the touchy subject of Sex and how much and why
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Posted:Jan 18, 2012 3:16 pm
Last Updated:Jan 19, 2012 12:11 am 6372 Views
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by Keith Krell
Several years ago, I officiated a beautiful wedding ceremony for two virgins. Due to their love for Jesus Christ and their faithfulness and purity, I wanted to make sure that everything went perfectly well on their special day. During the wedding ceremony I shared a message on “How to Have a Successful Marriage.” Everything was going rather well when my speech slurred and I inadvertently said, “I want to make sure that the two of you have a SEX-cessful marriage.” A number of people grimaced and smirked. My wife was horrified. It will forever be one of my great blooper moments.
From that moment on, I decided that this would make a great book title—How to Have a SEX-cessful Marriage. In our world, a book with this title could sell millions. Of course, if I ever write such a book I would have to credit the apostle Paul in the acknowledgments. If he were still living, I would also have to share my royalties with him. But truth be known, I would be guilty of plagiarism because I would simply write all of Paul’s ideas in 1 Cor 7:1-5. In this passage Paul is going to answer several questions: What is God’s answer to my sex drive? How do I handle my struggles with self-control? When sexual temptations arise, how can I defeat them? Paul answers all of these questions and more in 1 Cor 7:1-5. In a nutshell, he will command us to satisfy and protect our spouse.
In these first five verses, Paul throws his weight around and exhorts us to fulfill our sexual desires through a loving, sacrificial relationship with our spouse. Paul begins with these words: “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman” (7:1). Chapter 7 begins a new section of 1 Corinthians. The words, “Now concerning” prepare the reader for Paul’s response to the Corinthians’ question.1 In the first six chapters of this letter, Paul has been dealing with sinful struggles in the life of the church in Corinth that he had heard about through Chloe’s people (cf. 1:11). But now, beginning in 7:1, Paul is going to respond to a whole series of questions that were addressed to him in a letter from the leadership of the church in Corinth. They were questions about practical issues like marriage, divorce, singleness, food offered to idols, spiritual gifts, public worship, what happens to our bodies when we die, and finally, a concern about an offering to be taken for some believers in Jerusalem who were in poverty. Paul will devote the rest of this letter to answering these questions.
In 7:1b, Paul cites a line from the Corinthians’ letter (“it is good for a man not to touch a woman”), which he intends to qualify and correct.2 The phrase, “it is good for a man not to touch a woman,”3 has nothing to do with a hug, a handshake, or any other manifestation of fellowship or friendship. To “touch a woman”4 is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.5 Consequently, various English versions just drop the euphemism and translate “sexual relations” (NET, ESV). The phrase “to touch a woman” is translated “to marry” in the NIV, but this is weak. (The NIV does provide a better alternate reading.) Introducing the idea of marriage confuses the point that the Corinthians were promoting. The mindset of the Corinthians went way beyond issues of marriage or even celibacy.6 Some were promoting abstinence in the marriage relationship. The natural question is, “Why would the Corinthians not be interested in sex in the context of marriage?” We cannot know for certain, but the most likely suggestion is that there is an aesthetic group in the congregation. They believe that the highest plane of spirituality is to forgo sex.7
While this idea seems a bit odd to those of us who live in a sex-saturated society, it coincides with the doctrinal beliefs in Corinth. The Corinthians adhered to a Greek philosophical dualism that prioritizes the spirit over the body. Thus, in 6:12-20, the Corinthians justified sexual immorality because what they did in the body was not as important as what they did in the spirit. But dualism can also lead to a strong asceticism. Those who esteem the soul can argue that it is best for one to deny as many physical needs as possible. Obviously, both of these extremes are un biblical. Paul compels us to satisfy and protect our spouse.
In 7:2, Paul gives the basic command: Continue to have sexual relations with your spouse.8 Paul writes, “But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.”9 The word “but” expresses Paul’s disagreement with the proposition quoted in 7:1. Paul vehemently disagrees that married couples should abstain from sexual pleasure. Paul is not anti-sex; he is pro-marriage! This is confirmed by his use of the verb “to have,” which is a euphemism for sexual relations. In other words, rather than abstaining from sexual relations, Paul’s expectation is that husbands and wives continue in normal sexual relations.10 Moreover, the word “have” is a present tense command that implies “keep.” Thus, Paul commands, “Let each man live sexually with his wife, and let each wife live sexually with her husband.” The Lord’s provision for sexual immorality is to get married and have frequent sex. Marriage is the answer to immorality of all kinds. Satisfy and protect your spouse.
Paul continues his exhortation and clarification by explaining each spouse’s sexual responsibilities in marriage. In 7:3, he writes, “The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.”11 What does this verse mean? It means what every man hopes it means! For many of us this is one of the greatest verses in the Bible. It is a duty that we delight in. It is the one job that we want to spend overtime at. But before we get too carried away, I want us to notice a number of things: First, Paul begins by addressing husbands. He says it is the husband’s duty to fulfill his wife. Now many of you husbands are saying, “Now this is one Bible verse I’ll be glad to take literally.” Hold your horses! Paul begins with husbands because we are the ones that are ultimately responsible for the sexual relationship. We are the spiritual leaders! Husband, here Paul indicates that you must “fulfill” your wife. This doesn’t just mean sex. It means finding out what she needs, when she needs it, and how she needs it. Of course, I realize that you don’t have a clue how to do this. That’s where communication comes in. You are responsible for facilitating communication with your wife. Ladies, this means that you have to tell your husband how he can “minister” to you. If you do not communicate and respond to him well, he will become disillusioned and frustrated.
Second, Paul begins with husbands because they often neglect to fulfill this command. In the course of my pastoral counseling, I have known slightly more men who have struggled to fulfill their duty than vice verse. A big misnomer is that women are the ones that always have a headache. This is not always true. Some men are too tired when it is time for sex. Many men are addicted to porn, which takes away a husband’s sexual drive for his wife. Often, it is just a matter of laziness. Some men know that sex can take a while and they are just lazy, so they fail to fulfill their duty to their wife. Yet, women experience intimacy through sex. Furthermore, when you deprive your wife of sex, she is left feeling like you don’t find her attractive.12 Husband, satisfy and protect your wife.
Third, Paul honors and elevates women. So many people like to suggest that Paul is a male sexist pig. However, I wonder if these individuals have carefully read the Bible. Like Jesus, Paul always takes a high view of women. In this context, Paul is moving away from the usual Roman norm in which the husband dominated the wife. In Christian marriages, there is a mutuality of relationship. He clearly elevates women and also declares them to be sexual creatures that have desires and needs.13 Husbands, this means you must meet the sexual needs of your wife. This includes her emotional, mental, and spiritual needs as well. When you put your wife’s needs first, by God’s grace, your sexual needs will be met as well.
Now, wives, this verse also applies to you. You are commanded by God to fulfill your husband’s sexual needs. Paul also makes a point here of using the word “fulfill,” meaning “to make full, to bring to completion, to develop the full potential.” The word fulfill is a present active command. This means that you should ensure that your husband is fully satisfied and vice verse. Ladies, whatever your husband wants that is not immoral or illegal, give it to him. Make sure that your marriage bed is so hot that your husband will not ever go looking elsewhere! There is nothing dirty about this; it is entirely biblical. Why should the world have the greatest sex? The greatest sex should be among married couples who are devoted to Christ. Wife, satisfy and protect your spouse.
Now, please understand, this verse teaches that sex is a delight, but it is also a duty. A “duty” is a moral or legal responsibility or obligation that arises from one’s position. It is the duty of each married person to meet the sexual needs of his or her partner. This means sex should never be used as a bribe or reward for good behavior, or as something to be withheld as a threat or punishment. It is a “duty!” The spouse who withholds sex sins against God and his or her partner.
For instance, let’s say the husband makes sexual overtures to his wife. The Bible teaches that it is her responsibility as his wife to have sex. Why? Because in this case, the husband has a sexual drive, seeking fulfillment and it’s her duty to make sure his needs are met. Therefore, whenever your spouse initiates sex in your direction, make sure you keep in mind that you are under God-given direction to meet your spouse’s sexual needs. This is what you signed up for. You made this commitment before God and mankind. Therefore, before a couple gets married, the question needs to be asked, “Are you willing to be sexually available to your spouse till death do you part?” If the answer is, “Well, I’m not so sure about that,” I would suggest that the couple postpone their marriage or not get married at all.
Let’s catch our breath and pose a question: Which of the two marital partners must be the one to decide if the sexual drives or desires are completely satisfied? The one initiating sex. In other words, the only way a husband can know if he has “fulfilled his duty” as a husband is to ask his wife, “Are your sexual needs fully satisfied? Do you feel loved?” This means, in the bedroom of a married couple anything goes—short of illegal or immoral activity.
How often should sex occur? If the average couple has sex 2-3 times a week, should Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit and called to live supernatural lives have sex more or less frequently? I’ll give you my personal bias. The more frequent your sex, the stronger your marriage bond.
Why should married partners always fulfill their duty to their spouse? This is a legitimate question that Paul answers in 7:4. “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” God sovereign ly takes something away at the point of marriage and gives it as a heavenly wedding present to your spouse. The Lord doesn’t ask you if He can take it, and the Lord doesn’t ask you if you want it. Sovereign ly, the Lord takes the authority you have had over your own body as a single individual and removes it from you for as long as you live. The term “authority” in this passage literally means to have rights over or exclusive claim to. In uncomplicated terms, God gave my body to my wife and I have nothing to say about it.
Note that Paul was careful to give both husband and wife equal rights in these verses. He did not regard the man as having sexual rights or needs that the woman does not have or vice verse. So if your wife wants to feel your muscles, let her feel them. If your husband wants to grab your bottom, let him grab it. This principle applies in the sexual realm; however, I also think there is great application in other areas of life. Several examples come to mind: tattoos, piercings, facial hair, length of hair, attire, birth control, body appearance, etc. are all decisions that your husband or wife can veto. We ought to ask, “How can I look better to you? What do you want from me? How can I serve you?”
Paul frequently uses the term “body” (soma) in its broadest, fullest, richest sense. It’s everything we are physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We’re designed by God to be an instrument of communication verbally, non verbally, emotionally, physically, and sexually. The physical expression of sex as communication is enjoyed in the larger context of verbal communication. The greatest sexual fulfillment comes gradually over the long haul in a marriage, as a couple learns to talk about anything, any time; when there’s heart-to-heart communication, not just talking at each other, but listening actively and sensitively, caring deeply about the communication. How are you doing in these areas today?
If I were to ask your spouse, what would he or she say? Would your spouse be fulfilled and pleased by how you are treating her body or his body?
Our passage closes in 7:5 with these potent words: “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”14 The word translated “stop depriving” literally means “do not rob one another,” or “do not do fraud to one another.” The word means to cheat somebody out of what is properly theirs. If you withhold your body when your partner seeks sex, it is biblical fraud.15 We have failed to satisfy and protect our spouse.
Paul writes that we may deprive each other of sex under only four conditions. First, sex can be withheld when you both agree. You can’t decide by yourself to deprive your spouse of sex. Both of you must agree not to have sex in order to fit into this exception. Here’s how this may work in real life: Let’s say that last night your spouse rolled over in bed and made a sexual advance. Because you had a long and exhausting day, you said, “I’m really tired tonight. Would it be alright with you if we waited until tomorrow night? If not, sweetheart, you know that tonight is okay too. What would you like?”
Biblically speaking, who has the final say in this decision? The initiating partner always has the final say. If your spouse wants sex, even after hearing your request, he or she still has authority over your body. However, just because your body belongs to your spouse doesn’t mean you don’t have the freedom to negotiate! When the initiating partner hears a willing but tired attitude of acceptance rather than rejection, understanding should be forthcoming.
Second, sex can be deprived when you both agree to delay it for a time. Whenever a couple mutually agrees to deprive one another of sexual intimacy, the two must agree when they will have sex. To agree only to “not tonight” would not be following the biblical pattern. Scripture uses a very specific Greek word (kairos) for time here, which means a specific period of time.
Third, sex can be set aside to devote yourselves to prayer. This certainly presents a clear and rather unusual freedom for depriving yourself of sexual relations in modern society. The only biblical purpose for depriving yourselves of sex is to devote yourselves to sharing a spiritual focus in your marriage.
Finally, sex can be deprived until the two of you agree to come together again. The Bible quickly brings us back to the reality that sexual intimacy is to be the norm and never the exception. Always remember, we are called to satisfy and protect our spouse.
Now, there are two important realities to keep in mind. First, if you deprive each other you open yourself to attack. Paul blatantly states that in sexual matters, you must come together after an agreed upon time of sexual abstinence, or you will open yourself up to satanic attack. After a period of time without sex, you are to come together again. If you don’t, Satan will come against you with temptations to commit sexual immorality. The longer sex is postponed in the marital partnership, the greater the risk of temptation.
