STRONG HOLDS
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TRUTH
To win any battle in life, there is one weapon that one cannot avoid; and that is the truth. This is well supported by Jesus in the book of John.
John 8:32 - KJV
32.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus simply puts it that if you are looking for freedom in life, the one weapon you need is the truth. Firstly, there is the truth that you will need to tell yourself about your situation; you would need to admit to yourself that you need freedom from whatever strong hold has taken hold of your mind and is causing you to self-sabotage.
But the truth Jesus was talking about is the truth that God wants you to have/know. This is the weapon that God has given us. This is the weapon that was spoken of in our primary text for this book.
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2 Corinthians 10:3-4 - KJV
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
This makes perfect sense because whatever weapon verse 4 was referring to isn’t a physical weapon (not carnal) and obviously, the truth from God isn’t a physical thing, therefore, it is not a canal weapon.
Secondly, the truth that God has given us must most likely have been given through his words to us. This is why Jesus refers to the word of God as truth.
John 17:17 - KJV
17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth.
The truth (our weapon) is the word of God and the number one objective of the word of God is to give us the knowledge of God.
Therefore, if our primary Bible text in second Corinthians chapter 10
says that the first thing a strong hold does is to exalt itself above the 118
knowledge of God, this means strong holds firstly go against the word of God (the truth).
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 - KJV
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6. And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
This means that the major characteristic of a strong hold is that it is in contrast to the knowledge of God which is given to us through the word of God (the truth). This means that a strong hold does to us the opposite of what God’s truth (God’s word) is meant to do to us.
We have already established that every knowledge God will give us is meant to reveal to us who we are, and how he created us in his image to have dominion. The primary aim of every knowledge God will give us is to give us a positive self-perception. This is why we said that strong holds always look to reduce how we perceive ourselves.
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Since strong holds do the exact opposite of the knowledge of God (his word/truth), what we need as an antidote to strong holds, is the truth. And the truth summarizes that we are created in the image of God.
Many people (especially Christians) have heard this before; that we are created in the image of God. The only reason they have not been able to use it as a weapon to win their battles in life is that they do not yet believe in it 100%. The reason why they have not believed in it is that they do not yet understand it. Many still subconsciously wonder how we all with our different shapes and sizes, different complexions, and different physical attributes are created in the image of God.
Very few people have understood how we were created in the image of God. To this end, I would take time to explain what Moses meant when he said we are created in the image of God.
What many have not understood is that we are created in the image of God but we are not made in only God’s image. This is something that is clearly stated in the book of Genesis but largely ignored or misunderstood.
Genesis 1:26-27 - KJV
26.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth..
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27.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Many people have not observed the telling difference between verse 26 and verse 27. Verse 26 talks about making man while verse 27
talks about creating man.
In verse 26, when God was talking about making man, he was talking to other entities besides himself. He was speaking about a collective effort between him and some other entities.
In verse 27, God went on to create man all by himself. The first day I observed this, I was puzzled if God was a con artist. In one verse he was talking to other people about doing something together, then in the next verse, he goes and works alone. But then I realized something; verse 26 was talking about making man, while verse 27
was talking about creating man. This means that there is a difference between making something and creating something.
MAKE:
To form (something) by putting parts together or combining substances
CREATE:
To bring (something) into existence.
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Although people most times interchange the two words, here is the difference.
To make something, you have to make use of pre-existing materials, but to create something is to bring it out of nothing. This means you don’t need any pre-existing ingredients for creation to take place.
This makes sense if you factor in the modern use of the word create.
A person is referred to as being creative if they are used to bringing up ideas or opportunities from scratch (out of nothing). An example of this is a storyteller who cooks up fictional scenarios out of nothing or in sports terms, a person is considered creative if they can produce opportunities or plays out of nothing.
On the other hand, making anything requires the use of already existing elements. A good example is the making of a car. To make a car requires the use of already existing metals and steel for body parts, the use of already existing leather for the interior of the car and already existing rubber for the tyre, and many other already existing materials to make various parts that are brought together and used to form the car.
In most cases creation and making usually go together only that creation always comes before the making of a thing.
A good example would be a movie, the story is first created before it is made into a movie. The making part of the movie involves putting the created story into real-life acts and props. Therefore, the movie undergoes creation before it is made.
Another example can be a car, the idea of the car is first created by drafting out its design and specs and all the components before it undergoes the process of being made. The making involves bringing together pre-existing materials to form the car.
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One can argue that the movie and the car already existed (although not physically) before they were put into physical forms. Practically everything is first created before being made. Practically everything can be said to exist spiritually before they exist physically, this is why many philosophers argue that it's the spirit that gives birth to the physical. Every action first exists spiritually as thoughts before they are acted out physically or put into form.
This is evident in the emergence of the first man in the book of Genesis. Although God already spoke about making man in verse 26, he first had to create the man (spiritually) in verse 27. The making (forming) of the man later takes place in Genesis 2:7.
Genesis 1:27 - KJV
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 2:7 - KJV
7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
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Take note of the use of the word formed in the genesis 2:7, this word is the key word used to define the word make also. But before I show you how man is made, let me first prove the creation part; that man was created as a spirit in the image of God. To do this, we need to first know the image of God.
