Category: Book Reviews

The fact that we were designed to be perfect people in a perfect world and then literally lost it all… Because of sin, this does of course, result in our being ill-equipped to deal with the existence of pain, loss, trauma, failure, grief, and other experiences. We know (or think we know) what life ought to be like, and yet, we find it otherwise, in that we are not quite “harnessed up right” to metabolize that coexistence, and thrive. But do not despair, we do have a Savior Who “stands in” ready at this very moment to forgive, empower, restore …

Much of psychology centers around this problem of pain, as we have called it earlier, but more by focusing on its pure existence in our lives and how to metabolize it and deal with it well. Said simply, the pain is not to be there. So, our systems do not know how to deal with it, how to process all of the pain, failure, woundedness, and disappointment that we feel. Much of psychology focuses on how to deal with the pain and help people develop the needed abilities and skills. We do not come into the world able to handle it, and besides that, our abilities to handle it are often broken themselves, through trauma or other destructive events we encounter. So, here we are, in pain and our equipment is failing to process, if we ever were even given it; and to boot, we’re floundering in the deep end of the pool, disconnected from the relationships that could help us build the needed skills to cope, build and thrive as stated prior.

In addition, developmental psychology shows us that early on we have difficulty putting good and bad together. We split them, loving someone when they make us happy, and hating them when they frustrate us. Have you ever known someone who thought you were wonderful until you disappointed them in some way, and then you became in their eyes, the worst person ever? That can happen in a second with some personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or narcissism. You instantly go from “all good” to “all bad” in their eyes, over even the smallest infraction. Imagine the relational disturbances from such blow-ups. Most people do not walk to the altar at their wedding feeling like they do when they divorce; after the “all good” turned “all bad.”

But far beyond these severe forms of splitting, as psychology shows, we all struggle with metabolizing simply living in an imperfect world. Clinical issues such as depression, anxiety states, addictions, and eating disorders can all be related to not being able to live with the imperfections of ourselves and others, and the wounds and subsequent losses inflicted upon us.

In fact, one of the most popular therapies of our day, cognitive behavioral therapy, is almost totally dedicated to changing the thinking patterns of how people appraise the “negative” in life, trying to help them think about failure or imperfection of negative events in a more regulated, balanced, and integrated way. If you have ever been told “you need to process your grief, face your pain, anger, and loss,” you have received advice related to those early findings. And that is exactly what the Bible says over and over. I was surprised to find all of these effective methods of treatment in the Bible.

Again, therapies related to grief, trauma, overcoming failure, perfectionism, etc., are all oriented to dealing with this same issue: helping the ill-equipped (often decimated) human organism (God’s child) to either fix what’s broken and /or acquire what’s missing, simply to process the problem of pain and all the “bad stuff” that gets in our way when trying to thrive.

BOTTOM LINE:

And, the Bible affirms all this. It speaks frequently about the resolution of grief and mourning, self-critical voices we carry inside (related to Freud’s “superego” at times), criticism and judgement of others and ourselves, the need for forgiveness and reconciliation of broken relationships, and all the tools needed. Many, many clear directives given in the Bible teach the very same interventions that psychology does for how these emotional, cognitive, and relational dynamics are resolved.

One of my favorite moments in scripture is when Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that it is better to process pain than to seek pleasure to avoid it, because as he said, a sad face can make a heart happy (see Ecclesiastes 7:3). Cry it out, and you will be better. Imagine that … thousands of years before Freud showed that getting in touch with pain instead of avoiding it can resolve “complicated bereavement,” hysteria, and other maladies, the Bible had already said it. Turns out the Bible was there before science, but once again, science proved it to be true. Ask the lady on the plane.

NEXT UP:

Both the Bible and psychology affirm that a child appears on their stage of life in a psychologically one-down position, compared to the “big people.”  So, the fourth issue we’ll tackle is the leveling of power that evolves from childhood to adulthood.  

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

“The founders of every major religion said ‘I’ll show you how to find God,’ whereas Jesus said, ‘I am God who has come to find you.’”   Tim Keller

OK, psychology teaches, once a person learns to be connected in a relationship (from primary caregivers through the rest of life), the next issue to be mastered is freedom from our love object. In other words, when one loves someone and is loved by that person, although remaining in the connection in a deep way, they must be free from that person and free from their control be it : mental, emotional, and physical (even spiritual? God offers free choice. Perhaps the question is timing?)

