Controlling the Human Mind #1

The Last Frontier #1

Fred R. Coulter—November 1, 2008

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This study will be some background and why God made and created us the way He did. We'll examine some of the things the way that the human mind works, but this is going to be a very extended series. We won't have it every Sabbath. We'll have it different Sabbaths.

I have three books with me. I have two more at home and I probably will end up with some more books. The reason that there is so much research on the human brain is because of the influence of Satan the devil, to control the human brain; hence, control all human beings. That's why during the Feast of Tabernacles, 2008—days 3 & 4—I went through The Singularity Is Near. I realize that I did a lot of reading out of the book, by the same title, by Ray Kurzweil. I think as we go down in time, you'll understand how important that is.

Sidebar: Ray Kurzweil was in Silicon Valley and San Jose, and he had a seminar with the leading chipmakers. They're going fast as they can to try and bring about the control that they desire.

What about the human brain? Let's look at something that's very important. Here is a fundamental key in understanding about the mind and also the heart, because the heart, the mind and the brain are all connected together:

Proverbs 4:23: "Above all guard the door of your mind with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."

• the purpose of life
• where we're going
• what we're doing
• your choices

What you let into your mind is what comes out of your mind!

What I want you to do is, memorize that verse because this is so important in our day, today. It would be nice if we could all live in some sort of hidden valley some place, cut off from all the modern conveniences. That might be hard for a lot of people.

They even had a TV show where they did that with a family and man, did the kids rebel at first—'No TV games.' They had to:

• make their own toys
• work with animals
• help dig up the ground
• grow their own crops
• grow their own food
• raise chickens for their own eggs and meat
• cows for their milk and meat

Right at first they had quite a rebellion:

• no television
• no telephone
• no Internet
• no Blackberries

At the end of the year, they'd become so adjusted to it that they didn't want to leave. It shows that a lot of things that we get used to and we have been taught and educated with is so important when you talk about, "Above all guard the door of your mind with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Think of that in relationship today to education with kids. You think of that in relationship to what they are taught, and the children do not have a thought structure that is resistant to things that are not right, when they are presented in acceptable ways. We'll get into some of the subtleties of that a little later, but not here.

Think about this also, in relationship just to something we do everyday: watching television. I try and watch the news, and I do a lot of watching of National Geographic and History channel, but think about the commercials. What I want you to do in relationship to this, I want you to do your own research in your own way. Sit down and just analyze:

• What do you watch on television?
• What is the news that you believe?
• What are the commercials that enter into your mind?
• What images does it really cause in your mind?

They know!

Let's just take the latest ad for the super Lincoln. I forget what model it is, but the driver comes up to the car and he presses his entrance code on the window. Then, he has his own handprint, which has been sensitized and read into the door handle, so that he can open it, and he gets into his car. I was watching this the other night and I thought: How does this sell a car? It's not selling the car, it's selling an emotional experience! To start the car, he has again, his bio-recognized finger for starting the engine. Then:

• flashes of lightening, showing power
• it shows the RPM going up and flashes of lightening around that
• he's ready to take off in the car
• he puts his foot down on the gas and the speedometer and RPM go up with flashes of lightening around this

Then he's going down the road in a flash of lightening; you don't even see the car to see what it's like until the end. They show you the front of it, and they have sold an experience! That's how highly sophisticated it is. When you watch these ads, I want you to think about:

• What are they selling?
• What are they teaching in addition to it?

There are a lot of what they call subliminal things that are put into the background. Such as:

• adultery
• fornication
• homosexuality
• freedom of expression
• resistance to authority

Of course, you have to hear both sides of the story. Think about all of those things.

Do yourself a little favor. If you can't run a mental log on it, maybe you can run a little log that you can write down some things: your impression of what they are trying to do to enter into your mind, to get you to do something that they want you to do. That's why it says here, "Above all guard the door or your mind with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." This is where choice comes in.

Let's see some more Proverbs with this, you're going to be amazed how much through the course of the series we're going to be in the books of Proverbs and Psalms.

