John MacArthur Exposes Post Modern Psychiatry

Following is from a message by MacArthur on "Spiritual Stability" based in Phil 4.


....

we are considering the theme of spiritual stability and we are looking at the text of Philippians chapter 4 where the Apostle Paul gives us the principles that create or generate a spiritually stable life.
You know, this entire society in which we live struggles with the matter of stability. It ought to be obvious to all of us that we live in a very unstable world. And we are in the midst of very unstable people. Our world is filled with anxiety. It is filled with an inability of folks to cope with circumstances in life. There are a myriad of solutions but not many that work any that work apparently as the society continues to escalate in its instability.

Sad to say our particular culture and maybe even sadder to say the church itself continues to direct people in the wrong direction to find the solutions to their anxieties and their instabilities. We have bought into the psychological lies that indicate that man can solve his problems through certain psychological principles, certain introspective self-adjustments. And those have proven not only to be unsuccessful but to be diversionary so that people pursuing the wrong thing and the wrong area come up with the wrong answer and not only that but they then therefore miss the right answer. The legacy of philosophy and psychology to this particular day and age has been to sell a whole generation snake oil...which doesn't do anything that it promises to do.

This was pointed out rather forcefully to me by an interview that I read with Dr. Robert Coles, C-o-l-e-s. Dr. Robert Coles is a social psychiatrist. He is perhaps as esteemed as any man in our country in terms of his area of psychiatry. He is an M.D., he is a research psychiatrist for Harvard University. He is professor of psychiatry and medical humanities at Harvard Medical School. He has written 36 books. He has authored 600 journal articles of one kind or another. And in 1973 he received the Pulitzer Prize. He is a very decorated esteemed and respected psychiatrist.

This interview points up the futility of his own area. While understanding superficially some things about Christianity, he will not call himself a Christian, does not believe he is a Christian and makes that clear in another part of the article. But his answers are very interesting. They asked him why he was not a surgeon. His answer, "I'm sloppy, not a great quality for a surgeon." He said, "When you get a combination of a befuddled slob who doesn't have the necessary toughness and is a little mixed up himself, you've got a psychiatrist." A befuddled mixed up slob with no toughness is a psychiatrist. The question is a mixed up psychiatrist? Coles, "Of course." Question: Is it futile then to search for ultimate answers in psychiatry or psychology? Coles, "The futility is in searching for ultimate answers in the entire secular culture. Psychology happens to be a temporary secular religion. How long will it last? Fifty years. Secular religions come and go. Today it's psychology, tomorrow it will be weight reduction or cholesterol or getting to the moon or Mars. Who knows what our culture will be preoccupied with next? But none of this is going to give us answers to the moral, spiritual questions that we ultimately hunger for. Psychology isn't equipped to answer those questions. Psychology gives us some information about the mind but the mind is not the soul." Question: Psychology then can help a person's mental health? Coles, "We shouldn't even use words like mental health. The question is not what is mental health, or do you have mental health. The question is what do you do with your life?"

Question: But even ministers today are becoming psychologists. Coles, "That is paganism." Question: Pastoral counseling is the term for it. Coles, "It's paganism. My mother was dying here in Massachusetts General Hospital. A minister came to see her. He wanted to negotiate her through the stages of dying. She wanted him to pray for her. She knew she was dying. He wanted to talk about anger and denial but she wasn't angry and she wasn't denying, she just wanted him to pray for her." Question: Is this all part of the same syndrome, we all want to worship the expert? Coles, "The secular expert. Who are these secular experts anyway? What do psychologists and psychiatrists know about the Christian life? What can they tell us?"

Quite an interesting response, isn't it? You get the feeling he's been dropping his bucket in a dry well and he's come to that conclusion. Where do you go to find stability in life? Where do you go to learn to cope? Where do you go to learn to deal with anxiety? Where do you go to deal with circumstances that you find debilitating you and pressuring you? Where do you go to get your life really stabilized? You hear people all the time say, "Well, I've just got to get my own life together." We are literally living in a sea of people who are emotionally unstable

That's True

There are many things that are subjective, but truth is not.

If All Religions Are Good

I heard Andrew Klavan say "if all religions are good, then evil is good." He's right. From Satan Worship to atheism to those who use Christianity"s name but refuse to follow Jesus, the world's religions are evil. They are evil because they focus on gratifying the selfish desires of the created rather than the Creator. They teach self worship rather than God worship.

Of course, it is not true that all religions are good -- regardless of how often our Postmodern, multiculturalist prophets proclaim that they are. The claims made in the popular culture that embraces equality among religions are really attacks against true Christianity. They all contradict Christ's teaching about our own depravity and imminent judgment for that depravity. They all enslave people forever because they teach people to focus on themselves for redemption and enlightenment and good. They deny that "no one is good" and that "there is a way that seems right to man but ends in destruction.". The race for self enlightenment is one that will never end. The world's religions are evil and, therefore, none are good.