This issue of personal autonomy and the ability to make choices for oneself is called agency. It follows that we when have agency, we have self-control and a host of other psychological abilities. When we do not feel that sense of personal agency, we suffer. Clinical issues such as depression, anxiety states, panic attacks, eating disorders, some OCD, addictions, and others can often be related to a person’s inability to establish autonomy from the ones they love and have self-directed control of themselves. Said another way: establish boundaries.

Codependency, and the depression and anxiety that comes from this fusion and crossover of boundaries and responsibility, then follow. Being able to separate form one’s family, to “leave and cleave” and become one’s own person, is related to this issue as well, a whole arena of psychology that family systems theory and family therapy emphasize. Virtually all therapeutic systems offer something for this issue in some way, from AA’s Serenity Prayer to assertiveness training in behavioral therapy, and many others. One’s inability to establish personal agency and retain free choice runs throughout the interventions of all sorts of therapies and is documented to certainly be detrimental throughout the literature.

The Bible teaches that “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). And it would be impossible to list all of the teachings of the Bible along the line of being free from other’s control, and establishing boundaries and limits to contain the destructiveness of other people upon oneself (see Matthew 18:15-19, for example).

Boundaries and limits on destructive behavior are taught throughout the Bible, and regaining control for oneself is a chief tenant. In the Scriptures, this ability is called self-control (see Galatians 5:23). The Bible rails against the oppression of anyone and always is a champion for helping others regain their freedom. Self-control is heralded, and control of others is condemned.

BOTTOM LINE:

Clinical, relational, and performance issues always involve a growth and regaining one’s freedom, self-definition, autonomy, agency, and the like. Can you even imagine a world where people would always have self-control, able to control / regulate their own emotions, impulses, and behavior; and be able to be separate from the control and dysfunction of others? That is a goal that the Bible and all of psychology emphasize that wholeheartedly. Beyond the alignment of the principle of freedom being important, I saw that all of the therapeutic interventions aimed at helping people regain this freedom and self-control were exactly the same ones that the Scriptures prescribed. I had rarely heard these preached from the pulpit, but when I went back to the Bible, they were all there.

NEXT UP:

The conflict between the coexistence of “good” & “bad.” The fact that we were designed to to be perfect in a perfect world and lost access to it because of sin, results in our being ill equipped to deal with the existence of pain, loss, trauma, failure, grief, etc. We know (or think we know) what life ought to be like, but when we experience it otherwise, we simply are not “harnessed up” to effectively metabolize the coexistence of good & bad in order to thrive. Stay tune.

FOR FURTHER PERSPECTIVE:

“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, not spiritual, of the devil. James 3:14-15

Bitterness is what we pay for minimizing our sins against God while maximizing other’s sins against us. Bitterness denies the truth by making sins against us larger than our sins against God.

Martin Lloyd Wright: “Whenever I see myself before Almighty God and realize something of what my blessed Lord has done for me at Calvary, I am ready to forgive anybody for anything. I cannot withhold it. I do not even want to withhold it.”

Most mental health problems that are not biologically rooted come from a handful of human issues that manifest themselves in various clinical, relational, and performance systems. (Said another way, many of these same symptoms can come from the same underlying issue.) And, these human issues are basically what the Bible is about. It names them over and over and, beyond that, gives us the processes that cure them. I have never seen an evidence-based treatment, one that has been proven to work, in which the underlying process involved is not an issue the Bible covers. That is what blew my mind, and it still does.

Next, we will identify four issues that validate this evidence-based treatment, proven to work, involving an underlying process indeed being an issue the Bible speaks to.   

Issue One: Attachment, bonding, and connection versus human emotional isolation, disruptive connection, or lack of connection.

This is the primary, number one problem the Bible says caused everything else. We were designed for connection to God and to others from the beginning. When we broke connection with Him, we lost our source of life, which is an unbroken relationship. Both with God, but also with other humans. Said simply, broken relationship is the problem, and restoring, or revitalizing that connection or linkage, is the answer to that problem.

The psychology of human development, clinical psychology, and performance psychology have borne this out. Developmental delays, brain development, physical development, immune systems as well most everything else can be affected by the absence of or complications and injuries in the attachment process. Beyond developmental delays, psychological illnesses are myriad that can be connected to attachment issues, from clinical problems like depression, anxiety and addictions, to relational dysfunction as well. Emotional isolation of the heart and disconnectedness is a major cause of many mental health problems. The list is endless.

