Spirit inside Mankind
Genesis: Chapters Two & Three
Serpent Tests Eve
Law and Sin
Other-Mind: Spirit & Power of Evil
Man's Heart & Other Mind

What is and Why is there the Phenomenon of the Other-mind, the Old Mind?

nm906 » There is evidence through scripture and through human experience that there are supernatural phenomena. If the answer to the puzzlement of the other-mind comes from the supernatural, then science will not and cannot find the answer. Science has to do with nature, not the supernatural. If there are supernatural phenomena, if there is a God, then science, by its very definition, cannot find the answer.

nm907 » Through study I believe that there are supernatural phenomena and that there is a God being, who created the universe and who put some knowledge about himself into a text called the Holy Bible. Some of our other papers describe in detail more about this God Being and about the great debate of the genesis of the universe.

nm908 » From scripture, we believe that the other-mind is not physical; it is spiritual. That is, the other-mind is a mental phenomenon that does not belong to our physical body, but is an invisible (thus spiritual) power in our minds. Something that is spiritual is something that is not easily detectable by sight, touch, smell, or by our other senses. Spirit is analogous to air: you cannot see air but we see the effect of its wind; spirit is invisible but we see the effects on mankind’s behavior. The spiritual is detectable mentally by many. Some of you believe in the spiritual. If you think of yourself as Christian, you believe in evil spirits and good spirits or angels. Some of you interested in the occult believe in the spiritual dimension also, although your perception of the spiritual is not like the Christian perception. The New Testament of the Bible speaks of demons doing harm to people. The Old Testament speaks of lying spirits. Some of you from other religions or backgrounds also believe in the spiritual or invisible world. Almost all peoples in history have had beliefs about the spiritual world. Even those who do not believe in the spiritual believe nevertheless in invisible forces that they call by such names as gravity, black holes, protons, etc. In the psyche of man there is knowledge of a spiritual dimension which is evil and affects mankind in various ways. So what does the Bible have to say about the subject of unwanted thoughts?

nm909 » Genesis is the first book of the Bible. In this first book is the Biblical story of the beginning of the universe ("heavens and earth") and the beginning of mankind. There were seven days of creation. On the sixth day of creation "God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:27; see God Papers for information on the "Image of God").

Spirit Inside Mankind

nm964» An amplification on the creation of mankind is mentioned in chapter 2 of Genesis. Here it tells us God created man out of the dust of the earth on the sixth day. The word translated as Adam or man is a Hebrew word meaning "to be red or reddish."

"And Jehovah God [Lord God] formed the man, dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils (the) breath of life." [Gen 2:7]

Now notice that Jehovah "breathed" into man the "breath" of life. In the English version of the Old Testament the word "breath" is translated from either the Hebrew word neshamah or ruah. These words differ slightly in meaning, both signifying sometimes "wind" then sometimes "breath." The word translated into "breath" in Genesis 2:7 is the Hebrew word neshamah.

nm965» Both Hebrew words, neshamah and ruah, are translated as "spirit" in various places in the English translations of the Bible. And in the book of John in the New Testament, Jesus Christ tries to explain spirit to some: "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know from where it comes and where it goes" (John 3:8). In other translations it has for John 3:8, the "spirit breathes" instead of the "wind blows." This is so because in the Greek New Testament the Greek word translated in English Bibles as "wind" or "spirit" is the same word. Thus in the Old Testament and the New Testament "wind" and "spirit" are interchangeable words. And Jesus Christ tries to explain spirit by comparing it to the wind that blows. And in John 20:22 it reads:

• "and having said this he [Jesus] breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit."

Notice the similarity between Jesus Christ breathing into his followers, which signifies them receiving the Holy Spirit, and Jehovah in Genesis breathing into man, which signifies them receiving the breath or spirit of life. We thus take Gen 2:7 as indicating a dual sense. In one sense, the physical sense, Jehovah breathed into man the literal breath or air of life and man became a breathing and living life. In the second sense, the spiritual sense, Jehovah was putting a spirit into man after he created man. What spirit was put into man at that time? And what is meant by spirit? Also see information in Num 22.

