I think this captures a lot of what makes me uncomfortable with a lot of the stuff broadly captured under “hustle bro logic” - it supposes that there are far too many people wasting there lives and not achieving things (aggressive messaging to hack their desires) and the solution is usually some form of self imposed suffering (that inevitably isolates them) and then also sets it up so that any personal failure to be successful is the own persons fault (buy / consumer more content / grind harder).
I think this is also what made me so happy to read your book. Because you were detailed about the struggles you went through (the real). So many people hide that or ignore it.
Great connection. There’s also the hustle bro loop where you’re told "it’s simple, you just need my course” and then "stop buying courses". Of course a person might need more information and then advice to apply not read, but the marketing can cause the very problem they blame their readers for.
All the comments I'm reading here are so helpful to me in identifying or exposing unseen forces that have shamed me. I feel the proverbial squeeze. I've been at risk of being metamorphosed into a hard, implacable stone by pressing fear of human opinion. It's at once "my bad", yet the outside manipulative forces are a real thing. I purpose in my heart to be pliable and allow spiritual seismic forces to refine me and squeeze-distill all rejection, fear, cognitive distortions and dissonance out of me. May I rather be strengthened and more fit to flourish and fulfill my destiny despite these insidious forces that seek to immobilize and imprison me.
Great job, Luke! Your words brought medicine for my soul!
I have experienced this. And as you say, it is very destructive. It ripped away my certainty about God, and the reality of goodness, truth and beauty, and when it was over, I spent years recovering. While in the midst of it, I repeatedly prayed, "Lord, show me the truth." The answer I got,"By their fruits you shall know them," is the way out, but it only works if you know what good fruit and bad fruit look like. While in it still, I couldn't tell. I saw the veneer of goodness, and not the reality.
This phenomenon has been the most destructive force in my life via my father-in-law, who threatened us and our children with hell quite specifically and openly if we did not become Evangelical Christians. And yes, it drive us into destructive isolation.
I know someone who was driven to suicide via spiritual manipulation. I don’t speak lightly about the demonic, but there was no question in this situation - it haunts me still.
Thanks, Luke, for another thought-provoking post. The very things that promise freedom are often unbearably heavy with consequence.
You bring to mind Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The language of virtue—meant to shape the soul—can be distorted into a burden that crushes: humility, obedience, even sacrifice. Kundera shows how lightness risks hollowness, while weight gives life meaning but also crushes. As you, too, note, even deception points us back to what is genuine. (Kundera himself suggests that we're stuck with the tension, and doesn't moralize about "point us back.")
When spiritual manipulation happens in families, the guilt and shame is doubled out of a sense of "duty" to one's family, especially when caring for elderly parents. The fallout from extricating oneself from that kind of gaslighting is excruciating. Some manipulators convince themselves that they "don't know" what they're doing and use that as an excuse to continue the cycle of abuse. In my own case, a parent has unresolved childhood trauma that has led to family enmeshment issues. Trying to establish a balance between caring for that parent and healthy boundaries feels impossible at times.
raised a catholic, there sure was a lot of focus on sin. categorizing bad acts by type, venial vs mortal. penance. why? it is easier to focus on the bad than to model the good. so when I read in your piece about manipulation, that was what came to mind.
wouldn't it have been easier to focus on gratitude than sin? the reasons why you should be grateful gets you to focus on the good.
and with gratitude comes agency. cause, to know, or just feel, the good is to do, or want to do, the good
Great piece, Luke Burgis, delighted to have discovered it, thank you.
Gaslighting is so insidious, it's exactly how the adverse force has operated in secret since its arrival here, hundreds and thousands of years ago.
Sooner than we're told we, as a collective consciousness, will achieve heart/mind coherence and true discernment will be easy. No-one can do this through intellect alone, in fact intellect often obstructs instinct and intuition...feelings!
Intellect is left brain orientated, education is often memory orientated and invidious in that it fails to prepare young people for living in the reality which we experience...which is definitely other than truth.
Lol! I've never heard of "hustle bro logic". I'll have to look that definition up! Maybe it means a form of "jive talkin' ".
I know we war not against flesh and blood people, but against spiritual forces of darkness spewed forth from the hater of human souls, the Adversary, who is evil personified. It's obvious by now that I'm a believer of the One our Creator sent, Jesus Christ, Who literally died at Calvary so that we might ALWAYS, through His victory, maintain our God-given eternal, uniquely autonomous identities, made in God's image (transhumanism be damned!!!)- and not be compromised, held captive, or polluted by propaganda from the pit. It is sad how a demonic spirit of religion, legalism, and pride can drive people to "church hurt" others. Yet, for those who persevere and seek God with their whole souls through humility and childlike faith, not through mental ascent and proud intellectualism, they will overcome through discernment rooted in redeeming grace and truth, love and forgiveness.