Proverbs 16:1: "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the LORD." In other words, God made you so that:

• you can think
• you can plan
• you have feelings
• you have emotions
• you can choose
• you can be persuaded
• you can be dissuaded
• you can be subtly influenced if you allow it

Maybe you think, 'Oh, no! Not me!' All right, how about some poor pitiful little person sobbing, crying and telling you a good heartbreaking story. You help them out, out of the goodness of your heart.

They had this right down here near where we meet. They had mommy and some kids out there on the corner of the street: Out of work! Please help us!—and the children are there. People would come by and give them $5.00 and $10.00, whatever. Someone who lived in the neighborhood said, 'Fred, why don't you check out behind the Denny's restaurant, because there's an RV back there and you will find that there are three families doing this. That's how they make their living.' Sure enough. I went behind Denny's and guess what I saw? The RV! They ran it in shifts. If it gets too hot or too cold then you change over.

God has made us so that we are subject to a lot of thoughts—our own thoughts, other people thoughts; we are subject to feelings and emotions, ours and others.

Here is the thing that is the catch with the way that human beings think. We're going to understand:

• how the human brain really works
• why God made it the way He did
• what we need to do with God's Spirit
• how we can really yield to God

Verse 2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes…" Everyone is right. Everyone can give you a justification and an excuse, regardless of how righteous, look at Job; or how evil, watch MSNBC when they run their hardened criminal series. You see hardened criminals that are tattooed virtually from head to toe. They interview them. The criminals know they're evil, they know they're dedicated and they know they're right.

Verse 1: "The preparations of the heart…" means that's how the heart, mind and emotions work. Also, what you put into it and how you give your output of it.

"…the answer of the tongue..." (v 1) is the answer that you give for what you think. What you think, then, comes out this way:

Verse 2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes…" That's why they've exalted one's 'opinion' today. If you have an opinion, the opinion is sacred.

• What is your opinion?
• What do you think?

Nobody asks the question:

• What did God say that we need to think?

We're going to see some things that are going to be very important in helping us understand about the human brain, the human mind, the emotions, and so forth.

I've got one book, here, by a Daniel G. Amen, M.D.—I've quoted from it a little bit—Change Your Brain Change Your Life. That's why there's such a thing as conversion, because you can change. That's why there are people in the world who do well. He has another book, Making a Good Brain Great. All of those are very helpful, but you have the problem that they don't know anything about God. Oh, they take some principles of God, but they really don't know anything about God.

I have another book entitled Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions, by Dr. Caroline Leaf. This becomes very important because:

• God made us to choose
• God made us to think
• God made us to decide

We're responsible for our own thoughts and our own actions. Though others influence us, if we are not, Above all things guarding the door of our mind with all diligence then we are allowing people to take us, teach us, and put into our mind varying degrees of truth and falsehood.

Verse 3: "Commit your works unto the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established." We will also come back to this. God made us so that we need to think in a right, properly and orderly way. The truth is that you can never, never, never—regardless of:

• how smart you are
• how good you are
• how disciplined you are
• what kind of life that you lead

to the very best that you can—without God understand the purpose of life.

Verse 4: "The LORD has made all… [everything that there is] …for His own purpose; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."

Let's understand a little bit more about human beings. Let's see and realize the things that we need to do. First of all, go back to the beginning, Gen. 1 and let's see how our mind, brain, heart and emotions are to work. God did not make us dunces and God did not have to have a prototype man that was a near Neanderthal, in order to figure out how to make us. I see Neanderthals every time I watch a little basketball or football. Remember, it says that God 'made all,' meaning everything that there is, for His purpose. The purpose of human beings is central to His purpose and plan.

Go back to the sermon that I did on Creation and Re-creation and that will fill you in on the first part before the re-creation of the earth. In preparing the earth for the way that it is, God made it for human beings. Everything that is here on the earth, God gave to man for man's own dominion. Let's understand a fundamental very important thing concerning human beings.

Genesis 1:26: "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image… [you did not evolve from slime] …after Our likeness…'" That in itself, states a great purpose, in that God has put into us, built into us, certain profound things that are important for us in our relationship to Him.
"'…and let them have dominion…'" (v 26). Men were born to rule! They were created to rule! A great purpose! Take the whole earth, everything that is here, with all the complexity of everything that there is. Look at all the activities of man from low-tech to high-tech and to everything he can do. Those are all expressions of what God created within human beings. That's why we are 'after the likeness' of God.