In the Bible, as well; as in psychology, the process for healing connection issues is explained in exactly the same way: a safe “love object” to attach to; overcoming the need-fear dilemma through vulnerable expressions of need and pain, to finding emotional attachment, empathy, love, and understanding from a “safe person” on the other end. The Bible and psychology both give exactly the same tasks, responses, and process involved in healing this “basic fault,” as the great psychologist Michael Balint termed it. Genesis would say it is the “basic fault” as well, and the rest of the Bible affirms it and calls us to healing one another through empathy, kindness, support, containment, responsiveness, compassion, and many other directives.

The result, as the New Testament says, is having hearts “knit together by strong ties of love” ( Colossians 2: 2 NLT ) When a therapy group fosters connectedness and heals the fear, defenses, or resistance to connection, they are using proven therapeutic processes and agreeing with the Bible about the problem and its resolution.

Every deep system of therapy that is proven begins with something called therapeutic alliance, where safety and connection can make way for the healing process that will follow, and that same connection will drive the internalization of love and structure from the outside that will become psychological emotional regulatory systems within the person.

BOTTOM LINE:

Said another way, a lack of good relationships injures us, and good ones heal us…

NEXT UP:

Issue Two: Freedom, separateness, autonomy, boundaries, differentiation, and control. Whew! Another boatload. Stay tune.

In a more practical vein, consider this Eternal Perspective from Randy Alcorn’s Truth: A Bigger View of God’s Word. Harvest House 2017.

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11 (ESV)

Psalm 86 tells us that we we must learn the ways of God in order to walk in the ways of God. Jesus said, “Come to me … Take my yoke and learn from me” (Matthew 11:28-29).

Walk in God’s truth, and then you’ll be in position to receive His daily guidance. A. W. Tozer said, “Practice the truth and we may with propiety speak the truth.”

Have the courage to ask Christ to show you what he really wants for your life – not what others want for you, but what He knows is right for you. Listen to His word for the answers, and call upon Him to show you the truth and empower you to live it.

“If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!” Max Lucado

(this question currently is our culture’s  proverbial communication ice-breaker, and perhaps the grandaddy or grandchild of our “mennonite game” cultural subset?)

Usually, on airplanes, I do not answer this question, as I know what is going to come. The person often wants to tell me about some problem, and I’m in for a four-hour session when I was hoping to binge on a Netflix series. But for some reason, that day, I let it slip.

“I am a psychologist,” I said.

“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “I have to tell you about my boyfriend.”

(Here we go …) I sighed.

“So, what’s the issue?” I asked.

“I just broke up with him again… and I am heartbroken. I can’t believe we are in this situation again, but I just couldn’t do it anymore.” She began to cry, “We break up because I can’t live with it, and then I miss him so much. He comes back to me because I love him, and it is good for a minute, and then it all happens again, and I can’t take it and I break up. But then I miss him again and we get back together again. And now it has happened again,” she explained.

“What happens again that is so painful you can’t live with?” I queried.

“His anger,” she said. “He just gets so angry, and it is so hurtful, and I also get kind of scared.”

“What is he so angry about?” I asked.

“Whenever I don’t do what he wants, he gets angry. He tries to control me and if I don’t want to, he rages.” She went on. He won’t listen to what hurts me.”

“So, what do you do then?” I wondered aloud. “What makes it better?”

“Well, I know how to calm him down. I just do whatever he wants, and then he is fine. We have peace … but I can’t always do that.” I sometime just can’t, but then he gets enraged, and then I do whatever he wants, and things are good again. But I just can’t live like that.” She cried. “I can calm him down by agreeing with him, but I can’t always just give in. I feel like I am not a person and am losing myself. So, we break up and then I go back.”

“Well,” I said. “There is an old saying: ‘If you rescue an angry man, you will only have to do it again.’ Keep going back and rescuing him from his anger by complying, and you will calm him down, but it will only repeat itself.”

“Wait … what was that saying again?” she asked.

“If you rescue an angry man, you will only have to do it again. ,” I repeated.

“That is amazing!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get that?”

“The Bible,” I said.

“Wait …” she said. “That’s in the Bible?”

“Yep. Proverbs 19:19. Go check it out,” I told her. “You should read it sometime. There is good stuff in there.”

“I never knew that was in the Bible!” she said.

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t either, until I started to really read it.”

We talked some more, and I told her a little about my story. But what stood out for me throughout my journey was that there a zillion ways psychology validates the scriptures. For example, the terms “rescuer” or “enabler” became popular in addiction science in the last century, but the Bible had said for centuries that rescuing someone with a character problem would never work. (Try just being nicer to a malignant narcissist, and see where it gets you. There are many verses advising against that.) The Bible usually prescribes limits and boundaries, which sometimes will help and protect you from them. Addictionologists began to discover codependency in the middle of the last century, which that the addict is not the only one who has a problem – the one who was enabling them by letting them off the hook and not confronting it with boundaries was part of the overall problem as well. Awesome discovery by science, right?