Please take this very seriously. Satan is not a pushover. He is real and he is powerful. He holds millions firmly in his bondage. And he is seeking more all the time. In one of his sermons, Pastor John Piper tells a story of the experience of one of his members. On an airline flight, the person sitting next to this individual turned down a meal, and when asked why he said that he was fasting and praying to Satan. When asked what he was praying for, he said, the breakdown of ministers’ marriages. If you were a Satan worshiper, and you wanted to know what the goals of your master were so that you would know how to pray, where would you go to learn? You would go to the Bible, because the Bible gives a true picture of what Satan is about in the world. And you would learn that, among other things, he is about the destruction of marriages. He is totally committed to adultery, and all the personal problems that lead to it. When you battle with sexual temptation, you battle against Satan. Not because he creates the desire, but because he so powerfully and deceptively uses the desire.16
As married couples, we must guard our marriages from Satan. He is seeking to devour the marriage bed. Therefore, don’t let him into your bed. Imagine this common scenario: A couple in bed with their back turned to each other and plenty of space in between. Guess who can slither right into the marriage bed? A simple way to avoid this is being close before you drift off to sleep. Roll over and cuddle your partner every night. Put your head on his or her chest or shoulder. Play “footsies.” If these intimate moments lead to making love…wonderful. But regardless, you’ve shared some intimate moments and are taking one additional step to protect the marriage bed.
Second, you lack self-control when you deprive each other of sex. What happens to married individuals when they don’t have sex for a period of days? Satan tempts you, taking advantage of your lack of self-control. Depriving your spouse of sexual relations results in more than immediate, short-lived frustration. Continued postponement of sexual relations within a marriage places very real and unnecessary pressure on a spouse.
Sexual response and impulse touches us more than physically, it also touches us emotionally and spiritually because God made us that way. We have to avoid two opposite evils: on the one hand, the Victorian prudishness that wants to deny sex, call it something dirty, and lock it away; and on the other hand, the more modern hedonism that tells us sex is an absolute good and that we ought to pursue our sexual impulses no matter what.
If we Christians ignore sex, we will surrender it to those very cultural perversions and give the impression that sex itself is bad because it’s so abused. But you can’t fix what is wrong by simply negating or ignoring it. Nobody lives in the world of “no.” We all have to know how to say “Yes” in the right way. It’s not enough to be people who hate evil; we must also be people who love good, and we must teach our to love good. A pastor mentioned recently that he heard a non-Christian describe Christians as “people who say ‘No’ to everything and go to a lot of meetings.” Ouch. We’re much better at saying what not to do than what to do. Sexuality is deeply perverted in our culture. But we have to do more than negate the negative. We also have to articulate powerfully the joy of God’s way, to show the beauty of holiness. The word of the Lord for us today is to satisfy and protect our spouse.
1 Corinthians 7:1-7
Matthew 19:11-12
Proverbs 5:15-19
Song of Solomon 4:9-5:1
Ephesians 5:21-33
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
Hebrews 13:4 Study Questions
1. Paul states that one reason to get married is to avoid sexual immorality (7:2). Yet, many well meaning contemporary Christians push their and other young adults to postpone marriage until they are especially mature, capable, and responsible. Can this be biblically justified? Is this really God’s intent, or are we going beyond the Scriptures and leading our into temptation? Read Matthew 18:6-7.
2. Paul calls sex a “duty” to be “fulfilled” (7:3). Why does he use this type of language? How does Paul’s teaching apply to married couples with different sex drives? What advice would Paul give to married couples whose sex life has faded because of the pressures and busyness of life? How can such couples become more frequent?
3. Richard Foster observes, “Sex in the real world is a mixture of tenderness and halitosis, love and fatigue, ecstasy and disappointment.” How can we as Christians realistically enjoy God’s gift of sexual intimacy without getting caught up in the expectations and fanfare of the world we live in? How can we effectively and accurately teach our and teens about sex in a way that honors God?
4. How can married couples apply the biblical principle that “my body belongs to my spouse” (7:4-5)? How will greater personal sacrifice and leniency protect married couples from Satan? Why does Satan seek to obliterate Christian marriages? How can I so fulfill my spouse that Satan is left frustrated and flees to focus on another marriage?
5. In what ways are both celibacy and marriage gifts from God (7:6-7)? Am I presently content in the role that God has called me to occupy? Why or why not? Will I praise Him that if I am single or unhappily married that He is more than sufficient?
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Interracial Marriage Relationships - Intercultural Marriage.
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Posted:Jan 17, 2012 1:55 am
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 5269 Views
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by Divorcehope
Intercultural - Interracial marriage relationships. A race is correctly defined as an "ethnic group", NOT a class of people, or a people with a peculiar look or a different skin color. The Lord made from one person, every nation!
Marrying Outside Your Race
“Did you know that most science books say there are at least four races of humans — and that these books are all wrong? A scientist, speaking at a recent American Association for The Advancement of Science Convention, gives the correct answer about ‘Race’: ‘Race is a social construct derived mainly from perceptions conditioned by events of recorded history, and it has no basic biological reality.’ What this person is saying is that, biologically, there is only one race of human beings. After all, all humans are classified as ‘Homo Sapiens.’” 2
For “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth… He gives to all life, breath, and all things. AND HE MADE FROM ONE BLOOD [FROM ONE PERSON, ADAM] EVERY NATION [EVERY ETHNIC GROUP] OF MEN TO DWELL ON ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH…” (Acts17: 24-26).
THEREFORE, A “RACE” IS CORRECTLY DEFINED AS AN “ETHNIC GROUP ? A PEOPLE WHO HOLD TO A PARTICULAR CULTURE”, NOT A CLASS OF PEOPLE, OR A PEOPLE WITH A PECULIAR LOOK, OR A DIFFERENT SKIN COLOR. The Lord made from one person, every nation. Actually, the word “nation” in the Greek text means “ethnic group.” A race is not the people themselves, but their ethnic group — their culture. You can have two of any color of the same people, and have different races (ethnic groups). That is the way it is at this moment around this world, and it has been like this from the beginning of time. Our own prejudices have twisted it.
No bloodline is pure. Not even the Lord Jesus, who was from the tribe of Judah, a Jew, had a pure bloodline. GOD’S DESIRE IS TO HAVE DIFFERENT CULTURES, NOT PURE BLOODLINES.
Now that “race” has been correctly defined, let’s look further into marrying outside of one’s race. Some say that the race of a person is done away with regarding marriage to those who are born again in Christ — it doesn’t matter who one marries. The race of a person is done away with concerning being born again into the family of God, but not concerning marriage. Let me explain:
The Scripture says that in Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek ...there is neither male nor female...” (Galatians 3:2. There are no ethnic or gender barriers. ALL who have become of God through the shed blood of Christ have the same covenantal rights in the family of God, according to the portion that Christ gives to each one. This is God’s plan: to have a many-membered, many-cultured body, not only in the Body of Christ, but also in all of society. God’s call has gone out, that “...WHOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
If this Scripture, Galatians 3:28, which says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek...THERE IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE...” were true regarding marriage and marrying outside one’s race, then the part that says, “there is neither male nor female” must apply to the marriage partners also, meaning, male can marry male and female can marry female. In seeing this, we know that this Scripture cannot and does not pertain to marriage, because God hates the practice of homosexuality. He says that those men who are “...leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, AND RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THE PENALTY OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS DUE...who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE DESERVING OF DEATH...” (Romans 1:27,32). But as far as the race of a person is in the Church, it has been done away with in Christ. There are no barriers to who our brother and sister are in the Lord. For “...[we] are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28b).
God loves diversity. He created diversity. This diversity is not only in the plant, animal, and fish world, but also of the people of the earth who are the crown of His creation and the affection of His heart!
Let's sum it up:
1. Color has absolutely no bearing on the matter of marriage. (It is that people see the "outward" appearance of people and judge them that way. All racism comes from pride or fear. Pride because they believe they are better, fear because they are afraid of the unknown.")
2. God wants a many-membered many-cultured body. That is what makes the beauty of this world in spite of what some people may think.
3. God has always brought people from one culture into another. That is what a missionary is. He has always said to accept strangers (other cultures) as your own family when they "adopt" (my word) Him and His culture as their own. The general rule is that the culture should always grow within itself. However, He has always brought people from one culture to be apart of another. Whether it is through marriage or not. And that happens every day. It is just not the "general" rule.
Also, see our teaching on how culture impacts the decision of an interacial marriage at The Three Levels of Truth.
The Three Levels of Truth:
How These Impact Marriage and Divorce Decisions
What is Truth? Where is Truth? Where is the Truth of God and Christian Truth? There are three levels of truth: Canon Truth (is where God speaks through the Scriptures), Cultural Truth (what is truth to one culture may not be true in another culture) and Conscience Truth (what is true to one person may not be true to another). Where there is truth, there is stability of life.
By: Stephen Gola
What Are Truths, Laws — Absolutes?
Something that works consistently constant on its own or is established to be consistently constant, is a law or truth — an absolute . There are three levels of truth. They are: Canon (Scriptural) Truth, Cultural Truth and Conscience Truth.
These levels of truth influence our lives everyday. More importantly, they influence our daily decision-making process. Therefore, having and understanding of their differences can greatly enhance our quality of life; on the other hand, not having an understanding of these levels of truth can cause us to suffer needlessly. Sorry to say, many are suffering needlessly.
The statement many have made, “What is truth to you is not truth to me,” is an incomplete and partially true statement in itself. Because there are three levels of truth, many do not understand that this concept or belief only applies to “conscience truth” only. The two levels of truth remaining are: Canon (Scriptural) truth and cultural truth.
A man spoke-up and said, “There are NO absolutes.” Another man retorted, “Are you absolutely sure?” The first man responded back confidently, “Absolutely!” This statement, “there are no absolutes” is a contradiction within itself. “No absolutes” is an absolute statement itself. Maybe what is really meant is that there is only ONE absolute: the truth that there are no absolutes???
Let’s look at a few basic absolutes that greatly impact our lives every day. The Law of Gravity is an absolute. You can count on that law working every-time — always, unless it is superseded by a higher law — the Law of Aerodynamics. All of science, physics and great relationships operate upon absolute truths. Something that works consistently constant on its own or is established to be consistently constant, is a law — an absolute. Could you imagine if a physics formula worked one day but not the next? It’s unthinkable!
Let’s imagine one law was not consistently constant. You’re in an airplane flying at 35,000 feet and the Law of Lift is having a bad day. The Law of Lift feeling discouraged says to the Law of Gravity, “Gravity, I’m tired of taking the weight off of your shoulders. I’m quitting!” All of a sudden the airplane you are in starts falling like a rock because even gliding is governed by the Law of Lift. As you are falling at hundreds of miles per hour for about fifteen seconds and screaming at the top of your lungs, the Law of Gravity convinces the Law of Lift that many are depending upon him to be consistent. At that very moment the pilot has his stick pulled all the way back for max climb. Instantly, instead of hanging-on for dear life, you are thrown down with a powerful force. You feel a bit of recovery and someone shouts, “Praise God” though it is short lived. Just as fast as the Law of Lift was encouraged by the Law of Gravity, Lift feels discouraged again. Without warning, Lift quits doing his job. Immediately, the plane you’re in starts falling again and the earth below is getting closer. Panic sets in and everyone is yelling. However, Gravity is not taking this sitting down. He grabs Lift by the shoulders, shakes him and says, “Multitudes are counting on you to be consistently constant. Their very lives are at stake!” With that, Lift repents, shakes off the discouragement and gains strength in his heart. Lift then professes loudly, “I am a Law, I am constant, and therefore people can depend on me.” With that, the plane again lurches upward and finally stabilizes.
The constant consistency of all absolutes, both laws and truths, are what give us peace, prosperity and happiness in life and in our relationships. Many people are in bondage and are desperately trying to get free but are lost amongst the lies taught as truths. Unbeknown to them, these embraced lies that are clothed in “truths clothing” are the very chains that bind them — so they seek elsewhere to find the answer to get free. When there are no absolute truths in a person’s life, they wander aimlessly through life from one tragedy to another. We all want to know the truth — in our case, for our relationships. Simply put, without absolutes in a relationship, a relationship will not work. Relationships are built on truth. We will discover how knowing or not knowing these truths affect our lives and to replace the lies we don’t even know we have with Truth, thus stabilizing our lives, restoring joy, peace and happiness.
Canon (Scriptural) Truth
Truth is not just an ideal or law, Truth is a Person — Jesus said, “I am the…Truth” (John 14:6). Truth speaks of Himself. Jesus is God — His Word is Truth (see John 17:17).
The first level of truth is Canon or Scriptural truth. A person’s word is only as good, as stable and as trustworthy as the person themselves. You cannot separate who a person is from their words. They are one and the same.
For “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof (to express strong disapproval — censor), for correction in righteousness (doing right acts), that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” 2Timothy 3:16-17). Because “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” God claims full responsibility for His own Words, since it is impossible for God to lie, it gives us the assurance what He says is absolute truth. Whether or not we that may understand that truth is a different matter — it is still truth. God is consistently constant: that is one of the things that make God, God.
An angel from Heaven visited Daniel — that same Daniel who was thrown into the lion’s den by King Nebuchadnezzar, and said to Daniel, “I will tell what is noted in the SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH” (Daniel 10:21). Truth liberates the heart. It frees a person to make the right decisions. At times, speaking the truth makes one feel vulnerable, however, in reality, it liberates you.
As we grasp the understanding of how important truth and absolutes are to our lives and then start to govern our lives by them, our lives will immediately start to become stable; peace, joy and blessings will be the norm rather than turmoil, depression and hardship. God wants our minds and hearts to be unshackled from all bondages of guilt, shame and hurt form the past. Knowing the truth is what sets you free!
