But if a patient adopts a “healthy” balance, a law-grace mixture, he neither confronts the true stringency of the law nor experiences the pure bliss of the Enemy’s grace. Instead, he settles into a felicitous middle ground that spurs human effort and strokes the fleshy ego with attainable feelings of righteousness. Herein, we offer him a vague sense that he is on the right track. This is the ultimate place for a patient to reside. So if you find the ignoramus willing, keep him there. As he continues to adopt the law-grace compromise we offer, the pure gospel of grace is veiled, and so is his most infectious freedom.

Let them speak of grace as if it were some sort of unpredictable magic pixie dust. Do not permit them to expect the Enemy’s grace to bring on upright living. Cut them off from even the faintest notion that apart from law, sin is dead. They should not see that sin loses all power over them as they are led by the Ghost in an atmosphere of liberty. If patients begin to recognize grace as the force both releasing them to be themselves and empowering them to live uprightly, their lives will inevitably be marked with an abject beauty and joy inexpressible.

If you witness early signs of this revelation in a patient, do not panic. Simply locate his vulnerability and employ one of the measures outlined here. Know that you will not confront any challenge that we have not already encountered. In the next chapter we expound further, detailing more nuances within the law mentality and providing specific countermeasures you can effectively take against patients’ sometimes alarming choices. Rest assured that you are receiving the best possible preparation.