Not exactly. Awesome validation of what Moses had said when he was giving us God’s ways so we might always thrive, as I discussed earlier. He said that when we fail to set limits and confront someone because they are either weak/needy or powerful (the two reasons we usually don’t set limits on bad behavior … either we over-identify with their weakness or neediness and do not require them to do what is needed for them to get well, or we are afraid to confront them, as in my seatmate’s case, because of their “power”), just as the addictionologists and nowadays the “how to deal with narcissists” gurus will tell you correctly, we keep the problem going. They are usually not going to change by your giving in to them. That is what she was doing with her boyfriend. Only limits might help (see Leviticus 19;15,17). (Sometimes, though someone may need help with those limits, as in some cases, the angry one is also dangerous. Seek help if that is you, and do not put yourself in a dangerous scenario with an abusive person.)

Anyway, I found out she was like me and a lot of others. Oftentimes, we just do not know what the Bible says about these issues. I had been in the church at this point for several years, yet I’d never been taught about “boundaries” in the church. I learned that from the science of psychology. And then, when I went back to the Bible, there it was all along, in a million passages. I was amazed at how many Christians had never known that the Bible taught that you should set limits with people, and not only just “love” them or be “forgiving.” While forgiveness and love are true, many had only seen only those sides of the Bible’s teachings, not the limits that the Bible also supports.

That is just one little example of a tip from a much bigger metapsychology that the Scriptures actually teach. And that is what got me interested and began to further validate my faith, another pillar of “why I believe.”

merlin now:

This is indeed “heavy” stuff for all of us; but thankfully, we’re in the company of Henry Cloud to guide out present thinking and future healing from the tragic mishandling we’ve either “endured” from others, or “afflicted” on others, because that dominant dysfunctional behavior model was the “bait” we, the next generation, instinctively took, or were simply “infected” by, such as being in proximity to the contagion, whether TB, pink eye, or a flu bug. This is a 28-page chapter and we’ll wind it down in the next four sessions as you’ve been given more than sufficient reason to purchase the book.

An interesting side note here is while Loretta and I were at a HS graduation party this afternoon (July 3) I observed this unknown older couple for an hour engaged in conversations with others at a distance, and before leaving, of course I had to introduce myself and then discovered he was our Wayne Co Sheriff Travis Hutchinson. Retiring now at the end of the year, I came away with a confirmatory appreciation for his integrity, love and devotion for his deputies and we, the citizens. He explained during his tenure how the unusual chaplaincy program was begun for the deputies, and the positive influence it has provided their functioning.

Currently, Wayne Co has a state-of-the-art jail addition underway that will add more than thirty beds to “keep” persons with various mental conditions/afflictions, likely to prevent situations from arising that may have previously culminated in crimes requiring incarceration, such as were for the inmates of jails formerly. This reminds me of the June 28 post explaining our tendency to focus on the behavioral FRUIT (polar opposite to His Nine Fruits of the Spirit!) of our problems, whereas Christ addressed focusing on the Root cause of our problems. Interesting dynamics and implications.

This conversation fueled for me the pertinacity of Henry Clouds books from the Biblical supported psychology to real life situations today. And the value of Jamie Winship’s concepts in “Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies Of The World For The Liberating Truth of God.” Winship, whose identity in Christ is a “militant peacemaker,” who incidentally I understand, is speaking Saturday evening Sunday morning August 10-11 at The Well between Winesburg and Mt. Eaton. More information will be coming on that soon.

Again, thanks readers for your tenacity for His truth and wisdom as we’re empowered and guided by His Spirit today.

BOTTOM LINE from Cloud:

Most mental health problems that are not biologically rooted come from a handful of human issues that manifest themselves in various clinical, relational, and performance symptoms. (Said another way, many of the same symptoms can come from the same underlying issue.) And these human issues are basically what the Bible is about. It names them over and over, and beyond that, gives the processes that cure them. I have never seen an evidence-based treatment, one that has been proven to work, in which the underlying process involved is not an issue the Bible covers. That is what blew my mind, and it still does.