Rhonna, I understand you to mean that no force outside of ourselves can preempt our God-given autonomy, neither hack our internal thoughts, nor own our intellectual property. Soul is mind, will, and emotions. I think Luke is addressing every influence that comes against our soul to undermine and harm healthy autonomy and sound mind. Social engineering is real. Being addicted to devices is real. The tragic consequences of the disintegration of the family unit are real. And the list goes on and on of every external variable that influences and drives false identity, inner isolation, and/or harmful neurotic or pathological behaviors. Like you, my hope alone is in the Lord. Holy Spirit teaches me discernment that protects my self-determination and helps me feel accepted, significant, and secure because of my true, eternal identity, hid with Christ in the Father. I try always to share my faith and testimony in a way that draws others to the Good News. But I have made errors in my zeal.
I have learned that forgiveness and repentance are medicines for the soul that will protect it from the coming transhumanist agenda. We must learn discernment not to take the bait of that heinous spirit of anti-Christ, of which no doubt SAI (super artificial intelligence) will play a part.
Luke really identified the church hurt that has kept me long afraid to try to belong. It can be a challenge to plug into a loving, affirming community when one is not neurotypical but socially eccentric and perhaps on some nebulous spectrum akin to Asperger's. I forget I'm not alone. Blogs can help birds of a feather flock together and learn discernment between the false narratives and the eternal truths that reveal who we really are relative to our Creator and one another.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom here, Robyn, and for describing what you think Luke means when using terms like Spiritual Manipulation and Soul Hijacking. I hope you're right about us all understanding that no external force can preempt personal sovereignty. But even if you're not, that you and I Do bolsters my confidence that humankind Can stop this mass extinction event we've ordered up for all earthlings, and stop it while enough biodiversity remains to repair damages and fulfill our responsibilities in the ceaseless adventure of establishing heaven on Earth.
So overwhelmed as I am (by too much else to clear from my slate first) for there to be much chance of sufficiently participating in this or other equally promising discussions, has made the task of maintaining confidence in humankind harder for me to pull off than ever before. Thank You for bolstering it.
I believe we can improve on this boon, and I trust we'd both like for that to happen, so I'll pursue the goal by seeking precise definitions from you about your use of terms you've prematurely credited me for already understanding. They're terms I've heard lots of other folks use too, but that none of the folks I've asked to clarify, have been willing or able to.
If you will, please describe in everyday language, who or what you use the terms "the Lord", "Holy Spirit", "Christ in the Father", and "transhumanist agenda" to connote. That you used "the" in two of those, advises me to make sure my dictionary-aided attempts to understand your message, are conducive to us achieving errors-free communication.
What I'm thinking is likely my best guess as to what you mean by "Holy Spirit" is that it's 'good will', &/or 'harmlessly operating from good intentions'. And I'm thinking the best definition of "transhumanist agenda" formed by patching together dictionary definitions of "trans", "humanist", and "agenda" is that it's 'honoring the inherently equal dignity of all beings'. But that you use the term as though it's something dangerous to soul(s), says to me that Your patching together of dictionary definitions went a different direction than mine.
The exercise cautions me against wasting everyone's precious time with listing a sampling of the range of possibilities I come up with when guessing what you mean by the other two terms. Simply being aware that there is quite a range makes me glad I quit speculating when I did, and wishful that I hadn't even begun. Not from disinterest, you can be sure; but simply because earthkinds' present circumstances make it imperative that we all use our time to work needed improvements wisely.
I'll have to post here, Robyn, to get cracking on making up for everything I dropped to contribute this much. Hopefully it won't be long 'til we engage again, and work with more of your reply's good inputs!
You are precious, Rhonna. Your heart is seeking. Your questions touch the mysteries of God, Who is our Creator. Holy Spirit is God's Spirit which gives us breath and life. God can answer your questions more and more as you develop a hearing heart.
Responding to your desire for dialogue with me is taking great courage, because fear of human opinion is hovering over me. I pray none of Luke's readers are offended, and backlash does not drive harsh comments. But the love of God shed abroad in my heart compels me to be there for you in the way you are asking.
We all have free will as a gift. Transhumanists are gods of their own lives and seek to improve on God's design of mortal Mankind through technology and a proud theology leading to the coming technocracy. This technology will attempt to "trans"cend, or transform, our mental, emotional, and physical limitations-- to make us better than human and "like gods"-- using artificial intelligence and so-called physical enhancement and quantum entanglement. But it's a trap. It will attempt to lead to mind control and world dominion. Evil is behind this One World Government agenda which the Apostle John was clearly shown would come about (in his visions as foretold in the book of Revelation).
