The Paradox of an Ever-Learning Mind
(Alternate Title: How Not to Become a Babylonian Techno-Induced Zombie!)
By Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E. – Chancellor, Biblical Life College and Seminary
Did you know that you own the most advanced computer system in the known universe? The gray matter resting between your ears is an absolute miracle. Science has not been able to duplicate the sophistication of the human mind: the Cray Supercomputer does not even come close! The Almighty, in His boundless wisdom, hardwired your brain for learning. Whether you realize it or not, your mind is like the little robot in the movie, Short Circuit, which is continually looking for “more input.” The ancient Hebrews understood the need to feed their minds, and they determined that it was their duty before God to actively learn His ways. This ancient Hebrew wisdom is expressed in what Jesus referred to as the greatest commandment:
Matthew 22:37-38 (KJV)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5. The word for heart in Hebrew is lebab (lay-bawb’), which means “inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding, mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, and memory.” [1] Therefore, biblically, loving God with all of your heart includes your mind and the information you place within it. This is why the Jewish people consider study of the Word of God the highest form of worship. When we understand just how many paganistic concepts (which are offensive to Almighty God) have permeated Western society, this Jewish concept of study and worship makes perfect sense.
The members of the Early Church shared this Hebraic understanding and actively labored to fill (or renew) their minds with the Word of God through systematic study. If this was true for the Jewish people in the First Century, it was even more so for the Gentile believers that were immersed in a completely pagan society (much like we are today). The Apostle Paul implores believers to:
Romans 12:2 (KJV)
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
I want you to notice the progression in the pleadings of Paul: do not be like the world; receive transformation by renewing your mind. The Greek word that Paul uses for transformation is metamorphoo (met-am-or-fo’-o), which means “to change into another form, to transform, and to transfigure.” [2] Therefore, in the mind of the Apostle Paul, believers were to consistently move away from worldliness (i.e., paganism) and, at the same time, move toward biblical holiness.
What the Apostle Paul alludes to in Romans 12:2 is the fact that the world is constantly attempting to influence your mind. There is a continual war between two kingdoms regarding what information your mind receives on a daily basis. If you understand the nature of this war, you can become the gatekeeper of your own mind. After all, you are in a constant state of transformational flux: either toward holiness or toward worldliness.
The World Doesn’t Play Fair
To grow in the Kingdom of God, we must choose to participate in the study process of learning how to walk with God, how to learn His ways, and how His kingdom operates. It requires us to pick up books, listen to audio teachings, and to watch video presentations. We must choose to invest in some sweat equity to move forward and to have our minds renewed.
However, the world doesn’t play fair, in that indoctrination is automatic. We tend to forget that we are literally swimming in a river of cultures and ideas that flow from Babylon. All we have to do is float inactively in the world, and we are inundated with the very streams of pagan consciousness that the Apostle Paul was endeavoring to take us out of. With the innovation of television, the stream of Babylonian consciousness has evolved from a small stream to a raging mile-wide river!
Television and the Human Mind
In my research in writing the book, The Shinar Directive, I discovered some amazing facts about the use of television (or videos) and the human mind. Television has moved from being a device that brings us news and entertainment to becoming the most powerful weapon for indoctrination that Hell has ever used. Although my new book will not be released until this Fall, I want to share some important information about television and your mind. According to the Applied Neuro Technologies website, TV profoundly affects your state of consciousness:
Studies have shown that watching television induces low alpha waves in the human brain. Alpha waves are brainwaves between 8 to 12 HZ. and are commonly associated with relaxed meditative states as well as brain states associated with suggestibility.
While Alpha waves achieved through meditation are beneficial (they promote relaxation and insight), too much time spent in the low Alpha wave state caused by TV can cause unfocussed daydreaming and inability to concentrate. Researchers have said that watching television is similar to staring at a blank wall for several hours.
We all like to watch TV from time to time, and this is not meant to suggest that people should never watch TV again. However, it is only fair that people understand what happens to the brain each time it is exposed to television.
In an experiment in 1969, Herbert Krugman monitored a person through many trials and found that in less than one minute of television viewing, the person’s brainwaves switched from Beta waves– brainwaves associated with active, logical thought– to primarily Alpha waves. When the subject stopped watching television and began reading a magazine, the brainwaves reverted to Beta waves.
Research indicates that most parts of the brain, including parts responsible for logical thought, tune out during television viewing. The impact of television viewing on one person’s brain state is obviously not enough to conclude that the same consequences apply to everyone, but research has repeatedly shown that watching television produces brainwaves in the low Alpha range.
Advertisers have known about this for a long time and they know how to take advantage of this passive, suggestible, brain state of the TV viewer. There is no need for an advertiser to use subliminal messages. The brain is already in a receptive state, ready to absorb suggestions, within just a few seconds of the television being turned on. All advertisers have to do is flash a brand across the screen, and then attempt to make the viewer associate the product with something positive. (Emphasis mine) [3]
Noted health expert, Dr. Mercola, has stated that:
TV is one of the most powerful brainwashing devices there is. [4]
One of the primary reasons that we have Christians departing from sound doctrine is the constant re-indoctrination of Babylon that occurs daily in our lives through the media of television! Here is an interesting statistic:
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. [5]
In less than one minute of watching TV, we are placed into a susceptible state of suggestion. This alpha state of suggestibility is reached when we are wide awake. Imagine the damage that can be accomplished when we fall asleep while watching TV. All of the information and indoctrination flows into our unconscious mind completely unfiltered!
