Our Mind is the Root of all Evil & Good
by Dr. John Williams

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6)
Whose mind is stayed on thee (Isaiah 26:3)
With mind I serve Law of God (Romans 7:25)
Knoweth what is mind of spirit (Romans 8:27)
Knoweth mind of Lord (Romans 11:34)
Same mind one toward another (Romans 12:16)
Be joined in the same mind (I Corinthians 1:10)
Mind of Lord, Mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16)
If a willing mind (II Corinthians 8:12)
Be of one mind (II Corinthians 13:11)
Spirit of sound mind (II Timothy 1:7)
Ever mindful of covenant (Psalm 111:5)
Lord hath been mindful of us (Psalm 115:12)
We have the Mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16)
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7)

(Dictionary Meaning: Brain, Intelligence, Intellect, Wits, Brainpower, Mentality, Care, Psyche, Object, Be Bothered, Be Offended, Take Offense, Demur, Disapprove, Be Careful, Watch out, Look out, Pay Attention, Take Care, Beware, Heed, Attention, Concentration, Thoughts, Awareness, Look after, Tend, Care for, Attend to, Watch over, Thinker, Intellectual, Point of View, Opinion, View, Way of Thinking)

1. What is Mind?
First of all it is important to know how our mind is related to the rest of our being. The Bible says every human being has a Body, Spirit and Soul. From the point of view of our human body, mind is in the physical region of our brain in the head. From the point of our soul, according to the Bible, it consists of a Mind, a Will and an Emotion. Therefore, it is important to recognize that our mind is closely connected, linked and tide up with our emotion and will. Thirdly, we should recognize that we are all spiritual beings even though we are endowed with a physical body and a soul consisting of an emotion, will and mind.

If there is such a thing as good and evil or right and wrong, then in order to do the right and do good, our mind must be programmed in a particular way to give the right command or make the right decision. Mind is programmed by the environmental influences in terms of what we are exposed to and what goes in to our mind. In the day and time in which we are living, we are constantly bombarded with all kinds of information and news, in addition to which, we have unlimited opportunities and temptations to voluntarily or out of our own volition to expose ourselves to or to indulge in a wide range of good and bad activities. It is possible to guard our mind against all evil by which we are surrounded, and at the same time to instill into our minds good, spiritual, moral, social, ethical and religious values. We can indoctrinate or program our mind, in such a way and to such a degree, that our mind will not allow us to indulge in anything that is wrong, immoral or sinful.

God has also given us what is called a conscience which gives every human being the natural ability to distinguish the right from the wrong, the good from the evil, and the immoral from moral, which means that no body has any excuse for doing something wrong saying that he or she did something evil or wrong unknowingly or unconsciously.

We are living in a world in which people in general are living in sin and immorality and as a matter of fact, the words ‘sin’ and ‘immorality’ are not even in the common vocabulary. Instead they simply say when they do something evil, immoral or sinful, they simply say that they did a "mistake" or something wrong.
Sin, morality and evil is so rampant in the world in which we are living, as we look back into the olden times, in the sense, even a century ago, we can see how there has been a moral degradation that has taken place during the last few decades. We are really living in a very perilous time. I am sure that we all wonder some times, if the world has reverted back to the times of Noah, when on the whole planet earth the only righteous man that was living was Noah. As we know in that situation God had no other option but to destroy the whole earth by flood with all the living beings, sparing only the life of Noah and his immediate family, and pairs of all other living creatures through an ark which God told Noah to build.

It should also be pointed out that in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, because God did not even find one righteous man, he destroyed these two cities mercilessly with fire and brimstone. As we skim through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the problem that cropped up again and again in the history was sin, immorality, unrighteousness, evil, wickedness, violation of God's commandment, etc.
In the context of the human history of the past, and the conditions that are prevailing now, it is very important to deal with the route cause of sin and immorality according to the standards of the Bible, and not the standards set arbitrarily by the people who are living today.

The kinds of problems that we face to-day, are nothing but immorality, crimes, injustice, hatred, enmity, jealousy, fleshly lust, pride, materialism etc. We also knowingly or unknowingly use an expression called "The Acts of God", referring to the natural catastrophes such as:
· hail
· storm
· thunder
· floods
· forest fire
· land slide
· tsunami
· earthquake etc.
which cause destruction of lives of 1000s of people in a fraction of a second, and since people cannot blame anyone else for such grave catastrophes, they just blame it on God by staying that it was due to an act of God.

As we read the history of the Bible we come across many instances at which God punished sinners in such ways and as it is mentioned in one place on one occasion, God even allowed the earth to split wide open and to swallow alive, 100s and 1000s of people.