But God made a way for us to transcend our soul sickness and our soul's misuse of the gift of free will-- a way for us to lay hold of transforming freedom, deliverance, and healing power through a childlike faith in God's own holy, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent power. God's love is always willing and waiting to rescue us from our self-will that often keeps us in patterns of defeat, hurts others, and grieves God's Spirit. We can never get good enough to escape the dilemma of free will in this perilous life on Earth, as physical beings with soul and spirit.
The most powerful help I can give you is to share my own testimony. I used to be ruled by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from infant physical abuse and childhood sexual abuse. I excelled academically growing up, but was full of fear and emotional torment inwardly. I was mentally ill, always secretly suicidal, even attempting suicide, locked up on psyche wards five times, addicted, looking for love in dangerous places, and unable to hold employment positions for long. It was only by the grace of God that I never went on welfare or disability, that I paid my bills and raised two wonderful children as a single mom, an LPN and caregiver. Both my daughter and son are productive members of society and such kind people.
My self-identity was rooted in lies and cognitive distortions about my worth as a human being. I felt I was literal biomass taking up space and vexing humanity. But I encountered the love of God through Jesus Christ, personally. I began to renew my mind by discovering God's nature and character in the Bible. I got to know the Lord God this way. New neural, biochemical pathways in my brain began displacing and overriding the deceptions and shame that made me hate myself. And today I have a sound mind, restored relationships, and deep friendships. I just need to find a community of like-minded believers and push through fear of human opinion in a corporate (community) setting. I think a home church gathering would work best for someone like me. The religious spirit is always lurking around and seeking vulnerable folks to persecute through ignorant or proud people, most of whom probably have good intentions or are in denial about their own ego problems, but can still do harm and create church hurts in others-- forcing them into isolation. But I know now it was never people doing this to me so much as my own agreement with nefarious forces that had taken parts of my soul, fragmented through trauma, and dragged them into regions of captivity. Jesus came to set captives like me free! He communicates with those who believe in Him through the power of Holy Spirit, God's Spirit-- from the Kingdom of God to our spirit and then from our spirit to our soul (mind, will, emotions) in order to guide and comfort us.
I have a new identity rooted in God's love for me. I must not be intimidated by what is common to Man. I am learning to shine truth and grace in religious legalism's face.
Your heart is hungry. God rewards those who seek truth and grace with humility. I'm praying for you, kindred spirit Rhonna. Ask the Lord to reveal the Word of God to you. Seek, and you will find-- knock, and the door will be opened to you. God wants to fill us with wisdom, peace, love, and all the fruits of the Spirit of God-- in order to help us make it through this hard life. To those who persevere by trusting in, relying and depending on the Spirit of God to show them how to steward their short lives on Earth, they will receive living waters through resurrection life power and redemptive grace. Faith in and relationship and intimacy with the Word of God (Who came as a man, Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach) to take the punishment (on that cross in physical Jerusalem 2000 years ago) that we deserve for the misuse of free will-- is the key that builds the bridge between imperfect us and a holy, sovereign Creator. That Bridge and Mediator between fallen Mankind and our Creator is Jesus Christ.
Godly sorrow for our own mis-use of the gift of free will and autonomy leads to seeing God through new eyes. God does not make robots but beings who can freely will to honor God, themselves and others, by lives that love and serve and are sacrificial. The spirit of this world does not line up with God's heart. The Lord just needs our "yes" once we see our need for rescue from the spirit of this world-- which drives fear, anxiety, competition, comparison, greed, persecution, discrimination, war, and even up to murder including genocide, etc.
Ask only for your Creator's Spirit to fill you with all peace and wisdom, and don't seek the pop psychology of this world or the New Age gods or religious cults that can never fill the God void we are all born with-- the hole in our heart which only fellowship with our amazing Creator can fill. Seek God's Kingdom first, and the steps of your days will be ordered better and better, and you'll be refreshed, renewed, redeemed, and restored. You'll find your overwhelming plate of slate will not be too great a weight!
I know some who used to be Muslim, Buddhists, Hindus, Satanists, Atheists. Their whole lives turned around when they encountered the real God-- through the gift of Jesus Christ (Jesus is not a religion, but a relationship with the living God Almighty, our Creator, Who loved us first and called each of us human souls into being.). Their priorities have changed. Love has replaced fear and all its ugly heads and expressions. Fear, anger, hatred, pride, rejection, idolatry, stronghold and addictions begin to fall away.
