"MIND TRAP FROM HELL"

MICHAEL F. BLUME
September 26, 1999 am

Matt 3:16-4:3 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, it is wriffen, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

"A town is painted completely black, and all the lights on the streets do not work since there is a power-outage in the entire town. There is a black dog standing in an intersection in that town and a car is traveling towards the dog with both headlights broken. The car swerves around the dog and misses it and continues on. How did the driver know the dog was in the intersection?"

This is an example of what some game creators call a "MINDTRAP."
A mind trap is a question that looks so easy to solve that you jump at the answer. But many tend to give the wrong answer, because a supposed clue in the question is not a clue at all but a trap to get your mind off the actual question.
A mind trap may also be a "head scratcher" that looks impossible to solve as if the question-askers are not giving you enough information for you to be able to properly solve it. But when you are told the answer you kick yourself for missing a little detail in the question that gives the obvious answer.
For example, one "mindtrap" explained how wind is coming from the north at 40 knots per hour, and when it hits an A-frame shaped house that faces east, an updraft is caused by the houses' shape. This updraft blows up from the south side of the house with wind velocity at, let's say, 45 knots. So if a rooster laid an egg on the peak of the roof, which side would it tend to fall down?
The details are meant to trap your mind away from the actual question.
The facts of the wind and the velocity and compass directions of breeze have nothing to do with the question.
The question asked you, "If a ROOSTER laid an egg..."
But the only problem with such a question is that ROOSTERS DO NOT LAY EGGS!

The details of the wind and velocity were meant to trap your mind away from the real issue.

The the reason the man veered his car away and did not hit the black dog in the MINDTRAP I gave to you was because it was DAYLIGHT outside.
But the time given to the details of the town painted black, and the lights out due to power and the broken headlights made you think it was nighttime... since these were all things that would really give problems at night.
BUT NOTHING WAS SAID ABOUT IT BEING NIGHTTIME in the story.

Satan is just as crafty and subtle with us.

And he is a liar.
That makes him doubly crafty.
But thank God that we have the TRUTH of the WORD OF GOD, and it EXPOSES Satan's lies to us.
That is why we need to learn what the Bible teaches, for it outsmarts Satan's tactics and foils them by providing us with truths that will help us overcome Satan's lies.
But you have to study the Bible and learn from its pages.
And KEEP IN MIND the truths the Bible teaches.

Another example to exaggerate the issue.

"If that's really a car that you have, then get in and drive up the wall of Walmart, and down sideways the entire length of the building for me."

The silly picture tries to make one think that real cars can drive alongside walls.
But that has nothing to do what with real cars can do.
Satan tempted Jesus Christ 40 days after Jesus was baptized, and said, "IF THOU BE THE SON OF GOD COMMAND THAT THESE STONES BE MADE BREAD."
This statement is loaded with what these garners might call "MIND TRAPS."
Let us expose the kind of traps that Satan uses on believers constantly, and actually succeeds in trapping their minds so that the result is a lack of faith and an experience of guilt and defeat.

Satan urged Jesus to prove He was the Son of God through PERFORMANCE.

He tried to convince Jesus that He was a Son of God by performing wondrous miracles.
Now, we know that Jesus later did indeed perform miracles.
But up until that point, not one miracle was performed by Him as a man.
Did that make Him any less of the Son of God?
God was incarnate in flesh, and humbled himself as a man, and in doing so took upon Himself human spirit, soul and body.
He was 100% deity, but also just as 100% human as you and I.
He did not perform His first miracle until after he was baptized and after his time with Satan's temptations occurred, at the wedding of Cana.
And even then, He turned water into wine, and not stone into bread.

John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

As a man He was actually tempted.

Hebr 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of ow infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

And his human mind was as capable of being trapped by the devil as yours and mine.

If Satan tempted Jesus about that, then he will certainly tempt us.

And HE ALREADY HAS, AND HE IS!
Many of God's people are in a MIND TRAP from Hell.

Remember that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and had the Spirit lighten upon Him in the bodily form of a dove.

