A STRONGHOLD is defined as:
*A place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack.
*A place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld.
They can be physical locations but what I'm talking of here are mental & spiritual strongholds.

While a stronghold can be a positive, truth-based belief established in your life through repetition, it is usually negative and exists as a faulty thinking or belief pattern based on lies and deception. A stronghold of the mind or spirit affects your behavior and ability to make choices. Negative strongholds lead to big-time bondage or being trapped in a fixed mode of maladaptive behaviors - addictions, phobias, compulsions, habits, disorders etc. You can have many strongholds at once & negative strongholds cause us to think in ways which block us from God's best for us. Christian spiritual warfare is concerned with the demolition of evil (anti-God's love) strongholds & establishment of holy (pro-God's love) ones:

--Psalm 18 v 2: The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

--2 Corinthians 10 vv 3-5: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

--Proverbs 21 v 2: One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty and pull down the stronghold in which they trust.

Think of every challenge you face in life as an opportunity to build a fortress for yourself - either positively or negatively protective. If a situation arises and you feel fear, you put down a block for someone to stumble over to get to you - keep away! If you make a positive choice next, you would be choosing a foothold to step back over it into the world again, to 'overcome' so-to-speak. But 20 more situations arise that you react to with fear, shame, guilt, frustration, bitterness etc and now you've built yourself a decent wall. The longer you spend on one side of the wall, hiding & protecting yourself, the harder it is to take the blocks back down, pick stable footholds to climb back over or even see & understand if the people on the other side are friends or enemies. You build the walls higher and thicker and one day you are inside a fortress and alone. You can't get out, you have no real freedom and other people can no longer really reach you either, intimacy is pretty much impossible and open communication difficult.

There are 3 primary areas where negative mental/spiritual blocks can increase in strength or regularity to become strongholds and hold you captive:
*Deception
*Temptation
*Accusation

To deceive means to make another person believe a lie or something that is not true so that they will fall into error. Deception is ancient, Satan deceived Eve into believing that God's Word was not true. In Genesis 3 v 4, the devil (via the serpent) told her that she will not surely die as God said she would in Genesis 2 v 17 if they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. The 'Fall' story is worth a look for the original set-up for life, the devil's tactics, human responses and the consequences for us today:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202:15%20-%20Genesis%203:24&version=AMP

Temptation tends to follow Deception. First the devil told Eve, "You won't surely die!", then he made the fruit on the forbidden tree look good to her. Since Eve accepted his deception tactic (his lie), she pondered over the tree that she was not supposed to touch & the fruit did look good to her. She was tempted (enticed) to disobey God's command because she allowed herself to first be deceived and then spent time letting...

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'They' say there is no cure for NPD. 'They' say it's too complicated/born that way/genetic/fixed by a certain age - BEYOND HOPE SO RUN! I don't say that. I fully expect that God who can raise people from the dead can fix a personality disorder and make whole what's broken. And it's not a particularly popular viewpoint . Unbelief comes in many forms & from many motivations.

[62] The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. [63] “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ [64] So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” [65] “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” [66] So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. MATTHEW 27: 62-66

The Pharisees hated the thought of a miracle because they were the religious experts - a miracle threatened their authority and showed them to be wrong. They used flattery & appeasement with powerful men or minions to get what they desired and they projected, giving Jesus a label to depersonalize Him. For chief priests, they were distinctly un-spiritual with their fear, pride, anger, lies & envy. Pilate just wanted an easy life. He was good at washing his hands of problems and waving them away, telling others it's okay if they get involved but as long as it doesn't affect me, keep me out of it. Pilate saw a flicker of who Jesus really was at trial but was happy now to allow misinformation. Some like to say people like Kim 'n' Steve Cooper are charlatans, just out to make a buck because they simply won't admit it's true - yet if recovery is truly possible, that then requires a change of attitude and behavior in those people (Narc & Non) and that is scary, unfamiliar & challenging territory perhaps. Best off out of it...

[1]AND WHEN the Sabbath was past (that is, after the sun had set), Mary Magdalene, and Mary (the mother) of James, and Salome purchased sweet-smelling spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus' body]. [2] And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb; (by then) the sun had risen. [3] And they said to one another, "Who will roll back the stone for us out of [the groove across the floor at] the door of the tomb?" [4] And when they looked up, they [distinctly] saw that the stone was already rolled back, for it was very large. [5] And going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting [there] on the right [side], clothed in a (long, stately, sweeping) robe of white, and they were utterly amazed and struck with terror.