Cultural Truth
“Cultural truth” is just that: what the culture has established as truth for them. God has granted the cultures of the world great liberty to be distinct by giving them their own rights to adopt customs, laws and ways which are not contrary to His Word. There are geographical national cultures such as the customs and laws of India verses the customs and laws of England. There are localized cultures — multiple communities with different practices and customs within a specific city, town or village. Or, it could be a culture within a culture.
Because of technological advances in media, communications and gadgetry, cultural changes or shifts are happening at an unprecedented rate. Within as little as seven years a new culture is formed. Because of this, a family can have as many as three to six cultures within the same household depending on the number of they have and how far apart everyone’s age difference is. You can readily see the problems this can create within a family simply by the parents not knowing how to work with the different cultures that have formed within their own .
Understanding cultural truth is not just knowing the differences of laws and customs between one nation and another, or even knowing the different practices of one ethnic group verses another within the same city, but the different cultures within your own household. Different values — what is accepted or is not accepted to each individual may vary (and most of the time does) because of what has been taught or what has not been taught — whether by experience or formal learning. A person can do a specific thing in one culture and be totally accepted as the norm. However, by doing that very same thing in a different culture one can be tried and found guilty for a serious violation and be even punishable by death. What is embraced as truth does not necessarily mean that it is the truth.
Note: There is a difference between a “lie” and a “non-truth”. A “lie” is when a truth is known to be the truth but is intentionally covered up and revealed as something other than what it is. A “non-truth” is when a lie is believed and accepted as being the truth. For instance, a person can read an untrue article, be told something as a matter of fact, or overhear someone speaking a lie without knowing it and accepting it as the truth. Therefore this lie becomes a “non-truth to them — a lie accepted as the truth. Basically, it is being deceived into believing a lie as being the truth.
Therefore, almost all cultural practices and beliefs are formed from a combination of both truths and non-truths. The specific practices and beliefs of a specific culture will be known by these combinations of truths and non-truths that they have embraced as their “culture.” This is why it is essential to be established in truth and absolutes: not only being known by your fruits, but being the fruit itself — your life being fruitful.
Conscience Truth
“Conscience truth” is not only the third level of truth, but it is the level of truth that has to do with self — self-governing. It is influenced (programmed) by both Canon (Scriptural) truth and cultural truth. Conscience truth is the reflection of what you have or have not embraced as truth. It is the conviction of what is right or wrong TO YOU.
When a person is conceived in the womb and their spirit and conscience is formed, there is a basic set of truths that are instilled by God within that person’s conscience. These basic truths within the conscience can either be dulled or sharpened. A person’s conscience (which is part of the spirit of a person) can actually lie to them. In other words, because a person’s conscience is “programmable” the conscience can be programmed with either truth or non-truths. This “received” information comes through sources such as the culture (or cultures) they are apart of, what they give themselves to in the form of information exchange: conversations, music, reading, visual input from movies and television and their own thought-life. All this influences the conscience. If the input is corrupted, the output is corrupted. There is a saying in the computer industry when you program a computer: garbage in, garbage out. This is true for our conscience as well.
If you want your conscience to only convict you of absolute truth, you must only feed it with absolute truth. If a person does not feed their conscience only with the truth, their emotions will be very unstable because their conscience will be convicting them of a “truth” and “non-truths” as all being truth all at the same time. With these conflicting messages driving the emotions one can see how someone can be very emotionally unstable in specific situations. The process is a choosing process in which to accept or reject something as the truth. The decision process of “accepting” or “rejecting” truth is happening every moment of every day of our lives. The result of keeping or rejecting what is perceived as truth will be the very program that will tell us whether or not our actions are right or wrong.
Having a Corrupted (Sin) Conscience
Having a corrupted conscience — one that has been programmed not by truths but by “what one accepts as truth” is like a person taking all the red lenses out of all the traffic lights and exchanging them for a green lenses. Even though this new confidence of safety gives them more perceived “rights,” they have actually put themselves and others in dangerous situations, and possibility even situations of death. Purposely programming oneself with “what is truth to me” is like directly driving into danger with a confidence of safety all in the guise of doing what is right in my own eyes. The specific knowledge we acquire and posses (or do not possess) is what programs our conscience directing it to convict (tell us) whether a situation is right or wrong, whether we are sinning or doing right. When a person chooses what they want to accept as truth instead of what actually is truth it is like purposely programming a computer with erroneous information and then expecting the outcome to be true and exact. This is self deception. On the other hand, to reprogram your conscience to only convict (to tell) you the truth in every situation is a matter of exchanging the non-truths and lies with the knowledge of the truth. Otherwise, your conscience will assure you that all is well — that you have made the right choice or that you are not sinning when in fact you have made one of the worst choices and will affect you negatively all your life and also your generations to come.
The Bible speaks of having a “weak” conscience. A “weak” conscience is having accepted a non-truth as being the truth — having incorrect knowledge about a specific situation and believing it to be the truth. A prime example is in 1Corinthians 8:1-7. “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that WE ALL HAVE KNOWLEDGE. Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. However, THERE IS NOT IN EVERYONE THAT KNOWLEDGE; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol: and THEIR CONSCIENCE, BEING WEAK, IS DEFILED.”
A weak conscience is a conscience without the truth. This is why God said, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (the knowledge of the truth). Because you have REJECTED KNOWLEDGE (KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH) I also will reject you…because you have forgotten the law (absolutes and truths) of your God, I also will forget your ” (Hosea 4:6). This is why Jesus emphasized that when you accept His Word (the Scriptures) as truth and apply them to your life then “you shall KNOW the truth, and the TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE” (John 8:32). It is in knowing the truth for yourself that makes you free.
Examples of Having a Corrupted (Sin) Conscience
To point out a few specifics of a corrupt conscience let me give you two examples from the people that we have counseled:
A lady and the husband she was divorced from was counseled by the lady’s pastor that it was alright for her divorced husband to come back home to live with her because in “God’s eyes” they were still married.
Because the lady did not have the knowledge of the truth in her heart, she was in terrible confusion not knowing who to believe: her pastor (a man of truth) or her own conscience, so her heart condemned her. The husband probably liked it because of sex. The pastor’s heart was not convicting him of sin because he believed a non-truth as the truth. The lady suffered the consequences because her conscience did not have the truth in it in order to rightly divide between the “absolute truth” and the “believed truth.”
Another lady was separated from her husband for over two years and has since filed for divorce. She met a nice man in church who was also going through a divorce. After a while they started dating. The leadership of the church told them to stop dating while going through the divorce process. The leadership also expressed that they did not know whether it was alright for them to even get married since they were divorced, so the two of them left the church.
The dating couple had no conviction of sin because they had knowledge of the truth. They know that the leadership of their church was making a wrong decision. The man and woman would have consented to not date for conscience sake of the rest of the congregation until their divorces went through, however, because the leadership did not know if they would even accept them to be married, they left the church. The consciences of those in leadership were confused and thereby they would not allow them to marry: They had mixed feelings — mixed truth with non-truths. They could not recognize which “truth” was correct in order to give the divorcees the true answer.
Even if your conscience is “clean” it could still be wrong. It is having the ABSOLUTE TRUTH that makes a conscience truly clean and truly right.
Replacing Non-Truths and Lies with Truth in the Conscience
When a person chooses to reprogram their conscience with absolute truth they will be journeying through three specific stages. T hey are: deception, confusion and reality or truth. We continually go through these three stages during our lives until our belief system is built on a firm foundation of truth. When our conscience is built on Truth and our emotions and attitude are in perfect harmony — a life of truth, peace, joy, being free from fear and a stable life will follow.
Many in church leadership believe, though ignorantly, when trying to get someone to “believe the truth” that that person can just rip-out or discard a certain belief. However, this is just not the case. A person’s conscience will not allow them to simply through-out or discard a belief that is different than what is already in place within their conscience. I call this part within the conscience a “truth grid.” Therefore the person must go through a decision-making process which is to identify that which is the truth and that which is a lie. Having a deep desire to know the truth and seeking that truth by learning and asking the Spirit of Truth to lead you into all truth are all vital parts of arriving at the absolute truth. Once a person journeys through the three phases of deception, confusion and reality, THEN the information is replaced: accepted by the conscience as truth and the other piece of information is discarded as a lie.
Anything that passes through this “truth grid” must conform to what is already there. However, many times because much of what is not truth has been installed long before we knew the difference, we get conflicting convictions from our conscience. It is trying to install a supposed “truth” within an area where both truth and non-truths abide.
Before we step through and identify the stages in which a person passes through to reprogram their conscience, there is an important understanding regarding “confusion” that I want you to grasp. That is: confusion is a path — a means to reality (truth). Confusion is good ONLY when leaving deception and entering into reality (truth). When the Scripture says, “...God is not the author of confusion...” (1Corinthians 14:33), it is saying that God does not give BOTH truth AND a lie to decide from. He is TRUTH !
The three stages in coming to truth are:
Deception: You think you understand, and believe you know the truth, when in fact you have embraced a non-truth as being the truth itself. Remember, THE POWER OF DECEPTION IS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE DECEIVED . Remember, a non-truth is a lie masquerading as the truth.
Confusion: You have opened your heart to receive new understanding, which now conflicts with what you believed to be true. You’re no longer sure. The “previously held” belief or knowledge may not be true in light of the new belief. TWO OPPOSING THOUGHTS APPEARING TO BE TRUE IS CONFUSION.
Reality (Truth): We understand which is truly REAL and which is the counterfeit or false, then we make the decision to embrace the truth; we leave confusion and enter into reality (truth). TRUTH IS ALWAYS ABSOLUTE. IT DOES NOT CHANGE IN THE PRESENCE OF “NEW” TRUTH. At this point because we have identified the difference between what we thought to be true and what actually is the truth, we knowingly discard the non-truth as being a lie and accept the truth in its place.
If someone is “ignorant” instead of deceived, that is, they hold no knowledge or belief one way or another, they go from “ignorance” to “reality” without passing through any confusion. This is because the decision to choose between a non-truth and truth does not have to be made. A non-truth and truth are not always present at the same time to choose from.
The opposite often happens to people concerning when they get mad at God. Instead of progressing from deception or being ignorant to truth, they digressed by exchanging the truth that they know for a lie, and go back into deception — darkness. “Because they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. WHO EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR A LIE ...they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, [so] God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting...” (Romans 1:21,25,2. We must retain the truth of God in our hearts, which is the ONLY truth; otherwise we are dead while we live.
The Culture of the Kingdom of God
The “culture” of the Kingdom of God supersedes ALL cultures upon the earth. God calls every one of us to abandon specific “truths” — parts or areas of a culture that conflict with the culture of God. The culture of God is a culture of Truth. Living in the culture of God is living-out Truth through His Spirit, His Word and by His voice. It is fellowship with Truth Himself — connected to Heaven. Darkness and Light cannot co-exist within the same space. We must abandon one and take up the other. Or, we must hold fast to one and reject the other. The choice we make or do not make will leave us in darkness or Light. There is no other place to dwell!
Everything that God tells us NEVER to do is either evil, sin or done in darkness. The culmination of all these is what the devil is: Always sinning, full of the deepest evil, and lives his life out damned in continual spiritual darkness. He and all his cohorts are damned from the darkness and damned from the Light — double damned. God is ALWAYS calling us out of darkness to dwell in the Light with Him.
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Which "Divorce" Does God Hate? Does God Really "Hate Divorce"?
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Posted:Jan 17, 2012 1:45 am
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 5121 Views
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by Divorcehope
A remarriage or to remarry after divorce is the will of God! When God said, "I hate PUTTING AWAY," He NEVER meant divorce, but to SEPARATE. Meaning, divorce was good when needed. God never hated divorce, it was "something" else He hated.
*Strong's Hebrew #7971 Shalach
* The common word shalach translated as: " put away" or "putteth away" is (the same as the Greek equivalent of the word apoluo) which means" to send, separate, send away or leave," NOT divorce. * Used 878 times in the Old Testament. * 13 times related to a separation in marriage or intimate relationship (not divorce). * 865 times used in other ways. * Shalach NEVER meant divorce, but a "separation."
To Which Situation Did God Say, "I Hate Putting Away (Divorce)?"
We have heard this Scripture: “the Lord God of Israel says that HE HATES DIVORCE” (Malachi 2:16). This is almost always quoted as if God hates all divorces in general. But that’s just not true. We have previously read from the Bible books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Deuteronomy and 1Corinthians that God is not against divorce. Then why all the confusion concerning why God said that “He hates divorce?” The reason for the confusion is because there are TWO “kinds” of marriages and TWO “divorces” being mentioned in the Malachi 2:11-16 passage.
The “divorces” were not official divorces; they didn’t need to be. They were already previously married and “unofficially” married again. The Hebrew word shalach means “putting away”― a separation, as correctly translated in most Bibles. However, the King James and a number of newer versions have incorrectly translated shalach as to mean: divorce. It never meant divorce and it doesn’t mean divorce. The word was most likely translated as “divorce” to fit what was taught in the church. Shalach is just a common word used throughout the Old Testament which means to: go, separate or to send. That’s it!
