The Phenomena of a Passive Mind 529
outside voice. Such symptoms as inattentiveness or heedlessness
signify in reality that their hearts are occupied by satanic elements.
Believers occasionally experience a sudden state of heedlessness; the
fact is, their hearts have been snatched away by the wicked ones.
Until they are liberated from the activity of evil spirits they will be
powerless to concentrate.
Because of these disturbances in their minds Christians often will
shake their heads, trying to rid themselves of these unsettling
thoughts. They have to speak aloud to themselves in order to leave an
impression on their mind. They must likewise think aloud, else their
darkened mind will not understand. They additionally need to read
aloud to acquaint themselves with what they have read. All these are
consequences of the lack of concentration.
InactivityUpon being fiercely attacked, the mind of the believer loses its
ability to think. It falls almost entirely into the hands of evil spirits so
that he himself can no longer use it. He cannot think even should he
want to, for he is incapable of initiating any thought of his own.
Actually myriads of thoughts over which he has no control pass
through his mind; he has no power to halt these and initiate his own.
The foreign ideas are too overpowering for him to entertain his own.
Occasionally he may locate an opening in his mind through which to
insert his thought, but he discovers it is very toilsome to continue
thinking. So many voices and so many subjects are there already that
these simply squeeze his out. If any person desires to think, he must
possess memory, imagination and reasoning power; but the Christian
has presently lost these powers, hence is unable to think. He cannot
create, deduce or recollect, nor can he compare, judge and
apprehend. Therefore he cannot think. And should he attempt to do
so he experiences a kind of dazed sensation which stifles any
productive thought.