God bless you, Rhonna. Nothing more I can say except keep seeking to know your Creator in spirit and in truth with the faith and humility of a child, with childlike awe and wonder like we had as little kids. Remember? There's a simplicity that surpasses all intellectualism. Our intellect plays an important part, but mental.ascent and self-reliance that supercedes God's love for us, brings separation from Him with consequences for being gods of our own lives. Godly sorrow for our own shortcomings and wrongdoings, desiring to give up being captain of our own life's ship (Jesus, take the helm!), works repentance as a spiritual, medicinal cure. Godly sorrow for our own wrongdoings brings us back into restored fellowship with our awesome Creator. It's an eternal paradigm shift that ushers us into freedom for all eternity, beyond this short, perilous life on Earth in which we are called to encounter God's love and then to pass it on out of extreme gratitude. Yielded to a loving, but holy God, intellect is a great gift. But it is only God's means to an end- the goal of bringing goodness, justice, and mercy to a lost and hurting world.
Our testimonies in this life now are tests of faith and play an eternal role in what waits ahead of us after this physical life. This only requires seeing our need. God meets us in our extremity of need when we come to the end of ourselves. Faith is the key to finding.
OK, I am insufferable with verbosity. Must close. I think English is a second language for you. My apologies for having difficulty describing some of the mysteries of God's love and the dilemma of free will, in simple terms. My words cannot explain God's mysteries, but your thirst and hunger, your saving faith, can collide with them in a grand display of awe, wonder, and worship and bring you revelation of and intimacy with your Creator. God needs your "yes" and humility and trust to fill you all in all, with joy and peace, because Jesus died to take your place of punishment for the misuse of your free will. He redeemed you from the law of sin and death and restored you to right standing before Almighty God. He desires you receive His gift, laying hold of it personally with your grateful YES! Go, Rhonna, go!
Thanks for your generosity and drive to be of service, Robyn. You obviously have a wealth of life experience and studies to draw from. I'm sorry that much of acquiring it was so horrible that for a time you felt suicide the best thing to do with it, or do about it. And I'm grateful you've since worked the miracle of finding ways to endure another day, and another, and another.... long enough to glimpse healthier ways (than suicide) of refusing to compromise.
Do I understand rightly, now, that your use of the term "Holy Spirit" refers exclusively to pre-incarnate states of fully developed personality?
I'm not asking because I'm unfamiliar with English. American English was the first word-based language I learned. It's also the one I've employed the most, since about 1961.
I consult dictionaries to make sense of unfamiliar terms, in order to understand as quickly as possible, how&why they're being used as they are. Being as present as I can be, with&for companions, is a main reason for the emphasis on speed. The other is that we all Are in a state of planetary emergency these days, which naturally calls for using remaining time for to take needed actions, well.
When consulting dictionaries still leaves me clueless about what someone using english words is trying to communicate, I ask that person for clarification. (When circumstances are such that asking -and getting answer- are available options, that is).
It looks to me that something about my request, how I worded it, how you read it, gave you the impression I sought more than this. It's beautiful that while believing me a seeker of LOADS more, you didn't hesitate to offer everything you had of the kind you believed I sought.
I'm really just trying to find the message you worked to convey in your first reply though. The terms I asked you about were my first exposure to them, and dictionary consulting wasn't proving sufficient To make sense of 'em.
It's an unexpected blessing that this miscommunication has treated all present to your nature, Robyn. I believe it'd be even more blessed for you to feel fully accompanied though, and until I Do know what you thought you were telling me earlier, I can't do all My parts of helping that happen.
After a lifetime of searching, I have found a community with support and loving care for our wounds and our needs. It is absolutely on target with Christ's teaching and operates from a place of charity and mercy. It shows the path to grow in holiness, to follow along the path saints have used, namely mental prayer, ascesis, and a daily examination of conscience. You do not follow a person, you climb the mountain St John of the Cross describes as God leads. I sought this my whole life, but only now have I found it.
I am hyper alert to any evidence of cult-like behavior: you are saved if you are with us, and everyone else is damned. Or: we have the truth, those with different beliefs are wrong. They are damned. Or: this person is now outside the camp, we exclude him and cheer if harm comes to him.
This new community does not do these things. They are genuine. And they have groups who share common situations, including one for neurodiverse people, and one for divorced or widowed people, etc. If this describes something you long for, feel free to contact me directly. I normally do not do this, but wounded people may want something like this. I did.
