If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

By Dr. Jim Ferguson

Two weeks and seventy-eight years ago brave men gave their lives to liberate Europe and defeat the Nazis. Storming the beaches of Normandy, depicted in the movie Saving Private Ryan, was the supreme example of courage. The delusional thinking of gender dysphoria and the demands we accept that "men" can get pregnant is not.

Psychosis is a medical term where one loses contact with reality. This manifests as delusions when "one's beliefs are contrary to typical cultural or religious background." Hallucinations often occur and are most commonly auditory (hearing voices) as with schizophrenia or visual (seeing things) as with drugs.

I've come to believe that there are people who are delusional or perhaps enslaved by their ideology. And another possibility is that they are in thrall to evil.

Decades ago, I read several books by M. Scott Peck, MD. The most celebrated was The Road Less Traveled. Psychiatrist Peck also wrote The People of the Lie, a phrase that has lately been resonating in my mind. Psychiatrists evaluate and treat patients with mental illness, but Peck encountered something rare, but different, in several of his patients. He concluded that they were possessed by evil.

When a thought repeatedly comes to mind, you wonder if the thought is random or a meaningful message. I believe the Apostle Paul was right when he wrote, "The Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). Perhaps my conscience interfaces with the Spirit in that non-anatomical place called the soul. I have never heard voices, but "the people of the lie" seem to be everywhere.

I don't like horror movies and I have never been spooked by ghosts. However, delusional people scare me. I interviewed a psychiatric colleague and reread The People of the Lie as background for this essay. The book is a disturbing glimpse of what might be called the occult, similarly depicted in The Exorcist. I am not a psychiatrist and I have never experienced the occult, but I acknowledge there are many things I don't understand.

A friend once taught me the concept of an open versus a closed universe. A naturalist or materialist might argue that unless they understand something, can observe a phenomenon or can write an equation to define a concept, it doesn't exist. As a result, their horizon is limited and their universe of reality is closed. On the other hand, if your mind is open to possibilities beyond your immediate understanding, your mind and universe are open.

I have lived long enough to have a working compendium of knowledge, but there is much I don't understand. I have experienced delusional and dangerous people. Some were mentally ill. Some were high on drugs or just lawless. Perhaps there are other explanations. One of my axioms is, "Sometimes the best answer for the otherwise inexplicable, is evil."

I also view the Universe as dualistic. Everything I imagine I can conceive of its opposite. Examples are up/down, left/right, matter/antimatter, right/wrong.  Even quintessential good (God) perhaps has an opposite, sometimes envisioned as the Devil. Interestingly, the word devil derives from the Greek verb diabalein which means to oppose. In Hebrew the word Satan means adversary (Job 1:6). So, has God constructed the Universe with an adversary to test man or to oppose His quintessential good?

I am not arguing that those who oppose my sense of right are evil. I believe they are just wrong and some are delusional. Men do not have a uterus and can't have a menstrual cycle or become pregnant. To insist otherwise is delusional. Or perhaps this argument is but ideologically-driven insanity. We have seen hatred-driven insanity elect an impaired POTUS who has destroyed the economy, produced inflation, destroyed the border, armed the Taliban, destroyed our energy independence and continues to embarrass our country on the world stage and impair our national security. Perhaps iPOTUS is demented, delusional or powerless to resist the AOC/Bernie Sanders cabal which now controls the Democrat party. Even a conservative like myself can wish for a sane Democrat party and help for the delusional among us.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs understands the problem. In a recent cable news interview, he noted the assault on the nuclear family, as well as the church, is at the core of our problems. The people of the lie maintain that the government can fill the void in people's lives. Actually, isolation, loss of purpose and self-worth make people easy prey for the father of lies. And if you challenge delusional thinking by calling out the liars, you open yourself up to gaslighting, a manipulative technique which tries to make you feel bigoted or guilty.

So, what is the way forward, the way out of this mess? If you think electing Republicans will fix everything, I believe you're wrong. However, it is certain that Democrat policies have caused our current mess. And allowing the left to normalize their delusions and force their ideology upon the rest of us is wrong. That must be resisted.

It begins with courage, not the courage of Omaha Beach, but the courage of standing on the principles of God, country, church and family. We must push back against the Chuck Schumer's who threaten violence against supreme court justices. We must say no to the lies of Adam Schiff and the vile hatred of Maxine Waters. James, the brother of Jesus once said, "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you," (James 4:6). I think he is right.

I challenge you to watch courage in action. In a six-minute video, a Harvard student stands up to those who hate America. Go to Prageru.com and search for "Harvard student."

"Freedom is not free," said my friend's father, General Richard Stilwell. I think he is right.

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