This is how we begin.
And whether you have been baptized and received the Holy Ghost, or only were baptized, and are seeking the Holy Ghost, the enemy is going to try to lie to you about your experiences so far.
Jesus washed YOUR SINS AWAY.
Satan is going to direct you to look at your performance to prove if your relationship with God is real or not.
And he will try to make us think that we cannot have the confidence that we are sincere and actually are in God's hands until we see certain supposed indications of it.

The last time Satan attacked Jesus was when Jesus was a couple of years old, and Herod heard about a Messiah's birth from the wise men of the east.

He issued out an order to massacre every child, for his security in remaining king was threatened by news of this Messiah.
Behind the scenes and inside Herod, possessing him, the real culprit lurked.
Satan was the so-called "ruler" who feared his kingdom's security at the news of the Messiah's birth.
But Jesus was taken into Egypt by Joseph and Mary.
And not until John Baptized Him, as the announcement was made, "THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL-PLEASED," did the devil realize he missed Jesus.
And so he plotted and attacked.
The devil waited until Jesus' weakest moment, when Jesus just fasted for 40 days and suddenly became hungry again, as indication to break his fast.
Right from the start, the very intentions were crafty.

If Satan says something to you, its going to be filed with underhandedness.

It might sound innocent, but if you look closely you will see a mind trap in it.
If you know what the Bible teaches, you will catch sight of the devil's hook in the lure.
I am here to expose one Satan's most successful and greatest Mind Traps of Hell.

Jesus refused to respond to Satan's temptation.

He refused to fall to the challenge of turning stone into bread to prove He was God's Son.
WHY?
Jesus knew that TRUE SONSHIP is not based upon how we perform, or how many miracles we can perform.
THOSE THINGS DEVELOP AS TIME GOES BY AFTER YOU ARE SAVED.
TRUE SONSHIP is based upon an experience of CONVERSION BY FAITH.

Notice the truths Jesus gave us which directly refer to the temptation Satan uttered.

This statement utterly destroys and smashes the entire purpose of the lie of the devil.

Matt 7:7-9 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you,. whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

What did the first of these phrases say?

ASK.
Jesus said that any human father would gladly give what his son asks of him, and would never even think to give his son a STONE if his son asked for BREAD.
Jesus made a direct hit on the enemy's whole mind trap.

Like mines in a minefield of water, His understanding of the ways of God was like a minesweeper catching all the bombs and removing them from harm's reach.

There is a LOVE ELEMENT between a father and a son.

He said in effect, "No I won't prove I am God's Son by turning stone into bread. If God really were my Father He would never expect me to have to try that. If I required bread, God would merely desire me to ASK HIM, and He would give it. We are to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven... Give us this day our daily bread."

GIVE, GIVE, GIVE.
ASK, ASK, ASK.
Asking me to prove I am God's Son by trying to turn stone to bread is directly the opposite of how I will prove I am God's Son.
I WILL ASK GOD FOR BREAD, ITSELF. Sons ASK Fathers for what they need.
"Satan, you avoided saying anything like, 'If you're the Son of God, then ask God in faith for bread and see if He will give it'."
Satan knows that if we ASK God for our needs then God will answer.
"God would never supply me with a stone and say, 'There, now turn that stone into bread yourself'."
Jesus knew that the Heavenly Father LOVES His sons.
And he caught the mind trap of trying to get Jesus to cut Himself off from God's LOVE, and to not even think of God's love in the face of a need.

Some of your earthly fathers may not have involved love in their relationship with you, but its different with Our Heavenly Father.

