To Loose the Bands of Wickedness

I have outwardly neglected a serious sharing of my study of fasting, but I have good reason, and hopefully it will have been worth the wait.

The third promised blessing of the fast is to loose the bands of wickedness.

One of the most powerful things that holds us from our progress is bondage.  In the scriptures there are a number of references that refers to that bondage, such as cords, bands, and chains. There is also slavery, yoke and captivity.  All of these kinds of bondage can be seen in old patterns or addictive behavior.

Not surprisingly, whenever we feel the need to change our lives and bring the Lord into the accomplishment of our tasks, we find that the effort is more often met with frustration and failure.  How many times have you desired a blessing and with great resolve decided to forge forward, only to feel like the best laid plans of mice and men were like your best intentions: like the garbage, they were meant to be carried out. Making a new start is imperative in breaking the bands of wickedness.[1]

One of the crucial keys in the formula for being relieved of the captivity of Satan and his minions is fasting.  Fasting breaks the steady rhythm of repetition caused by addictions.  That is a wonderful statement, but how is this achieved?

I ran across a fascinating piece of information that gives scientific proof why feasting on the word of the Lord and fasting from the world makes it possible to break the bonds that strangle us, and can absolutely guarantee that liberty.

I want to thank Tina Peterson for her timely contribution to this content.  She made a rather strong statement when she indicated at a class on scripture study that. . . “The battle today, between Babylon and Zion, is being waged between the synapses of our brains.” Synapses are how our brains process messages. They are crucial to the biological computation of perception and thought.

Tina explained that in this information age when messages, images, and information are coming at us almost faster than we can receive them, our brains are creating new neural pathways to accommodate the input. The first time we see an image on a screen–like a blog page, a news feed, texts, or Facebook – our brain creates a new neural pathway to process that image. It is the same with new sounds or any stimuli to the senses as well as pornography.

Input always travels the path of least resistance. The path is formed from the first exposure. The second time we see the new image, it will travel the same route. And before long, the new neural pathway has been stimulated enough to “desire” of itself continued activation. A habit is born.  An addiction is instilled.  (It does not only come from a visual enticement.  But it is definitely bolstered by a visual that makes a connection to a physical draw.)

Then, when the brain is not currently occupied, we long for that image, or in other words, we long to continue to make that connection.  (It might have started with a flaxen cord, but it literally can turn into a chain.[2]) That is why we constantly check our phones or email. That is why, when we have a free moment, we click onto a favorite blog, check facebook, and tweets, or any other source of input we frequent. Without realizing it, we have begun to crave these places of input, hunger for them, to the point where they can surreptitiously dominate our time.

Tina said the only way to counterbalance this is with ancient and modern scripture. We must expose our brains repeatedly to the image or sound of God’s words. We must literally begin to feast upon the word. That is where God’s Spirit lives. It is where His mind and will can rise out of the texts we read or the conversations we share, and filter into our lives, allowing revelation to move through us.  It provides a literal pathway of light.[3]

Satan knows the physiology of the brain. He knows if he can encourage overstimulation through an overload of mundane or technical information, he can increase the odds that we will not seek more spiritual sources for input. Not only scripture study, but anything that is lovely, virtuous, or praiseworthy, or of good report.  For these are all things that our spirits will feast upon and break the chains of that which will not satisfy.

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[1] Luke 9:37-42

[2] 2 Nephi 26:22 And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.

[3] Recently I was involved in publishing a work called Discoveries in Chiasmus.  The studies included indicate a positive connection between the chiastic structure in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and the physical alteration made in the body through the transmission of light.