"Or consider Joseph. Misunderstood and
criticized by his parents and hated by his brethren, who wanted to kill
him, he was sold into Egypt. There he was falsely accused and wrongly
imprisoned, to languish as a criminal. How could he have survived with
no Minirth and Meier or Rapha clinics or inner healing to provide the
help that so many now consider to be essential? In fact, he triumphed
gloriously! Logically, then, if today's new remedies weren't needed by
Joseph, they aren't needed now.
Compare anyone's suffering today with
what Paul endured: "[I]n labors more abundant, in stripes [scourgings]
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five
times received I [39] stripes...[40 lashes were fatal]. Thrice was I
beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a
night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in
perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in
weariness and painfulness...hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness...[and] that which cometh upon me daily, the care of
all the churches" (2 Cor 11:23-28).
Of course it was Paul's sense of
self-worth, his positive self-image and his high self-esteem that
carried him through. Right? Wrong! This pitiful humanistic theory so
popular in the church has proved to be so false and harmful that even
the secular world is abandoning it. Newsweek's cover of February
17, 1992 announced its feature article in large letters: "the curse of
self-esteem: what's wrong with the feel good movement." A November 23,
1995 article by a professor/researcher in Portland, Oregon's The
Oregonian newspaper was titled, "Note to California: Drop
self-esteem, Self-control is most important...." (California, with its
Self-Esteem Task Force, like leading Christian psychologists, has spent
years trying to prove that self-esteem is vital, and has failed.) Based
upon years of research, the author declares, "If we could cross out
self-esteem and put in self-control, kids would be better off and
society in general would be much better off." This is precisely what the
Bible has always said. Yet this fallacious and harmful theory is the
very bread and butter of Christian psychology.
Paul called himself the chief of sinners
(1 Tm 1:15), considered himself "less than the least of all saints" (Eph
3:8), unworthy to be an apostle (1 Cor 15:9), and rejoiced in his
weakness. Yet he claimed to be able do "all things through
Christ" (Phil 4:13) and to be always victorious (1 Cor 15:57; 2 Cor
2:14, Phil 1:20, etc.). Christ told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in [your] weakness." Paul's
response? "Most gladly therefore...that the power of Christ may rest
upon me....I take pleasure in...persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor 12:9-10).
In contrast to Paul's joy and victory
through Christ alone, many of today's Christians put their trust in
Christian psychology as well. Its false theories and therapies offer new
comfort to the abused, confused and depressed, making it the fastest
growing and most monetarily profitable movement in the church. It is now
generally accepted among evangelicals that God's counsel in the Bible is
deficient and needs to be supplemented with psychology.
We are plagued by the "yes, but"
syndrome. Isn't the Bible God's inerrant Word? Yes, but...I've tried
it and it doesn't work. Don't we have the leading of the Holy
Spirit, and Christ indwelling to guide and empower us? Yes, but....and
silence. Was not the Word of God, the comfort and guidance of the Holy
Spirit and the indwelling Christ enough for suffering and martyred
Christians during the first eighteen centuries of the church? Yes,
but...the world is more complex today and we need additional help.
The heroes and heroines of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 triumphed
amidst fierce persecution without psychology. Yes, but...you don't
understand my situation...my children, my husband, my wife, my boss, the
abuse I suffered as a child....
The issue is very simple: Either "all the
counsel of God" is sufficient or God has failed us. If Christian
psychology, inner healing, Twelve Step Programs and today's other new
techniques for deliverance truly have something of value to offer, then
the Bible is deficient and for 1,900 years God left His church without
the insights and tools it needed. Who would believe that?!
Like Adam and Eve, mankind still flees
the voice of God, clothes itself with the makeshift garments of new
theories no better than fragile leaves, and hides behind the trees of
its latest excuses for unbelief and rebellion. Psychological theories
come and go in a steady stream of folly. For example, drapetomania
was the official psychiatric diagnosis of a "mental illness" that was
epidemic in early America. Afflicting only slaves, it was marked by a
compulsion to escape and vanished with the Civil War.
