part0027

E verything patients think and do flows from their view of the Enemy. So draw them a mental picture of the One sitting far off in the distance, frustrated at their pitiful attempts to save the world. He is weak, nearly helpless without them. If they do not act on his behalf, nothing will be accomplished. The sense that nothing can be done apart from them will fuel their tendencies toward pride or, alternatively, despair.

In so doing, you will divert them from the truth that the Enemy is not served by their human hands, as if he needed anything from them. You will awaken them to the erroneous concept that everything rests on their shoulders. And while they are in this state, you hit them with misleading notions about dedication and commitment. As we will demonstrate here, these tactics will cause them to vacillate wildly between the heights of hubris and the depths of self-loathing.

Activate the Martyr Syndrome within them. Once patients see themselves as suffering servants who have “counted the cost” of true discipleship, they are effortlessly seduced by their own flattering portrait of themselves. We convince them that by their obedience, they have reserved themselves for the Enemy’s special purposes. The misconception that they have qualified themselves for service remains fixed in their minds, and we thereby guard them from the truth that they are forever qualified by the Work alone.

Ignoring the price already paid, patients readily imagine that they must pay a price in order to participate in a “higher” life. As these losers focus on their obedience, they are blinded to the obedience of the One. As they seek to “die to self” and “pay the price,” they turn a deaf ear to any talk of free grace. They acquiesce to the idea that some form of payment of their own is required for them to be anointed, to be filled, to be used, or to obtain whatever inventive goal they concoct. So this same payment mentality, which we once worked in Simon the Sorcerer to his demise, can be implanted in the minds of patients today. They simply refuse to believe that they have been freely given all things. They do not see that obedience comes as a result of their equipping, not as the means to it.

There is nothing more discouraging to us than a patient who serves the Enemy joyfully, from the heart, free of guilt or any sense of obligation. As we have witnessed throughout the ages, this phenomenon alone can counteract years of careful planting and cultivation.

How can you prevent this? Use the strength of your opponent against him. As a patient joyfully engages in acts of service, encourage him to do more and more. Bring him to a place of such commitment that no human can joyfully sustain without “faking it.” Then have him gravitate toward and obsess over only those passages in the Book that speak of service. Slide in the thought that failure to maintain his current level of effort will bring disappointment, if not consequences, from the Enemy.

At this point, a subject either tries harder or gives up. If he tries harder, we apply a deeper sense of obligation. If he gives up and walks away from the demanding “religion” of our own invention, we heap the condemnation. Either way, we succeed. And once he has chosen to try harder or give up, he will suspect correlations between his present circumstances and his current level of commitment.

As humans seem bent toward a superstitious fear of divine retribution, we can persuade them that the Enemy might smite them should he grow dissatisfied with their lack of commitment. While few will openly admit that they believe the Enemy might strike them with illness, job loss, or other negative circumstances due to lack of service, we do find many are open to entertaining this notion in the private recesses of their minds. That is all we really need—a private willingness to secretly swallow the lies we feed them.

The underlying implication in all of this is that the Enemy demands their service. If they do not meet his standard, he unleashes retribution upon their heads. He is seen not as a giver but as a taker, and an angry one at that. Rather than acting as beloved children, they ultimately feel like suffering slaves, measuring their works and wondering if they have done enough. They end up famished for the acceptance and approval they already have. Their service grows frantic and guilt-laden, and their enthusiasm wanes into despondency rather than springing from that passionate joy we vehemently abhor.

Of course, most of their leaders will not teach such obvious error in any public setting. But we certainly find them willing to imply it! And since their followers are already prone toward this sort of belief, they only need a gentle nudge in that direction to send them into a spiral of self-condemnation. In their humanity, they seem to nearly expect that the Enemy is angry with them and therefore must be appeased. Even though the Work was accomplished, satisfying the Enemy forever, many of the slimy snails still hold tightly to their warped view of him. We find that some never learn any different until the second death. By then, it is too late for them to notify anyone as to where they erred, and that is just the way we like it.

As they fail to operate under the love and acceptance lavished on them, they grow more and more vulnerable to our pressure tactics. They fall prey to such a sense of urgency that they are unwilling to wait on the works the Enemy has prepared in advance for them to walk in. Given the urgency to earn the Enemy’s favor, to them his divine pace seems meager at best. So they find themselves forced to fabricate as many works as they can to feel they are making progress toward appeasing him.

Offer a patient convincing standards by which to measure his “growth,” and he will labor endlessly under a yoke of his own making. He must not see the Life that is easy and light. Keep him working so fast and so furiously that he has no time to contemplate anything else. Then, when the patient is well on the path toward defeat, do not relax your guard. This is critical, as it is not uncommon for the Ghost to take extraordinary measures to gain a patient’s attention and reverse his trajectory. So keep the patient’s eyes focused on himself, that is, his lack of commitment. Shower him with accusation and offer one and only one solution: recommitment to the very ideals that have brought him to the place of despair. Have him try, and try, and try again. Even after witnessing his failures, he must be convinced that he should try once more. Pile more demands on the subject, remind him of his shortcomings, and incite him to rededicate, over and over, expecting a different outcome each time. Yes, this is the definition of insanity, but evidently it is an insanity to which they willingly ascribe.

Ensure he only sees trying, not trust; labor, not rest; dedication, not dependency. Do not allow him to equate the way he began in the Life with the way to continue. Some converts may do away with themselves in their despair; others may walk away from the fellowship of the Body; and most will in some way relegate themselves to what they believe is an ineffective life of second-tier spirituality.