If we trace the Bible history, back to the time when the world was created (approximately 6000 years ago) for which period there is indisputable proof and archaeological evidences to prove that all the historical records in the Bible which even traces the genealogy of men from Adam all the way up to Jesus Christ which covers a time span of 4000 years BC.

Mind of the people in general changes by the environmental influences such as the prevailing moral standards and the daily occurrences of illegal, immoral and criminal acts, and the reporting of such instances as well as exposure to such activities through the sports and entertainment world which gradually becomes acceptable life style. So this is how the minds of people change.

2. How does mind affect the life of others and us
Every decision made and every act that is committed whether it is:
· right or wrong
· good or evil
· moral or immoral
or it is committed willfully, knowingly and deliberately with the approval of our mind, because the mind controls all of our activities. Therefore, what goes into the mind is very important.

The Word of God says that we should have the mind of Christ, which means that it should be pure and righteous, and it is possible to have the mind of Christ which is God's plan, will and desire, only when we read the Word of God and meditate the same day and night. God's laws of right and wrong should sink into our minds and through the mind the whole being of man should be saturated with the word. When we constantly read or hear the Word of God our mind will be programmed by it and we will not indulge in any kind of activity that is prohibited by the Word of God or at least try to avoid committing such acts. God has promised in his Word in more than one place that we should have the mind of God and not be affected by the pollutions of this world.

We should also examine ourselves daily and see if there is any spot or wrinkle in our heart, and if there is any, we should repent for it and confess to God and get right with him. A constant cleansing or purging of our heart is essential in order to be holy as God is holy. As we read in the book of Genesis God created man in his own image and after his likeness and even above the angels. It is the work of the devil to tempt man to commit sins and live an unrighteous and unholy life. When once we know what is happening in the spiritual world around us, we will be well guarded and quickly recognize the subtle temptations that devil gives us to go astray violating God's laws because the Bible says very clearly that the wages of sin is death, condemnation and eternal hell for ever and ever which has been prepared for Satan and the devils.

3. How mind is programmed and can be reprogrammed by the Word of God
As mentioned in the earlier section unless we make it a regular habit to read the word of God and reprogram our mind again and again, the chances are that we will be deceived by the devil in subtle ways to fall back into sin. We should also develop a habit of not only meditating the word of God daily in our mind but quote the right word of God at the right time to muster faith and courage to overcome the temptations of the devil and continue to live a holy and righteous life. There is no substitute for the word of God like philosophy, religion, rituals, sacrifices, tradition etc. Normally speaking every person is seeking knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously the true God and try to find ways to get some remedy for all the evil and the immoral acts they have committed, in order to be cleansed and forgiven. But only the Word of God and the continuous leading the Holy Spirit can give us the knowledge and ability to live a holy and righteous life, overcoming the temptations of the devil and the influence of the world.

4. What does the Bible say about the Mind of Christ
There are many references in the Bible about the mind of Christ including God's knowledge, wisdom, understanding, creativity, forgiving nature, kindness, love, compassion, long suffering, gentleness, meekness, etc. God is also merciful but he is just. These are the spiritual qualities of God which constitute the mind of Christ as exhibited in his life and ministry. God expects every one of us to have the mind of Christ in order to live and behave in the same manner as Jesus when he was living on the earth. He never lived a sinful life. He lived a holy and righteous life and he came to do the will of the Father and he was faithful to him until the very end, and he was determined to do the will of his Father until his death. Similarly, we should also be determined to live a holy life and should not be tempted to commit sins again and again.

5. Some Amazing Things about our Mind
God has given us extraordinary capacity to remember all of our childhood experiences and to literally have the mind of Christ in terms of knowledge, wisdom, creativity, understanding, determination, making commitments and keeping them etc. It is up to us to develop our mind to conform to the mind of Christ to live in high victory appropriating all the blessings that God has promised, and live with joy and peace with all men doing good everywhere, comforting those who are bereaved, giving to those who lack, feeding the hungry, comforting those in sorrow, abstaining from all appearance of evil, and discovering and fulfilling God's will for our lives.