Over the years, I have heard from missionaries that were out of the country and on the mission field for many years. Once they arrived back in the United States and turned on their televisions, they were both shocked and dismayed at what they found. The country and culture that they had left a decade before no longer existed. Television had been used to slowly move our entire culture toward a more pagan (anti-God) agenda. They discovered the secret of Hollywood: it no longer reflects our culture — it transforms it! The questions that we must ask ourselves are: (1) who is using television to change our culture, and (2) what is their agenda? The answers to those questions are alarming for the believer. The overall agenda is to move the entire nation away from God and biblical living, while setting the stage for a New World Order and the Antichrist!
We have become techno-induced zombies that are preprogrammed to reject God’s instruction and to embrace Babylonian (Luciferian) control!
Becoming Proactive
- Taking Control of Our TV Time
I am not suggesting that we throw out all of our televisions. What I propose is that we retake the control of our lives from our TVs (and other technologies) and become proactive in what we are feeding our minds. We need to first adjust our paradigm regarding television use.
- Although television was our babysitter and companion growing up, it is time to put aside childish things and become adults. Be selective concerning the programs that you watch; when it is over, turn the TV off.
- Do not allow yourself to default into “entertainment mode” while watching TV. Choose to analyze what you are watching; keep yourself in the beta wave state. When you are confronted with something that goes against the Word of God (or just general decency), declare aloud that it is wrong (this is important for your unconscious mind).
- If you need background noise in your home, use praise and worship music instead of having your TV on.
- Spend some time reading on a daily basis.
Remember, technology is here to serve you: you control it. The moment that you feel that the roles have switched, you need to back off and reassess your situation.
2. Become a Lifelong Learner
Becoming a lifelong learner may be a paradigm shift for you. However, at the foundational level, this is how your mind operates. Everything that you have ever experienced is recorded in detail within your unconscious mind, even while you were in the womb. All of that information is used to form your basic perception of reality. Your mind is continually looking for new or updated information. Either you can be in control of the information that is constantly being fed into your mind, or you can allow the world to do it for you.
The ancient Hebrews understood this concept of the mind continually looking for updated information. I want you to read what the Apostle James admonishes all believers to actively work on in their lives.
James 1:21-25 (KJV)
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
The Greek word that James uses for meekness is prautes {prah-oo’-tace}, which means “mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, and meekness.” [6] Although all of the past data stored within our unconscious mind may disagree with the instruction of the Word of God, we need to approach the Word with a gentleness of spirit so that the Word can correct us. I don’t know of a single human being (except for Jesus) that has everything in their life right; that’s why we need a savior!
Since we are all hardwired for lifelong learning, it is time to become proactive. We need to use all of the technologies available to us to learn the right information. We all carry smart phones that can utilize MP3 files; stock them up with good teaching and powerful audio books. We all have tablets, notebook computers, and TVs that can play videos; use them to watch informative/transformational teachings too. As of this writing, our ministry has 185 videos available on our YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/biblicallife) and nearly 400 teachings in MP3 at our congregational site (http://www.biblicallifeassembly.org). All of these free resources are our investment into you and your family. If you get tired of listening to me, there are thousands of hours of anointed videos by Dr. Chuck Missler, Dr. Tom Horn, Rob Skiba, Prophecy in the News, and so many more available on YouTube and throughout the Internet.
Don’t become a Babylonian techno-induced zombie! It is time for you to become an active participant in feeding the right information into your ever-learning mind.
© Copyright 2014 by Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.
Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.
Chancellor and Founder
Dr. Lake is the chancellor and founder of Biblical Life College & Seminary and serves as an educational consultant for various Christian organizations around the world. He also serves as the Pastor of Biblical Life Assembly in Marshfield, MO. Dr. Lake is an ordained Bishop and serves of the International Board of Directors of the Restoration Fellowship International. He is listed in the US Registry’s “Who’s Who Among Outstanding Americans,” Sterling’s “Who’s Who Executive Edition,” and the “Who’s Who Among American Teachers” for his accomplishments in ministry.
Endnotes
[1] Strongs #H3824. Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon. BibleWorks for Windows 7.0. BibleWorks, LLC, Norfolk, VA. Copyright © 2006.
[2] Strongs #G3339. Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon. BibleWorks for Windows 7.0. BibleWorks, LLC, Norfolk, VA. Copyright © 2006.
[3] The effects of TV on your brain. Applied Neuro Technologies. http://appliedneurotec.com/neuroscience/effects-of-tv-on-your-brain/
[4] Mercola, Joseph. How Television Affects Your Brain Chemistry — And That’s Not All! http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/20/how-television-affects-your-brain-chemistry-and-that-s-not-all.aspx
[5] Article: TV and Health. http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
[6] Strongs #G4240. Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon. BibleWorks for Windows 7.0. BibleWorks, LLC, Norfolk, VA. Copyright © 2006.
Trust you and your family had a blessed Sabbath dear brother. I very much appreciated this article. Please never stop or hesitate to speak perfect truth as our Wonderful Creator’s Spirit directs you. Stand firm…..be blessed in the days ahead.
Had a very blessed and restful Sabbath. Never stop seeking truth!