Angels Are Spiritual Messengers

nm966» Spirits and angels are connected because angels are spirits (Heb 1:7). And angels are messengers because the word "angel" is translated from a Hebrew word in the Old Testament and a Greek word in the New Testament which means messenger, or one who is sent. Not only do we know that angels are messengers by the meaning of the word, but also because of their activities in the Bible. Angels are spiritual beings sent to do the will of the God. They affect people and nations by putting thoughts into people's minds. The thoughts of confusion are administered by the angels of evil, or the other-minds, or shall we say the demons. (Don't jump to conclusions yet, do read on.) I don't care to use the word evil or demon because of the connotations these words create in some people's minds. But what I wish to communicate here is that the other-mind that works in each of us is a spiritual being or angel (messenger) who puts negative flash-thoughts into our minds, sometimes very subtle thoughts. An evil angel is a messenger of evil; he brings base thoughts to our brains. There are now some good angels or messengers who do bring good thoughts into some people's minds in this age, but for the most part most people in this age only have the other-mind inside their mind (see the This is the reason the present age is an evil age. Not only do we have to fight a hostile environment, we also must fight the negative thoughts from the other-mind.

nm967» Now to answer the question above which was, "what spirit was put into man?" At the beginning of creation a spirit was put into the mind of man by Jehovah. (The word, Jehovah, is translated "Lord" in some English Bibles.) By looking around us today and by knowing something about the other-mind as I explained it previously, we know that the spirit or angel (messenger) that was placed in mankind's mind at the beginning was the other-mind, that confused and evil mind. We can begin to see the Biblical proof of this by reading chapters two and three of the book of Genesis. Let's go over the scripture in those chapters.

Genesis: Chapters Two and Three

nm968» In Gen 2:16-17 it reads,

 

• "And Jehovah God commanded the man saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, dying you shall die."

In the day that man ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would die according to God. Now next God created out of man a woman (in the beginning God created the man first before He created the woman) for God said that it wasn't good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18-22). After God brought woman to man, the man said,

• "This now at last is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. For this it shall be called Woman, because this has been taken out of man."

Then the story continues,

• "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed."

Thus we see that they weren't ashamed, they had no shame even though they were naked. But next in chapter three of Genesis something happens.

First Lie

nm969» In chapter three of Genesis it speaks of the "serpent" who deceived mankind into taking fruit from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." Now in the book of Revelation (Rev 12:9) we see that this "serpent" is none other than the one called the Devil and Satan. He was the father of lies (John 8:44). We also see that in the Biblical rendition on this serpent in Genesis that this serpent spoke to Eve, the wife of Adam. Today we do not see any serpents or snakes talking to women. Because of such stories in the Bible some have come to think of the Bible as a book of tales with little or no truth. By reading our papers and by reading some of the books we recommend which document the soundness of the Bible as a true document, you will find out for yourself that the Bible is not a book of tales but a book of facts and true history with Spiritual insight and prophecy of future events.

Figures of Speech

How Satan Spoke to Eve

nm970» What does the Bible mean when it says that a serpent spoke to the woman? Are we to take this literally that this serpent in the beginning spoke to mankind? I don't believe so just as we are not to take it literally that trees clap their hands or that mountains and hills shall break forth into singing (Isa 55:12). The Bible uses all kinds of figures of speech. The Bible uses similes, "his eyes were as a flame of fire" (Rev 1:14). The Bible uses metaphors, "tell that fox" (Luke 13:32). The Bible uses metonyms, "if the house be worthy" (Mat 10:13). The Bible uses synecdoches, "all the world should be taxed" (Luke 2:1). The Bible uses personifications, "the earth mourns and fades away" (Isa 24:4). The Bible uses apostrophes, "O death, where is thy sting?" (1Cor 15:55) The Bible uses hyperboles, "the light of the sun shall be sevenfold" (Isa 30:26). The Bible uses allegories, "this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia."(Gal 4:24) The Bible uses parables, "behold, a sower went forth to sow" (Mat Gal). The Bible also uses irony, riddles, and fables (1Kings 18:27; Rev 13:18; and Judg 9:8 ff & 2Kgs 14:9 ff). So we can see that the Bible is rich in its use of language (see The serpent did not literally speak to Eve, only in a figurative way did the serpent speak to Eve. I will now show you this.

