Prometheus Bound
By Aeschylus
The traditional attitudes of the gods were loyalty toward their kind; they believed that they were superior to humans, and their standards kept their sense of justice. A commitment of the gods was to those who ruled over them. Their duty was to follow orders at any cost; these were two opposing forces fighting against one another—Prometheus rebels against the tyrant, Zeus, who overthrew the traditional rule of Law and Justice. Accused of not being loyal to Zeus and his love for humanity, he dishonored Zeus, who wanted to destroy humans because he was tired of their constant needs. However, Prometheus is symbolically Man instead of God (Aeschylus, pg. 134). Hephaestus said the reward for Prometheus’ disposition was his love for man, which was unjust; he honored humans rather than the gods. Zeus abused his power by taking what he wanted by force and planned to destroy humanity. However, Prometheus’ love for humankind resisted Zeus’ orders, and he was considered a traitor by his fellow gods.

Prometheus, which means Foresight, had foreseen the cost of dishonoring Zeus; it would be eternal suffering, but he resisted the tyranny out of pity for the man. Prometheus says he found humans mindless creatures dragging through life randomly and had no sense of direction.
“Without knowledge of how to work with their hands, such as building houses, working with brick or wood; nor did they have the intelligence to sow and reap crops, and because he pitied them, he gave them gifts and taught them how to reason. Every art of humankind came from Prometheus, but the greatest gift to humanity was the gift of Knowledge (Aeschylus, pg.156).”

I believe the spirit of Zeus lives in men and women who have the desire to fulfill their lust for power at any cost. The Bible talks about the gods and their passion for domination. Satin was cast out of heaven because he exalted himself above the One True God. Evil men use the Bible as a weapon to instill fear at any cost to the people they desire to control.

As I reflected on this, the pieces of my story began to fall into place. But, first, I thought about my ex-husband’s text messages, which caused me distress. So, as we were sitting in the counselor’s office, I mentioned the text to the counselor and showed him the text. I stated that his text was causing anxiety in me. When I asked him to stop, he would say, “God told me to send this to you.”
Most of his text pertained to marriage and submission to the husband. However, he also used the umbrella of marriage out of context, God, husband, wife, family, etc. The counselor looked at the messages and told my ex-husband this was Spiritual Abuse; this was the first I had heard of this type of abuse. However, the counselor asked me if I was willing to let my ex-husband lead in prayer—his request threw me into a state of confusion. I told the counselor I didn’t know what god he worshipped, but my God was not a tyrant. I left the office traumatized. If I had not read this book and others I would reference at the bottom of this article; I would not have understood the meaning of spiritual warfare.

I saw the spirit of Zeus in my ex-husband by his actions and how he would say he prayed for god to fulfill his food cravings as these gods often demanded of the people who worshipped them. However, I did not know how to discern the difference before this time. I understood what the Lord meant about the gods in the Bible when He said, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you.” Even today, people worship these gods and offer sacrifices to these lesser gods. Today, I look at the context of the Bible as a daily guide rather than a book of condemnation.

I am writing my story to inform others based on my experiences. I am not a professional counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Just as it is hard to prove Emotional Abuse, Narcissistic Abuse, or Emotional Blackmail, I can only tell my story and its effects on my mental, emotional, and physical health.