Not only that, the highest level of our operation in life. It is not the physical things that we can do. Those are important, but above that, the most important thing that God did in creating humankind, was to create us to give love and to receive love. As we find in the New Testament, love is the greatest. He also gave in us the thoughts of hope. Whether we believe in God or not:

• people will hope for better
• people hope to do well
• people plan to do well

Also faith or belief, because the human mind was made to believe—not like an animal, not like a dog. A dog responds to control and food.

A dog does have feelings and what we would say, emotion. I think God did this to help even the most helpless of human beings. When all else fails and they know nothing about God, a dog will keep them from going insane. It also shows that human beings need companions.

All of these things are there. Why did God make us according to 'His image?' We'll leap ahead to the conclusion: that is so that we can be after His kind! That's the whole purpose of the Bible, the Word of God and the plan of God! Central to that is the human brain, the human mind and:

• choice
• love
• hope
• work
• dominion
• building

That's why God made us the way that He did. He created him.

"…He created them male and female" (v 27). God did this for the purpose of human beings sharing in His plan and creation, to reproduce their own kind, who then will be reproduced by God after His kind, according to the conditions of God. This is really something! This is tremendous what God has done! In this whole thing concerning reproducing,

Verse 28: "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth…'"; which involves everything that God created man for and everything that God created woman for.

God is not stingy. People who think that God is a curmudgeon and is very restrictive, have no idea about God.

"'…and have dominion over the fish of the sea… [Do we? Yes indeed!] …and over the fowl of heaven… [Do we? Yes!] …and over every living thing that moves upon the earth'"—meaning that man rules and reigns over everything that God created on the earth. He made it that way for man. Man is a very complicated being and with his mind, his thoughts and his heart, God created man and woman to rule, to reign, and to reproduce.

Reproduction can be based on the way God wants it done—with love, with concern, with family—or man can turn into a near animal and just reproduce, like some of the dictatorships have. Just select the 'master race' and all of the women can have specified men to reproduce specified babies for the empire.

Yet, in it we're going to see that God created every human being in a unique and special way.  We are all unique to God. That uniqueness is because of what we understand as genes and chromosomes. Every cell of your body, from the top of your head and hair down to the bottom of the soles of you feet, contain your genetic code as to who you are. It's even in your saliva and everything that comes out of your body as well. That's pretty unique! That shows us the creation of God.

God wanted man to participate in His creation. We know that God created Adam from the dust of the earth or the clay of the earth, as you could put it that way. He made woman from one of Adam's ribs, and then all their children. I don't know if Adam had a bellybutton or not, or whether Eve did.

I want you to think of something very profound, here. As we read the first part of Gen., that seems so far away. During the Feast I talked a little bit about checking you bellybutton, because that shows you came from your father and your mother. It actually shows a whole lot more:

• When you go back and you read Luke 3 about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, where does it end up?
• Starting with Mary, where does it end up? Adam, the son of God!
• What does this tell us? This tells us the very fact that we have a bellybutton, and we are related directly back to Adam in an unbroken chain of reproduction!

Think on that! This is quite a thing right here, Gen. 1 that God tells us. This shows that man has all these abilities, all these skills and it's diverse in different people to do different things. God made it that way.

Now let's see how God creates human beings through procreation. We're going to learn an awfully lot here, with this. This is really quite a Psalm. This is something we really need to understand and also to help our children to understand. This is a special Psalm of David.

Psalm 139:1: "O LORD, You have searched me and have known me." God knows every human being, whether good or evil, who they are and what they are. He knows everything about them at any time He desires to know. Because He's given choice, He does not come down here and communicate with us directly. This is one of the mysteries of  God. How does He know everything that's going on in the world and yet, does not interfere to take away your choice and to take away your ability? He knows us!

Verse 2: "You know my sitting down and my rising up… [You made me to stand and walk and talk] …You understand my thoughts afar off…. [He made us with the brain that we have] …You measure my going about and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways" (vs 2-3).