John 4:24 - KJV
24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God is a spirit, this is why no one has seen God physically therefore if man was created in the image of God, then man had to have been a spirit before he had a body in Genesis 2:7. The proof that man existed after he was created in genesis 1:27 is that we can see that God starts to talk to man immediately after he creates man.
Genesis 1:27-30 - KJV
27.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
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29.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
If man did not exist in any form after he was created, God would not have been talking to man. But man existed as a spirit just like God so God began to communicate to man to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it. But to do these things, man needs a body with which he can navigate the earth. This is why even though God had already created man (as a spirit) he did not allow rain to fall yet because there was no man (physically) to work on the earth.
Genesis 2:1-5 - KJV
1.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
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3.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4.
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5.
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till
the ground.
These verses show that man only existed as a spirit in Genesis chapter 1 from verse 27. So, man could not physically manage the earth. Man could not yet be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Man needed a physical form. This is why God proceeded to make (form) man in the next two verses that follow the above verses.
Genesis 2:6-7 - KJV
6.
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
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This is where the making of man takes place. Here the spirit (man) was put (breathed) into the body that God formed. We can see the use of already existing materials to justify the definition of the word MAKE. We can see the use of the water and the dust as well as the already created spirit to make man.
We still need to understand this whole making process. To do this we need to understand who God was talking to when he said let “us”
make man in our image in Genesis 1:26.
Genesis 1:26 - KJV
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
To understand who God was referring to when he said “us”, we wil need to go back to verse 20 of Genesis chapter 1 and read all the way to verse 25. You would notice that God spoke to two things between verses 20 and 25 and these two things are the water and the earth. In verse 20 God spoke to the water, and in verse 24 God spoke to the earth.
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Genesis 1:20-25 - KJV
20.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Immediately after concluding with the water and the earth on making creatures after their kind, God then says “let us make man in our image” in the next verse (verse 26). Without any religious 128
sentiments, it is clear that God was talking to the water and the earth.
This is why when the time to make man arrived, it was the water and the earth that first moved and formed clay for God to form the man with. They already knew the plan and were on board with it.
Genesis 1:26 - KJV
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 2:6-7 - KJV
6.
But there went up a mist from the earth, and
watered the whole face of the ground.
7.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The summary of all these is that after God had created every other thing and creature, there was a need for a superior being to oversee things in the physical the way God would want things to be looked after. So, God approached the water and the earth in verse 26 with 129
the idea of man, then God created Man as a spiritual being like him (in other words man is a smaller version of God). But for man to operate in the physical, man would need a physical body; this is where the water and the earth came into the plan. This is why the flesh of man is made up of the water and the earth even to this very day.
This is the summary of every knowledge that comes from God; that we are spirit beings like him housed in a body so we can use that body to have dominion (be fruitful, multiply, replenish and subdue the earth). This is the truth that God has been trying to arm us with even through the gospel preached by Jesus. This is why Jesus kept teaching us that we have the Kingdom/life/nature of God at hand (in our possession), and why Jesus said that the kingdom/life/nature of God is within us.
Mark 1:14-15 - KJV
14. Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God,
15.
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 17:20-21 - KJV
20. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered 130
them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
This is also the reason why Jesus boldly called us gods. (Take note that this is in contrast to the serpent who told Eve that they were not yet gods).
John 10:34 - KJV
34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
I also realized that he was quoting David.
Psalms 82:6 - KJV
6. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
This is the summary of the knowledge of God and the truth; that we are spirits in the image of God, who was given flesh (made from water and dust) to be able to carry out our purpose (being fruitful, 131
multiply, replenish and subdue the earth). This is why even before God gave us flesh in Genesis 2:7, he already gave us our purpose in Genesis 1:28.
Genesis 1:27-28 - KJV
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 2:7 - KJV
7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
We are spirits given flesh to use in fulfilling a purpose; we are not the flesh. And if we know this, we will be more preoccupied with living a life of purpose as opposed to seeking pride and recognition. Our minds will be more set on what we do and not what people do to us.
We will realize that we are naturally valued and that our value is not in how people react to us. We will hardly get offended because we 132
will know that no matter how people treat us or choose to see us, it doesn’t have any effect on how valuable we are.
Spirits can’t be described as ugly or poor, spirits can’t be mocked or disrespected, and spirits simply can’t be physically measured so no one can put us down. All the negative experiences that we can face in this life can only be targeted at our flesh and are only subject to individual opinions which should not matter because God’s opinion is superior. God’s opinion has been set from the beginning and it is that we are created in his image for dominion, while human opinion is often fluctuating and based on individual preferences.
There was a time when skinny women were described as unsexy, but nowadays, the reverse is the case. Even to this day, there are African tribes where the bigger a lady is, the more beautiful they think she is. So, if you let yourself feel beautiful based on the flesh, then you are in for a roller coaster of emotions because in some places and to some people, you will not be beautiful enough.
If you let your value be determined by wealth, then you are in for a roller coaster of emotions, because to some people and in some places, you would always not be wealthy enough.