I think this captures a lot of what makes me uncomfortable with a lot of the stuff broadly captured under “hustle bro logic” - it supposes that there are far too many people wasting there lives and not achieving things (aggressive messaging to hack their desires) and the solution is usually some form of self imposed suffering (that inevitably isolates them) and then also sets it up so that any personal failure to be successful is the own persons fault (buy / consumer more content / grind harder).
I think this is also what made me so happy to read your book. Because you were detailed about the struggles you went through (the real). So many people hide that or ignore it.
Great connection. There’s also the hustle bro loop where you’re told "it’s simple, you just need my course” and then "stop buying courses". Of course a person might need more information and then advice to apply not read, but the marketing can cause the very problem they blame their readers for.
All the comments I'm reading here are so helpful to me in identifying or exposing unseen forces that have shamed me. I feel the proverbial squeeze. I've been at risk of being metamorphosed into a hard, implacable stone by pressing fear of human opinion. It's at once "my bad", yet the outside manipulative forces are a real thing. I purpose in my heart to be pliable and allow spiritual seismic forces to refine me and squeeze-distill all rejection, fear, cognitive distortions and dissonance out of me. May I rather be strengthened and more fit to flourish and fulfill my destiny despite these insidious forces that seek to immobilize and imprison me.
Great job, Luke! Your words brought medicine for my soul!
I have experienced this. And as you say, it is very destructive. It ripped away my certainty about God, and the reality of goodness, truth and beauty, and when it was over, I spent years recovering. While in the midst of it, I repeatedly prayed, "Lord, show me the truth." The answer I got,"By their fruits you shall know them," is the way out, but it only works if you know what good fruit and bad fruit look like. While in it still, I couldn't tell. I saw the veneer of goodness, and not the reality.
This phenomenon has been the most destructive force in my life via my father-in-law, who threatened us and our children with hell quite specifically and openly if we did not become Evangelical Christians. And yes, it drive us into destructive isolation.
I know someone who was driven to suicide via spiritual manipulation. I don’t speak lightly about the demonic, but there was no question in this situation - it haunts me still.
Thanks, Luke, for another thought-provoking post. The very things that promise freedom are often unbearably heavy with consequence.
You bring to mind Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The language of virtue—meant to shape the soul—can be distorted into a burden that crushes: humility, obedience, even sacrifice. Kundera shows how lightness risks hollowness, while weight gives life meaning but also crushes. As you, too, note, even deception points us back to what is genuine. (Kundera himself suggests that we're stuck with the tension, and doesn't moralize about "point us back.")
When spiritual manipulation happens in families, the guilt and shame is doubled out of a sense of "duty" to one's family, especially when caring for elderly parents. The fallout from extricating oneself from that kind of gaslighting is excruciating. Some manipulators convince themselves that they "don't know" what they're doing and use that as an excuse to continue the cycle of abuse. In my own case, a parent has unresolved childhood trauma that has led to family enmeshment issues. Trying to establish a balance between caring for that parent and healthy boundaries feels impossible at times.
raised a catholic, there sure was a lot of focus on sin. categorizing bad acts by type, venial vs mortal. penance. why? it is easier to focus on the bad than to model the good. so when I read in your piece about manipulation, that was what came to mind.
wouldn't it have been easier to focus on gratitude than sin? the reasons why you should be grateful gets you to focus on the good.
and with gratitude comes agency. cause, to know, or just feel, the good is to do, or want to do, the good
Great piece, Luke Burgis, delighted to have discovered it, thank you.
Gaslighting is so insidious, it's exactly how the adverse force has operated in secret since its arrival here, hundreds and thousands of years ago.
Sooner than we're told we, as a collective consciousness, will achieve heart/mind coherence and true discernment will be easy. No-one can do this through intellect alone, in fact intellect often obstructs instinct and intuition...feelings!
Intellect is left brain orientated, education is often memory orientated and invidious in that it fails to prepare young people for living in the reality which we experience...which is definitely other than truth.
Truth is always simple.
Lol! I've never heard of "hustle bro logic". I'll have to look that definition up! Maybe it means a form of "jive talkin' ".
I know we war not against flesh and blood people, but against spiritual forces of darkness spewed forth from the hater of human souls, the Adversary, who is evil personified. It's obvious by now that I'm a believer of the One our Creator sent, Jesus Christ, Who literally died at Calvary so that we might ALWAYS, through His victory, maintain our God-given eternal, uniquely autonomous identities, made in God's image (transhumanism be damned!!!)- and not be compromised, held captive, or polluted by propaganda from the pit. It is sad how a demonic spirit of religion, legalism, and pride can drive people to "church hurt" others. Yet, for those who persevere and seek God with their whole souls through humility and childlike faith, not through mental ascent and proud intellectualism, they will overcome through discernment rooted in redeeming grace and truth, love and forgiveness.