Serpent Tests Eve

nm971» In chapter three we see a serpent that

• "was crafty above every animal of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it true that God has said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, Dying you shall not die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make wise, and she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed leaves of the fig-tree and made girdles for themselves. And they heard the sound of Jehovah God walking up and down in the garden at the breeze of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the middle of the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I have heard your sound in the garden, and I was afraid, for I am naked, and I hid myself. And He [Jehovah] said, Who told you ⁽¹⁾ that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I have commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she has given to me of the tree, and I ate. And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate." [Gen. 3:1-13]

Figuratively Speaking

nm972» Notice what is revealed in these verses. First, before mankind took from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they had no shame (Gen 2:25). Next a snake or serpent came along and spoke to the woman. Now we do not have to take this literally. As I explained above the Bible is very lively in its use of the language. The Bible uses many different kinds of figures of speech. We know trees don't clap their hands because for one reason trees don't have hands. Yet in Isa 55:12 it speaks of trees that will clap their hands. We also know that serpents or snakes don't speak. At least they don't speak like mankind. (Of course the serpent in the garden may have actually spoken, for God can do that if he had wished it to be so. But because the Old Testament is so filled with figures of speech, and because we have no proof that serpents literally speak in the way mankind speaks, we therefore won't take this part of the Bible literally just as we won't take Isa 55:12 literally.)

nm973» What happened was this: The woman was near the tree of knowledge of good and evil when a physical serpent was winding itself around the tree and through the serpent's various motions and movements the serpent brought the woman's attention to the fruit on the tree. But it was the spiritual serpent inside the head of Eve that spoke to her. In other words, what tempted Eve that day was the spirit that Jehovah put inside mankind (Gen 2:7). That spirit is the other-mind that even today is inside mankind's mind. It was the other-mind inside Eve that spoke to her that day. Notice in Revelation, chapter 12:9, it reads that "the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which misleads the whole world." As explained in the "Duality Paper" [BP 4] we are to take the higher or spiritual meaning of the Bible in order to ascertain the Spiritual truths of the Bible. The higher meaning of the serpent in Genesis is the spiritual serpent which is the Devil or Satan. One can say that the spirit that Jehovah put into man in the beginning was the spirit of Satan or the Devil, or that is, the spirit of evil and confusion, or as we are calling it in this paper, the other-mind that now lives in mankind. The actual spirit ("breath") that God put into mankind was the spirit that started evil by testing Eve (See also NM 22). This is difficult to understand, but do read on to see more proof.

Law and Sin

nm974» When mankind took from the tree of knowledge they were breaking the law that God had given to them. The law was simple, don't take any fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Mankind could take from all the other trees in the garden, but somehow they desired the forbidden tree very much. Even though God promised death as the reward for taking from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, mankind still took from that tree. The serpent lied to Eve about the death they would receive, "You shall not surely die" (Gen 3:4) The serpent mixed one lie with the truth to deceive Eve, a very subtle deception that played on Eve's desire for knowledge. And so as to not displease his wife, Adam listened to his wife and also sinned.