So the next time you see one of those "coexist" bumper stickers, first notice there is no goat head representing Satan worship. That will give you a good chuckle. Second, and most importantly, ask yourself which one of those symbols, besides the cross, represents redemption from what we all deserve and are certain to receive?
Via Blackberry

Strychnine in Grandma's Tea

Oxford Professor John Lennox:

Science can tell us that if we put strychnine in grandmother's tea it will kill her.  But, science cannot tell us whether or not it is morally wrong to put strychnine in grandmother's tea.

Where Did The Laws Come From?

One glaring omission from the writings of modern day atheists like Dawkins and Hawking is an answer to the question "where do the laws come from?" These men and many others claim that God did not create but that the natural laws did.

Of course it makes absolutely no sense to suggest that the law of gravity, for instance, could create anything. But suppose for a moment it could. There's still the monumental problem for the atheist. For they cannot explain who created the natural laws?

For, before there was anything, the laws could not have existed. They had to be created. And, of course, we Christ-followers know exactly Who created them.

What is the World's Creed?

I heard this creed quoted in a talk by Christian philosopher and apologist Ravi Zacharias.  With obvious sarcasm, English journalist Steve Turner wrote this "Creed" of Postmodernism.  It is, I hate to say, a true reflection of the prevailing thoughts and actions of the world's citizens.  It really could be our creed.

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
As long as you don't hurt anyone
To the best of your definition of hurt,
And to the best of your knowledge.


We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.


We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything's getting better
Despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.


We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.


We believe that all religions are basically the same-
At least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.


We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all
Excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors.
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.


We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.


We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky

And when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

We're All Flawed But We're Not All Pedophiles

Today on the radio, I heard a talk-show host say about Michael Jackson "we're all flawed, but we're not all pedophiles." I have to admit that I am a surprised at the reaction towards Michael Jackson's death. And, frankly, it kind of makes me mad.  For sure, we're all flawed.  But, where should we draw the line in honoring those who die?  

As far as I know, Jackson never repented of his alleged (he settled for millions in the case) sodomy of a 13 year old boy.  And, there have been many more claims leveled against him.  We know that he was troubled in many other ways.  Does he deserve our praise over the "few good men" who just died in Afghanistan?  The fact that many of us weren't even aware of the deaths of these fine men speaks volumes.  It gives insight into the waywardness of our culture that we honor Jackson instead.

Hound of Heaven - Still Pursuing Today

Francis Thompson (1859-1907) wrote this poem that is, frankly, very difficult to understand but well worth giving it a shot.  Thompson was addicted to opium and alcohol and the poem spoke of God the Father's pursuit of him (with deliberate and unperturbed pace).  

Wherever and however quickly Thompson fled, God was the same distance behind him - never overtaking him but always there the moment Thompson quit running to things he thought would satisfy him.

Isn't it exactly the same for all of us?  Our Father never, ever stops pursuing us with what John Wesley called prevenient grace.  I'm glad He didn't stop pursuing me - like a Hound in pursuit of prey - with a persevering focus that nothing can distract.

Click here for a version that helps define some of the words of the poem.

If you are interested in re-writing the poem to fit with the postmodern pursuits of man (e.g. greed, sex, power, money, drugs, escapism, etc.), shoot me an E-mail with your results and I might publish them on this site.   

Christian Terms in a Post-Christian Culture

There is a not-so-obvious disconnect between those who have grown up in the Church and the culture at-large.  That disconnect revolves around our language - the terms we use and the meaning behind those terms.  Most Christians, as part of our everyday vocabulary, use words that we assume are universally understood.  But, I have found that most everyone else has no idea what we're talking about.  

That has not always been so.  It used to be that when a "Christian word" was used, even lost people would have a sense of what the word means.  But, it was also true that the larger culture was radically influenced by Christianity.  So, "Christian words" were the culture's words.  No more.  

Now, I'm not talking about words like sanctification or propitiation.  True, the lost world doesn't have clue what these words mean.  But, neither do many Christians.  I'm talking about the little, common words that are the most basic and essential words in the Christian's vocabulary.  

I'm talking about words like sin and grace and faith.  We use these words all the time without ever wondering if the lost world has a clue what the words mean.  Even worse, the lost world can often have a false understanding about what their meaning.

So, if we really want lost people to know the truth, we have to explain what we mean when we use words like sin, grace, faith, hell, repent, etc.  We must remain extraordinarily careful not to remove these words from our vocabulary.  For, they are the very words of life to the dying. However, they are useless and even harmful if we don't ensure that their meaning is clear.

Make sense?