So why did God angrily say that He “…hated putting away [a separation]?” “…Because you have not kept My ways [concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage] but have SHOWN PARTIALITY IN THE LAW” (Malachi 2:9). The Law specifically stated that when a man got a divorce from his wife that he was to write “…her a CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE, put it in her hand, AND [shalach] send her out [put her away]…” (Deuteronomy 24:1). God also commanded them not to marry anyone who did not serve him ― who served a foreign god (See Nehemiah 13:25-30).
Instead, men separated from their wives without ever giving them a Certificate of Divorce and then illegally married someone else. This is why the Lord said that they were still “their wife by covenant.” The marriage covenant had never been dissolved by the Divorce Certificate.
“The Lord’s holy institution which He loves...the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth ...[and] SHE [STILL] IS YOUR COMPANION AND YOUR WIFE BY COVENANT. For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce [shalach], [separating without a Certificate of Divorce].... He has [illegally] married the of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off ...the man who does this being awake and aware” (Malachi 2:11,12a,14b,c,16a).
Because these men had remarried illegally ― separated from their wives without giving them a Certificate of Divorce, they were in adultery as Jesus stated: “Furthermore it has been said, “Whoever PUTS AWAY [separates from {apoluo}] his wife, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE. But I say to you that whoever PUTS AWAY [separates and remarries without being divorced from] his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery: and whoever marries a woman who is PUT AWAY [separated without being divorced {apoluo}] commits adultery” (Matthew 5:31-32). (The Lord never forgot about the Malachi incident when He came to earth to redeem lost man).
The Old Testament Hebrew word shalach and the New Testament Greek word apoluo are equivalent which will be discussed later.
Because these disobedient men still had “un-divorced” wives, the Lord did not command them to give their illegal wives a Certificate of Divorce, rather, they simply had to “separate, put them away, [shalach].” SO DID GOD HATE DIVORCE? NO! RATHER, GOD HATED THAT THE HUSBANDS WERE SEPARATING FROM THEIR WIVES WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE WHICH WOULD ENABLE THEM TO GET REMARRIED. THIS IS WHAT GOD HATES!
The men of Israel were SEPARATING from their wives for self-gratifying reasons. God Himself was a “witness” at their original marriage ceremony which was still in effect. The marriage covenant was never dissolved by a Certificate of Divorce. The men remarried outside their own culture (race) and tribe. God considered the they bore unholy because of the mixed marriages bringing curses into their families (See Ezra 9:1,2, Nehemiah 13:26-30).
Because of these unauthorized marriages, the Word of God came to Ezra and Nehemiah to have the men and women of Israel who had done this thing, to separate from their spouse and even from their (See Ezra 9:1, 11-12, 10:3, Nehemiah 13:23-27). In this situation, God’s command was to “put them away, separate yourselves from them!” This was NOT the kind of marriage to which God was saying, “I hate divorce!” He was saying loudly, “Get out of these wrong marriages!”
DIVORCE IS A METHOD TO SEPARATE THE ONE, AND MAKE THEM INTO TWO just as a surgeon’s knife is used to separate the cancerous flesh from the healthy flesh. Both operations are good. Divorce can be used to kill a righteous marriage, just as a surgeon’s knife can be used to kill a healthy person.
The Greek word apoluo: is the equivalent of the Hebrew word: shalach.
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Biblical Divorce & Biblical Remarriage
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Posted:Jan 17, 2012 1:40 am
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 5046 Views
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by divorcehope
In MOST cases, divorce and remarriage is NOT sin at all, and never was! A biblical divorce is not sin. A biblical remarriage is not sin. This is because divorce and remarriage are not sin in themselves — nor have they ever been! .
Sanctified (Holy) Spouse Doing Unholy Things?
Whether a Christian marriage is equally yoked or unequally yoked, God's command to us is always the same; “...MAN OF GOD ...PURSUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS, faith, love, patience, gentleness” (1Timothy 6:11). As we do this, “...the unbelieving husband is SANCTIFIED by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is SANCTIFIED by the husband; otherwise, your would be unclean, but now THEY ARE HOLY” (1Corinthians 7:14).
To be “sanctified” simply means that there is a process of cleaning up going on in a person’s life by God that causes them to be separated from that which is not like Himself and being made into that which is like Himself. (Actually, the words sanctified, separated, holy and hallowed that are used in the Bible are basically the same Greek word. They mean the same thing.) Because the “unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife,” the wife must be sanctified herself and because the “unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband,” would mean the husband must be sanctified himself. And if the “ would be unclean [unholy], but now they are holy,” a mother or father MUST be serving God. Between the husband and wife, one being a Christian and the other a non-Christian, someone must give their whole life to God for Him to make the rest of the family holy.
I have heard it said all too often that when a husband lives ungodly and the wife wants to live godly, that the wife must stay with her spouse and do whatever he tells her to do no matter what it is because he is the head even to the point of not serving God. How ridiculous! The wife is seeking for a way out of a bad situation, but is only sentenced back to her prison by “holy men of God.” They want to serve God with all their heart, only to find out they must bear the heavy yoke again. Many times this situation ends in tragedy and the so-called “glory” is given to God. Then the spouse who wants to live godly ends up as a “slave of man” instead of a “slave of righteousness.”
Slaves Of Men Or Slaves Of Righteousness?
“But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister IS NOT UNDER BONDAGE IN SUCH CASES. But God has called us to peace” (1Corinthians 7:15).
Notice the word “bondage” in verse 15. The word in the Greek text is “douloo,” which is the same word for “slave,” or “to be enslaved.” Most clearly, when one is in bondage, they are a slave to whomever or whatever has them bound. Let’s read verse 15 from the Wuest translation: ”But assuming that the unbelieving husband departs, let him be departing. A [CHRISTIAN] BROTHER OR [CHRISTIAN] SISTER IS NOT IN THE POSITION OF A SLAVE, NAMELY, BOUND TO THE UNBELIEVING HUSBAND OR UNBELIEVING WIFE IN AN INDISSOLUABLE UNION IN CASES SUCH AS THESE; but God has called us [to live] in peace” (1Corinthians 7:15 WUEST).
Notice the “peace” in this case, comes from a separation, not a union. “...God has called us [to live] in peace” (1Corinthians 7:15b). A home that has become a war zone because of two opposing hearts that have been tied together is not peaceful. Being at peace is having the same heart. Again, the Scripture says that a Christian brother or sister “is not in the position of a slave” and goes on to say that they ARE NOT “bound to the unbelieving husband or unbelieving wife in an indissoluble union in cases such as these.” Which means, if we stayed in a situation such as this, we would actually become a slave. And if we become a slave, then someone would have to be the master! You can’t be a slave without having a master over you. And you can’t be in bondage, without someone or something binding you. THE SLAVE ALWAYS PORTRAYS THE MASTER’S DESIRE.
If a godly spouse continues to live with an ungodly spouse, the godly spouse will most likely eventually portray ungodliness, which is also reflected by them not growing in God. This is why Jesus bought us with a price, “...so you DO NOT become slaves of men ...[but] slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18, 1Corinthians 7:23).
The book of James says, “Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Thus, NO SPRING YIELDS BOTH SALT WATER AND FRESH” (James 3:11,12b). This is a Bible principle. When sin (salt water), is mixed with holiness (fresh water), that which was holy becomes corrupted and sinful. Thus, no spring yields BOTH salt water and fresh. When polluted water is mixed with clean water, the clean ALWAYS becomes polluted.
The “slave” living under the “master” and the “fresh water” being mixed with the “salt water” is the godly spouse being polluted by the ways and actions of the ungodly spouse. The godly spouse will become a slave and polluted. Good apples in a bushel do not make the rotten apples better. The good become rotten. God is always saying, “come out of her my people, lest YOU share in her sins, and lest YOU receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4). “DO NOT BE DECEIVED: “EVIL COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD HABITS. AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND DO NOT SIN; FOR SOME DO NOT HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD” (1Corinthians 15:33,34).
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Depression is not a disease
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 7:10 pm
Last Updated:Jan 18, 2012 3:05 pm 7226 Views
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Go to you tube and search for " Marketing of madness"
What Causes Psychological Distress?
Answering this question is the holy grail of psychiatry. Even before there were psychiatrists, such troubles were blamed on things like evil spirits, or an imbalance of "humors."
The latter was treated by bloodletting, which is perhaps the longest running tradition in medicine, originating in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, persisting for some 2,500 years through the Industrial Revolution. It was the "aspirin" of the day, used for just about every conceivable condition from pneumonia to depression. Yet, there was never any evidence that it did any good, and many times the patients died. Of course, it was always assumed it was the disease that killed them, rather than the treatment.
Interestingly, we now know that there was good reason why this may have helped men or postmenopausal women. If they had high iron levels this would have been able to reduce their load and thus improve their overall health.
Finally, 19th century scientists began to question its value and medical statisticians who tracked case histories discovered that it wasn't helping much of anything.
The blanket prescription of drugs for every conceivable psychological hiccup has become the bloodletting theory of the 21st century… Of course, in the case of psychiatric drugs, there's tremendous profits to be made by maintaining the status quo and not admitting the error of their ways.
The fact is, psychiatry STILL doesn't understand what causes psychological distress, and the primary theory proposed; the idea that unwanted behavior and depression are due to an imbalance of serotonin and dopamine in your brain, has NEVER been proven.
On the contrary, research has proven the theory is WRONG, yet this evidence has been swept under the proverbial rug.
Despite what the slick advertisements say, psychotropic drugs have no measurable biological imbalances to correct—unlike other drugs that can measurably alter levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and so on.
"How can you medicate something that is not physically there?" they ask in this documentary.
The answer is, of course, you can't!
Doing so anyway is a dangerous game.
The Physical Dangers of Medicalizing a Non-Physical Condition
One significant danger of psychotropic drugs is that they can upset the delicate processes within your brain needed to maintain your biological functions. This risk simply cannot be overstated… The documentary cites some staggering statistics attributed to psychiatric drugs:
700,000 adverse reactions per year 42,000 deaths per year
How in the world can drugs that cause over 40,000 deaths a year be permitted, let alone handed out like candy?
Even if you DO have a serious psychiatric issue, such as PTSD for example, drugging it away is risky—especially if you're taking multiple drugs. Since the average American takes 13 drugs per year, this is a serious issue.. A number of military personnel have died in their sleep, for example, after taking a prescribed combination of Paxil, Seroquel, and Klonopin. These deaths were NOT due to overdosing, but rather "each case involved a sudden cardiac incident and resulting death," Jed Shlackman wrote in an article for the Examiner last year, adding:
"This adds to growing concern about serious adverse effects of psychiatric medications commonly prescribed to emotionally disturbed or traumatized soldiers."
Several studies have demonstrated the potential for lethal cardiac side effects. For example:
A literature review of studies from 2000-2007, published in Expert Opinion on drug Safety in 2008, found that "Antipsychotics can increase cardiac risk even at low doses, whereas antidepressants do it generally at high doses or in the setting of drug combinations." A study published in January 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that antipsychotic drugs doubled the risk of sudden cardiac death. Mortality was also found to be dose-dependent, so those taking higher doses were at increased risk of a lethal cardiac event. Another study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that same year also found that antidepressants increase the rate of sudden cardiac death.
Are Emotional Symptoms Really Signs of Mental Illness?
Clearly, there are "real" mental illnesses that can destroy any semblance of normalcy in a person's life. But are you mentally ill when you're sad for more than a couple of weeks?
Is losing zest for life a sign of mental illness?
Where does the normal grieving process fit into our modern lives—is it something that should be drugged, or is it a normal phase of life that everyone on the planet has to move through? And when does an emotional phase go from being a natural part of the changing emotional landscape that is life to a problem that needs to be "fixed"?
Many are quick to defend their choice to take drugs. No one wants to "feel bad." But are these drugs destroying lives rather than saving them?
I believe the answer is a resounding YES at this point.
Rather than helping people address the root cause of their suffering, psychiatry has now simply resorted to a chemical form of lobotomy to "make the problem go away."
drug therapy has been the conventional therapy of choice in the psychiatric field since its beginnings. Insane asylums during the early 19th century employed drugs like morphine and opium to quiet patients' outbursts. By the turn of the 20th century, heroin was peddled as a cure for psychiatric problems, and Sigmund Freud wrote articles promoting the use of cocaine for spiritual distress and behavioral difficulties.
Today, these drugs have become "illicit" and anyone resorting to cocaine to ease their troubled mind is called a junkie… But in essence, all the industry has done is replacing a few dangerous drugs with other dangerous drugs.
The Truth about the "Chemical Imbalance" Theory
As a family physician I have treated many thousands of depressed patients. Depression was actually one of my primary concerns in the mid 80s when I first started practicing, however at that time my primary tool was using antidepressants. I put thousands of people on these drugs and acquired a fair level of experience in this area.
Thankfully I learned more and was able to stop using all these drugs. It was my experience that the chemical imbalance was merely a massive marketing gimmick to support the use of expensive and toxic antidepressants.
Most of you have probably heard that depression is due to a "chemical imbalance in your brain," which these drugs are designed to correct. Unfortunately for anyone who has ever swallowed this marketing ploy, this is NOT a scientific statement.
So where did it come from?