If you let your value be determined by how people react to you, then you are in for a roller coaster of emotions, because to some people you will not be valued no matter how hard you tried. If I make use of myself as an example, I got some attention from my parents as a kid because I was a very intelligent kid. Unfortunately, I built a lot of my self-worth on this unknowingly. So, when I grew older and my parents had certain specific expectations and need for that intelligence, and I wasn’t ready to bulge, I felt less valuable in their eyes and this also affected my self-worth.
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If only I knew earlier to build my self-worth on this truth and knowledge of God that I am a spirit being created in God’s image for purpose, then I wouldn’t have built my self-worth on how my parents accepted me. This is the same for every one of us, at one point or the other, we have been trained to build our self-worth on external things and our environment instead on who we are on the inside (spirits in the image of God created for purpose) so we have spent most of our lives living for recognition (pride). This is what made us lose our joy and constantly dissatisfied with our lives. This is what made us vulnerable to offenses and thereby lose our peace. This in turn led to us dealing in unrighteous ways with ourselves and then others.
This truth/knowledge of God, that we are spirits in the image of God, and are created for dominion is what the serpent cleverly distracted Eve from by telling her she wasn’t yet a god and needed to eat from the tree she was warned not to eat from.
Genesis 3:5 - KJV
5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The serpent was just making Eve lose sight of who she was by making her think she wasn’t good enough until she eats the forbidden fruit. By doing this, the serpent was making her measure herself in the physical as opposed to being a spiritual being. This is why when she listened to the serpent, one of the things that happened was that she began to measure her self-esteem based on 134
her physical appearance. This is why for the first time; she became worried about her looks in genesis 3:7.
Genesis 3:6-7 - KJV
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
This isn’t the first time Adam and Eve saw that they were naked. The difference is this is the first time they judged themselves by it so this was the first time they felt ashamed of themselves. This was the first time they were taken over by fear and anxiety.
Genesis 2:25 - KJV
25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
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This is what strong holds do to us, they prevent us from realizing that we are spirit beings created in the image of God. They make us measure ourselves in the flesh (which is insatiable). This has been man’s undoing since the days of Adam and Eve.
To win this battle over strong holds is why God has always sent his knowledge/the truth/his word, through various means and people over generations so that we can finally realize who we are and stop allowing strong holds to make us see ourselves as less than what God has done and said concerning us.
This truth that we are spirit beings created in the image of God to fulfill his will, is the weapon that we need to pull down strong holds.
In our next chapter, we will see how to use this weapon.
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I AM
After God created man as a spirit (Genesis 1:27), he then began to give man instructions on his purpose as a spirit (Genesis 1:28), then because there was no physical man yet to carry out that purpose (Genesis 2:5), he formed the flesh and breath the spirit into the flesh (Genesis 2:7). But after this, there was something that happened that changed the whole equation about man; there was a third part of man that emerged as a result of the spirit and the flesh coming together and this part is called the soul.
Genesis 2:7 - KJV
7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Take note that the flesh did not stop existing and neither did the spirit. What happened here is that God now put this third part of man (the soul) in charge of the other two (spirit and flesh). So, by saying 137
that man became a living soul, this meant that from here on, God placed the soul in charge of the affairs of man. So, the soul was now in charge.
The question is why would God do this? The answer is that God is just. Remember we said that God spoke to the water and the earth when he was saying “let us make man in our image”. Also, remember that God proceeded to create the spirit in his image. Also, remember that he then formed the flesh in the image of the water and the earth. The question now arises; who will be in charge, the spirit or the flesh? This is why a third neutral part had to emerge called the soul. It is the soul that will now decide the affairs of man.
Take note that since the spirit was created in the image of God, it is the one carrying the nature/desires/kingdom/character/life of God.
And since the flesh was formed from elements of this world (water and dust), it is carrying the nature/desires/kingdom/character of this world. But since the soul was neither created from God nor formed from this earth, it has neither nature/kingdoms. The soul was blank and free to choose its nature/desires/kingdom/character.
The reality is that there are only two options for the soul to choose from; the kingdom/nature/character of God which was placed in the spirit, or the kingdom/nature/character of this world which is in the flesh. The soul would have to choose to live and measure itself based on purpose programmed into the spirit after creation in Genesis 1:28 or choose to live and measure itself based on pride which is the nature of the flesh (to constantly seek recognition and validation). The risk with going with the nature of the flesh is that it opens us up to offenses and strong holds. The nature of the flesh is insatiable and always seeks material things (let’s face it the spirit does not need material possessions).
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Since we became souls according to Genesis 2:7, we are now tasked with the choice to choose by ourselves to live according to the spirit and the kingdom/nature of God (Righteousness, peace, and Joy) in it or to live our lives based on the desires and measurements of the flesh.
The author of the Bible book of Romans seems to have realized this responsibility that we (as souls) have been tasked with; to choose between the spirit and the flesh.
Romans 7:21-24 - KJV
21.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
The author of Romans tries to highlight the presence of two different value systems within a human being. One value system belongs to the inward man (spirit man) and another value system belongs to the members of his body (his flesh). (Another way to interpret the kingdom of God can be the value system of God).
