Christian Psychology: What’s Wrong with This Picture?

11 June 2014 by Rev Dr Steven Kau-

 

I was motivated to write this article when I read one episode in the life story of Elliot Rodgers which I wrote about recently. It seems at the age of eight, his parents sent him to a therapist for counseling or treatment. I may not be an expert in mental health but at an age of eight, it should be the happiest time of a kid’s life. Sure he may be naughty or even rebellious, that’s to be expected from a kid of that age. In the story of his life, he called this world, “My Twisted World.” It was apparent at this tender age he was already feeling delusion with this world. And his parents sent him back into the philosophy and psychology of this “Twisted World” to try and fix him. I sometimes wonder who is more insane?

 

 

But what troubles me is that Christians are increasingly turning to the philosophy and psychology of this “Twisted World” as well. The cure for the sinful soul and the problems of life was the vital ministry of the church, using God’s Word for more 1900 years.

The early church faced and ministered to mental-emotional behavior problems that were as complex as the ones that exist today. If anything, the conditions were more difficult than those we face today. The early church suffered persecution, poverty, and various afflictions which are foreign to most twenty-first century Christians (especially in the West). The catacombs of Rome are a testimony to the extent of the problems faced by the early Church.

But as in every generation, there are those who do not want to submit to the Word of God. Freud and Jung were two such individuals from their generation. They boldly rejected the authority of the Word of God. But it did not stop there. They and many like them developed a theory that claimed offered an alternative solution for the sin problem and the problems of life. It was called psychology. Freud and Jung believed that they had found a means through which the soul of man could be perfected without having to repent of sin and submit to God. Man didn’t need Jesus as Savior, he could be his own savior.

 

 

From this root psychology has grown by leaps and bounds with more than 250 separate systems of psychotherapy. But what is even more mind-boggling is that the Christian church has been duped into buying into this human wisdom. There are many Christians that have been convinced that the difficult problems of life need more than the Word of God and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But the Bible assures us, “According as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue,” (2 Peter 1:3) and “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” (Isaiah 26:3)

How did psychology get into the church? The man most responsible for the intrusion of that ‘Trojan Horse’ was none other than arch heretic Norman Vincent Peale.

Peale declared on national television 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 are a Christian minister; you are 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 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 recognized! Prayer power is manifestation of energy… Any method through which you can stimulate the power of God to flow into your mind is legitimate.”

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.”

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. Peale was not only a master of heresies by the dozens but a master of persuasion.

Non-believers can only attain spiritual life and health by surrender to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That is the direction the church should be pointing them. Psychological techniques, even in the name of Jesus, cannot produce spiritual life. It’s time we get back into the Bible.

 

 

The church must minister under the unction of the Holy Spirit, not according to man’s wisdom. The problem is that many churches and Christians have been spoiled by the humanly devised philosophy of psychology. Paul warned that “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

The key word in this verse is “spoil.” When we hear the word, we think it means “to become unfit for use or consumption, as from decay.” But this is not the meaning of the word in the New Testament context. The word “spoil” is translated from the Greek word ‘sulagogeo’ (Strongs #4812) which means “to carry off as captive and a slave.” That being the case, can we integrate psychology and Christianity? One Christian psychologist said, “At the present time, there is no acceptable Christian psychology that is markedly different from non-Christian psychology.”

Paul warned, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

 

 

For 1900 years, the Christian community has lived without psychology, but now, in the last 100 years, at the end of the age, it seems we can’t do without it.

Dysfunctional families by droves are flocking to psychologist and psychiatrist for help. Many large churches even have a resident psychiatrists on staff. The key phrase here is “the end of the age.” To those who understand the Bible, there are desperate forces at work preparing the stage for the last scene. There are many threads that weave the apostasy or “falling away,” mentioned in Scriptures, which is predominant in the times we are living in right now. The Bible calls the vehicle that transport this apostasy a “strong delusion” send by God Himself (2 Thessalonians 2:11), to those who refuse to believe His written word; they have instead chosen to believe a lie.

The “strong delusion” is a curse, which is at work in every area of the world and the Church; it reaches into every area of belief and practice. Starting out like a small incidental, seemingly inconsequential virus infecting the body, or a piece of yeast leavening a loaf of dough, this deceit/delusion infiltrates and corrupts and continues its dark work till all hope of recovery is extinguished. (Matthew 16:5-12; 1 Cor. 5:6; Galatians 5:7-8)

 

 

The stage is set and the prophetic clock is running and because of that, we can understand better why the recent profusion of “Christian psychology” has risen and why it should be avoided.