👍😇
Yes: discernment Is key to improving quite a bit; and Always rewards effort to acquire or strengthen it.
Hijacking soul isn't possible, though; so I'm thinking the term is being used to reference something else. But What? I don't know yet. Do you?
Rhonna, I understand you to mean that no force outside of ourselves can preempt our God-given autonomy, neither hack our internal thoughts, nor own our intellectual property. Soul is mind, will, and emotions. I think Luke is addressing every influence that comes against our soul to undermine and harm healthy autonomy and sound mind. Social engineering is real. Being addicted to devices is real. The tragic consequences of the disintegration of the family unit are real. And the list goes on and on of every external variable that influences and drives false identity, inner isolation, and/or harmful neurotic or pathological behaviors. Like you, my hope alone is in the Lord. Holy Spirit teaches me discernment that protects my self-determination and helps me feel accepted, significant, and secure because of my true, eternal identity, hid with Christ in the Father. I try always to share my faith and testimony in a way that draws others to the Good News. But I have made errors in my zeal.
I have learned that forgiveness and repentance are medicines for the soul that will protect it from the coming transhumanist agenda. We must learn discernment not to take the bait of that heinous spirit of anti-Christ, of which no doubt SAI (super artificial intelligence) will play a part.
Luke really identified the church hurt that has kept me long afraid to try to belong. It can be a challenge to plug into a loving, affirming community when one is not neurotypical but socially eccentric and perhaps on some nebulous spectrum akin to Asperger's. I forget I'm not alone. Blogs can help birds of a feather flock together and learn discernment between the false narratives and the eternal truths that reveal who we really are relative to our Creator and one another.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom here, Robyn, and for describing what you think Luke means when using terms like Spiritual Manipulation and Soul Hijacking. I hope you're right about us all understanding that no external force can preempt personal sovereignty. But even if you're not, that you and I Do bolsters my confidence that humankind Can stop this mass extinction event we've ordered up for all earthlings, and stop it while enough biodiversity remains to repair damages and fulfill our responsibilities in the ceaseless adventure of establishing heaven on Earth.
So overwhelmed as I am (by too much else to clear from my slate first) for there to be much chance of sufficiently participating in this or other equally promising discussions, has made the task of maintaining confidence in humankind harder for me to pull off than ever before. Thank You for bolstering it.
I believe we can improve on this boon, and I trust we'd both like for that to happen, so I'll pursue the goal by seeking precise definitions from you about your use of terms you've prematurely credited me for already understanding. They're terms I've heard lots of other folks use too, but that none of the folks I've asked to clarify, have been willing or able to.
If you will, please describe in everyday language, who or what you use the terms "the Lord", "Holy Spirit", "Christ in the Father", and "transhumanist agenda" to connote. That you used "the" in two of those, advises me to make sure my dictionary-aided attempts to understand your message, are conducive to us achieving errors-free communication.
What I'm thinking is likely my best guess as to what you mean by "Holy Spirit" is that it's 'good will', &/or 'harmlessly operating from good intentions'. And I'm thinking the best definition of "transhumanist agenda" formed by patching together dictionary definitions of "trans", "humanist", and "agenda" is that it's 'honoring the inherently equal dignity of all beings'. But that you use the term as though it's something dangerous to soul(s), says to me that Your patching together of dictionary definitions went a different direction than mine.
The exercise cautions me against wasting everyone's precious time with listing a sampling of the range of possibilities I come up with when guessing what you mean by the other two terms. Simply being aware that there is quite a range makes me glad I quit speculating when I did, and wishful that I hadn't even begun. Not from disinterest, you can be sure; but simply because earthkinds' present circumstances make it imperative that we all use our time to work needed improvements wisely.
I'll have to post here, Robyn, to get cracking on making up for everything I dropped to contribute this much. Hopefully it won't be long 'til we engage again, and work with more of your reply's good inputs!
You are precious, Rhonna. Your heart is seeking. Your questions touch the mysteries of God, Who is our Creator. Holy Spirit is God's Spirit which gives us breath and life. God can answer your questions more and more as you develop a hearing heart.
Responding to your desire for dialogue with me is taking great courage, because fear of human opinion is hovering over me. I pray none of Luke's readers are offended, and backlash does not drive harsh comments. But the love of God shed abroad in my heart compels me to be there for you in the way you are asking.