You cannot remove the love element from our relationship with the Father.
If there is one thing that we must understand when we think of the Father, is that HE LOVES US.
The whole concept of PERFORMANCE upon which we base our sonship is totally alien to the concept of God's family.
Jesus ripped Satan's framework to pieces.
"I'll prove I am God's Son by refusing to take stone and even think to turn it into bread, because a stone will never enter the picture if I need bread."
"If we ask Him for BREAD, then he will give us Bread, and not a stone."
"Satan, you're trying to get my mind trapped by speaking about turning stone to bread so casually as though everyone knows that doing the miraculous proves that we are saved."
"I'm here to tell you, Satan, that you can't pull that one on me."
"I am not supposed to conjure up some bread from a stone. I am supposed to ASK FATHER FOR BREAD AND WATCH HIM GIVE ME BREAD."
"You're trying to get the entire issue of "ASKINGS completely out of the picture, devil. And I see your MINDTRAP."

When you give your life to God and sincerely repent of your sins and commit yourself to Him in prayer that you will serve Him and love Him, and seek to do whatever the Word commands us...

...such as be baptized in Jesus' name.
...and to seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost....
...the devil is going to try to tempt you to doubt your entire experience as time goes by.
You are going to have to learn what the Bible says, and stand upon what the BIBLE says.

Here is a common mind trap the devil uses on believers

See if you can catch it.

"I sincerely asked God to forgiveme of my sins. I repented and sincerely commited myself to serve Him and obey His Word. I want to be a real Christian. I then am baptized in Jesus' name, and have received (orseek to receive) the Holy Ghost. But the next day I commit a sin. I guess I must not have meant it when i asked forgiveness and commiffed myself."

DID YOU CATCH THE MINDTRAP THAT THIS PERSON FELL INTO?

The mind trap is that COMMITMENT TO GOD AND SINCERE REPENTANCE IS PROVEN BY NEVER MAKING A MISTAKE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND NEVER SINNING AGAIN.
That is a lie!
Jesus told us that salvation is a BORN-AGAIN experience.
That means that we begin as BABIES.
God does not expect BABIES to act like perfectly-matured adults who are not allowed to try and walk and then fall down by mistake.
"BABIES" ARE BORNAGAIN -- Not adults.
That means that we will slip and fall down.
We will make mistakes.
WE WILL SIN upon occasion.

The mind trap in my example is loaded with lies.

Another trap inside such an idea is that we are expected to try OUR best.

I could not have been sincere because I sinned affer I Committed myself to God.
We are urged to not even think that if we need help, like requiring food such as bread, because our Father loves us, He will give us what we need if we would only remember to ask for it.
Satan's trap is to veer us away from ASKING towards a life of trying to do godly things without depending loon Him.
Jesus said that without Him we could do NOTHING (John 15).

The whole package of being God's child involves ASKING HIM.

You were never meant to try YOUR best and never rely upon God's help.
Part of Prayer is ASKING GOD FOR HELP.
Ability to live perfect lives has nothing to do with being God's child.

Its like saying, "Okay, you're a policeman now. you make sure that when you fly those 747 jets, you do it well!"

That silly statement urges people to read between the lines and imagine that a police officer is commonly known to fly planes.
And its silly urge is to get you to forget doing actual police work and instead spend a waste of time learning how to fly a 747.

Well, the devil tried to get Jesus to read between the lines and think that it is common knowledge that a Son of God is proven to be so by turning stones into bread when He is hungry.

That has nothing to do with being God's Son.
It is just as irrelevant as thinking a policeman should be able to fly a plane.

Satan says, "You sinned, so you can't be a real child of God."

The devil tries to make you read between the lines and think that you are not allowed to make mistakes and still be a sincere Christian.
In fact the whole lie is exposed when you think of the words "SINCERE" and "MISTAKES."
If we were not sincere, then our sinful act would not be a MISTAKE.
MISTAKES are made by sincere people who had no intentions of hurting God and displeasing Him.
We did not PREMEDITATE, PRECONCEiVE, PLOT AND INTENTIONALLY PREDETERMINE to break God's laws and sin.
WE MADE A MISTAKE.

But then some will ask, "But I knew it was a sin before I did it. In fact, I knew I was sinning while I was doing it."