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We must also observe that this author speaks of himself in the third person. This third person is what we refer to as the soul.
The author of the book of Galatians also speaks about having to choose between the ways of the spirit or the flesh.
Galatians 5:16 - KJV
16.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
This is what we now have to do since we became souls. So, what is a soul?
SOUL:
1-
the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
2-
emotional or intellectual energy or intensity or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art of artistic performance.
The first definition above clearly points to one thing; the soul is a non-physical entity/part of the human being. If we include the second definition, then the soul is that part of us where emotional and intellectual activities are processed and decided. Thus, the soul is 140
what we sometimes refer to as the mind or what the Bible refers to as the heart of man.
What this means is that we can interpret the creation story of man as saying that God created man as a spirit (in his image) and then formed the flesh using water and dust. And after this, God breathed the spirit into the flesh and as a result of this merger, something emerged which is called a soul/mind. And since it is written that man became this soul, it means that all of the responsibility for man’s life was placed in the soul/mind. Therefore, whatever happens in the soul/mind will determine what happens with the man in total.
This is something that Solomon pointed out in the Bible.
Proverb 23:7 - KJV
7. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
Solomon realized that man is governed by whatever goes on in man’s mind/soul. In other words, while we are on this earth, the soul/mind/heart is the one calling the shots.
This is what the serpent capitalized on when it was speaking with Eve. The serpent knew that now that the soul/mind was the one in charge, man was no longer certain to function like God (according to the spirit). The soul/mind was blank and would have to decide to either take on the personality/nature of the spirit or the flesh. So, all 141
the serpent did was trick Eve (now a soul) to see herself and measure herself as the flesh.
The serpent knew that Eve was ignorant about who she was on the inside. She was ignorant about the spirit she was carrying and how it was created in the image of God. The serpent knew that Eve was now a soul/mind and could be fed any information be it true or false.
He knew it was now up to her to decide to believe that she was not worthy enough (and needed the forbidden fruit).
This is what strong holds do to us; trick us into thinking we are not good enough. This is why God has sent his truth/knowledge to educate our minds/souls and empower us to undo the negative self-descriptions that these strong holds have tricked us into having. This is why God over the ages has used several means or people including Jesus to inform us we are gods on the inside; contrary to what strong holds have told us.
However, there is a process to applying this weapon for it to work; and this process is called “I AM”. This is the same process that strong holds tricked us into using to embody the negative self-descriptions it offered us. Much like the case of Eve, and the serpent, our experiences and environment constantly try to tell us that we are unworthy or undesirable. But this does not mean anything and doesn’t become a strong hold in our lives until we say to ourselves
“I am unworthy’ or “I am undesirable”.
Take note that the serpent never told Adam and Eve to hide from God or that they are not worthy of God’s presence and relationship.
All the serpent told Eve was that she needed to eat the forbidden fruit to be good enough (to be a god). But somehow it translated into
“I am not worthy to be in the presence of God”
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Genesis 3:8-10 - KJV
8.
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10.
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
This is the same thing that happened to many of us. Our environments and experiences kept saying negative things to us until we began to say them to ourselves. This is because our environment doesn’t have the power to define us but we have that power (since we became souls). It is whatever we say about ourselves that goes irrespective of what God has said and done about us from the beginning.
God's opinion and his view won’t change. But for justice to reign, God didn't force man to succumb to his desires or the desires of his flesh. God rather placed the power over a man’s life in his soul/mind.
This is why whatever the man attaches to “I am” in his mind/soul is what he is.
If we go with our first example when we talked about strong holds, the guy's experiences tried to make him feel like without wealth he can’t be loved. But this was not what got him. What got him was when he said to himself without wealth “I” can’t be loved. This is the point where fear and anxiety start to set in. the addiction comes in 143
the day, he said to himself “I” need to take these substances to be calm. What I am trying to say is that the power over our lives is actually in our hands and has always been from time.
In my case, my experiences were not favorable and the kind of negative things that were said both by my siblings and parents were not nice. But for years, I was totally fine till that faithful day when I was 21 years old, I started to say to myself “maybe they are right”,
“maybe I wouldn’t amount to much”, “perhaps they are correct that I can’t take care of myself”, then it grew to “I would never be appreciated and loved because of the way I am”. These are the things that kept bringing fear and anxiety to my mind. Because I started to believe what my experiences and environment said or did, I started saying to myself “I am not good enough” either to be loved by my siblings or parents or anyone. “I am not good enough to be successful”. This is what brought anxiety anytime something like a setback happened or anytime I had a strong desire to achieve something, or anytime someone seemed not to appreciate me.
These negative descriptions I always added to “I am” always came back to my mind and I kept running to my addiction for cover.
But there is another way to apply these two words “I am”. And it is the way God applies it.
First of all, we have to recognize that this principle of self-governance or self-description applies to God also. He demonstrated this to Moses when Moses asked him to describe himself in the Bible book of Exodus.
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Exodus 3:13-14 - KJV
13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?
what shall I say unto them?
14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
When Moses asked God for his name, God says “I AM THAT I AM”.