We all have free will as a gift. Transhumanists are gods of their own lives and seek to improve on God's design of mortal Mankind through technology and a proud theology leading to the coming technocracy. This technology will attempt to "trans"cend, or transform, our mental, emotional, and physical limitations-- to make us better than human and "like gods"-- using artificial intelligence and so-called physical enhancement and quantum entanglement. But it's a trap. It will attempt to lead to mind control and world dominion. Evil is behind this One World Government agenda which the Apostle John was clearly shown would come about (in his visions as foretold in the book of Revelation).
But God made a way for us to transcend our soul sickness and our soul's misuse of the gift of free will-- a way for us to lay hold of transforming freedom, deliverance, and healing power through a childlike faith in God's own holy, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent power. God's love is always willing and waiting to rescue us from our self-will that often keeps us in patterns of defeat, hurts others, and grieves God's Spirit. We can never get good enough to escape the dilemma of free will in this perilous life on Earth, as physical beings with soul and spirit.
The most powerful help I can give you is to share my own testimony. I used to be ruled by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from infant physical abuse and childhood sexual abuse. I excelled academically growing up, but was full of fear and emotional torment inwardly. I was mentally ill, always secretly suicidal, even attempting suicide, locked up on psyche wards five times, addicted, looking for love in dangerous places, and unable to hold employment positions for long. It was only by the grace of God that I never went on welfare or disability, that I paid my bills and raised two wonderful children as a single mom, an LPN and caregiver. Both my daughter and son are productive members of society and such kind people.
My self-identity was rooted in lies and cognitive distortions about my worth as a human being. I felt I was literal biomass taking up space and vexing humanity. But I encountered the love of God through Jesus Christ, personally. I began to renew my mind by discovering God's nature and character in the Bible. I got to know the Lord God this way. New neural, biochemical pathways in my brain began displacing and overriding the deceptions and shame that made me hate myself. And today I have a sound mind, restored relationships, and deep friendships. I just need to find a community of like-minded believers and push through fear of human opinion in a corporate (community) setting. I think a home church gathering would work best for someone like me. The religious spirit is always lurking around and seeking vulnerable folks to persecute through ignorant or proud people, most of whom probably have good intentions or are in denial about their own ego problems, but can still do harm and create church hurts in others-- forcing them into isolation. But I know now it was never people doing this to me so much as my own agreement with nefarious forces that had taken parts of my soul, fragmented through trauma, and dragged them into regions of captivity. Jesus came to set captives like me free! He communicates with those who believe in Him through the power of Holy Spirit, God's Spirit-- from the Kingdom of God to our spirit and then from our spirit to our soul (mind, will, emotions) in order to guide and comfort us.
I have a new identity rooted in God's love for me. I must not be intimidated by what is common to Man. I am learning to shine truth and grace in religious legalism's face.
Your heart is hungry. God rewards those who seek truth and grace with humility. I'm praying for you, kindred spirit Rhonna. Ask the Lord to reveal the Word of God to you. Seek, and you will find-- knock, and the door will be opened to you. God wants to fill us with wisdom, peace, love, and all the fruits of the Spirit of God-- in order to help us make it through this hard life. To those who persevere by trusting in, relying and depending on the Spirit of God to show them how to steward their short lives on Earth, they will receive living waters through resurrection life power and redemptive grace. Faith in and relationship and intimacy with the Word of God (Who came as a man, Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach) to take the punishment (on that cross in physical Jerusalem 2000 years ago) that we deserve for the misuse of free will-- is the key that builds the bridge between imperfect us and a holy, sovereign Creator. That Bridge and Mediator between fallen Mankind and our Creator is Jesus Christ.
Godly sorrow for our own mis-use of the gift of free will and autonomy leads to seeing God through new eyes. God does not make robots but beings who can freely will to honor God, themselves and others, by lives that love and serve and are sacrificial. The spirit of this world does not line up with God's heart. The Lord just needs our "yes" once we see our need for rescue from the spirit of this world-- which drives fear, anxiety, competition, comparison, greed, persecution, discrimination, war, and even up to murder including genocide, etc.
Ask only for your Creator's Spirit to fill you with all peace and wisdom, and don't seek the pop psychology of this world or the New Age gods or religious cults that can never fill the God void we are all born with-- the hole in our heart which only fellowship with our amazing Creator can fill. Seek God's Kingdom first, and the steps of your days will be ordered better and better, and you'll be refreshed, renewed, redeemed, and restored. You'll find your overwhelming plate of slate will not be too great a weight!
I know some who used to be Muslim, Buddhists, Hindus, Satanists, Atheists. Their whole lives turned around when they encountered the real God-- through the gift of Jesus Christ (Jesus is not a religion, but a relationship with the living God Almighty, our Creator, Who loved us first and called each of us human souls into being.). Their priorities have changed. Love has replaced fear and all its ugly heads and expressions. Fear, anger, hatred, pride, rejection, idolatry, stronghold and addictions begin to fall away.