The fact remains that you still have the "WANT-TO-DO-GOOD" attitude in you.
You simply need to grow in RESISTANCE against temptation.
Your resistance may be weak, knowing full well it is sin.
Satan has put PLEASURE IN SIN.
And he relies upon our desire for that pleasure, as much as a fisherman relies upon a fish's hunger for a worm when he wraps his hook up with the bait.
You did not want the idea of sinning against, God but rather the pleasure "of" sin that was wrapped around it.
SO YOU NEED TO GROW.
God understands that.

We are taught in the Bible...

1Pet 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
2Pet 3:18 But grow in grace, andfin] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him Abe] glory both now and for ever. Amen.

We need to GROW in knowledge.

You will learn as you grow that, yes, there is pleasure in sin... but...

Hebr 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer aSiction with the people of God, than to enjoythe pleasures of sin for a season

The pleasures of sin are for a season.

And as we grow and learn to appreciate that understanding, we then seek to put our treasures in Heaven, where our objects of joy will never pass away or turn to dust one day.

"Look at what I did, though!!! I SINNED!!!"

What do we walk by?
By sight or faith?
2 Cor 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Do not go by how much performance you accomplish to determine if you are sincerely a child of God or not.
STAND UPON THE WORD OF GOD.

Jesus heard a voice speak from Heaven, saying, "THOU ART MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELLPLEASED."

He received a WORD OF GOD.
And He stood upon that.
I know He stood upon that because I read:

Matt 4:4 But he answered and said, it is Written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by everv word that oroceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus stood upon the WORD spoken to Him from God.

Satan tried to get Him to rely upon or thrive upon or LIVE as a Son of God by being able to turn stone to bread.

And if Jesus could not do that, then He could not be a Son of God.
But Jesus knew that what we LIVE by is not what we perform like.
Living righteously and godly will come into focus more and more as we GROW in the Lord, but we are still babies and children of God even if we cannot walk very well.
We LIVE BY FAITH.
WE WALK BY FAITH.
We don't LIVE by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM GOD'S MOUTH.
"And you want to know what specific WORD I received from God, Satan? 'THOU ART MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELLPLEASED'."

Jesus had not done one miracle when that statement was made.

But He was still God's Son.
A baby is sincere when it tries to walk.
It is not trying to fall down.
When it falls it gets back up again and tries again.
And only after falling and standing and falling again and standing, does it finally learn how to walk.

Satan is trying to get us to stay down and not try to stand and walk again.

He knows that if we keep trying our best, and stay sincere when we sin, that we will GROW.
Yes, I said, "STAY SINCERE WHEN WE SIN."
Because you can be sincere and yet sin.
The Bible says...

1Joh 1:9 if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Did it not say CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS?

What causes Him to do that?
IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS.
We know if we meant it or not.
And our proof is not whether we sinned the next day or not either.
STAND BY FAITH THAT WHEN YOU REPENT AND ASK FORGIVENESS AND GIVE YOUR LIFE TO HIM THAT HE FORGAVE YOU.
GET BAPTIZED IN JESUS' NAME AND BELIEVE WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY.
Use some FAITH and say, " I AM FORGIVEN AND IF I SIN, IT WAS A MISTAKE AND GOD UNDERSTANDS. "
THEN REPENT AND GET UP AND GO AGAIN!

Another mindtrap was when Israel faced Canaan and saw the giants, but doubted they could take the land.

The mindtrap in that story was the giants and the well walled cities.
It got their minds off God's promise that He would fight their battles for them, as He did 40 years later when they simply marched and yelled and Jericho's walls fell down.
Satan would love to keep your minds off the facts that God is there with you.
He did not leave you nor forsake you when you made a mistake.
He did not leave you.

The prodigal Son had a MINDTRAP.

Luke 15:18-19 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthv to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

He felt that SONSHIP was a matter of WORTH.

But it was not.
It is a matter of BIRTH.

Luke 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, l have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

HeSINNED.

While the Son was away from the Father's house he was in trouble.
And Satan wanted him to stay there.

Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Father was HAPPY.

AND STILL CALLED THE BOY HIS SON.
He was DEAD while he was away from home, in sin.
BUT HE WAS STILL "SON."
And they made MERRY for his sake!