The diagnostic and treatment record
hasn't improved since. The famous Jewish psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz,
called psychology "the clever and cynical destruction of the
spirituality of man, and its replacement by a positivistic 'science of
mind.'" He titled the book containing that statement, The Myth of
Psychotherapy. Yet the church eagerly accepts each new theory and
the dependence of Christians upon unbiblical solutions continues to
grow.
One of the latest delusions is called
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), a recent "discovery" whose now
prevalent symptoms had never been thus diagnosed. Christian psychologist
James G. Friesen, a leader in this growing field, writes in a Here's
Life Publishers (Campus Crusade) book: "The incidence is turning out to
be much higher than anyone expected. The number of MPD therapists is
lagging far behind the growing demand...." Some psychologists now
theorize that everyone has multiple personalities and that mankind could
take a great evolutionary leap forward by learning to harness this power
within. Others point out MPD's connection to occult experiences and the
relationship of "multiples" to the "higher self" discovered in yogic
trance.1
Friesen glibly tells us that the secret
of dealing with MPD (of which the Bible says nothing) is the
"perplexing" necessity of "uncovering...hidden memories." He admits that
these alleged "memories" are "forgotten" and "usually are unbelievable":
They are awful, painful, and even
grotesque events that nobody wants to discover. "That didn't happen to
me!" is a common response....Friends and family can be in denial
too. We all would like to believe those things didn't happen, but
maybe they did.
I often say, "Because it happened to
another part of you, it does not feel real to you..." (emphasis added).2
Maybe they happened? Common sense
would give no credence to "memories" which didn't exist until therapy
"uncovered" them and which seem unreal to the patient and involve
unbelievable events that family and friends insist never happened!
Friesen explains further, "Distinguishing between [multiple] selves and
demons is crucial...." One wonders, then, why Jesus never followed this
procedure, nor did Paul, in the casting out of many demons.
This "expert" insists that demons "are
not removable until those [hidden] memories are uncovered." Yet Jesus
never engaged in uncovering memories, nor did Paul when he cast out
demons. Friesen adds that exorcism must be "carried out by people with
experience in both the Christian and the psychological arenas." Yet
Christ and His apostles were very successful at casting out demons 1,900
years before psychology invaded the church! If Christian psychology is
true, the Bible is not!
Some Christian psychologists labor to win
each "multiple" to Christ. Friesen suggests that when the numerous
personalities have been revealed, the therapist should "Teach the client
to live life from the strong [multiple] selves, and reserve work with
the injured selves to be carried out in therapy....Get every self to
work for the common good. This usually means having the adult selves
stay in charge most of the time, while the child selves are safely kept
away from the stresses of adult living."3 It sounds more like
the inmates are in charge of the asylum than a cure! One wonders why
these vital instructions are missing from the "Manufacturer's handbook"
and why Paul would lie about holding back "nothing that was profitable"
when he left out essential help for MPDs!
Christian psychologists are the new
authoritarian clergy in the church. Like the Catholic clergy, they
cannot be questioned because they have a source of "truth" that
supplements the Bible, and possess an expertise lacking to the layman.
The most popular authors and speakers at conferences, they glibly
present a new interpretation of the Bible unimagined by those "holy men
of God...moved by the Holy Spirit" whom God inspired to write His Word.
How it must break God's heart to see His
children seeking counsel outside of His Word! To do so is to accuse our
Creator of either lacking understanding of the man and woman He made, or
of not caring enough to provide everything in His instruction manual
that is needed for mankind's good. So Paul, after all, did hold
back much that was profitable and God's counsel is deficient?!
To encourage a passion to know and to put
to use all the counsel of God is a major purpose of this
ministry. One must know the whole Bible and not merely favorite or
"positive" parts of it. May nothing undermine our confidence that God's
Word is a sufficient guide for "life and godliness" (2 Pt 1:3-9)! Only
through heeding its "doctrine, reproof, correction, [and] instruction in
righteousness" can we be "perfect [i.e., mature, complete], thoroughly
furnished unto all good works" (2 Tm 3:16-17)!" The Berean Call
- www.thebereancall.org
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