God bless you, Rhonna. Nothing more I can say except keep seeking to know your Creator in spirit and in truth with the faith and humility of a child, with childlike awe and wonder like we had as little kids. Remember? There's a simplicity that surpasses all intellectualism. Our intellect plays an important part, but mental.ascent and self-reliance that supercedes God's love for us, brings separation from Him with consequences for being gods of our own lives. Godly sorrow for our own shortcomings and wrongdoings, desiring to give up being captain of our own life's ship (Jesus, take the helm!), works repentance as a spiritual, medicinal cure. Godly sorrow for our own wrongdoings brings us back into restored fellowship with our awesome Creator. It's an eternal paradigm shift that ushers us into freedom for all eternity, beyond this short, perilous life on Earth in which we are called to encounter God's love and then to pass it on out of extreme gratitude. Yielded to a loving, but holy God, intellect is a great gift. But it is only God's means to an end- the goal of bringing goodness, justice, and mercy to a lost and hurting world.
Our testimonies in this life now are tests of faith and play an eternal role in what waits ahead of us after this physical life. This only requires seeing our need. God meets us in our extremity of need when we come to the end of ourselves. Faith is the key to finding.
OK, I am insufferable with verbosity. Must close. I think English is a second language for you. My apologies for having difficulty describing some of the mysteries of God's love and the dilemma of free will, in simple terms. My words cannot explain God's mysteries, but your thirst and hunger, your saving faith, can collide with them in a grand display of awe, wonder, and worship and bring you revelation of and intimacy with your Creator. God needs your "yes" and humility and trust to fill you all in all, with joy and peace, because Jesus died to take your place of punishment for the misuse of your free will. He redeemed you from the law of sin and death and restored you to right standing before Almighty God. He desires you receive His gift, laying hold of it personally with your grateful YES! Go, Rhonna, go!
Thanks for your generosity and drive to be of service, Robyn. You obviously have a wealth of life experience and studies to draw from. I'm sorry that much of acquiring it was so horrible that for a time you felt suicide the best thing to do with it, or do about it. And I'm grateful you've since worked the miracle of finding ways to endure another day, and another, and another.... long enough to glimpse healthier ways (than suicide) of refusing to compromise.
Do I understand rightly, now, that your use of the term "Holy Spirit" refers exclusively to pre-incarnate states of fully developed personality?
I'm not asking because I'm unfamiliar with English. American English was the first word-based language I learned. It's also the one I've employed the most, since about 1961.
I consult dictionaries to make sense of unfamiliar terms, in order to understand as quickly as possible, how&why they're being used as they are. Being as present as I can be, with&for companions, is a main reason for the emphasis on speed. The other is that we all Are in a state of planetary emergency these days, which naturally calls for using remaining time for to take needed actions, well.
When consulting dictionaries still leaves me clueless about what someone using english words is trying to communicate, I ask that person for clarification. (When circumstances are such that asking -and getting answer- are available options, that is).
It looks to me that something about my request, how I worded it, how you read it, gave you the impression I sought more than this. It's beautiful that while believing me a seeker of LOADS more, you didn't hesitate to offer everything you had of the kind you believed I sought.
I'm really just trying to find the message you worked to convey in your first reply though. The terms I asked you about were my first exposure to them, and dictionary consulting wasn't proving sufficient To make sense of 'em.
It's an unexpected blessing that this miscommunication has treated all present to your nature, Robyn. I believe it'd be even more blessed for you to feel fully accompanied though, and until I Do know what you thought you were telling me earlier, I can't do all My parts of helping that happen.
After a lifetime of searching, I have found a community with support and loving care for our wounds and our needs. It is absolutely on target with Christ's teaching and operates from a place of charity and mercy. It shows the path to grow in holiness, to follow along the path saints have used, namely mental prayer, ascesis, and a daily examination of conscience. You do not follow a person, you climb the mountain St John of the Cross describes as God leads. I sought this my whole life, but only now have I found it.
I am hyper alert to any evidence of cult-like behavior: you are saved if you are with us, and everyone else is damned. Or: we have the truth, those with different beliefs are wrong. They are damned. Or: this person is now outside the camp, we exclude him and cheer if harm comes to him.
This new community does not do these things. They are genuine. And they have groups who share common situations, including one for neurodiverse people, and one for divorced or widowed people, etc. If this describes something you long for, feel free to contact me directly. I normally do not do this, but wounded people may want something like this. I did.
Thanks for sharing, Ann. I am so glad you found your community! I am next! Very close!