• How do your hands work?
• How do your feet work?
• How do you arms and legs work?
• How does you mind work?

Verse 4: "For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, You know it altogether." Who created Language? God did! This is also telling us that He knows what's going on in our mind.

He set limits on us. We can only go so far and do so much. We can stretch out some of those limits, like we have in going to the moon, but we have to take the earth with us. We have to take food because there's no food on the moon. We have to take air with us or they have to be able to, through a machine, create oxygen in space, so you can breathe. They've also found out that if you're out in space too long that:

• you lose bone density
• the blood doesn't go the way it really needs to go
• the heart gets weak
• the vessels get weak

—because we are really earthbound.  They're trying to substitute some of that on the space station that they have up there by having some sort of artificial gravity to help keep men more human and in better shape, rather tan disintegrating because they're out in space. Nevertheless, we're limited.

Verse 5: "You have enclosed me behind and in front, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (vs 5-6). That's the thing that everyone wants.

• How did God do this?
• How does He operate?

The whole purpose of conversion is to understand more of how God operates. We'll get into conversion much later because that's the whole purpose as to why we're here.

For all of you who say there is no God, I want you to think about this; v 7: "Where shall I go from Your Spirit?.…"

• How are you going to get away from God?
• Who created the air?
• Who created oxygen?
• Who gave you the ability to breathe, to think and yes, even to come to the conclusion that there is no God? God did!

Don't forget. He's not done with you, yet.

If you don't believe in God, let's look at another Psa. For all the intelligentsia out there who do not believe in God, you think you're so smart and you think that you have the ability to improve human beings to near God-like qualities, let me assure you that you are limited.

Psalm 53:1: "The fool has said in his heart… [you convince yourself] …'There is no God….'" What happens when people come to that conclusion? They feel free to do anything that they want, and any opinion that they choose, they will follow! It always comes down to sexual morals more than anything else, because we're sexual creatures. God made us that way for the purpose of sharing in His creation, not for the purpose of becoming:

• adulterers
• adulteresses
• whoremongers
• homosexuals
• lesbians

What happens to everyone who doesn't believe in God, regardless of what kind of standard that they may have?

Like the famous atheist who was on television several years ago—Michael Newdow—wants to take God out of everything in the government documents and to take God off of the back of the dollars: In God We Trust. That's not true. We don't trust in God, we trust in the Federal Reserve. A lot of people think that it is God, and they act like God.

Sean Hannity said, 'Do you have a religion?' Newdow said, 'Oh yes. I'm religious.' His religion is atheism, but he steals from God because he doesn't believe in adultery—one of the few atheists. He doesn't believe in murder. Isn't that lovely? 'God get out of my life, but I want to take this of the Ten Commandments and that of the Ten Commandments because I agree with them. I'm not going to give you any credit for it.'

"…They are corrupt… [every one of them] …and have worked out abominable wickedness; there is no one who does good" (v 1). Just like David wrote (Psa. 139).

Verse 2: "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understand… [God's way] …who are seeking after God…. [look at it today] …Every one has turned away; they have altogether become corrupt; no one is doing good, no, not even one" (vs 2-3). Why is that? We'll talk about that a little later when we get to Job.

Job missed the whole point. He forgot the bellybutton check. He claimed that everything that he did was his righteousness, but everything he did was demanded by God and it was God's righteousness that he was following, not his own. So, he missed the whole point. This is what they're all missing, here.

Verse 4: "Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They eat up my people as they eat bread… [in other words, spread their filth through the society] …they have not called upon God… [though they steal His laws and cast them behind their back] …There they were in great fear where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who camps against you; you have put them to shame because God has rejected them" (vs 4-5). This is talking about their ultimate fate.

Even if you're an atheist, you can't get away from God. God created you through your mother and father. God gives you every breath of air that you breathe and every heartbeat that you have God gave it! If God ran by your rules, in your hatred toward those who believe in God, and you would want to eliminate those who believe in God. If God instantly struck every atheist down dead, there would be a whole lot more people who'd believe in God. He doesn't do it, because He has given choice because of what happened with Adam and Eve. We'll get to that a little later so we can understand about human nature, how we work and function.

