Chapter 3: Hell & Satan

Christianity was officially made the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. This was when the abstract theory of Hell and Satan was simply made up. A council of scholars, on the advice of the Romans, agreed on the idea because this would grant more control over the populace. In later centuries the idea of using fear of hell to compel donations became extremely prominent.That tactic worked well, considering the massive wealth of today’s Catholic Church.

Our minister once explained that Satan's greatest gimmick is to trick us into believing he does not exist. I adhered strongly to this belief for many years, however, after much reading and contemplation I’ve come to the conclusion that this is totally false. I’ll delve deeper into this topic in a moment. When I was twenty-two, I saw the most terrifying movie ever made, The Exorcist. Weeks later, I was still nervous about every little bump in the night. The furnace would come on and I’d shiver. A close friend was even considering a shrink. To this day, nothing has been filmed that even comes close to generating the fear this masterpiece incites. Have you noticed there has been a huge surge in this genre? What I find amusing is every film follows the exact same pattern. The man or woman of God performs elaborate rituals to get the demon out of the possessed. The thing is always portrayed as having massive power, and the exorcists are extremely frail in comparison. After many long and tedious weeks, it's finally defeated. But is it? The dog’s eyes turn red, and it's snarling and slobbering like a wolf. This leaves everyone anxiously anticipating the sequel, “Our Basset Hound Ate The Baby.” To this day, the Catholic Church still has licensed exorcists. The truth is, all this occurs because of the incredible power of the mind. If one believes strongly in the existence of evil and constantly dwells on the subject, the result is that evil will become very real to them even though it's completely false. Our ego, the completely insane part of our mind, wants the enemy “out there” (i.e.Satan) so we don’t realize our true enemy is in our own mind. We do not need saving from a non-existent eternal torment, we need saving from ourselves.

Have you ever considered the power of the mind? From the moment of birth our heart beats, our lungs breathe, and the nervous system functions perfectly. Somehow this occurs and we certainly are not thinking about it. Absolutely everything we have seen, heard, tasted, touched and smelled from the moment of birth is stored within our subconscious. Ever try to remember someone's name and a couple of days later it just “pops” into your conscious thought? The reason this occurs is you have consciously put into your database, which is your subconscious, the question. The mind looks around until finding the answer. This is exactly my rationale for not watching network news for over twenty-five years. It is very much to our advantage to put positive into our database versus negative. The vast majority of news concerns negative garbage. Advertising specialists very much understand that the public enjoys seeing others worse off than themselves. Good for ratings. Do you understand why our mind is so powerful? It’s an extension of God’s Mind. Source’s very nature is one of complete extension, meaning all God has is freely given to us. Simply what’s asked is are we willing to receive?

Consider the truth that we are all bipolar. Our right mind, spirit, is based on love, and our wrong mind, ego, is based on fear. Fear of what? In the deepest part of our subconscious we insanely fear God. Once we have consciously accepted the truth that God Is. Now what? We start school. In this school, we’ll learn through experience the fruits of our ego: fear, resentment, anger, laziness, and hatred. Our school also teaches the fruits of our spirit: love, acceptance, peace, energy, and empathy. A peaceful mind is our natural state. If we’re growing more peaceful, it’s proof we’re on the correct path. The economy, world affairs, crime and drug issues, will become just mild interests. This is the truth because I’m experiencing it. What are we to do about our ego problem? The answer to this is extremely simple, forgive every negative circumstance and any perceived wrong another has ever done to you. Always. Also, never listen to it. Whenever you’re depressed, lonely, worried, upset, angry, or fearful your deranged and psychotic ego is in control. Merely calm your mind, say a little prayer, and do something you enjoy. From experience, I guarantee this will dissolve your self-pity.