The low serotonin theory arose because they understood how the drugs acted on the brain; it was a hypothesis that tried to explain how the drug might be fixing something. However, that hypothesis didn't hold up to further investigation. Investigations were done to see whether or not depressed people actually had lower serotonin levels, and in 1983 the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) concluded that
"There is no evidence that there is anything wrong in the serotonergic system of depressed patients."
The serotonin theory is simply not a scientific statement. It's a botched theory—a hypothesis that was proven incorrect.
The fact that this fallacy continues to thrive is destroying the health of millions, because if you take an SSRI drug that blocks the normal reuptake of serotonin, you end up with the very physiological problem the drug is designed to treat–low serotonin levels. Which, ironically, is the state hypothesized to bring on depression in the first place.
In 1996, neuroscientist Steven Hyman, who was head of the NIMH at the time, and is today Provost of Harvard University, published the paper Initiation and Adaptation: A Paradigm for Understanding Psychotropic drugs, in which he explains this chain of events. According to Dr. Hyman, once your brain has undergone a series of compensatory adaptations to the drug, your brain operates in a manner that is "both qualitatively and quantitatively different than normal."
So, it's important to understand that these drugs are NOT normalizing agents. They're abnormalizing agents, and once you understand that, you can understand how they might provoke a manic episode, or why they might be associated with sexual dysfunction or violence and suicide, for example.
How Did it Ever Get this Bad?
Part of the puzzle explaining why we now have a pill for every emotion and psychological trait is that psychiatrists were originally not considered "real" doctors—they couldn't actually "do" much to help their patients, and they certainly couldn't cure them. They realized that to increase their status, they had to make the field more scientific, and it was this decision that gave birth to the medicalizing and drugging of every conceivable behavioral tendency.
Medical journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Whitaker explains the history of the treatment of those with severe mental illness in his first book, Mad in America. His latest book, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America focuses on the disturbing fact that as psychiatry has gained ground, mental illness has skyrocketed.
Part of the problem is that the criteria for diagnosis has expanded exponentially—you can now be diagnosed as being "ill" if you have trouble controlling your shopping habits, and a who often argues with adults can be labeled according to the diagnostic code 313.81 -- Oppositional Defiant Disorder. A staggering array of normal human experiences now masquerade as "disorders," for which there is a drug treatment available.
Another factor is the fact that psychiatric drugs CREATE more serious forms of mental illness... What Does the Science Really Say about the Effectiveness of Psychiatric drugs?
First of all, when looking at the research literature, short-term trials show that antidepressants do NOT provide any clinically significant benefits for mild to moderate depression, compared to a placebo. As you know, all drugs have benefit-to-risk ratios, so if a drug is as effective as a placebo in relieving symptoms, it really doesn't make sense to use them as a first line of defense.
And yet doctors all over America prescribe them as if they were indeed sugar pills!
However, it gets worse. Research into the long-term effects of antidepressants shows that patients are no longer really recuperating from their depressive episodes as was the general norm prior to the advent of modern antidepressants. The depression appears to be lifting faster, but patients tend to relapse more frequently, turning what ought to have been a passing phase into an increasingly chronic state of depression.
Long-term studies now indicate that of people with major depression, only about 15 percent that are treated with an antidepressant go into remission and stay well for a long period of time. The remaining 85 percent start having continuing relapses and become chronically depressed.
According to Whitaker's research, this tendency to sensitize your brain to long-term depression appears to be the same both for the earlier tricyclic antidepressants and the newer SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
In addition, SSRI's have been shown to increase your risk of developing bipolar depression, according to Whitaker. Anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of who take an antidepressant for five years convert to bipolar illness. In adults, about 25 percent of long term users convert from a diagnosis of unipolar depression to bipolar.
This is a serious concern because once you're categorized as bipolar, you're often treated with a potent cocktail of medications including an antipsychotic medication, and long-term bipolar outcomes are grim in the United States. For starters, only about 35 percent of bipolar patients are employed, so the risk of permanent disability is great.
Another risk inherent with long-term use is that of cognitive decline.
It's Time to Stop the Insanity...
Every year, 230 million prescriptions for antidepressants are filled, making them one of the most-prescribed drugs in the United States. Despite all of these prescription drugs being taken, more than one in 20 Americans are depressed, according to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The statistics alone should be a strong indication that what we're doing is simply not working, and that instead, these drugs are contributing to other serious health problems.
Fortunately, there are other, safer, more effective ways, and some countries are starting to pay heed to the fact that research is actually showing it to be beneficial, rather than bowing to the will of pharmaceutical companies.
Key Factors to Overcoming Depression
Exercise – If you have depression, or even if you just feel down from time to time, exercise is a MUST. The research is overwhelmingly positive in this area, with studies confirming that physical exercise is at least as good as antidepressants for helping people who are depressed. One of the primary ways it does this is by increasing the level of endorphins, the "feel good" hormones, in your brain.
Address your stress -- Depression is a very serious condition, however it is not a "disease." Rather, it's a sign that your body and your life are out of balance.
This is so important to remember, because as soon as you start to view depression as an "illness," you think you need to take a drug to fix it. In reality, all you need to do is return balance to your life, and one of the key ways to doing this is addressing stress.
Meditation or yoga can help. Sometimes all you need to do is get outside for a walk. But in addition to that, I also recommend using a system that can help you address emotional issues that you may not even be consciously aware of. For this, my favorite is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). However, if you have depression or serious stress, I believe it would be best to consult with a mental health professional who is also an EFT practitioner to guide you.
Eat a healthy diet -- Another factor that cannot be overlooked is your diet. Foods have an immense impact on your mood and ability to cope and be happy, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan will best support your mental health. Avoiding sugar and grains will help normalize your insulin and leptin levels, which is another powerful tool in addressing depression.
Support optimal brain functioning with essential fats -- I also strongly recommend supplementing your diet with a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat, like krill oil. This may be the single most important nutrient to battle depression.
Get plenty of sunshine – Making sure you're getting enough sunlight exposure to have healthy vitamin D levels is also a crucial factor in treating depression or keeping it at bay. One previous study found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had normal levels. Vitamin D deficiency is actually more the norm than the exception, and has previously been implicated in both psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Dr Mercola
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The Works-Salvation Delusion
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 7:02 pm
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 4818 Views
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by the Berean Call
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come[s] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. --Galatians:2:21
When we compare biblical Christianity with the religions of the world, using the Scriptures to guide us, we see that the gap between them is unbridgeable. In fact, one is forced to the conclusion that there are really only two religions in the world: biblical Christianity--and all other religions. (Note: I refer to biblical Christianity as a "religion" only for comparative purposes: a religion is a manmade belief system, whereas biblical Christianity is what God has revealed to mankind.)
These two "religions" are set apart primarily by what they teach about salvation--how one can get to heaven or paradise or Valhalla or Nirvana or the abode of God, or whatever else people believe about the afterlife. Each of the two can be placed under one of two categories: Human Achievement and Divine Accomplishment--or, to put it simply, the religions of "Do" and "Done." I'm referring to the fact that either there are things you must do (Human Achievement) or there is nothing you can do because it has already been done (Divine Accomplishment) to earn entrance to heaven.
Biblical Christianity alone comes under the heading of Divine Accomplishment. All the other religions of the world must be placed under the label of Human Achievement. Let's first consider some of the major religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and certain denominations or cults that profess to be Christian.
Hinduism has about 330 million gods who must be appeased through some type of ritual. A couple of years ago I was given a tour of a massive Hindu temple just outside Chicago. The parking lot was filled with luxury cars. There was imported stonework from Italy. No expense was spared. Inside, doctors, lawyers, and engineers, among others, according to my guide, were serving meals to the idols, Hanuman, the monkey god, and Ganesha, the elephant god.
Hinduism is a system of works--things that one must do to reach moksha, the Hindu heaven. It involves the practice of yoga, which, contrary to what many have heard, has never been for improvement of one's health but is rather a means of dying to one's body in the hope of delivering oneself from the physical realm. This is supposed to yoke one to Brahman, the Supreme Deity of Hinduism. Reincarnation, a system that supposedly enables one to work one's way to heaven through many births, deaths, and rebirths, is one of the teachings of this religion.
Buddhism is also all about works. Buddha believed that the key to reaching Nirvana, which is allegedly the state of perfect peace and happiness, is through an understanding of the Four Noble Truths and by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path.
In essence, the Four Noble Truths declare that we endure suffering because of our desires or cravings. These "Truths" claim that suffering will stop when we cease trying to fulfill those desires. According to Buddhism, we can achieve this by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which has the elements of "right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration." This is all done by man's achievement, i.e., "doing things right" in order to reach Nirvana.
In Islam, paradise is attained when Allah weighs a follower's good works against his bad deeds on a scale at Judgment Day. The Qur'an declares: "For those things that are good remove those that are evil" (Surah 11:114). It's a quantitative process. Good deeds need to outweigh or blot out evil deeds. From the Qur'an again: "The balance that day will be true: Those whose scale [of good works] will be heavy, will prosper: Those whose scale will be light will find their souls in perdition" (Surah 7:8,9).
Here's an interesting example of what a Muslim faces to get into paradise: On April 3, 1991, the Egyptian magazine, Akher Saa, recorded a heated debate between four female journalists and Sheik Doctor Abdu-Almonim Al-Nimr, who holds a high position at Al-Azher Islamic University. One of the journalists asked him: "Is the hijab [veil or head covering] obligatory for women in Islam? If I do not wear the hijab, shall I go to hell in spite of my other good deeds? I am talking about the decent woman who does not wear the hijab."
Dr. Al-Nimr replied, "The ordinances in Islam are many, my , Allah made us accountable to each. It means if you do that ordinance you earn a point. If you neglect one, you lose a point. If you pray, you earn a point; if you do not fast you lose a point, and so on." He continued, "I did not invent a new theory...for every man there is a book in which all his good and evil deeds are recorded...even how do we treat our ."
The journalist said: "That means, if I do not wear the hijab, I will not enter the hell fire without taking into account the rest of my good deeds." Dr. Al-Nimr replied: "My , no one knows who will enter the hell fire...I might be the first one to enter it. Caliph Abu-Bakr Al-Sadik said: 'I have no trust concerning Allah's schemes, even if one of my feet is inside of paradise who can determine which deed is acceptable and which is not.' [See TBC, 10/91] You do all that you can do...and the accountability is with Allah. You ask him for acceptance [Italics added for emphasis]."
In Judaism, heaven is attained by keeping the Law and its ceremonies. Obviously, that isn't consistent with what the Tanakh (the Old Testament) teaches, yet that has been the practice of Judaism for millennia. As Jesus said, "In vain they do worship [God], teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew:15:9).
His words also apply to a number of "Christian" denominations and cults that stress works as necessary for salvation. Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, the Church of Christ adherents, Roman Catholics, Eastern and Russian Orthodox members, Lutherans, and many others all include something that needs to be accomplished or is necessary for salvation, whether it's baptism, the sacraments, or joining their particular organization and fulfilling their requirements.
Here is an example from the first 30 years of my own life as a Roman Catholic. I lived by a religious system of laws, many of which a Catholic is obligated to keep. It began with baptism. If one is not baptized, the Church says he can't enter heaven. It also says that although baptism is required, it is no guarantee. There are many other such rules that a Catholic must keep.
I have a book in my office called the Code of Canon Law. It contains 1,752 laws, many of which affect one's eternal destiny. Sins recognized by the Roman Catholic Church are classified as either mortal or venial. A mortal sin is one that damns a person to hell, should he or she die without having had it absolved by a priest. A venial sin doesn't need to be confessed to a priest, but whether confessed or not, all sin adds to one's temporal punishment, which must be expiated either here on earth through suffering or good works or else be purged in the flames of purgatory after one's death.
There are obligations that a Catholic must fulfill regarding both beliefs and deeds. For example, one is required to believe that Mary was conceived without sin (an event called the Immaculate Conception). If a Catholic doesn't believe that, he commits a mortal sin, which carries the penalty of eternal damnation. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation, a day on which all Catholics are required to attend Mass. Failure to do so could result in commission of a mortal sin.
All the belief systems that I've mentioned, and many others as well, consist of doing or not doing certain things to reach "heaven." All are based upon human achievement. But what about biblical Christianity? How is that different?
Ephesians:2:8-9
spells it out for us: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [salvation is] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast [emphasis added]." That's pretty straightforward. Our salvation doesn't have anything to do with our achievements.
Verse 8 tells us that it is by grace that we are saved. Grace is unmerited favor. If any merit is involved, it cannot be by grace. It's the gift of God. So if it's a gift, it can't be of works. That should be obvious. Someone puts in a tough month of work and his employer comes to him with his paycheck and declares, "Good job, Joe, here's your gift!" No--Joe worked for what he was paid. No gift was involved.
Regarding a person who works, Romans:4:4 tells us that his wages are a payment for the debt his employer owes him, and his paycheck has nothing to do with grace or a gift. A worker who has done a good job can boast or feel a sense of pride in the work he has accomplished. Yet all of that is contrary to grace or a gift. Grace rules out any sense of merit, and a gift does away with any sense of something earned or paid for.
Paul's teaching in Ephesians is affirmed in his epistle to Titus, chapter 3, verse 4:
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [Emphasis added]
We can see that this is consistent with Ephesians:2:8-9
. It's not by our works that we are saved--not by works of righteousness that we have done--but it's by His mercy that we are saved.