I want to talk about the creation of you as a human being, by your parents and you have nothing, nothing, nothing that you didn't receive, because God made it all. David goes on saying, here:

Psalm 139:7: "Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are there" (vs 7-8). You can't get away from God because He made:

• the heavens
• the earth
• the depths of the earth

Verse 9: "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the farthest parts of the sea… [or go into space, to the moon or to Mars] …even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me shall be night'" (vs 9-11)—as far as God is concerned.

I don't know if you've seen any of these series that they run on the History Channel about the underground cities. Watch that sometime. The evil that men have done underground is incredible, down through history.

Verse 12: "Even the darkness does not hide from You…" It's like the little girl said when mommy said, 'You better be a good girl because God is watching.' She looked at the ceiling and said, 'How can God look through the ceiling, mommy?' He doesn't have to keep track of you the way you think that you keep track of things. Everything that you do is recorded in your brain:

• every thought
• every action
• every emotion
• even trauma

You ever heard of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome? The trauma comes back. Why? Because it's recorded in your brain!

(go to the next track)

We're going to learn some very basic principle things that we will expand out later on in understanding:

• how our minds work
• what we need to do
• how we need to think
• how God's Spirit works with us
• how the spirit of man works

Verse 12: "Even the darkness does not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You, for You have possessed my reins…" (vs 12-13). What are the reins? You look it up and it's defining a kidney. They don't know whether that is true or not, but when you look at the human brain, what does it look like? It looks like two kidneys! The reins has to do with God:

• leading you
• guiding you
• testing you
• testing your mind
• testing your heart
• testing your choices
• seeing how you respond to God
• seeing how God responds to you

This becomes the heart and core of how God is creating human beings today.

God is Creator and He's always creating. With human beings—and He wants us to learn this with animals though they reproduce themselves, there is no eternal purpose in them—there is an eternal purpose in creating human beings. He wants us to share with His creation, through the power of procreation, to reproduce ourselves and to reproduce every human being as distinct and unique. Even twins have minor subtle differences in their genes. They are not totally exactly the same.

For you to understand the power of God, what I want you to do is to take a pen. On your notebook I want you to put the point down, kind of roll it back and forth and make a dot. That was your initial size. So, lest we get thinking about how great and important that we are, that's all of you when you were first conceived. Yet, it is so prolific!

You think of the male part of creation of a human being in the womb of the mother—should be his wife—but nevertheless, in every situation that there is, you cannot get away from the fact that in order for there to be a human being, you need a male sperm and a female egg. Even if they do it in vitro, they are still doing the process that God created!

In that little speck contains everything about you:

• how you're going to be made
• your basic height
• what you're going to look like
• even some individual characters, talents and ways of thinking and doing that comes along

—although the way of thinking is more related to education and choice than anything else.

Let's notice how absolutely scientific this is. With this series is the background work for the book From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born?

"…You have knit me together in my mother's womb" (v 13). When the father's sperm impregnates the mother's egg, the egg seals itself up immediately and there's a 480-thousand volt of electricity that takes place at that point. I think that's a reflection of the spirit of man given right at that point, because
James 2:26: "For as the body without the spirit is dead…" Likewise, human life must have the spirit of man to start, otherwise there's no life. Then it starts automatically from there, according to the plan that God designed. It's not like an external shock that you would touch an electric wire. It is an internal voltage from the electrical power within the body and the power that's within the egg and the sperm. As soon as there is the penetration by the sperm into the egg, it seals off; no other sperm can get in there. You are now who you are at that instant. The only difference between what you are now, is growth from the time of conception until birth and then growth later on in life. They can show this. They know this today. If you are 'knit together,' you are made in a pre-designated sequence of instructions that God put in the genes and chromosomes, directed by the spirit of man that is put into every human being.

There is an ad that the National Right to Life has. They've been running it politically, which is this: They let you hear the heartbeat of a 28-day-old baby, which substantiates that if you have a heart beating, you have life. You are a person. You are a separate individual. What you might say is that for childbearing, the womb becomes the central support system for God's creation. God is creating in every woman who becomes pregnant, another human being made in the likeness of God, whether male or female.