[6] And he said to them, "Do not be amazed and terrified; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. [7] But be going; tell the disciples and Peter, He goes before you into Galilee; you will see Him there, [just] as He told you." [8] Then they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and bewilderment and consternation had seized them. And they said nothing about it to anyone, for they were held by alarm and fear. MARK 16:1-8

[11] While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. [12] When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, [13] telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ [14] If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” [15] So the soldiers took the mo...

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You had such an epic love, so many dreams... Together you were gonna change the world and you would be the 'One' who would make everything right - bring recovery and restoration to a life stunted by NPD, oh, such hopes... But then they left, you were blind-sided, frightened by how deep the pain seared and abandoned with your grief & confusion - where can you go to for consolation? Answers? Healing? Is there anybody here who knows what you have gone through, what should you do now? Will they come back? So many promises, all shattered now...

Jesus' followers were in the pits on the Saturday. It was the Sabbath but the Son of God was dead and entombed. They huddled together in the Upper Room where they'd shared a meal two nights ago to celebrate Passover and everything was wonderful then - they remembered how God always rescued His beloveds and delivered them from the hands of wicked oppressors and impending doom - there was gonna be a new Promised Land, the Kingdom of God here on Earth; but today, faith was trashed, hope was dwindling, all that joy was a memory. So many promises, shattered now...

Passover was the time when Moses was instructed by God to tell all the family heads to sacrifice a lamb and daub blood across & down their door lintels so that when Pharaoh's final plague, the death of the first-born son was coming that night, the Angel of Death would look upon the blood and 'pass over' those households and go instead to all the homes with no covering of blood. But the Father had let His first-born son die yesterday & the Disciples were grieving and in danger...

When Adam & Eve made choices that let sin into the world, they knew they were out from under God's covering, they were naked and ashamed and their penalty for disobedience (even though it came through wily deception) was death - physical death & spiritual separation from God. Just like Jesus on the cross, A & E had never experienced separation from God before and it was heinously painful to them. So to cover over their crime and their shame, God sacrificed an animal - shed its blood and A & E wore the skin to signify they were sort-of right with God again. At Passover, the blood was shed and God covered over His chosen people and set them free from slavery to their wicked master, bringing them out of a strange & hostile land into a place of favor. Neither ritual could restore the world to God's permanent company completely although they fixed the problem in part for some people. So once and for all, God made a sacrifice and shed the blood of His perfect Son so that everybody for all time could be set free from slaveries - physical, mental & spiritual bondage, their shame covered and the promise of eternal life is now available for everybody.

Abraham was told to walk his son, Isaac, up a mountain and sacrifice him - how heavy his heart must have been. Isaac trusted his father so much that he lay on the makeshift altar and even as the knife was raised, he didn't cry out. At that moment, a ram made itself known and God had sent it to be the sacrifice instead. All of Jesus' followers knew full well these accounts of God's deliverance and mercy, they should have realised that all was not lost when Jesus died, trusted that God had a plan all along because He'd shown them so many times previously in their history that He is the One who makes all things right. But grief and pain and trauma had befuddled their thinking; anxiety was making them behave as the faithless - they just couldn't see the ram yet, they forgot Jesus said He was doing what needed to be done but it would all be a blessing in the end.

When my husband suddenly died, it threw me into an orderly tailspin. I kept it 'together' for quite some time because I was a Minister and felt I should put on a brave face of faith & confidence for the sake of other people. Inside, I was a maelstrom of disappointment and shattered dreams and full of rage...

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"It's not me, it's you! Don't blame me, it's YOUR fault! Well, that's just what I expect from someone like you..." A medical definition of scapegoating is: "Process in which the mechanisms of projection or displacement are utilised in focusing feelings of aggression, hostility, frustration, etc, upon another individual or group; the amount of blame being unwarranted." It includes the aforementioned, plus 'guilt by association' or ' negative stereotyping' and is a defence mechanism utilised by many people - not just those with NPD.