6. Mind, Value, Character and Behavior
There is a relationship between what we have in our mind in terms of value and character, and our behavioral pattern. There is a reason why it is important that we should instill into our minds, good, moral, spiritual, social, cultural, ethical, philosophical and religious values into the minds of the people in a variety of ways, so that their behavior under any situation will be good, moral and legal. Character building is an area which is not given much importance in our system of education. Even if we do not indoctrinate the children and the young adults, with a set of values, in a country which has religious freedom, because of the difference in the religious beliefs, we can still leave out anything that is purely a religious belief, and yet give attention in common areas, to a set of values which are generally accepted by people of all religions and culture. We can concentrate on that and develop courses for different age groups and make it a policy to educate and to instill those values into the minds of the students. As we mentioned already, every human being is endowed with a moral conscience, but still because of the influence of what children as well as adults are exposed to, what is supposed to be entertainment through TV and other media, the mind set of individuals change gradually and reach a point at which at least in their unconscious mind they feel that everyone has a liberty and the freedom to believe in and to do anything as long as it does not violate the laws and the rights of the other human beings. As a result, what was forbidden or was a taboo even 10, 20 or 50 years ago, is no longer enforced. In addition to the fact that unnatural and unacceptable behavior of different kinds are tolerated by the society even if it is not approved or acceptable on the grounds that everyone has the liberty to do and believe in what they believe in, as long as, as mentioned already it does not violate any law or the rights of other human beings.

It is really strange that the Government has issued a proclamation to remove wherever 10 commandments are inscribed, written or posted in Government buildings, in spite of the fact that what those 10 commandments prohibit is something that is illegal and immoral such as

· Not to worshiping false God’s

· Observing the Sabbath Day (the day of rest) which is still observed as a day of rest technically by declaring Sunday as a holiday from work, even though people may not literally take rest in order to take care of their own health and life

· Another commandment is to honor and respect one’s father and mother. Again this is not something unacceptable either under law or any other religion, custom or tradition

· Another commandment is not to bear false witness against anyone, which is consistent with our constitution and law

· Another commandment is not to steal the property of other people, which is also in line with our current and existing laws

· Another commandment is do not covet the things of other people, violation of which results in theft, robbery, and even murder, and these acts are considered as crimes under our current laws.

· While we generally believe that God created us, the first commandment says that we should not make or create God in the form of a graven image. I don’t think anyone in the right mind can give any justification or rationale for creating God for them to worship

· Another commandments is not to take the name of God in vain. I do not think that this commandment is contrary to any law of our land because everyone has a freedom of religion and no body has the right to condemn people of other religion or faith, because of the faith they have in God they worship

· Another commandment prohibits the act of adultery which is also inline with our laws

As a matter of fact these are the mandatory and prohibitory laws of our country, but because it has some
religions connotation, these 10 commandments have been removed from the walls of the public buildings. At least posting these universally acceptable moral codes or behavior in conspicuous places, will serve as a reminder, and people will become more aware and conscious of the fact that everyone is expected by God and by the society to observe these moral codes, so that people will refrain from indulging in the prohibited acts and make a decision in their conscious or subconscious mind to observe the mandatory commandments of God, which is endorsed by the government in which we live directly or indirectly.

7. Right & Wrong and Good & Evil
I recall someone making a statement some years ago that nothing is right or wrong, but only our thinking makes it so. If the concept of
· Right and Wrong
· Good and Bad
· Moral and Immoral
· Approved and Disapproved
· Allowed and Prohibited etc.
is totally eradicated from our system or society, we will be living once again in a totally uncivilized and dangerous society risking our lives. The very basic philosophy that holds civilized society together and make it possible for us to live in a safe and orderly society or environment is the concept, law or philosophy that clearly defines as to what is right or wrong or good or evil, and this concept or philosophy has to be instilled into the minds of the people, because the mind is responsible for the behavior of the people.

8. Conclusion
There is a very powerful scripture in the Bible that says “For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” This has a very rich, deep and wide meaning. Based on this particular verse we are going to make a set of statements in conclusion of this article.

· Generally as we know before a person commits a crime for example, he plans it out or pre-meditates. If any unlawful act is committed ignorantly or accidentally or even under sudden and grave provocation, some consideration is given when a penalty is imposed for that act).

· When a person makes a decision in his heart to live a holy and righteous life, that is how he is going to live generally speaking.

· When a person plans or imagines creatively to accomplish great things or to hold high ideals in his life that is the way he is going to be.

· The great American dream is what a man can imagine he can do (one day a man thought in his mind that someday we can reach the moon and as we know, we surely did).

· If a person strongly believes in his heart that we can restore peace and order in a society which is infested with crimes, we can surely restore order and peace.

· When we believe that we can literally live in heaven while we are still here on this earth, enjoying divine health, divine prosperity, divine safety etc operating on divine wisdom, divine power and divine love, we can surely live now in heaven on earth, spiritually speaking but also in reality.
What really matters ultimately is what we have in our mind and how our mind is set.

-THE END-