This is why abortion is so hideous and absolutely just awful. It is child sacrifice and murder at the earliest possible time. There was a President who actually believes in infanticide—Obama! He voted against the bill four times to save botched abortion children who survive the abortion.

They've outlawed late term abortion, but they get around it. Satan the devil, is insidiously evil and connected with evil minds. We'll understand about the wicked a little later as we go through the series. They will figure a way around the law. Rather than have them partially born, then take an instrument, pierce the skull and suck out the brains—the very central part of the life of the newly created human being—they now go into the womb, insert a needle, kill the baby in the womb and then have a stillborn. Various stages of abortion are done 3000 times a day in America. If there's any judgment of God against this nation, it's going to be based on that.

People get all upset about destroying the environment—the creation of God—and how we need to take care of it, but they are the very ones who promote abortion.  They are destroying the greatest creation of God—new human beings that He's creating in the womb. It says right here, "…You [[God] have knit me together in my mother's womb." God did it! God is doing it! That's why God insists upon marriage—father and mother—so that they will be responsible when children come into the world:

• to take care of them
• to love them
• to feed them
• to teach them
• to rear them

All of this comes out from, 'You shall have dominion over the earth and multiply and replenish it.'

Verse 14: "…Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well." Isn't that something? You can even look at the animals and see they reproduce. We can learn from that.

Isn't it a fantastic thing that God has done with birds? They can't fly around being pregnant. Otherwise, they couldn't fly. So they lay eggs. Then they sit on them and hatch them—except the Ostrich, it lays an egg and lets the heat and sun do it. I think God created the Ostrich to show that there are some things that God created that are stupid. He did it deliberately so that human beings could look at that and say, 'If you act like and Ostrich toward your off-spring, as Ostriches do, you're stupid!'

Verse 14: "I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made…" I don't think that there's a single mother or father, at the first look at their child, they do not have the same thought. Isn't that amazing! Remember, it started with a speck of dust. At 28-days-old, it's almost a full fledged human being, an inch in length.

Verse 15: "My substance was not hidden from You…" Substance is the same scientific word that is used today to describe the clumps of cells as they are developing before they show human form. Nevertheless, those cells are developing, multiplying and reproducing. What causes them to do it?

"…when I was made in secret and intricately formed in the lowest parts of the earth" (v 15). That's talking about the womb. The very special part that God created which only women have to produce children.

Verse 16: "Your eyes did see my substance, yet, being unformed…" God is involved! This is a creation of  God! Whether by deliberation for people who want children; or whether by accident, for those who go out and commit adultery or fornication and have children, God is still involved in the creation of that child.

"…and in Your book all my members were written…" (v 16). That ties together with the last part of:
Verse 13: "…You have knit me together in my mother's womb."

Verse 16: "…and in Your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned…"  That's exactly the process of creating a new human being made in the image of God in the womb of the mother.

"…which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet, there were none of them…. [before you could even see it] …How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You" (vs 16-18).

Let's see how this is done, Job 32. If you remember just this one thing, you'll be able to understand the book of Job a whole lot more: Everything that Job did was because God already said that you should do those things in the first place. It was never Job's righteousness. What he did was according to the will of God. So, he can't say, 'Look what I've done. God has taken away my righteousness.' Just remember that. Go back and read the Book of Job. Some of the Book of Job is really great.

Job 32:1: "And these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. His wrath burned against Job, because he had justified himself rather than God. Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he in days. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, 'I am young, and you are very old; therefore I was afraid, and dared not show you my opinion. I said, "The aged should speak, and the multitude of years should teach wisdom." But there is a spirit in man…'" (vs 1-8).

This is the heart and core that is central to the mind. "…there is a spirit in man…" and, as we will see, is called the spirit of man, which God gives to every human being.

"…and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding" (v 8). God uses the spirit of man so that we learn, that we understand and that we can even be inspired of God through that.

Verse 18: "For I am full of the matter; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my inner being is as wine, which has no vent…" (vs 18-19)—just welling up in him. God gave us these feelings, these things and the way to react.