The way I translate this is “I AM WHATEVER I SAY I AM”. Meaning I AM THAT GOD THAT HAS THE POWER TO DESCRIBE
HIMSELF. Let us face it every other god (with the exception of man) is created by man and so man gives them names and descriptions but when it comes to the MOST-HIGH God, the creator of all things, we are left seeking his knowledge to know what he has said about both himself and all things.
And since God the Almighty created us to function like him, he has used this principle of self-governance also for us. Thus, we have the power to say “I am”. If we look around, we are the only creatures with this capacity. Every other creature is subject to our description and discretion, but we can individually say “I am”. Since we are in the image of God, then it means we are the only gods that can self-describe like God. Isn’t that amazing? But we have been tricked like Adam and Eve into using this power of “I am” against ourselves. The correct way to use this capacity is the way God uses it.
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Genesis 15:1 - KJV
1. After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I
am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Numbers 18:20 - KJV
20. And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine
inheritance among the children of Israel.
Genesis 28:13 - KJV
13. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and
the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; We can go on and on singling out everywhere God is said to have used these two words together “I AM” (or he describes himself), what we will see is that he always added something that is glorious and edifies him. Something that points to the authority that he has and wields. This is why he has sent his truth/word/knowledge so that when we say “I am” to ourselves in our souls/minds, we know what to add to it and how to describe ourselves. So that we know the truth about who we are and are not tricked by circumstances into using negative “I am” on ourselves which become strong holds for us.
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This is what I discovered after fighting many years to beat my addiction. I discovered that I have allowed my external environments, experiences, and circumstances to trick me into adding negative descriptions to “I am” when I speak about myself in my mind/soul. I began to notice that I was constantly thinking within myself that maybe “I am not worthy of this good thing or that good thing”, maybe “I am not likeable enough”, maybe “I am not going to be successful enough” and so many other negative “I am”. I discovered that these negative descriptions have become strong holds which constantly create fear and anxiety and in turn, I kept running to my addiction to temporarily cope with the fear and anxiety.
Of cause, no one deliberately does this to themselves, it happened because they were ignorant of these negative reactions to their environment but more importantly, they were ignorant of the truth about themselves; the truth from God that we are spirits in his image and we carry his kingdom/capacity/value system/nature inside of us.
We were ignorant that we are awesome and created for dominion and that nothing can change this fact about us except we describe ourselves otherwise.
I discovered that our goal now is to go back to describing (in our minds/souls) ourselves the way God described us. We need to get back to attaching God’s truth to “I am” when we think about ourselves. This is how to use the truth as a weapon. But as we set our minds on this, and learn to live according to this truth (by living for purpose and not pride and learning to avoid taking offenses), we need to first undo all the negative “I am” that is in our minds acting as strong holds.
For me, I had to learn to respond to the activities of these strong holds by saying to myself “I am not”.
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When anxiety and fear come and my brain tries to convince me that I need to masturbate to calm my nerves, I simply respond with “I am not that guy”.
I have to admit that it is difficult to track all the strong holds that have lodged in a person’s mind, but it is easy to know when they are at work. All strong holds must manifest through fear and anxiety to motivate us to do something that will hurt either ourselves or others.
So, the proper way to defeat these strong holds is to respond with “I am not” when they manifest.
For me, it was that when a strong hold manufactures fear and anxiety out of my daily experiences and thoughts, and my brain begins to say to me maybe we need to masturbate, I respond with “I am not that guy”. Irrespective of what chain of thoughts has led to the anxiety, the response would be the same.
If I was thinking of my future and the strong hold which attaches my self-worth to how people perceive me comes in form of “I am most likely going to end up a disappointment and so I wouldn’t be valued”, and the resulting fear and anxiety show their ugly faces, I just respond with “I am not that guy whose value depends on others” and use it to wrestle away the fear and anxiety as well as the strong hold that surfaced and led to the fear and anxiety. This is because I now know that my value is already set from the beginning and whatever anyone says can’t change that. I now know my value because of God’s truth. I am not that guy whose value can be determined by physical and canal measurements of success.
This should be the same for anyone battling with addictions and repetitive self-sabotaging lifestyles. Anytime you feel the fear and anxiety that drives you into these things, you need to remind yourself that “you are not that guy/lady”. This is not just an exercise to 148
weaken the hold that these strong holds have acquired over your mind, but this is because that is the truth. Just like Adam and Eve, we have been tricked by these strong holds into seeing ourselves in a negative and untrue light. So, when you say to yourself “I am not that guy/lady” you need to understand that it is nothing but the truth.
I could have just told you from the beginning that all you needed to respond to the activities of strong holds in your life was to remind yourself that “you are not that guy/lady”, but because your soul/mind needs to believe it and to believe it, you need to understand why “you simply are not that guy/lady”, is why I have gone through the task of writing this book to explain strong holds, how they operate, why they are responsible for addictions, how they emerge, and why they are simply false. This is so that you will believe it when you say to that strong hold “I am not that guy/lady.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to chase sex just to cope or to masturbate.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to manipulate people just to feel safe.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to run to cocaine or any hard substance or alcohol as a way of coping.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to seek validation from older men through sex.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to lie, just to protect your esteem or value.
