Subject: [ETI Informal pdf 1AD.02.07.07] A useful process for softening hardness of heart
From: "James Robertson" <[email-masked]>
To: "Lists @ ETI Min" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 11:53:41 +0200

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Greetings

The last few articles on the list have addressed the subject of the hurts,
wrong beliefs, etc that give rise to the condition Scripture refers to as
"hardening of the heart".

This is a subject on which we have encountered very little practical
teaching within the body of believers but is also a subject of great
importance.

As we have gained understanding in this area over the past couple of years
we have come to understand that every one of us has experienced events
during their lives, some call them "life shocks", which result in specific
sub-conscious learned responses which thereafter filter and condition the
flow of information from our spirits (the "heart") to the conscious mind and
vice versa.

Reference was made in the article 1AD.02.07.04 "Cleansing from hardening of
the heart, inner vows, etc" posted on 25 July to two instances of people who
in their childhood were subject to negative experiences which seriously
affected their ability to relate to others and to relate to Yah throughout
their adult life.

Yah has shown us that Satan makes a point of trying to ensure that every
single human being is subjected to AT LEAST one such event round about the
age of 5 years old - this is the stage at which we are most impressionable,
as indicated by the graph of adaptability on page 12 of the article
1AD.02.07.03 "Marriage Strategy Headlines".

These "soulish" "objects" fall into the second category "soul" of the human
factors identified on page 4 of the marriage strategy document and have an
enormous bearing on our capacity to hear Yah clearly and on our capacity to
receive revelation, teaching, etc and to serve Him faithfully to the end of
our lives.

If an authority figure has told one at the age of five years old that "no
one will ever love you" this filter makes it exceptionally difficult for
that person to EVER believe that Yah or any human being could ever love them
in adult life.  This can lead to subconscious choice of abusive marriage
partners, inability to make a real committment in marriage, work or in the
faith, etc.

As a consequence of these factors and their cummulative effect as people
mature, it becomes increasingly difficult for older people to make a really
solid conversion to faith in Yah UNLESS something happens to break the
strangle hold of these subconcious lies (some call it "mind talk") which
trigger programmed responses which we come to believe are just "the way we
are".

To counter this we have also encountered situations where Yah has permitted
strongly positive experiences which have embedded faith in Yah into the same
subconcious learning, even when subsequently the person concerned has ended
up in very dark situations.  By way of example, i was once given a vision of
a little five year old girl in a Catholic church holding a candle and saying
time and time again "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" - Yah showed me that at that time
she invited Him into her heart and was "born again".  That little girl had
been dedicated to Satan and subsequently went on to become a Satanist High
Priestess but eventually, when she was in her forties, Yah was able to use
that deep seated love for Yahshua to bring that woman out of Satanism into a
powerful witness for the saving power of faith in Yah through the covenant
sacrifice of Yahshua.

Through various experiences we have had in ministering to people, we are
profoundly convinced that these deep seated positive and negative events
have a profound impact on the ability of an individual firstly to accept Yah
and secondly on their ability to serve Him faithfully.

This same phenomenon results in a situation where false doctrines can become
deeply embedded in the subconcious, particularly when they are strongly
enforced in childhood.

Insofar as these things are subconcious and we are not aware of them unless
they are exposed in some way they have the potential to dramatically
influence and control our lives and thereby dramatically affect our eternal
destiny.  Yet very few people are aware of this phenomenon and even fewer
people know how to deal with it effectively.

We have been able to be of assistance to some people through prophetic
revelation followed by the prayers published in the articles preceding this
but have observed that these prayers alone are not always sufficient to
overcome psychological programming that goes back decades and affects every
aspect of a person's behaviour.  It is not enough to simply recognize that
the event happened, it is necessary to learn a new programme of behaviour
and beliefs to substitute for the wrong behaviour and beliefs!

This has a bearing in the area of deliverance as well.  Demonic oppression
will frequently be a major factor in instilling these wrong beliefs and
behaviours with the result that someone can be delivered from the demons but
still continue to manifest behaviour and mannerisms, etc that suggest that
they are still demonized.  This can result in situations where a sincerely
delivered person is branded as demonized and branded as being unwilling to
let go of the demons or as unteachable when, in fact, they are simply
trapped in learned responses associated with the oppression that may have
been with them virtually their entire lives.