Romans Chapter Seven

nm975» Notice the following statement that Paul made in Romans, chapter seven of the New Testament. What Paul said in chapter seven fits very well what happened in the Genesis' account:

• "But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment [of Gen 2:17], produced in me [Paul represents mankind] every kind of covetous desire [for the tree]. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law [before Gen 2:17]; but when the commandment [Gen 2:17] came, sin sprang to life [the spiritual serpent sprang to life tempting Eve] and I died. [that is mankind was given death because they broke the law in Genesis 2:17] I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. [God's warning to man was intended to keep man from death and bring him to life] Did that which was good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am [mankind] unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not know what I am doing, For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." [Rom 7:8-23]

Law of Sin

nm976» Paul in these verses can be substituted for mankind as a whole with one exception. Paul had the good Spirit of God in him, but in this age most people only have the evil spirit in them, for most people will not receive their own good spirit until a later time (see the Yet we see Paul fighting the law of sin inside him. Paul wants to do good, he has the Spirit of God inside him leading him to good, but Paul finds another law inside him, and that law is the law of sin. The other-mind in mankind's head in this age works like a law of evil. The other-mind is an evil angel or spiritual messenger inside man's mind misleading man, and this other-mind operates like a law, that is, it operates like a law of sin or evil.

Sin and Satan

nm977» Sin is defined in the Bible as lawlessness (1John 3:4). As Rev 12:9 says the serpent in Genesis was Satan who has deceived the whole world. Actually "sin" is just another name for Satan. The words "sin" and "Satan" are interchangeable. As light, life, and love are used in the Bible for God (John 1 & 1John 4:8) so too can darkness, death, and sin be used for Satan. God is love, but Satan is sin. Now when you transpose in Romans, chapter seven, the word Satan for sin, you can see more clearly how this chapter adds to the rendition in Genesis. It was the spirit of Satan that Jehovah put into mankind in the beginning (Gen 2:7). But this spirit didn't show himself evil until the commandment came (Gen 2:17). Then this spirit in mankind took as an occasion the commandment (Roman 7:8,11) and deceived man (Gen 3:1-5) and thereby killed man. As Jesus Christ said: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning [the spirit of Satan in a sense killed man by deceiving man in Genesis], not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him" (John 8:44). It is the spirit of Satan inside mankind that is causing most of the problems in this age. It is the other-mind that is contrary to our eventual happiness and is the main cause of our present problems.

Other-Mind Is a Spirit and Power of Evil

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood

nm978» It is Satan or the spiritual other-mind that misleads the whole world (Rev 12:9). It is the power of Satan or the power of the other-mind which we must turn from (Acts 26:18). It is the devil's schemes, deceiving spirits, and things taught by demons of which we must be careful (Eph 6:11; 1Tim 4:1). "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12). "He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning" (1John 3:8). As we have shown you it was the spirit of Satan that put the thought in Eve's mind of breaking God's first law. This spirit of Satan is the spiritual other-mind that works in us.

Other-Mind also Called...

nm979» The no-good thing living in man is that sin or Satan living and working in man (Romans 7:18,20). It is the spirit in us that lusts after evil (James 4:5). This spirit is also called the spirit of slumber (Rom 11:8), it is called the spirit of bondage (Rom 8:15), it is called the spirit of sleep (Isaiah 29:10), it is called the lying spirit (1Kings 22:21-23), it is called the unclean spirit (Zech 13:2), it is called the spirit of whoredoms and it causes people to err (Hosea 4:12; 5:4), it is called the spirit of this world (1Cor 2:12), it is called the haughty spirit (Prov 16:18), it is called the perverse spirit (Isa 19:14), it is called the troubled spirit (Gen 41:8), it is called the spirit of jealousy (Num 5:14), it is called the spirit of man (1Cor 2:11), and so on.

Spirit of Man

Satan in Peter?

nm980» It is the spirit of man that is within mankind that knows the thoughts of man (1Cor 2:11). Since the Bible looks upon man in this age as evil, then this spirit of man must be evil. What is this spirit in man that thinks like man? "Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men" (Mat 16:23). Now in this last verse Jesus was speaking to Peter, for "Jesus turned and said to Peter, Out of my sight, Satan!" Jesus was talking to the physical Peter, but he called him Satan. Why? Jesus called Peter "Satan" because he was talking to the spirit of man which lived inside Peter and which was misleading Peter at that time.