When that fear and anxiety come and you feel the urge to self-sabotage in any possible way.
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You need to remind yourself “I AM NOT THAT GUY/LADY” .
Remember, as a man thinketh so is he/she. It is not what other people think or what situations seem to say about the man that determines the man in the end. It is not even what God has said about man (which is the truth), but it is what the man thinks that defines the man. Therefore, it is our responsibility as souls/minds to choose to think what God thinks about us and to reject any counter thoughts or opinions that want to define us and determine our value (strong holds).
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THIS IS WAR
We have seen that to prevent strong holds, we need to learn to avoid taking and keeping offenses. We have also seen that we need to focus on living a life of purpose, not pride because living for pride and recognition has made us inherit other people’s descriptions of us rather than God’s description. We have also seen that we need to understand the truth about us according to the knowledge of God, and we need to know how to use this truth against strong holds and their activities.
However, they are not called strong holds for no reason. They wouldn’t just let go of you the moment you say to them “I AM NOT
THAT GUY/LADY”. They wouldn’t just disappear without a fight. This is why it is called warfare.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 - KJV
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
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4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
This means you have to be mentally ready for this warfare. You have to say to yourself, “I wil never back down”. You have to realize that your life has been taken over by these self-degrading lies that hold onto your mind, telling you negative things about yourself. You have to know that these lies (strong holds) have no other place they can exist other than our minds, so they will not just leave without a fight.
It’s not going to be a one-day fight but warfare, and you have to be ready for it. You have to say “I have had enough and I must take my mind back”. You have to be ready to do whatever it takes to drown these voices of lies in your head. And if there is any day or moment where it seems like the strong hold might have won a battle, remember it is a war. You pick yourself up and remind yourself “I AM
NOT THAT GUY/LADY”. Remember that taking offense against yourself in these moments is like arming the strong hold because it can latch onto your feeling of offense against yourself, using it to argue with you that you are not worthy enough.
There is a famous writer who wrote a book titled “Battlefield of The Mind” and I have come to understand what she meant. I have come to take note of the warfare going on in the mind/soul. I have come to realize that the real enemies in this warfare are strong holds who constantly try to tell us we are not worthy.
Anytime it seems that these strong holds were able to win and get you to relapses or self-sabotage, I would like you to think like a war-time general. I would like you to examine the situation like warfare.
For the strong hold to have suddenly gained momentum, something 152
must have happened that acted like a new shipment of ammunition for it. Perhaps a recent conversation, a relationship of sorts or communication, or you stayed too long in an environment that did or showed something that might have reaffirmed the strong hold and its fears/anxieties. Then you need to cut off that supply.
You will need to stop engaging in conversations or interactions that leave you feeling maybe I am not good enough. Generally, any activity or interactions that leave you feeling you are not good enough will be arming your strong holds. Such a conversation or interaction will try to make you measure your self-worth based on pride or physical things and recognition, so it can point out that you are not meeting a certain goal or standard. A typical example is pity parties. Other examples are derogatory conversations with friends or family. They most times wouldn’t realize they are doing more harm than good. You need to prioritize things that will edify you. This is why focusing on purpose and positivity is recommended. I know you can't avoid all negative experiences in life, but don’t be knowingly engaging in situations that sell you negative self-descriptions.
The point is this is war, and your strong hold is aware of it. It has been there fortifying and wreaking havoc on your mind/soul by telling you, you have no value for one reason or the other. To win you also need to be aware that this is war as well. You need to be aware of the battle going on in your mind and not shy away from it.
Another thing to note is that since it's possible to have more than one strong hold in a person’s mind, we might have to be defeating them one by one. As you begin this war, you will realize that maybe when you have overcome the strong hold that tells you your value is tied to wealth or family acceptance, then you will have to still overcome another strong hold telling you, that you lack value 153
because of your relationship status. There could even be more than two or three and each one always sneaking in fear and anxiety and a feeling of unworthiness. This is a war that you must be ready to embrace by constantly responding to any feeling of anxiety or unworthiness by saying “I AM NOT THAT GUY/LADY”.
Overcoming strong holds one after the other is like going to war to reclaim portions of your mind one after the other. When I embraced this war to reclaim control of my soul/mind, I began to see that over the years, I had developed more than one negative self-description strongly holding onto my mind.
It took me about a month to wage war on the thought that I wasn’t good enough because of my finances and that I wasn’t yet financially independent at my age. I had to learn that I am not defined by how much I had, and I did not have to prove anything to anyone. Since it was the foremost strong hold in my mind, I could easily identify it and wage war against it. Anytime I felt fear and anxiety creeping into my mind as a result of it, I had to remind myself “I AM NOT THAT GUY”.
I reminded myself that my value wasn’t defined by money, I was created enough, therefore, I wasn’t going to let my lack of wealth make me feel like I am not enough.
This worked for over a month and I was doing so fine. Since I started using pornography and masturbation as a coping mechanism, that was the first time I was able to go a month without using them to cope. I was able to suppress my anxiety easily. Suddenly, I started feeling unable to suppress the fear and anxiety, and as the days passed, I relapsed. After about a week of struggling and pondering why I was all of a sudden not coping well with my fears and anxieties, I realized that the strong hold driving the fears and anxiety I was feeling had changed.