The original Scapegoat came from the religious ritual at Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement where the High Priest would tie a scarlet cloth onto an actual goat and pray that God put all the sins of the people symbolically into the goat and then the goat was sent into the wilderness away from everyone and the nation was considered purified (holy again) & saved from God's wrath - until next year... A pure & faultless Paschal lamb was also sacrificed, it's blood shed and splacked liberally across and down the Temple to bring God's blessing on the people. Given a scarlet robe and sent to Golgotha on a hill away from everyone to be crucified, Jesus chose to become the Scapegoat and the sacrificial Lamb once and for all on the day He died, the fulfilment of God removing sins and looking down upon a bloodied cross of blessing for thousands of years.

The account of the arrest, trials, sentencing, death & burial of Jesus can be found here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026:36%20-%20Matthew%2027&version=AMP

Jesus was the whipping boy, His death sentence decided by the mob under the insidious direction of a couple of people who feared they would be revealed as hypocritical fakers, who wanted to defend themselves against change and retain feelings of superiority and power. Everyone is capable of defending themselves the same way when threatened, not just those unaware Narcissists who don't understand why they behave in certain ways or even acknowledge that they aren't behaving 'normally'. But not everyone is capable of saying, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."

On the Forum, there appears to be all kinds of scapegoating from different sources - Narcs thinking all Nons are throwaway inferiors, Nons thinking Narcs are all deluded evil and seeing mob mentality set in making more disciples to the cause. Thank God that Jesus died & He forgives us all for our maladaptive behaviors when we come to the Cross in our hearts!

For the first time ever, Jesus became separated from the Father when all the sin of the world was placed in Him, He was truly alone and saturated with the unholy filth of other peoples' evils, He felt forsaken and knowing He'd accomplished the biggest miracle He came to do, He submitted His spirit to God and died in the flesh. I hope that nobody will ever feel so burdened by pain & suffering in themselves that they feel utterly alone. God is there for you even when humans reject you and scorn you; yield your spirit to Him for healing and a life resurrection - that would be my recommendation as someone who's been there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KbOcsfLtQ
- 'Via Dolorosa' by Sandi Patti (video is footage from 'The Passion of the Christ')

There are 'Maundy Thursday' church services happening today all over the world, remembering the Passover meal where Jesus washed feet and instituted Holy Communion as the means of coming together in reflective worship for His followers from then on. Passover 2012 is on Saturday, so I'll talk about that then. 'Maundy' is derived from the Latin word 'mandatum', meaning 'commandment', it refers to the command Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper to love with humility by serving one another and to remember His sacrifice to bring forgiveness and freedom.

[1] BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and to the highest degree. [2] So it was during supper, Satan having already put the thought of betraying Jesus in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, [3] that Jesus, knowing (fully aware) that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God, [4] got up from supper, took off His garments, and taking a [servant's] towel, He fastened it around His waist.
[5] Then He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the [servant's] towel with which He was girded. [6] When He came to Simon Peter, Peter said to Him, "Lord, are my feet to be washed by You? (Is it for You to wash my feet?)"
[7] Jesus said to him, "You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later on.[8] Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!"
Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with [in] Me (you have no share in companionship with Me)." [9] Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, [wash] not only my feet, but my hands and my head too!" [10] Jesus said to him, "Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is clean all over. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you." [11] For He knew who was going to betray Him; that was the reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean'.

[12] So when He had finished washing their feet and had put on His garments and had sat down again, He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? [13] You call Me the Teacher (Master) and the Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is what I am. [14] If I then, your Lord and Teacher (Master), have washed your feet, you ought (it is your duty, you are under obligation, you owe it) to wash one another's feet. [15] For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do [in your turn] what I have done to you. [16] I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, A servant is not greater than his master, and no one who is sent is superior to the one who sent him. [17] If you know these things, blessed and happy and to be envied are you if you practice them (if you act accordingly and really do them). [18] I am not speaking of and I do not mean all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread with Me has raised up his heel against Me.' [19] I tell you this now before it occurs, so that when it does take place you may be persuaded and believe that I am He (Who I say I am-the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah). [20] I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who receives and welcomes and takes into his heart any messenger of Mine receives Me [in just that way]; and he who receives and welcomes and takes Me into his heart receives Him Who sent Me [in that same way]."

[21] After Jesus had said these things, He was troubled (disturbed, agitated) in spirit and said, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, one of you will deliver Me up (one of you will be false to Me and betray Me)!"
[22] The disciples kept looking at one another, puzzled as to whom He could mean. [23] One of His disciples, whom Jesus...

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