As at this writing we have not encountered a single ministry within the body
of believers who have developed robust and effective procedures for dealing
with these phenomena.  At the same time, we have encountered numerous
believers who are to a greater or lesser extent having their lives disrupted
by these factors.  In fact, i would go so far as to suggest that i have yet
to meet a believer whose life is not to some extent adversely impacted by
these factors.  For that matter, the same applies to unbelievers.

The essence of this phenomenon is that it is globally pervasive and has an
enormous negative impact both by preventing decisions to accept faith in Yah
through the covenant sacrifice of Yahshua AND by hindering the spiritual
growth in the faith of those who DO accept faith in Yah through the covenant
of Yahshua.

These factors played a significant role in my own walk such that they were
almost certainly factors in the backsliding that took place in my twenties
and thirties.  However, i was priviledged in 1993, to undergo a process
which helped me to deal with these issues.  This took place at the HEIGHT of
my backslidden condition, struggling to deal with the consequences of two
years of adultery and with every aspect of my life in a shambles and in the
fast lane, headed for hell and about to pass the last off ramp, Yah, in His
great mercy, reached down and arranged matters that i attended a programme
called "The Life Training".  During an intense weekend of confronting my
life shocks and my mind talk i discovered things about myself dating back to
my childhood which had been dictating my behaviour in diverse ways all my
life.

With those subconcious beliefs exposed and dealt with i came to a position
where, a few days later, staring the gates of death and hades in the face,
Yah was able to reach down, speak to me and lead me back to His service.  I
profoundly believe that if it had not been for "The Life Training" weekend
which softened my heart sufficiently to permit me to hear the still small
voice of the Almighty when He spoke to me, i would not be here to write this
article today but would be in the grave awaiting a sentence of eternity in
the Lake of Fire and Brimstone on the Day of Judgment!

Over nine years later, wrestling with some issues in my life where
subconscious responses were hindering my marriage and dragging me down
emotionally and psychologically, i decided to return to the Life Training.

This required that i confront religious prejudice about resorting to a
"secular" organization for help but, after prayer, and strengthened by deep
conviction that this WAS Yah's will, i set about making contact with the
Kairos Foundation who are the originators and sponsors of "The Life
Training".  As i revisited the processes and started to deal with the "life
shocks" and "mind talk" relating to various events in my childhood but, more
importantly in my adult life since doing the training in 1993, i was able to
clearly see the hand of Yah using these people and the processes they had
developed, to assist me.

The founders of the Life Training have drawn on diverse sources.  One was an
ordained priest in an ecumenical church before leaving his denomination and
there are regular scriptural references in the material.  They have also
drawn on the psychological theories of Victor Frankel, theories grounded in
his years as a Jewish inmate of Nazi concentration camps.  The processes
have a secular component and a spiritual component some of which will rattle
the paradigm of most conventional believers.  However, if one approaches the
Life Training with a perspective of SEEK TRUTH NOT ERROR, one will find an
enormous amount of value.

We have been extremely positively impacted by our renewed acquaintance with
"The Life Training" programme and i strongly recommend it.  Anyone who feels
that they are not walking victoriously in their lives as believers, or who
finds that there are constant negative impacts in their life or simply feels
there is a void in their life should seriously consider it.

For those of you on the list who are in Gauteng, there is a Life Training
weekend coming up from Friday 30 August to Sunday 1 September in
Johannesburg and there is a guest event at our house on 6 August where you
can find out more.

For those of you elsewhere in South Africa, you can contact Mandy at the
Life Training Center in Johannesburg to find out about weekends elsewhere in
the country.  Email [email-masked] or phone 011-728-5215.

For those elsewhere in the world, visit the web site at
http://www.lifetraining.org/default.htm or search on the Internet for "The
Life Training", there may well be a Life Training Weekend in the next year
to be held in a location that you can reach.

Attached please find a copy of the Life Training home page, the notice for
the weekend in Johannesburg in August and a personal testimony from an
individual who is a devout Jew and who has found the programme very
beneficial.  Also please find an invitation to the guest event at our home
on 6 August.

I strongly recommend The Life Training as a secular event that has the
potential to greatly deepen your relationship with Yah and improve your
overall quality of life.

Warm regards and blessings

James Robertson

Dr James Robertson
END TIME ISSUE MINISTRIES

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