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You see, I was no longer feeling insufficient because of my financial predicament but now the strong hold had switched to something about marital status. It was at this point I even realized that such a strong hold was even in my mind. One of the issues/fights I had with my father was also about my marital status. I knew very well that my parents wanted to be able to control whom I got married to for their selfish reasons. The more I resisted, the angrier they got even to the point of saying things that shouldn’t be said. They went as far as insinuating that I lacked the capacity to find a wife. My reason for not being married or actively searching for a wife was purely financial. I did not want to be married and be financially struggling.
Where I had gotten it wrong was to take offense to the things my parents were doing. Take note that I am not saying that you are obliged to accommodate people who constantly think low of you. If you must keep your distance from such people, then please do it.
This is part of the war strategy because I have learned that you can’t change how people have chosen to see things, the power to change their point of view solely resides with them. But to take offense is like choosing to stay around such people because even when they are not physically present to abuse you or degrade you, they will be in your head/mind/soul simply because you have kept an offense.
My relapse was due to some conversations I was having with some people about getting married. I discovered that I deep down did not feel like I was capable of finding love and happiness. I was scared of proving my parents right that I wasn’t capable of settling down without them. This feeling had crept into my mind because I had taken offense to the negative things, they had said. I knew that this was my next battlefront. To win this battle, I did not need to get married but I needed to overcome the strong hold in my mind saying my value was somehow dependent on finding a relationship or wife.
Remember that it was the same me that had to encourage my friend 155
years ago that his value in life wasn’t tied to him being in a relationship and he shouldn’t build his self-worth around that. Now, this was the same me feeling just like my friend did, getting anxious over being single and unmarried. My relapse was simply because as a result of another strong hold in my mind, I was breaking the rules we have established; I was dwelling on offenses (my head was in the past), I was now more focused on pride (what others were thinking about me), and as a result my mind was overcome by the negative views/statements of others and my negative experiences.
Just few unnecessary conversations and the fact that someone who had deliberately gone to ruin a past relationship of mine by way of misinformation had come around my immediate environment. These stirred up the offense and desire to prove a point (pride) and made me vulnerable to this strong hold (that I wasn’t probably good enough for love). There was no need to be sad or disappointed with myself, or offended for relapsing, at least I was able to identify another strong hold lurking in my mind. At least I had figured out that I had attached part of my self-worth to my relationship status and a reminder that I was still single brought a great deal of fear and anxiety. I now needed to remind myself that “I AM NOT THAT GUY”, my value is in the fact that I was created like God to function like God and for a unique purpose.
I just want you to know that this isn’t an easy process. These strong holds have been in our minds for long and won’t just go away. If you have just one strong hold then maybe you overcome it quickly and you are in control of your mind/soul. But I believe that people usually have more than one and so we will need to overcome them all to have control over our minds. The presence of multiple strong holds will increase the likelihood of fear and anxiety thus will increase the chances of a person stumbling especially if they have developed addictions as a result. And if at any moment you stumble, you need to know that in warfare there is no time to stop and cry and feel bad 156
or get offended with yourself. Pick yourself up in such a moment, find out what could have empowered that strong hold, learn to avoid such things, and to say to yourself “I AM NOT THAT GUY/LADY”
anytime your strong holds try to coach you into adding something negative when you say “I am” to yourself. If you have to audit the kind of music you listing to, and the kind of visuals you expose yourself to, in order to win this war, then so be it. Some of the negative things we tell ourselves are being fueled by some of the things we listen to and watch.
This is the warfare that we all have to face; a warfare against the negative and untrue self-descriptions that life experiences have tricked us into giving ourselves. And the weapons we have are as follows; avoid taking and keeping offenses, live for purpose and not pride, know God’s truth and knowledge about you, and apply this truth and knowledge in your self-description in your mind/heart/soul.
So, when these self-defeating thoughts try to make you feel anxious and scared by telling you that you are not worthy, or you are not good enough, or your value is defined by man-made standards aimed at achieving pride instead of living for purpose, and these strong holds try to make you feel like you have no value because of other people’s opinions, remember that “you are not that person”.
Your value is in the truth/knowledge of God concerning you, and this truth is that you are a spirit (created in the image of God), given a flesh so you can use it to carry out the will of God in this physical realm. The will of God for you is to have dominion and be his representative here in this realm.
To put it simply, if God’s value can’t be measured by money, marital/relationship status, or physical looks, or how anyone has treated him then your value can’t also be measured by these things.
Imagine how many billions of people would have done something wrong in contrary to God’s wil yet his value isn’t measured by this.
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This is the way we should be; free from any self-derogation. We must not shy away from this warfare that is in our minds. We must be ready and willing to take back every inch of our minds from the strong holds that have lodged into our minds. We must be able to remind ourselves of who we are based on the truth and knowledge of God, and remind any strong holds that “we are not that person they are trying to convince us that we are”. We are gods.
Failure to know this has been the source of most of our problems like it was the problem of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
David pointed this out in Psalm 82.
