Those who minister to survivors of ritual abuse have been exploring the question recently about what CORE is, versus what is an alter personality? Most agree that the CORE holds the identity of the person.  I believe a person who has been through mind control (a saturation of lies and assignments placed in a person’s soul through trauma) has a difficult time seeing themselves through the eyes of Christ. They believe themselves to be innately evil but often long to see themselves as pure, righteous, holy, and deserving to belong to Jesus Christ.  Because of the trauma and mind control messages they feel they have to be clean before they take a bath. In other words, they must earn their salvation.  They cannot conceive of a God who could love them so much that He would gift them with salvation.  Therefore, while they can know God on an intellectual basis (soul), they cannot know Him on a feeling level (heart).  This causes major problems with self-identity.  I believe that the understanding of Who God is and the sense or knowing that they belong to Him is held in the Spirit of man and that is covered or masked through the trauma messages that are placed in at a very early age – even pre-birth.  A child is taught to believe that he/she is the seed of Satan, the bad seed.  At the child’s core level is a set of beliefs that formulate his/her identity to conform to Satan’s plan that bad is good.  Rather than concentrating on finding an alter personality or a group of personalities, I believe it is more correct to look for core beliefs held system wide.  When these core beliefs begin to be resolved, the most important being God is Sovereign, good and loving God Who creates and loves each of us, healing begins to permeate the entire soul (personalities). 

CORE:  A set of distorted beliefs that formulates the sense of identity and drives perceptions and behaviors

When a child is exposed to repeated traumas they develop what are called alters, personalities, personas, or fragments

ALTERS: Hidden memories, actions and behaviors that bring shame and humiliation which take on an identity (evil, good, false Christian, demon).

(I will explain more about my perception of alters later in this paper.)

In order to heal the core of the person we must uncover the layers of lies, distortions and duplicity in order to lead them to that place where they can listen to the Holy Spirit tell them the truth about themselves.  When we first start working with a survivor of ritual abuse they are listening to the lies and distortions about themselves, which make it difficult to listen to the Holy Spirit’s truth.  First WE must understand who we are in Christ and what our SELF or CORE is all about.  In order to help them we must make ourselves (our spirit) transparent so that they can see Christ in us and the Holy Spirit’s truths in our actions and behaviors (soul).

SPIRIT TRUTHS

We are made in the “image of God” to have dominion over the earth.

Gen 1:26-31
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.  Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.  Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

Therefore our identity is rooted in the ‘Image of God’ to have dominion over the whole earth.  Because of the fall of man we are in need of redemption to fulfill what God means for us to have – dominion over the whole earth.  But the purpose is not limited to having dominion over the earth.  We have an immortal spirit residing in us that is from God.  God gave us an eternal aspect to our being, thus, an eternal aspect to our purpose. We have an ability to love and worship our Creator that is eternal.   We can think, decide, feel, and make moral choices.  We are to reflect the image and the glory of God.

Our identity now is rooted in Christ Jesus, who is the image of God.  It is in His life and death that we receive our inheritance. But, until that day, the job of every man, woman, is to proclaim the “good news” to all mankind and to reflect the image of Christ Jesus through our behaviors.

Eph 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Phil 2:5-11
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

CORE DISTORTIONS

The reason a ritual abuse survivor does not have this perspective nor can grasp this truth is because of core distortions like the following:

1. Who is God - he is duplicitous, both good and evil (this is instilled with the message that a good God wouldn’t allow bad things to happen)
2. The Word of God is duplicitous reflecting his nature of good and evil
3. I reflect God’s nature by being both good and evil
4. My “descended” nature is rooted in evil (the law) while my “ascended” nature is rooted in good (works)
5. I will participate in ruling the world through my “ascended” nature reflecting Lucifer and serving him with my “true family.”  This is my inheritance.
6. I will participate in destroying the world through my “descended” nature reflecting Satan and serving him with my “surrogate family.”  It is through this service that I will earn my way to heaven to be with my “true family”
7. Jesus is the weak Son of God who reflects God’s nature by being both good and evil
8. I died and was resurrected to save myself and my family (wife/husband and children) and will ascend to a position of power in the New World Order
9. I am god - both good and evil
10. Ultimate identity: Messiah for family members

Our identity now is rooted in Christ Jesus, who is the image of God.  It is in His life and death that we receive our inheritance. But, until that day, the job of every man, woman, is to proclaim the “good news” to all mankind and to reflect the image of God.

The above messages are only part of the distortions that assail the ritual abuse survivor’s mind daily.  These distortions are at the “source and origin” of their first thoughts.  But God works on the inner man with spiritual truths:

Proverbs 20:27:
The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being.

Zechariah 12:1
The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him

Isaiah 57:16
I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me--the breath of man that I have created.

God speaks to the spirit of man and searches the spirit of man.  The soul is to reflect the spirit of Christ through his choices and behaviors.

Gal 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 5:16-25
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Distortions, lies and twisted scripture, and a false triune that reflect the nature of Satan hide the spirit of God in man. Therefore, I believe that the CORE comes from a set of distorted beliefs that formulates the sense of identity and drives perceptions and behaviors.  The ALTERS often act upon the distorted perceptions that come from the CORE.

ALTERS

An alter’s identity is born out of the nature of the memory: i.e. child being raped is called WHORE, therefore her identity is a whore, which may drive her actions and behaviors through destructive relationships. 

These memories become hidden because of the intense feelings that arise from the event: shame, humiliation, horror, guilt, fear, unbelief, distress, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc.   The memory becomes dissociated and denied and the emotion takes on or drives behaviors (symptoms): alcoholism, anxiety, compulsive behaviors, feeling insane, inability to trust, gender disorders, sexual disorders/compulsion, etc.

The bottom line is that the alter’s behavior reflects the beliefs of the CORE.  Getting to the CORE issues (distortions) and exposing the perceptions that drive the behaviors is very important.  Example: Alter named WHORE acts out and is putting stress on her marriage.  The memory that defines her personality name (identity) is that of being raped over and over through the years and being told she likes it and is a whore.  The underlying core belief is that she is a bad seed. If she will participate in destroying her marriage through her descended nature, reflecting Satan and serving him, she will earn her way to heaven. 

As therapists and ministers to ritual abuse survivors we must ask ourselves: am I in any way promoting these distortions in the survivors I am working with?  How are these lies being lived out in them?  What truths from God’s word am I sharing with them that will come against these CORE beliefs?

POWER AND HEALING OF GOD'S WORD

The scriptures have been twisted so that the Word of God condemns them, but God’s Word is more powerful than anything that can be programmed into a person’s mind and soul.  God reveals truth to a man’s spirit that will heal the soul.

Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 107:20
He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Psalm 119:25
I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.

Psalm 119:28
My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

Psalm 119:43
Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth,

The enemy knows the POWER of God’s word, which is why he tries to destroy the Word and steal it from all mankind.  But God is Sovereign and therefore His word goes forth with all power and healing:

Isaiah 55:11
So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

While the enemy is at work in mankind, God is busy demonstrating His power and majesty within the inner man:

Job 33:14-18
For God does speak-now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it.  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

Therefore, while the enemy tries to hide the image of God as well as His power and majesty from ritual abuse survivors, God will have the last Word:

Proverbs 21:30-31
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.