You may well imagine that, as a Roman Catholic conditioned by a life of Church rules and rituals, I had great difficulty believing that faith was the only basis by which I could enter heaven. It didn't make sense to me.
Well, not only does it make sense--it's the only possible way anyone can be saved. It is miraculously sensible!
First of all, what keeps anyone from heaven or eternal life with God? We know that the answer is "sin." Here is a small sampling of the applicable verses: All have sinned (Romans:3:23); the wages of sin is death (Romans:6:23); sin separates us from God (Isaiah:59:2); the soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel:18:20); sin brings forth death (James:1:15).
In Genesis 2, God explains to Adam the consequences of disobeying Him. Adam was told not to eat from a certain fruit in the Garden of Eden. It was a commandment that was related to obedience and love--not of God's withholding something from Adam, as the Serpent implied. Remember, Jesus said "If a man love me, he will keep my words," that is, His teachings (John:14:23). Our love for God is demonstrated by our obedience.
What was God's penalty for disobedience? Genesis:2:17: "...for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam and Eve loved themselves more than they loved God, because they didn't "keep [His] words." They disobeyed Him, and the consequence was death. "The day you eat of it you will surely die." In the Scriptures, death always involves separation, and in God's judgment upon them, two applications are found: 1) physical death (the degeneration of the body, leading ultimately to its separation from the soul and spirit), and 2) eternal separation from God.
Adam and Eve did not die instantly, but the death process began at that point for them and for all creation. However, their spiritual relationship with God changed immediately and forever. God's judgment for sin is eternal: separation from God forever. It's an infinite penalty. And God, who is perfect in all of His attributes, including justice, had to carry out the punishment. He couldn't let them slide by and just give them another chance. That would have meant that He was not perfectly true to His Word. The penalty had to be paid.
So what could Adam and Eve do? Nothing, except die physically and spiritually, which is to be separated from God forever. And what can the rest of mankind do, seeing that all have sinned? Nothing. Well, one might ask, what if we do all sorts of good deeds that might outweigh our sins, or if we go to church a lot, or get baptized, do religious things, receive the sacraments, and so forth? None of those things will help us. Why? Because they don't pay the penalty. So what can we do? There is nothing that we can do-except to pay the penalty ourselves by being separated from God forever.
Our situation would be absolutely hopeless except that God has some other attributes in addition to being perfectly just. He is also perfect in love and mercy! "For God so loved the world" that He sent His only begotten to pay the penalty for us (John:3:16).
And that is exactly what Jesus did on the Cross. It is incomprehensible to us that during those three hours of darkness (when He cried out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?") He took on the sins of the world and suffered the wrath of His Father-for us. On the Cross He "tasted death for every man" (Hebrews:2:9), that is, He experienced and paid the infinite penalty for everyone's sins.
When that divine accomplishment ended, Jesus cried out, "It is finished," meaning that the penalty had been paid in full. It was a divine accomplishment because it was something that only God could do! God became a man and died physically, because physical death was part of the penalty. Yet, as the God-Man, he was able to experience fully the penalty that every sinner would experience--being spiritually separated from God forever.
God's justice demands payment. Either we pay the penalty ourselves or we turn to Jesus by faith and receive the benefits of His sacrificial atonement. What does Roman 6:23 say? "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Bible could not be more clear that salvation can only be "the gift of God" and that we can only appropriate that gift by faith.
Any attempt to merit salvation by our works is not just futile--it is impossible: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James:2:10). Worse yet, it is a denial of the infinite penalty that God imposed, a rejection of God's "unspeakable gift," and a repudiation of what Christ accomplished for us.
It used to be that most evangelicals would agree. This is no longer the case as the apostasy gathers momentum in these Last Days. Recently, a Pew Forum survey of more than 40,000 Americans found that 57 percent of those who said they were evangelicals believed that Jesus is not the exclusive way to heaven. Since Jesus is the only one who provides divine accomplishment, all that remains is the futile delusion of human achievement for salvation. TBC
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Psychology in Prophecy
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 6:54 pm
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 4898 Views
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by T A McMahon
I recently gave the title of this article as the topic for one of my messages to an individual who was putting together a prophecy conference. An obvious pause on his end of the phone line told me that he was trying to imagine how psychology might possibly fit in with the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, the Great Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and other events and individuals that are common subjects at prophecy conferences. When his lack of response began to approach that awkward stage, I slowly and deliberately quoted 2 Timothy 3:1, 2: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves....” "Go for it!” was his immediate response.
Although the conference organizer didn’t know exactly how I was going to treat the subject, he immediately recognized the fit from the phrases: “the last days...perilous times...lovers of their own selves.” It’s very disturbing (yet understandable, as we will see) that most evangelicals (especially pastors) have missed the Apostle Paul’s very clear, even strident, warning about the perils of self-love and its connection to psychology in the last days.
To better understand what Paul’s concerns were, we need to start with a definition of the term “self.” It simply means the person himself. It’s me— and all that comprises me. Being a lover of my own self, then, means that I love me, first and foremost. Self fills up my heart, my mind, my will, my consciousness. Self, prior to salvation in Christ, is an autonomous being doing its own thing in rebellion against God. For believers in Jesus who are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), self should be in submission to Him. A true believer denies himself daily, takes up his cross, is crucified with Christ—and yet he lives, with his life being in Christ by faith (Matthew 16:24; Galatians 2:20).
Why did Paul put such an emphasis on self as an issue of critical concern in “the last days”? Hasn’t “self” been mankind’s common problem ever since the first act of disobedience against God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3)? Wasn’t Satan’s seduction of Eve a lying appeal to enhance her “self”? Satan: “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” (3:5). And didn’t Eve fall for his lies of self-gratification and self-deification? And wasn’t self-preservation an obvious product of Adam and Eve’s sin as they shifted the blame away from themselves? Adam: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree....” Eve: “The serpent beguiled me...” (3:12, 13). Obviously, self took center stage in the life of mankind from the first act of sin on earth and thereafter!
Yet Paul indicates a special emphasis on self in the “last days.” Although self-seeking and self-serving have been dominant characteristics of mankind as far back as the Fall, it has only been since the rise of modern psychology that self has been proclaimed as the solution to all of our mental, emotional, and behavioral ills. This was a new development of the 19th century that became inevitable as Darwinian “scientists” began promoting their own theory of man’s origin. Why inevitable? Well, as God “lost” His position as mankind’s Creator, He eventually was replaced altogether. Evolutionary theory eliminated any necessity for God, since all life, we were told, came about through natural processes. Taking God out of the picture of life left us with only “self” (or “Self”), resulting in humanity becoming the measure of all things. That, however, has left evolutionists/humanists with a dilemma.
On the one hand, man has been “relieved” of his accountability to his Creator; on the other hand, he’s left by himself to solve all of his problems. This evolutionary and humanistic belief posits that within man is the ultimate and necessary potential for coming up with these solutions. The Humanist Manifesto I declares, “Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement.” If the solutions are not within self, then godless mankind has nowhere else to turn, and, consequently, humanity has no hope. But we are assured by today’s psychotherapists that the cures for humanity’s ills are indeed found within mankind. Thus, Paul’s prophetic warning regarding the “last days” being “perilous times” and characterized primarily by men being “lovers of their own selves” is more fitting to our time than any other period in history.
Replacing God with self leads to the central dogma of the religion of psychology: mankind is innately good. Psychotherapy is an exercise in futility unless innate goodness resides within man at his very core. Here’s why: if man has an evil nature, as the Bible teaches, then it’s impossible for him to change himself. In other words, if I’m innately evil, I will always be evil because there is nothing within me to enable me to change. But if I’m good within but am experiencing problems of living, then through various psychological methods or techniques, I should be able to tap into, utilize, or realize that goodness and thus remedy the adversities I experience. All the psychotherapeutic selfisms, from self-love to self-esteem to self-image to self-actualization to self-realization—and ultimately to self-deification—are predicated upon the innate goodness of one’s nature.
Humanistic psychology—to which all psychotherapies are related—is the pseudo-scientific belief system of the Antichrist, who is the personification of human evil. The basics of his religion were introduced to mankind by Satan in his seduction of Eve (turning her away from obedience to God and toward her own self-interests, even godhood–Genesis 3) and culminate in a man, the Antichrist, setting himself up in the temple of God to be worshiped as God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It’s all about the worship of self.
This Humanist/Selfist religion of the Antichrist does not just suddenly appear on the scene when the Antichrist is revealed. As noted, the religion of selfism has been in development since the Garden of Eden. Moreover, it can be seen in the Tower of Babel and the idolatry of the Gentiles throughout the Old Testament and is prevalent in all the religions of the world today.
Only biblical Christianity stands against the exaltation of self that ties all other religions together. The Bible declares self to be evil and hopeless and says that man’s salvation can come only from God as it is received by faith in Jesus alone, who satisfied divine justice by His full payment for the sins of mankind, according to the Scriptures. All other religions look to self to obtain salvation, ultimately through one’s own efforts, whether by rituals, sacraments, meditation, liturgies, good works, and so forth. Human achievement versus Divine accomplishment—this is the critical difference between man’s way of salvation and God’s way.
The Apostle Paul’s caveat about the “last days” is directed at believers, warning them and indicating the peril that will follow the practice of loving themselves. Therefore, it’s rather shocking to witness the humanistic “self” concepts of the apostate religion of the Antichrist taking hold in unprecedented fashion within evangelical Christianity. Last month we quoted a well-known Christian psychologist who credited humanistic psychologists and New Agers Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow for helping evangelicals to recognize their “need for self-love and self-esteem.” That certainly cannot be derived from the writers of Scripture! Nevertheless, there have been many influential professing Christians who have wittingly or unwittingly sown the seeds of the humanistic self-love teachings so far and wide and for so long among Christians that the heresies have taken root and their deadly fruit has been eagerly consumed throughout the church.
Norman Vincent Peale is widely recognized as the one who pioneered the merger of theology and psychology that became known as “Christian psychology.” Consistent with his humanistic beliefs, which he spread through his nationally broadcast radio sermons and his highly popular Guideposts magazine, he explained that people “are inherently good; the bad reactions [sin?] aren’t basic.” Robert Schuller, whose “Possibility Thinking” reflected (his mentor) Peale’s “Positive Thinking,” both of which mirror the teachings of the Mind Science cults, sent 250,000 copies of his book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, to pastors all around the U.S. Schuller’s “Hour of Power” is the world’s most popular religious television program. Yet to millions, his humanistic views presented under the guise of Christianity are not recognized for their blasphemy: “Jesus knew his worth, his success fed his self- esteem....He suffered the cross to sanctify his self-esteem. And he bore the cross to sanctify your self-esteem. And the cross will sanctify the ego trip!”1 Could the Antichrist himself add anything more unbiblical?!
Sadly, many conservative evangelical preachers and teachers of note such as Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Josh McDowell, Anthony Hoekema, Norm Geisler, and others, bought into, taught, Christianized, and further popularized the concepts of self-love, self-esteem, self-worth, and self-image. It is the “new priesthood” of Christian psychologists, however, with credentials that falsely imply the anointing of science, that has convinced both shepherds and sheep of the legitimacy of the theories and methods of humanistic psychology. Among the swelling numbers of highly regarded, degreed professionals who teach the church what they have gleaned from “the counsel of the ungodly” is Dr. James Dobson, who, no doubt, is and has been the most influential individual among evangelicals for the last quarter-century. Concerning self-love and self-esteem he writes:
In a real sense, the health of an entire society depends on the ease with which its individual members can gain personal acceptance. Thus, whenever the keys to self-esteem are seemingly out of reach for a large percentage of the people, as in twentieth-century America, then widespread “mental illness,” neuroticism, hatred, alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, and social disorder will certainly occur....2 If I could write a prescription for the women of the world, it would provide each one of them with a healthy dose of self-esteem and personal worth (taken three times a day until the symptoms disappear). I have no doubt that this is their greatest need.3
Right behind Dobson in terms of his influence in the church today is Rick Warren. Although he has distanced himself of late from one of his early mentors, Robert Schuller (Warren was a frequent speaker in the nineties at the Robert Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership), his article in Ladies’ Home Journal titled “Learn to Love Yourself” (see TBC 4/05) is classic Schuller—and pure humanistic psychology. Warren lists “five truths,” none of which is either a “truth” or biblical:
1) Accept yourself; 2) Love yourself; 3) Be true to yourself; 4) Forgive yourself; and 5) Believe in yourself. Yet these humanistic, antibiblical doctrines have been taught so often from so many pulpits that most Christians, when presented with what the Bible actually teaches about self and the selfisms, are either shocked that they’ve been misled or bitterly resent hearing the truth.
Although I could not adequately cover in this brief article the details of how terribly subversive and destructive humanistic psychology (especially as championed in “Christian” psychology) is to Bible-believing Christians, here are a few concerns that we all need to seriously and prayerfully consider: One, humanistic psychology’s theories came from the atheistic, anti-Christian founders of psychotherapy, whose concepts qualify for what the Scriptures condemn as “the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1); Two, the humanistic emphasis upon loving and esteeming self rejects the biblical commandment to “deny self,” which Jesus admonished us to do in Matthew 16:24; Three, the increasing focus on esteeming one’s self gradually distorts a believer’s understanding of the truth regarding the sinful nature of man and hides conviction of sin in a morass of humanistic rationalizations; Four, the subjective feelings orientation of humanistic psychology undermines the absolutes of God’s objective truth; and Five, as the leaven of humanism grows in the mind of a believer, his interpretation of the Scriptures gradually shifts from what God has indeed said (Genesis 3:1) to “a way which seemeth right unto a man...” (Proverbs 14:12). Scripture tells us that man’s ways, i.e., all his self and humanistic teachings, “are the ways of death,” a death that separates a believer from the truth and robs him of his faith and fruitfulness.