Why would Christians go to the world for understanding, unless they felt that the Bible is lacking or unable to supply the answers to the questions concerning their human psyche? Christian psychology is just more proof of the lack of faith and belief of those who claim to be devoted followers of Jesus. When the Bible stops being the standard against which all our life and all our decisions are measured, then we can expect, not only the Church’s justification for using the principals of Freud, Jung, Rogers, Adler, Pavlov and of course Dr. Phil and many others; but we can expect the supplementing of Biblical wisdom in every area which we see conspicuously displayed in the new aberrant departure from orthodox evangelical beliefs; the growing ecumenism of traditional Christianity with false religions and cults; a focus on church growth rather preaching the Gospel; the rebirth and wide spread acceptance of liberal theology, the melding of Protestantism and Catholicism and a re-directed emphasis to “Focus on the Family” instead of focusing on God.

 

 

The move towards self-improvement, self-esteem, self-discovery, possibility thinking, self-image and self-actualization is in effect the creating of a massive ego-centric image to replace a critical lack of faith in the power of God to solve problems. This building up of the ego is a “Trojan Horse” of evil to slip in under the radar of our consciousness and destroy everything Christian; to prepare the world for the Antichrist and Satan’s grand push to overthrow the Kingdom of the Almighty.

Psychotherapy has created a whole subculture of “victims.” These therapists have escalated the problem rather than solve it. There is a flight from Biblical virtues such as faith and trust in God, personal responsibility, moral accountability and the serving of others, to the anti-virtue of “selfishness.”All of this benefits the industry and not Christians who need a confrontation with truth. The Bible truthfully portrays man as a monster of iniquity and not a victim of circumstances. The Bible tells us to deny ourselves, not love ourselves.

 

 

The goal of happiness has become the goals of self-satisfaction and that is the new religion of the 21st century, instead of bringing glory to God through a life of self-sacrifice and self-denial. A victim can be exploited and many victims can make one wealthy. A firm foundation of truth creates strong men and women who cannot be exploited. Jesus did not die on the cross because He found something within us worth dying for; we were not lovable little creatures with inherent value. We are not creatures worthy of salvation but monster’s of iniquity, worthy of Hell.

But let us not forget that Satan and his swarm of demons are the creators and crusaders of all the dysfunctionality we see and experience in the world outside of Eden. Whenever anything is mixed with Scripture, it is Satan who ultimately benefits.

 

 

Regardless of the opposition to these facts, the teachings of these men have crept into the body of Christ. Well-meaning and knowledgeable Christians when faced with a personal or family dilemma will ignore the clear teaching of the Bible and turn to those spreading the lies of Godless men because of fear and unbelief. Christian psychologist and counselors who disseminate these doctrines, as “schools of thought,” can only be classified as willfully ignorant of the bible’s teaching and lack faith in the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent God who commands His children to bring all their cares to Him and Him alone. (1 Peter 5:7; Matthew 6:34)

The meaning of these verses is that we are to commit our whole cause to Him. If we suffer heavy trials; if we lose our friends, health or property; if we have arduous and responsible duties to perform; if we feel we have no strength and are in danger of being crushed by what is laid upon us, we may go and cast all upon the Lord; that is, we may look to Him for grace and strength and feel assured that he will enable us to sustain all that is laid upon us.

The relief in the case will be as real and as full of consolation, as if He took the burden and bore it Himself. He will enable us to bear with ease what we supposed we could, never have done and the burden which He laid upon us will be light. (Matthew 11:30)

 

 

Let us understand something; our emotional and psychological problems are in reality spiritual and theological in nature. When our soul is troubled, it will manifest itself through the flesh and unless we are firmly established in faith and trust in God, we will seek out help from the world or from Christians purporting to understand the psyche as pioneered by these atheists.

Halting a specific sin issue in a fellow-believer’s life should not be the primary goal of those who minister. Sin and problems is always symptomatic of a believer having distanced himself from Christ. All ministering must therefore begin with where the believer is in his relationship with Jesus and a recognition of where he needs to be.

Christian counseling when reflecting the way the world does it, indeed has “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Therefore, we as believers must heed Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired exhortation that “from such turn away.”

 

 

Our repentance, our turning away must be followed by our turning back to God’s way, as we are told in Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus saith the LORD, Stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls.” That’s the only antidote to being seduced by the “perilous times” in which we live. Let us as the church of Christ, not end up like those in the times of Jeremiah who boldly declared, “We will not walk therein.”

Perhaps the words of mathematician Blaise Pascal rings true to our spiritual dilemma, “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.” And if we don’t love Truth, we as Christians will never be free. (John 8:32)

So let us love the truth of God’s Word and take heart and comfort in the words of our Lord in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to unto you that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Amen, Lord.

 

 

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