A Note from Pastor Eric:
For the past nine months, I’ve been working on a writing project with my friend and brother in Christ, CJ Kirk. CJ and his wife, Kerry, along with their daughter, Meredith Kirk Thompson, and three sons, have been a part of The Story since 2015. CJ is the founder and owner of Krav Maga Houston, as well as a performance coach and gifted writer. Last year, CJ approached me with the idea of joining forces on a writing project that we hope will help people overcome their doubts, past trauma, and toxic thoughts by following Jesus and winning the war for our minds. Over the next few months, G&T will include adapted excerpts from the work that CJ and I have been doing. We hope these excerpts will be helpful and inspiring to you along your journey of faith.
“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
– Screwtape, the senior demon, in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
– Screwtape, the senior demon, in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
We are living in the age of distraction marked by accelerating technological advancement, information overload, and an unprecedented, unrelenting assault on our attention. Just beneath the surface of our complicated lives, however, the most consequential conflict in human history rages on: the war for our minds.
We tend to think of our minds as being synonymous with our brains. But your mind is much more than just the cells and synapses that comprise your brain. Think of your mind as your internal operating system: the invisible code that governs your default responses, emotional patterns, mental loops, subconscious narratives, and unspoken expectations.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when it comes to our minds, we’re all working with broken code.
No, it’s worse than broken—our code has been corrupted.
If Corruption Exists, So Does a Corrupter
From Genesis 3 through the end of Revelation, the authors of the Bible warn us that our operating system has been infected with a spiritual virus that runs deep – so deep, in fact, that it often goes undetected.
Evolutionary biologists have suggested that what the Bible calls corruption can be explained as evolutionary misfires or maladaptations. Whatever we call it, both science and scripture agree that something about our minds is amiss because our neural pathways have been overly shaped by pain, fear, and the struggle to survive. Our minds bear the markings of battle: emotional wounds, spiritual brokenness, and other remnants of corruption so subtle that they’re easily mistaken for personality traits, addictions, and genetic predispositions.
Trauma, for instance, has been shown to rewire our brains and corrupt our minds. Neurological scans of PTSD patients often reveal the physiological effects of traumatic events, etched like scars in the neural architecture.
Many people have become so accustomed to this wounded state that we assume it’s normal. But what if we were never meant to live this way? What if these scars are the result of something more than incidental, unhappy accidents? What if they are evidence of an Enemy, a spiritual Corrupter who intends to separate us from God, distort our perception of reality, and keep us enslaved?
Jesus warned us about this Enemy’s corrosive tactics.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy…”
John 10:10
John 10:10
Elsewhere in the New Testament, this Chief Thief is described as the “god of this age…blinding the minds” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “a liar and the Father of lies” (John 8:44). The Biblical authors raise one warning after another about his mission to alter our minds by, in modern terms, uploading a virus into our central operating system to distort our perception of reality.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8
1 Peter 5:8
As strange and uncomfortable as this may seem, the Devil has declared war on us, and we can’t win this conflict by simply absorbing more information. Victory requires reformation—the renewing of our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2
Romans 12:2
Understanding Our “Corrupted Default Mode”
The wounded state of our minds is what we call our Corrupted Default Mode—a system of thought traced back to the Fall of Man (Genesis 3), reinforced by culture, and manipulated by the Enemy. It operates silently, often disguised as something normal or even good. It whispers lies that sound like the truth. It tells you who you are, how to survive, and what you must fear—dictating your very identity and well being. But none of it aligns with the mind of Christ.
This is where the battle lines are drawn.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2
Colossians 3:2
You have another mind – a conscious mind – linked not to fear or to the Enemy’s manipulation, but to your soul. This is where your will and discernment are found. This is the part of you that holds the power to reject the Enemy’s lies and embrace the Truth of God. When you operate from this conscious mind— renewed by the Spirit of God—you are no longer at the mercy of corrupted default settings. You are empowered to build a new operating system—one that is aligned with Christ, rooted in truth, and governed by the Spirit.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…
2 Corinthians 5:10
2 Corinthians 5:10
This war is not esoteric or theoretical. It’s as real as it gets. The conflict plays out in all your thoughts, habits, and relationships. And unless you become aware of it, you will continue living outside your purpose and design—reacting instead of responding, surviving instead of thriving, spiraling instead of standing firm.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
We are writing in hopes of helping people perceive the invisible battles raging within you and around you, perhaps for the first time. It’s about learning how to identify the corrupted code that dominates your perception and replacing it with something far more powerful and purposeful. It’s about taking back the ground the Enemy claimed while you were operating as if you were asleep, distracted, or in survival mode. And most of all, it’s about learning to live with the mind of Christ—where fear has no place, deception has no power, and your true identity in Him comes alive.
To be continued…