How “perilous” will all of this become in these “last days”? Consider the following and, should the Lord tarry, weep for your . Generally, evangelical youth recognize the pseudo-science and myths of evolution, thanks to the instruction of organizations such as the Institute for Creation Research and Answers In Genesis, as well as numerous other apologetic ministries, creation scientists, gifted teachers, and so forth. Although the battle continues to rage in this area, not many evangelical young people go off to college intent on becoming “evolutionists.”
Yet what of the pseudo-science and myths of psychology? Who is teaching our about that? Certainly not the rapidly growing, 50,000-member American Association of Christian Counselors, whose main goal is the “integration” of psychotherapy and Christianity. How serious is this ignorance of the evil of psychology for our young people? The prestigious Princeton Review reports that psychology is the number two career choice for all those attending college. It’s even more popular in professing Christian universities, from Liberty University on the East coast to Fuller Theological Seminary on the West coast and nearly all that reside between.
Who is telling the truth to our ? Not Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who ironically advises, “Christian psychology is a worthy profession for a young believer, provided his faith is strong enough to withstand the humanistic concepts to which he will be exposed...[emphasis added]”4 Weep and pray for our next generation of evangelicals who are being led into the humanistic priesthood of what is tragically and deceptively called Christian psychology. —tbc
Endnotes:
1. Schuller, Robert, Living Positively One Day at a Time, Revell, 1981, 201; Self-Esteem, the New Reformation, Word Books, 1982, 14-15.
2. Dobson, James, Hide or Seek, Revell Pub., 1974, 12-13.
3. Dobson, James, What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew about Women, Tyndale House, 1975, 60.
4. Dobson, James, Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions, Tyndale, Wheaton, IL, 1989, 497.
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What Is Christian Psychology?
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 6:51 pm
Last Updated:Jan 20, 2012 4:18 am 6712 Views
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by Dave Hunt
he only possible justification for the existence of "Christian" psychology in the church would be if the Bible did not contain all of the counsel, wisdom, and guidance that Christians need for living sanctified lives pleasing to God in today's modern world. For thousands of years, both Old and New Testament believers found God and His Word more than sufficient in every way. At least this is what the Bible tells us of those who triumphed by faith over every trial and circumstance that Satan could bring against them. Some of their lives are summarized briefly in Hebrews 11.
The heroes and heroines of Bible history all triumphed by faith in God and in His promises. They neither had nor needed any help whatsoever from "Christian psychology", which didn't even exist in their day. Wouldn't faith in God and His Word, which has been proved thousands of times through the ages to be more than sufficient in every conceivable circumstance and in the deepest trials, be sufficient for Christians today, no matter what their trials and challenges might be? What could possibly persuade a Christian to look to psychology, invented by anti-Christians, for help in living a life pleasing to God?
Of course, [some] Christian psychologists claim to have a firm faith in the inerrancy of Scripture. But no matter how firmly a psychologist adheres to inerrancy of Scripture, they all must deny its sufficiency. This is the only way to justify their profession. If any part of the Bible is in error, however, then where can the line be drawn? If the Bible has not given us all we need to live the Christian life, that fact alone would be enough to make all of it suspect in view of the many places where it claims to be sufficient for living triumphant lives pleasing to God.
How and why would psychology, invented by atheists and anti-Christians as a substitute for God, the Bible, and Christianity, provide new insights into the Bible unknown to (and obviously unneeded by) millions of believers over the last four thousand years or more? And why would we need it now? There is neither a biblical nor rational answer to that logical question.
"Christian" psychology is not a recognized classification in this field. Textbooks and reference manuals list hundreds of psychologies (Freudian, Jungian, Rogerian, humanistic, etc.), each named after its founder or its founder's chief theory. But there is no school of psychology that was founded by a Christian and is therefore called "Christian" and recognized as such in university libraries. Psychology is in fact anti-Christian. It doesn't come from the Bible but is simply an attempt to integrate the theories of atheists into the Bible in order to supply missing essentials for daily living that the Holy Spirit apparently failed to include. Does that sound reasonable?
Here is what two leading Christian psychologists had to say in a paper delivered at a convention of Christian psychologists:
We are often asked if we are "Christian psychologists" and find it difficult to answer since we don't know what the question implies. We are Christians who are psychologists, but at the present time there is no acceptable Christian psychology that is markedly different from non-Christian psychology.
Psychology wasn't even well known in the secular world until after Freud and Jung popularized it in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Nor did it enter the evangelical church until after World War II. For nearly nineteen hundred years, Christians triumphed over the world, the flesh, and the devil by faith in Christ alone and obedience to His Word. If great men and women of God throughout history didn't need psychology, why would anyone need it today?
How did psychology get into the church? The man most responsible for the intrusion of that Trojan was none other than arch heretic Norman Vincent Peale. Peale declared on national TV on the Phil Donahue show, "It's not necessary to be born again. You have your way to God; I have mine. I found eternal peace in a Shinto shrine...God is everywhere." Shocked, Donahue responded, "But you're a Christian minister; you're supposed to tell me that Christ is the way and the truth and the life, aren't you?" Peale replied, "Christ is one of the ways." Among his many other heresies were the following:
Who is God? Some theological being...? God is energy. As you breathe God in, as you visualize His energy, you will be reenergized! Prayer power is a manifestation of energy. Just as there exist scientific techniques for the release of atomic energy, so are there scientific procedures for the release of spiritual energy through the mechanism of prayer.... Prayer...is a procedure by which spiritual power flows from God...releases forces and energies...one must learn step by step the formula for opening the circuit and receiving this power. Any method through which you can stimulate the power of God to flow into your mind is legitimate...
So how did secular, anti-Christian psychology metamorphose into Christian psychology? It doesn't come from the Bible and was unknown in the church until Peale brought it in. As reported on Peale's home page, here is how "Operation Trojan in the Church" began:
In 1937, Peale established a clinic with Freudian psychiatrist Dr. Smiley Blanton in the basement of the Marble Collegiate Church.... The clinic was described as having "a theoretical base that was Jungian, with a strong evidence of neo- and post-Freudianism." It subsequently grew to an operation with more than 20 psychiatric doctors and psychologically-trained "ministers," and in 1951 became known as the American Foundation for Religion and Psychiatry. In 1972, it merged with the Academy of Religion and Mental Health to form the Institutes of Religion and Health (IRH).... Indeed, Peale pioneered the merger of theology and psychology which became known as Christian Psychology. [Emphasis added] Peale said, "through prayer you . . . make use of the great factor within yourself, the deep subconscious mind... [which Jesus called] the kingdom of God within you....Positive thinking is just another term for faith."
According to J. Harold Ellens, author of a section on Peale in the Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling, "Dr. Peale...had the courage to stand pat on this position in spite of the opposition of the entire Christian church for nearly half a century [emphasis added]."
So the "entire Christian church" opposed "Christian psychology" for decades. Eventually, not only liberals but evangelicals succumbed to this appealing delusion that theology could be made "scientific" by merging it with psychology - though the latter is not a science and never could be. Peale was not only a master of heresies by the dozens but a master of persuasion. Much of that can be credited to Billy Graham, who repeatedly praised Peale and endorsed his writings.
Christian psychology is an attempted marriage of the Bible to theories of the atheistic inventors of psychology. It is worse than trying to mix oil and water; it is the attempt to blend the Word of God with atheism and occultism. This is impossible to do honestly. Even "Christian psychologists" themselves admit they can't quite find a way to put that mixture together. After trying for decades to mix this devil's brew, Gary Collins admitted: "It is too early to answer decisively if psychology and Christianity can be integrated."
Then why keep trying? Why is anyone attempting this impossible and incompatible partnership? It has succeeded because those who call themselves Christian psychologists and promote it in the evangelical church want legitimacy and respect both in the world and in the church. But Scripture declares, "whosoever . . . will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).
The very foundation of Christian psychology is the belief that the Bible is insufficient to deal with the traumas and challenges of modern life: we need something more than the counsel God gives in His Word. Although one of Christ's names is Counselor (Isaiah 9:6), we supposedly need more today than His counsel alone. The atheistic founders of psychology's various schools presumably offer part of "God's truth" that either isn't included in Scripture or isn't explained there as well as psychology expresses it. This is the sand upon which Christian psychology is founded. It is not the kind of ground upon which one would want to build anything.
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Manufacturing Depression
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 6:43 pm
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 4738 Views
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Author with professional and personal experience: Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg’s musings on the intersection of science, politics, and ethics have graced the pages of The New Yorker , Wired , and Mother Jones. A longtime sufferer of depression, in 2007 he enrolled himself in a clinical trial for major depression (after his initial application for a minor depression trial was rejected). He wrote about his experience in a Harper’s magazine piece, which received a tremendous response from readers..
• “Am I happy enough?”: This has been a pivotal question since America’s inception. Am I not happy enough because I am depressed? is a more recent version. Greenberg shows how depression has been manufactured—not as an illness, but as an idea about our suffering, its source, and its relief. He challenges us to look at depression in a new way..
• A nation of depressives: In the twenty years since their introduction, antidepressants have become staples of our medicine chests—upwards of 30 million Americans are taking them at an annual cost of more than $10 billion. Even more important, Greenberg argues, it has become common, if not mandatory, to think of our unhappiness as a disease that can, and should, be treated by medication. Manufacturing Depression tells the story of how we got to this peculiar point in our history. .
Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People,
offered a critical look at psychology, psychotherapy and the "Psychology Industry."
She is not only an out-spoken critic of her own profession but also a critical observer of society and social life. Psychologist Tana Dineen has over 30 years of experience in the field of psychology. Find out why she was, but is no longer, a licensed "Psychologist," what she has said and written. Writer Manufacturing Victims was first released in 1996 and significantly revised in 1998 and again in 2001. Read this book and many other articles and book chapters by Dr. Dineen. Social Critic As a social critic, Tana Dineen has been a frequent columnist for such newspapers as the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun, and a contributor to Spiked in London, England. Discover her perspective on various social and political events.
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Christian Psychology Is it Idolatry?
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Posted:Jan 16, 2012 6:34 pm
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2024 12:39 am 4791 Views
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t is time to confront the church about its love affair with "christian psychology." To remain silent would continue tacit approval for the irreparable harm being done to the church, to Christian families, to Christian marriages, and to Christian lives by these purported heroes being given such idolatrous adulation.
"But the true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore, his worship and religion, will endure no mixture, nor partner." Sir Francis Bacon
A tragedy is taking place in the churches which profess to be following Christ. False teachings of worldly wisemen have been brought into the church by those masquerading as shepherds and as counselors who are inwardly the ravening wolves about whom Paul warned long ago. Satan comes not with horns and tail but as a beautiful angel of light; sometimes even as a christian counselor or preacher. He knows the bible well, and is willing to pray to achieve his deceptive goals, and even quotes scripture, although twisting it or taking it out of context.
Only by acting as the Bereans, whom Paul congratulated, can we hope to discern the genuine from the counterfeit, the truth from the lies which tickle our ears. We cannot simply accept what the majority considers to be truth in these days of deception in which we live. We must remain a peculiar people, separate, chaste, and set aside as the bride of the soon coming Christ. We cannot act or believe as the world does, or follow its worldly teachers or those who try to mix worldly wisdom of the ungodly with God's pure Word and call it holy because they themselves are perhaps "christian".
As mathematician Blaise Pascal once said, unless one loves truth, he is unlikely to know it. It is this writer's opinion that many professing to love Jesus do not love Truth.
This mere lip-service to the truth has a severe repercussion according to God's Word. He promises to send those who do not love truth a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie. What lie? Any lie, any falsehood or expert opinion of some professional, some outstanding member of the church hierarchy, pop "christian" author, highly recommended "christian" counselor, televangelist, "christian" politician, et al.
Therefore, those who show by their attitudes that majority or expert opinion is good enough for them, miss the truth they could have gleaned from the Bible which would have warned them to exercise discernment, and become ensnared by the mass delusions which are clearly rampant around us and in our midst. My brothers and sisters in Christ. Think of this author what you will, if you do nothing else, determine right this minute to unconditionally love truth, not merely accept what others say, no matter who they may be. If you will do this, God will honor that attitude of your heart. Your life will never be the same from that moment.
To continue, some very well known men and women would have us believe they have been called by God to practice "christian psychiatry" or to teach psychology to the church. They mostly say the bible is "insufficient" to solve the problems of the body of Christ and that the pastors and lay believers cannot handle the tough problems with the tools provided them in the Word of God. However, the Holy Bible says that God's written Word and the Living Word, Jesus Christ is sufficient. These experts who encourage a psychobabble gospel fail to disclose how many such professionals have led into despair, divorce, or suicide while replacing the truth of God with a lie.