"…it is ready to burst like new wineskins…. [I've got to get this off my chest!] …I will speak so that I may be refreshed; I will open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man…. [I'm not a politician] …For I do not know how to give flattering titles to any man, else my Maker would soon take me away" (vs 19-22). I think that would be important for everyone who considers himself religious, to understand.

Job 33:1: "'Wherefore, Job, please hear my speech, and hearken to all my words. Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue has spoken in my mouth, My words shall be from the uprightness of my heart, and my lips will clearly speak knowledge…. [notice where he starts; right where we started today] …The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life'" (vs 1-4). That's true of every human being. You are physical, but you are a spiritual creation made to be recreated spiritually into the very sons and daughters of God! That's something!

Zechariah 12:1: "The burden of the Word of the LORD for Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him"—which then, connects the creation of all human beings with the creation of the heavens and the earth and 'forms the spirit of man within him.' What does this spirit of man do? It gives life, intelligence, thought and ability to learn!

We will be coming back here, to Zech., as we get further into the series, as to how we know and understand spiritual things. Let's see what Paul says about it, which is very important.

1-Corinthians 2:11: "For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him?.…" This gives us understanding, life, intellect and everything concerning the spirit of man.

Let's see what other qualities that this does for all human beings, because human beings are the only ones who can think outside of their bodies. In other words, their thoughts, and so forth can think beyond time and space. Why is that? It's because of the 'spirit of man' that is in him!

Here's a very profound verse that separates man from the animals; Ecclesiastes 3:1: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens… [the overall purpose is what God is doing] …A time to be born… [we've covered how that relates to us] …and a time to die…" (vs 1-2). Yet, every man wants to live forever. Why? Why does everyone want to live forever?

In every society they have some kind of philosophy or religion, which they count on to live beyond this life. Why is that universally so? The Bible tells us how it's going to happen, but nevertheless, it is still within all human beings when it comes time to die.

"…a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal… [it shows the whole life cycle of human beings] …a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace" (vs 2-8). This just sounds like a summary of individual human history and history of mankind together.

Verse 9: "What profit does he have who works in that in which he labors?" So, a person dies and you say that he's had this great achievement, that great achievement, he's done this, that and the other thing. People say, 'Oh, what a shame that he died. He really contributed so much.'

Solomon also says, 'How does the wise man and the rich man die?' He says, just like the fool.' They all die. Yet, isn't this a profound thing that human beings have.

I want you to think on this really hard: Though you know there's past history, can you think in your own mind of when you weren't here? No! Though you know you're going to die and maybe you're getting closer to death—every day we're closer to death than we were the day before, but you add to that years and years. There's a time to die.

Can you think of a time when you won't be here, other than to plan for it, for your family and survivors? You can't think of it! Man wants to live forever. Why? Because God put it in man because that's ultimately God's purpose His way!

Verse 10[transcriber's correction]: "I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised by it…. [for good or for worse] …He has made everything beautiful in its time…" (vs 10-11). After that, when you look in the mirror, you know that you're getting closer to the time to die.

"…He has also set eternity in their heart…" (v 11). That's why men universally think these things. God has not left man totally disconnected from Him, even though they're sinners. Even the worst criminal:

• the most hateful human being that could possibly be
• locked up in prison for life
• covered with tattoos from head to toe

God still gives life, breath and thought—though it's evil—until they die. Just like Jesus said, 'God sends the rain on the just and on the unjust.'

"…so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end" (v 11)—if he searches it out rightly. Isn't that something? Also, with the spirit of man and this yearning—this hungering and thirsting that is in every human being for something greater, beyond themselves and to live forever—God has put it in every human being. Some will reject God, like we covered there during the Feast of Ray Kurzweil and The Singularity is Near. They're taking that and channeling it without God to try and achieve their own form of immortality, which may be considerably more high-tech than what the pharaohs did, but nevertheless, they though they were going to live forever, too.

I think that's quite a thing! That tells you the ability and the expansiveness of the mind and what it really is like. The reason why that controlling the human mind is the last frontier, let's look right here in the book, Making a Good Brain Great by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

What we will see is this: Our brains are absolutely fantastic God gave us a mind and brain so that we can function at all the levels—emotionally, intellectually, re-creatively, etc. He gave us the mind that we need to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish in this life!