Psalm 82:5-7 - KJV
5. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
All David was saying was that people lack knowledge and understanding because of their ignorance (they walk in darkness), and as a result of this, there is a lot of chaos (all the foundation of the earth is out of course). Verse 6 shows us what the people were ignorant of: they were ignorant that they were gods (just like Adam and Eve). They are gods because they are children of the most-high.
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But as a result of their ignorance of who they are, they go through a lot of tragedy and misery. This is what David was saying here.
This is what strong holds do to us; they make us ignorant of who we are, they make us value ourselves on false and unsustainable standards. This is why we must fight to reclaim our mind/soul from every strong hold. So, when a strong hold tries to get you to see yourself in a derogatory light, you remember that you are a god hence “you are not that guy/lady” that the strong hold is trying to convince you that you are.
And as you embrace this war, you would begin to see improvements in your overall life because “as a man thinketh in his heart/mind/soul, so is he”. So, embrace this war to purge your mind of strong holds and to guard it from new strong holds. This is a continuous process that is part of life. This is a responsibility that we owe ourselves. We owe ourselves the responsibility to always avoid taking offense. We owe ourselves the responsibility of living for the purpose to which we were created. We owe ourselves the responsibility to shun the temptation to live for pride and the opinions of others. We owe ourselves the responsibility to know, understand, and believe the amazing descriptions that God has given us which can be summarized as “we are gods”. And when life circumstances and experiences try to make us scared and anxious and try to make us feel like we are not worthy or good enough, we each owe ourselves the responsibility to remind ourselves that “I AM NOT THAT
GUY/LADY” .
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SUMMARY
The summary of the warfare in our mind/life is this; we are fighting against thoughts and beliefs that have taken hold of our minds (strong holds). These strong holds make us attach our self-worth and value to physical things, and recognitions (living for pride instead of purpose). The consequence is that we become vulnerable to fear and anxiety; fear and anxiety for not having these physical things and recognitions that we attach our self-worth to, or fear and anxiety of losing them even when we have gotten them.
This is also a trap because there is never enough of physical things and recognition; there will always be more to get thus, one doesn’t ever get to feel valuable or worthy this way. This will result to a cycle of fear and anxiety. Even when you get that thing of pride that you attach your value to, there will always be the fear and anxiety of losing it. There is also the fear and anxiety attached to realizing that you can still feel unworthy after getting or achieving a certain pride or recognition because there will arise another thing (which you do not have) to attach your value to. This is a vicious cycle of fear and anxiety due to living for pride.
The presence and reoccurrence of fear and anxiety will lead to a person being willing to engage in self-destructive and self-sabotaging habits (including addictions) that can help the person cope with the fear and anxiety anytime the person feels the fear and 161
anxiety. The sad part about all these is that the addiction or self-sabotaging habit will only always be a short-term fix per time; making the individual escape his/her fear and anxiety for a short time till they return again and send the person seeking solace in their self-sabotaging habits.
The only sustainable solution is to go for the root of the problem; the strong holds. Therefore, when these strong holds try to tell us that our value or worth is attached to a physical thing, achievement or recognition, we need to be able to say to ourselves “I AM NOT THAT
GUY/LADY”.
One other weapon in this war is to let go of offenses, and avoid taking offenses. Offenses have a way of legitimizing the negative descriptions that strong holds try to attach to us. Overcoming offenses is a necessity if we want to weaken the strong holds in our lives. Taking and keeping offenses will push an individual to live for pride because such a person would be stuck trying to prove a point to his/her offender (indirectly living for recognition, what others think about him/her, and pride).
Finally, living a purposeful life is also a necessary weapon when fighting strong holds and addictions. Living for purpose is not just a good weapon for resetting your self-perception and self-worth because it shows you many amazing things about yourself, it is also a good way of responding to fear and anxiety as opposed to letting your addiction or impulses win you at those moments when fear and anxiety creeps in.
For me, I discovered that anytime fear and anxiety tried to creep in and push me towards my addiction, I could overcome the fear and anxiety by asking myself what task I had not completed in pursuit of my purpose. I realized that that was the perfect time to get busy 162
doing something fruitful. Not only would it take your mind away from whatever was causing the fear and anxiety, but it would also help remind you of how useful you are.
So, in summary learn to forget offenses and to overcome offenses, learn to live a life of fruitfulness and purpose (as opposed to living for pride, recognition and what other people think about you), and also learn to remind yourself that you are worthy because God made you worthy by creating you a spirit in his image therefore you are a god also. Learn to remind yourself that you are not that guy/lady that your strong holds (empowered by your experiences) try to convince you that you are. You simply are not that guy/lady.
Understanding that you are a god will help you overcome fear and anxiety because you will not be living for pride or recognition or what people think or say. You will be more interested in living for purpose (being fruitful and being a blessing). You are a god in the image of the most-high God (the I AM WHAT I AM), thus you can’t be defined by others or circumstances or experiences, except by you. This will also help you not get offended or keep offenses.
Do all these and see how you begin to take back control of your life from all strong holds, and as a consequence all negative impulses and addictions also. You will begin to flourish in your total outlook both mentally and physically.
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I AM NOT THAT GUY
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