How many marriages have been weakened or "put asunder" in the name of helping achieve empowerment or personal fulfillment? Where is their absolute stand for the foreverness of marriage and family as required by God's holy Word? Where do such christian psychologist's get the authority to justify encouraging divorce on the basis of abuse allegations or spousal misconduct? Why do they ignore the covenant aspect of the marriage institution? Have they forgotten that these sacred institutions of marriage and family are not secular but were ordained by God and are not to be put asunder? Any person who turns his/her back on their own flesh and blood are worse than an infidel according to the Word of the Lord.
The "professionals" seem to believe they alone have wisdom to solve people's problems and to heal their afflictions. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world and spoken his truth to babes? Can these false "christian" prophets somehow clean up the philosophies of godless and worldly wise-men by attempting integration with God's Word? Is this not a misguided effort to add such "doctrines of demons" to the pure Word of God?
Scripture says there can be no counsel, no wisdom, no understanding against the Lord. Psychology, as a body of humanistic wisdom, clearly contradicts biblical principles and therefore does not honor our Creator who is Lord of heaven and earth and outside of time and space. Psychology has its roots based in the hollow philosophy of men who have rejected God, his holy word, and the loving sacrifice of his on the cross of shame.
Psychology and psychotherapy as these have evolved today reject the sovereignty and sufficiency of the Word, who is both the person and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bible personifies wisdom as being Jesus. Any teaching or purported theories which dishonor or reject Jesus therefore cannot be considered "wisdom." Christians who rely upon such science falsely so-called of this world are not qualified to give counsel to their brothers and sisters in the Lord.
If anyone thinks himself wise, let him become a fool so that he may become wise.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
The worldly wisdom offered by today's therapists which is in conflict with God's word is simply not considered counseling by the Holy Bible which says that all counsel must agree with what God has already spoken. God's Word is forever settled in heaven.
Since the days of Creation, lying serpents have masqueraded as christian counselors and therapists by questioning what God has said. These false counselors beguile unwary men and women to become their own arbiters of good and evil rather than humbly relying upon God's Word. God's own words are our sufficient counselors. No teaching or counsel which is against the Word of God is acceptable, nor is it true, according to the Holy Scripture. As the Scripture warns: Let every man be a liar, and God's Word be true.
Counseling based upon God's word is good. Scriptural truth brings healing to all who hear and receive it. It does not take a professional to select just the right passage for a particular problem. All of God's word is said to be Spirit and truth, thus all of that Word is supernaturally able to heal and make whole.
Therapy based upon the pseudo-science of psychology is deceptive and heals no one. It may ease their guilt and therefore they feel temporary relief. Psychology's unproven theories and faulty humanistic reasoning weaken the faith and common sense of many. Freudian psychology mocks the moral teachings of parents and sears the conscience of those who listen to it. This takes away personal restraint so that sin may abound without the constraint of personal responsibility. This has led to obvious negative results in our increasingly violent self-centered society.
Just like the serpent gave Eve permission to sin, so these therapists give you and me such encouragement to do likewise. How much encouragement does our flesh need? I don't know about you, but if a person considered to be churchly and expert tells me he's got it right, and I've got it wrong, might I not concede my position to him, even if his facts are biblically wrong? That is liable to happen, unless my heart is determined to love truth, and to fight for truth. Not to fight for my opinions, which may be incorrect and often are, but to fight for what God has told us is true, even if I must fight on alone.
Many christian psychologists when confronted will claim they do not follow Freud and that he has been discredited. If one observes closely however, they will find that almost all psychologists and psychotherapists continue to use Freud's faulty theories, practices, and godless explanations for human behavior. This in spite of the contradiction of such beliefs and theories with the holy Bible. It is their decision to make, but they are making a personal decision of grave consequence, and those who love Christ and intend to follow him only, should be able to see the difference.
One of the most tragic examples of the error of Christians following psychological idols is in the area of recovered memories of childhood abuse. Worthless and vain counselors attempting to integrate godless psychological wisdom with the word of God have failed to discern the huge deception of imagined abuse memories in response to suggestion. Instead, they actively joined their secular counterparts in encouraging the wicked creation of vile abuse memories which are being used to slander parents. These are the same parents whom God commanded us to honor and respect without exception.
In the so-called "christian" version of recovered abuse memories, one often finds stories of satanic rituals, cannabilism, dark ceremonies, and forced abortions. Multiple personality myths also abound as many come to rely upon a false identity assigned them during misdiagnosis of their symptoms. Even the "christian" bookstores are full of such garbage written and published as "non-fiction." The truth of the matter is said to be too controversial by the publishing houses that one would think would answer only to God and not to the almighty dollar for what they publish in His name.
The MPD device may result from scapegoating guilt onto others, from overeliance upon drugs, too much self-focus, hypnosis, or from misguided therapy for spiritual problems which require God's spiritual solution. The bible clearly shows that in some cases God sends insanity as a judgment upon pride and rebellion. Anyone who thinks about it for even a little while must admit that self-focus is a path to emotional instability and possible mental breakdown.
Many in the church today have accepted a psychologized gospel in place of the biblical gospel. It has gotten so bad that preachers in some churches are even hiding out the adult daughters that have falsely accused their Christian parents of abuse, some of whom are preachers themselves and active in their faith. Brethren, this should not be!
How does it lift the cause of our Lord to support questionable abuse victims who testimony is based on delayed recall and without the necessary two witnesses, slandering parents in ways which defy the biblical principle decreeing honor for both our father and mother? Parents who have been given authority over us by the Lord cannot be rebelled against simply because they fail in their duties. All authority is really God's authority and because it is, dire personal consequences attach to those who show that authority such rebellion and disrespect. Please hear this. If it be not from me but from the Lord, choose whether you will serve him or serve the philosophies of worldly wise-men who will tell you differently. As Joshua said, "Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Giant-slayer David honored King Saul long after this authority acted dishonorably. The honor God commands us to pay to authority and parents is not earned, it is a matter of obedience to God.
Noah's Ham erred gravely in slandering his father while feeling justified because Noah had acted without honor. Authority is a principle that is extremely important to God and to us, and brings serious consequences to us and our for our failure to submit to God's will and Word. There is a blessing for those who humbly choose to remain under authority. Those who fear the Lord, know that no man or woman can sin without paying the price. Sometimes that price is hard to bear. Suffering is something we all experience in life, but who needs more of it? If we are called by God to suffer, better for doing right than for doing wrong.
The way of the world is to seek our own honor, but the way of Christ is to pay honor to others to whom it is owed,including those who have failed. To honor is to ascribe value to the one honored, even to some whom this world disdains. The Bible says it is not honorable to seek one's own honor. Why then do therapists encourage our human pride and self-esteem which already craves respect and honor?
I must admit here and now that I too have great difficulty with this principle. Not with honoring my parents, for my heart is totally committed to that, but with honoring some authorities God has placed in power who seem bent on doing evil. How does one disagree with the evil and yet maintain respect and pay honor to that authority who refuses to repent? All I know is much prayer and repentance of my own and with an attitude of heart to obey God's word and accept his will on the matter. This doesn't mean I give up standing for truth or accept falsehoods of that authority.
Why do so few therapists take responsibility for their mistakes? Why do they so commonly pose as infallible, refuse correction, and arrogantly avoid repentance while clinging to their belief in unproven idolatrous theories? Is it the deceitfulness of sin, a type of spiritual blindness?
Even as many deny any kinship with Freud, they use his theories of "repression due to trauma" and "psychic determinism" as a matter of routine. Do not be misled, whatever it is called, today's therapy is filled with deceit and deception. Hypnosis and mesmerism is associated with psychotherapy and all three involve deceit and distorting reality.
Why do today's marriage and family therapists have no commitment to saving marriages and families? Even so-called christian therapists often facilitate divorce and family break-up while focusing upon soothing their feelings. Why have they such disregard for "putting asunder what God has joined together?" Jesus said his followers are to deny self. Why then do therapists encourage almost every to focus on self? Where is our response to Apostle Paul's command for us to esteem others as better than ourselves?
Much of the established church now reflects this same godless attitude because it has accepted the false teaching of psychology and become saturated in therapy error. Nothing can be truth if it conflicts with what God has said. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Godless ideas do not produce godly lives, marriages, or families.
Check out the background of some of the godless men and women who developed what "christian" psychologists and psychiatrists now want to integrate with the pure Word of God's truth. I challenge you to show any of these to be godly men who can be trusted to rightly divide the word of God. I invite a rebuke from anyone who can show me where I have misspoken.
Freud was a god-hating philosopher who invented a new religion calling it "psychoanalysis." He not only hated Christ, he hated Judaism as well, forbiding his wife to go to Synagogue from the moment they married. Freud's own had not set foot in a Synagogue until the day he married. Freud believed Biblical Christianity to be myth.
Franz Anton Mesmer was the founder of psychotherapy according to psychiatrist and scientologist Dr. Thomas Szasz. Mesmer was an astrologer-M.D. from Austria who traveled to France conducting seances and pretending healings of mythical illnesses. He was exposed as a fraud and a charlatan by none other than Benjamin Franklin, the American ambassador to France at that time. Yet Mesmer's occult practice of "animal magnetism" has lived on for centuries through the practice of hypnosis and psychotherapy. Neither "christian psychotherapy" nor "christian hypnotherapy" has any Scriptural basis in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Mary Baker Eddy followed the teachings of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a mesmerizer-healer who got his methods from Mesmer's occultism. Eddy rewrote the bible with new age jargon and founded the cult of Christian Science. A good example of the fruit of the tree of occult belief in mesmerism, hypnosis, and mixing religion with pseudoscience.
Erik Fromm founded positive thinking based upon teachings of Anton Mesmer, and this was extended by such people as Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller to an extreme focus on self-esteem and disregard for Scriptural truth.
Emile Coue was a French psychotherapist and pharmacist. He was born in 1857 and died in 1926. Coue's study of hypnotism led him to the belief that auto-suggestion was able to effect cures in all cases and in 1910 he opened a clinic in Nancy to put his theories to the test.
New age practitioners and therapists of today like to point to Coue's words: "Choose what you will, then let your imagination bring it to you!" Sounds like the motto of today's psychotherapy crowd with their recovered memory deception.
Another quote from Emile Coue: When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.
Karl Gustaf Jung was an astrologer and involved himself in many seances so as to build his pseudoscience of myth and psychology. He believed all roads led to the same destination. Jung was about as occultic as a man can get and still is adored by many in the church.
Abraham Maslow attended seances seeking communication with the dead.
So did Carl Rogers
So did Jung, the spook chasing, godless philosopher who broke with Freud to form his own group.
Albert Ellis is an atheist who believes Christianity to be pathological and a sign of mental illness. He uses a cognitive approach-also writes books advising married couples how to cheat on their spouses. Amazingly, many in christian psychology circles still believe they can sift through what this man recommends to find the good and not be affected by his evil. Have they forgotten the biblical admonition that says, Bad company corrupts good morals.
Erik Fromm was an atheist who invented the concept of "unconditional love." There is only one thing wrong with unconditional love. It is a myth. What a man wishes is undying love according to the bible. This means we want love to be faithful, not necessarily accepting of our misbehavior. Acceptance of evil behavior only reinforces such behavior and produces a spoiled who expects to have his own way. Discipline involves loving the and yet not accepting his behavior until it meets certain standards.
The love offered by therapists is primarily flattery, and that for monetary gain. Fromm mocked fathers for their "conditional love." He assumed mothers have unconditional love. One can witness the violence in our society which is a result of this "unconditional love" which is nothing more than permissiveness and sentimentality. Real love must sometimes confront.
The bible says the father who loves his will discipline them and use the rod of correction. A person who loves his cannot allow that to remain a rebel. The principle of authority is too important and the way of a rebel is so very hard. An undisciplined is very unlovely. If the father fails to administer the rod of reproof, other authorities in their adult lives may not have as much loving restraint.
God's love is a mystery. Certainly, God does not give unconditional acceptance to sinners. If they reject his , He will reject them.
Love gives people what they need, not what they want. The wounds of a friend are faithful, while an enemy multiplies kisses. Many men claim to show undying love, but where is the truth?
How can any worldly philosophy created by godless men and women be integrated with the Word of God? Why do so many Christians still try to bring psychology into the church and attempt to live their lives by it? Why do they attempt to solve their problems with such godless worldly wisdom?
Paul said there would come a time when people had itching ears. They would no longer put up with sound doctrine but would gather around themselves false teachers.
Paul also warned us not to be taken captive by hollow philosophy which is the teaching of men. Rather we are told to rely upon the Word of God. Why settle for a mess of pottage when we have the Wonderful Counselor?
Psychotherapy and its unproven theory has become a false religion for millions. It has even become a destructive cult. Those ensnared follow their therapists into idolatry instead of obeying the Word of God which can set them free. Until one comes to rely upon the Word of God as being wholly sufficient, one remains ensnared in false doctrines of demons.
Shouldn't the shepherds warn their flocks about psychological wolves in sheep's clothing who are devouring the lambs?
The opinions expressed on this site are those of Enemy of the People. The author took this nom de plume from the play of that same name by playwright Henrik Ibsen. The reader is urged to read this short work to acertain why the author believes this pen name to be relevant.
"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Paul the Apostle Galatians 4:16 KJV
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