Here are some things about your brain that you probably never knew that's true with all human beings.

from: Making a Good Brain Great by Daniel G. Amen, M.D:

Your brain is the most complex, mind-blowing organ in the universe.

Didn't we just read, 'God put eternity in the heart of man?' Now, he puts a quote here:

"The brain has the storage capacity of 6-million years of The Wall Street Journal." (Greg Iles from the book, The Footprints of God).

This is why they want to get in and control the mind. That's why the ultimate, at the end with the mark of the beast, is so absolutely ungodly:

• it takes away choice
• it takes away heart
• it takes away thought
• it takes away all of the things that God gave human beings

Your brain is the most complex mind-blowing organ in the universe. It weighs only about three pounds, usually around 2% of the body's weight. Unbelievably, given that it is the bedrock of personality—some think even the soul—…

And we can say that we know also, the spirit, because the Bible tells us that.

…it is 80% water. The brain uses 20% of the oxygen we breathe and about 20% of the calories we consume. When whole body scans are performed on people, they show the brain to be so active, compared to the rest of the body, it looks like a small powerful heater, while everything else appears ghost-like.

Because your brain is always working even when you're sleeping. We're going to see that in testing 'the reins,' God even uses even uses your deep sleep at night to teach you things.

I got an e-mail from a man who related all his disappointing church experience and gave up keeping the commandments of God and went back into the world, but God wasn't done with him. Remember, what we've said many times? As long as there's life there's hope! So, God was beginning to draw him back. He's wondering, 'What should I do?' He prayed. He said, 'God, what should I do?' He went to bed. Got up in the morning and the thought was burned in his brain, 'God is reproducing Himself.' He got online and ended up at our website.

Let's continue on with this description of the brain. This shows how God can interact with people, even with just the spirit of man. How many people have said that:

• they're working on a problem
• they're thinking on something
• they're trying to design something

They said, 'Okay. I'm going to go to bed.' Their mind is still working when they're sleeping. They wake up in the morning and there's the solution. That's happened to me. I know it's happened to you.

Here's your brain. This is why it says, Proverbs 4:23: "Above all guard the door of your mind with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life/"

The brain contains more than 100-billion neurons, also called nerve cells or brain cells.

Which is about the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Isn't it interesting? God has put eternity in the heart of man, even in the way He has designed the brain.

It also has trillions of supportive cells called 'glial.' Each neuron is connected to other neurons…

While I'm reading my brain is going. While you're hearing this, your brain is going. Your brain is working and the neurons are working. They're making impressions upon your brain.

…by as many as 40-thousand individual connections called synapses.

That's between the cells. That's why you can change your brain, because your brain is molded by how you think. That's why we started out with, 'As a man thinks in this heart, so he is.' That's why there's repentance. That's why there's God's Spirit. We're going to see that this is going to be fantastic when we get done with it. Continuing now:

Multiply 100-billion neurons times 40-thousand synapses, the brain has more connections than there are stars in the universe.

God has put eternity into the heart of man!

A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100-thousand neurons and 1-billion synapses all talking to one another.

That's your brain! The thing that Satan wants to do is to take control of your brain! What God wants you to do, is to use your brain the way He designed it, with the addition of His Spirit to fulfill His purpose!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 4:23
• Proverbs 16:1-2, 1-4
• Genesis 1:26-28
• Psalms 139:1-7
• Psalms 53:1-5
• Psalms 139:7-13
• James 2:26
• Psalm 139:13-16, 13
• Job 32:1-8; 18-22
• Job 33:1-4
• Zechariah 12:1
• 1-Corinthians 2:11
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
• Proverbs 4:23

Scriptures referenced, not quoted: Luke 3

Also referenced:
Books:

• The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
• Change Your Brain Change Your Life by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
• Making a Good Brain Great by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
• Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions by Dr. Caroline Leaf
• From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter
• The Footprints of God by Greg Iles

Sermon: Creation—Re-Creation
Sermon Series: Singularity is Near #1-2 (FOT 2008)

FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 04/14/17
Proofed: bo—5/17/17