THE EVIL OF SPIRITUAL BRAINWASHING - BY JOSEPH BAYLY

by Joseph Bayly

The point at which many movements that claim to come in the name of the Lord fall down in their lack of respect for the integrity of human personality (that which constitutes a person as an individual created in the divine image).

The young man "went away grieved, for he had great possessions" (Mark 10:22). And Jesus let him go. Jesus didn't twist his arm, didn't overwhelm him with a display of love, didn't "snow" him with His superior intellect.

Jesus let him go.

Love is only love if it lets the other person go, if it respects the image of God in the other man. What is that image? Surely it is first of all freedom to choose the way that we shall take, without the sort of pressure that leaves no alternatives.

Did Jesus love the young man? Yes, the record says that He did, although it doesn't say that He told him so. But He did let him go. Did the father love the prodigal son when he went into the far country? Yes, and his love was shown by letting him go, rather than holding him under the threat of disinheritance. He even provided money for the prodigal's rebellious journey.

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty" (II Cor. 3:17). Compulsion violates liberty; liberty begins with the right to decide for oneself. The yoke of bondage to God is accepted, not imposed.

Is there such a thing as "spiritual brainwashing"? I believe there is, and to me it is more frightening than the communist variety, involving eternal issues as it does. Some groups of Christians seem to mistake the techniques of psychological manipulation for the work of the Holy Spirit. Whether they have the best of intentions or less than the best, some conference centers break down the human will as surely as did the communists in Korean prisoner of war camps. And some meetings equate the rout of the soul with Christian conversion.

We violate the sanctify and integrity of personality when we step in between the other person and God, making his decisions for him, telling him what to do, being his conscience. This is the holy place in Christian personality reserved for God's Spirit alone. It matters not that we say, "You must make your own decision," if we've already loaded the dice. We are the more guilty because the other person overlooks our deception under the aura of our spirituality.

Love may be employed as a "hidden persuader." Deeds of "love," the big and little kindness', are satanic if they are used in the seduction of a soul. In the Gospel records, we never find Jesus saying or implying, "Will you believe if I do this for you?" "Will you believe now that I have done this for you?" Love is destroyed when it is used as a bargaining agent.

Love is a frightening instrument of human manipulation, more powerful than brainwashing. And the most defenseless - the poor, the weak, the lonely - are most vulnerable to its use.

The contemporary movements that claim to be God's full revelation for our time: How do they treat the needy, helpless ones who do not respond? Do they show love beyond their own small circle of the fully convinced? Do they lovingly and gently commit the one who turns aside from the group to the Father, or do they attempt to bludgeon him into submission and return?

Love itself is a fruit of the Spirit, the "more excellent way." And a time is coming when Christians who have borne the fruit of divine love - not as a means of achieving an end, but as the expression of their new nature - will be surprised by their Lord's "Inasmuch."

Demas may forsake us, Timothy abide true. Each must be committed to God, each is to be loved. And the test of our love is always our attitude toward Demas departed, not Timothy remaining.

If we have been used to bring another to spiritual birth, we must cut the cord, remove the dead placenta. We dare not take the place of God's Spirit in another person's life. The danger in doing otherwise is multiplied manifold when we are working with the young.

Only one love satisfies the human spirit, created in the divine image. That is the love that says, in a paraphrase of God's word to Israel, "I love you because I love you" (Deut. 7:8)

JOSEPH BAYLY was known to students from the close of World War II up to the beginning of the sixties as listener, speaker, writer, and editor. A staff member of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, he visited schools from Maine to Florida, and edited HIS magazine. During the past decade, the author became known to a wider circle of American Christians through his column in ETERNITY magazine, and association with David C. Cook Publishing Company (managing editor). His listening and speaking throughout the United States - at conferences and seminars of pastors, medical doctors, lawyers, Christian educators, nurses, writers, students, married couples, women, parents - are reflected in his writings. Bayly has a rare gift of explaining Christian concepts in contemporary thought forms and language. His books include PSALMS OF MY LIFE, THE GOSPEL BLIMP, WHAT ABOUT HOROSCOPES? THE VIEW FROM A HEARSE, and I SAW GOOLEY FLY.

(Taken from: Out Of My Mind, by Joseph Bayly, written sometime in the late 1950's or early 1960's. He died about 1993)