Fight against Satan's Power

nm981» In Luke 22:3 and John 13:27 we read where Satan even caused Judas to err. "The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, that he should betray Him." It wasn't Judas himself that conceived of the idea of betraying Jesus, it was the spirit of Satan inside him that did it. It is Satan's spiritual power that takes captive at his will, not mankind's nature (2Tim 2:26; Acts 26:18). It is the snare and wiles of the spirit of the devil that people must guard against, not human nature (Eph 6:11; 1Tim 4:1). It is the other-mind or Satan that we are fighting against, "not flesh and blood" (Eph 6:12). It is Satan who fills the heart to lie (Acts 5:3). There is a spirit in man that yearns to envy and this spirit is of the devil (James 4:5,7).

Worthless Mind

nm982» Mankind was given the spirit of Satan in the beginning although it didn't show itself as evil until after God gave man a law. Because Satan's spirit is a law-breaking-spirit, it took the law to show the nature of Satan's spirit. Satan's spirit is the other-mind that works in us. It is the worthless mind described in Rom 1:28-31:

• "God gave them up to a mind that was not fit for any good, to do those things which were not right, being filled with all kinds of unrighteousness: fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, whisperers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, proud, braggarts, deviser of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, impossible to trust, without natural love, unforgiving and without mercy."

Man's Heart and the Other-Mind

Evil from Within

nm983» It is because of the other-mind, that "man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen 8:21). "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" (Mark 7:21,22). "And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). It is out of the abundance of the heart of mankind that man acts. And in man's mind is the other-spirit which continuously feeds man with unsound thoughts.

nm984» This age is worse than many people think. False pride, false affections, false accusations, false documents, false theories, false love, false words, and so forth are so much a part of this age that most of us are somewhat unaware of the asininity and falsehood of this age. The great religions and theories of this age are built on the confusion of the other-mind and the falsehood of the other-mind.

Mind of this Age of Evil

nm985» According to the Bible the people of this age are the children of the devil (1John 3:10), children of disobedience (Eph 2:2), children of the wicked one (Mat 13:38), children of the world (Luke 16:8; 20:34), and so forth. The father of these children is the devil according to Jesus Christ (John 8:42-44). The people of this age are the children of confusion because their spiritual father is the great other-mind that lives and feeds negative flash-thoughts into the mind of mankind. So this is why we must be careful:

• Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. (1John 4:1a)

New Mind for New Age of God

nm986» In the next age, the New Age, the spirit of the other-mind will be put out of man. For when the demons ("devils") or when the other-mind is cast out and locked up, "then the kingdom of God [the New Age] has come upon you" (Mat 12:28). "In that day" Jehovah will cause the unclean spirit or the other-mind to pass out of the land (Zech 13:2). "That day" is the New Age that is coming upon us. In the New Age people will be truly free from the other-mind because it will be put out of people's minds. The New Age begins at the physical return of the Messiah. See the New Mind Papers for more details.

See the "Reason Why" paper in the God Papers [GP 7] for the reason God put this other-mind into man in the beginning. See the God Papers to understand who or what is God and what will happen to the spiritual other-mind.

Review

nm987» There is a power of confusion and evil in our physical minds. We call this power the, "other-mind." It is a spiritual power that flashes negative thoughts into our minds. This spiritual power was placed in our minds at the beginning of the creation by the one called Jehovah. The "other-mind" didn't manifest itself as evil until a law was given by Jehovah, then the other-mind showed its evil nature. Ever since the beginning the other-mind has fed negative flash-thoughts into mankind's mind. Because of these invading thoughts, man has behaved often in a negative manner since the creation. But a New Age is coming when the other-mind will be put out of mankind's mind, and at that time an utopian system will begin.

nm988» With the knowledge of the other-mind, we can better understand our misbehavior in this age, and through understanding it we can better control it. The best way to control our misbehavior is to have the New Mind (see the But better still is to rid ourselves of the other-mind - the old mind - and obtain the New Mind. We wait for this to happen to us all.

End Note

1. Doesn't this seem to indicate that God knew an outsider ("who told you") influenced Adam and Eve?