Holes in Your Head or Helmet of Salvation?

By Dr. Tom White

Many testimonies from believers in hostile nations tell how thy respond to hatred with love and to inflicted pain with forgiveness. The world regards such Christians as simpletons, too heavenly-minded to relate to everyday problems. Godly wisdom is regarded as inferior to the world’s sophistication. One of our readers wondered if we are “too romantic” with such an approach to persecution and suffering especially since we do not emphasize military, social or political solutions.

Recently, my pastor and his wife, Joe and Dawn Marie Colaw, spoke about scientific research which shows that black holes are burned into the brain by hatred, anger, bitterness and other negative emotions.

Dr. David Amen, Dr. Marian Diamond, Dr. Caroline Leaf and other neuroscientists and biochemists describe the toxic chemical flood our bodies release into our brain when we think malicious thoughts. (For views of brains showing this damage, see www.amenclinic.com, and go to “Brain Disorder Research.”)

Dr. Leaf calls these burned places “emotional black holes.” By contrast, positive thoughts actually create more dendrite nerve fibers in the brain. She says, “You can grow a new memory over the old memory.” One of the elements she mentions in this healing process is forgiveness.

The world laughs at the biblical motto, “Jesus Saves.” The truth is, He does. His love and mercy can bring healing to abuse victims and preserve the minds and hearts of our persecuted brothers and sisters. When Christians are under stress, or even torture or imprisonment, and they praise God, sing or quote uplifting Scripture, they are putting on the helmet of spiritual and physical salvation. As Joe and Dawn Marie Colaw point out, “All believers can be light in a dark world – light to futile, toxic thinking. The dendrites of our minds can literally flourish as we feed on the Word of God, allowing it to stop the negative chemical bath and create a new network of dendrites that act as a super highway, bypassing even shrinking the ‘holes’ of the past.”

The Apostle Paul’s use of the term “helmet of salvation” was not merely poetic license. This helmet is not a religious luxury. It is a necessity.

Colonel Sandu Franco, a communist officer who interrogated Richard Wurmbrand in prison, came home in distress one day, and desperately holding his head, he told his wife, “Something is wrong with me! I am sick. I have never met anyone like this man in my whole life.” The colonel’s mind and heart were being changed by the love of God exhibited through conversations with His servant Richard Wurmbrand. Colonel Franco himself later went to prison after becoming a Christian, but the holes of hatred and anger from communist dogma had been repaired. He was made whole.

As Christians we can choose to exercise this forgiveness wisely and love those who mock us, avoiding being ‘eaten up’ with anger and resentment, or we can respond destructively and be consumed. Either the Holy Spirit of grace and mercy is our protection, or Satan’s devices eat into our minds.

Many Scriptures apply:

Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report,....meditate on these things.”

2 Corinthians 10:4-6: “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

When Richard Wurmbrand answered his torturers with the simple phrase, “I am here because I love God,” they had no argument. This “foolishness of God” is the only cure for this ailing world. God’s grace – the helmet of salvation – is our best defense. Unlike the psychologists and relativists who say we can think what we wish as long as we do not hurt anyone, Christians know thoughts can not only hurt others, but also hurt ourselves. Medical science continues to prove what unschooled Christians have known for 2,000 years – the love of Jesus is the perfect antidote and vaccination against evil. Seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, we have the protection and solutions for the illness of the world.

We do not desire that Christians be persecuted, but they are a display of God’s splendor. Persecuted, yet enduring Christians confirm the exercise of love and forgiveness is not “too romantic,” but is critically necessary.

Dr. Tom White is the U.S. Director of The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). This commentary first appeared in the September 2008 issue of VOM’s monthly newsletter. For more information regarding VOM call (877) 337-0302 or visit their website at www.persecution.com. To order their free monthly newsletter or contribute to their outstanding ministry call (800) 747-0085.