NEXT UP:

Cloud identifies the four principal issues that psychology explores. My intent is to summarize each issue in a post. First up will be the issue of attachment, bonding, and connection versus human emotional isolation, disruptive connection, or lack of connection. Stay tune. I’m finding the four issue summaries are easier to understand that the four stated issues themselves because they do define the issue landscape.

I’d be remiss today, being a day of pop-up thunderstorms and the potential for a much-needed general rain for the crops, in addition to it being a family holiday of celebrations; not to do a pop up unplanned post, and even on the subject nonetheless, of by we relying on the Lord, therefore we’re able to rejoice in the Lord. And besides, it is strongly connected to this week’s theme of mental health! The below is taken from Robert J Morgan’s devotional All to Jesus. Day 5 2008

Let ALL who take refuge in You rejoice; let them shout for joy forever. Psalm 5:11

During two periods of my life, I’ve suffered bouts of depression, so I know something of its perils. According to the World Health Organization, major depression is the fourth leading cause of disability in the world, and it’s on its way to becoming the second-leading just behind heart disease. (and it’s no secrete among Christ Followers that disease of the heart is the root cause of much dis-ease today).

Depression is a complex illness, and I do not desire to oversimplify it. Yet our depression, anxiety, anger, or fear is often the byproduct of discounting the unfailing promises of God. Israel’s King David suffered periodic depression, as revealed in some of his Psalms. He often brought his heavy heart to the Lord and replenished his emotions in the endless reservoirs of God’s grace. In so doing, he developed this formula in Psalm 5:11.

Relying on the Lord >>>> Rejoicing in the Lord

That is simple enough for a wall plaque, yet it is one of the most profound equations for emotional health ever discovered: Let all those rejoice who put their trust in you.” (NKJV).  The word ALL signifies that this truth is applicable to everyone on earth. We can all learn to rely, and thereby, to rejoice.

My daughter Grace once gave me figurine of a lazy frog with his hands behind his head, resting on a rock, legs folded leisurely. Knowing my penchant for worry, she thought it a good reminder of the acronym FROG: Fully Rely On God. It’s hard to be depressed when there’s a frog on your desk; and it’s hard not to rejoice when you’re fully relying on him.

NEXT UP: Back on schedule. Part III as stated prior.

Continuing on from Page 225

So, I decided to resolve this dilemma no matter what it took. I knew God was real. And I knew the Bible was true in the ways we have discussed previously. But many of the Christian views I had learned of psychology were just not completely true, or, at the very least, where there was truth, fell short. I knew too much to go back to thinking they were right or accepting them as they were being presented. I could not live with that, so here is what I did. I basically dropped out of life for the better part of a couple years.

Of course, I still worked and played golf … couldn’t stop those. But every other waking moment I decided to do one thing: just read and study my Bible. I was not going to read any of the Christian stuff about psychology or mental health issues and what they had to say. I already knew that literature. I wanted to see what the Bible itself said about these issues. Just on its own, as I looked at it through the lenses of my clinical and scientific expertise that I had gained over those years. And here is what happened”

I was literally “born again.”

I could not believe it. Literally everything I was learning in the science that showed where mental health, relational, and performance issues came from, as well as how to resolve them, was right there in the Scriptures. All along, it was all there.

The causes and the cures of those issues were throughout the Bible, and much of the “Christian” material that one reads was not there and, not only that, was actually even taught against! It was much like my previous chapter on bad-behaving Christians. People reject the Bible because they see the falsehood of some Christians and think that is what faith is about, but as I have shown, the Bible sometimes agrees with the skeptics, not the other way around. In this case, the Bible supported my skepticism of the things some of the church was teaching and, instead, was agreeing with the science of psychology! (I am sure I will get some angry emails from some for that proposition, but that’s not new. I have had those debates for decades. Feel free to send them.) Remember, when Job suffered, God chastened the religious counselors for not speaking the truth, too. Religious people don’t always get it right. They gave Job all  of the “Christian” answers of the time, and they were wrong too.

So, after a period of deep study, my conflict was resolved. But more than resolved … I had a new life mission in a sense. I could now really help people get u n c o n f l i c t e d, but more than that, I could show them and others that the Bible really does know you suffer and that what God says there can help you. So, I ended writing a lot of books on that topic, and I still do.

And it has been an amazing journey, for which I am grateful to God. One capstone I think back on that was particularly fulfilling was that after John and I designed treatment centers and hospital units that used all these faith- and science-based clinical treatment methods, we opened them up to outside university researchers. After their clinical research, that treatment program was documented to get better results than others that were non-faith-based in treating Axis 1 (DSM) clinical issues and, surprisingly for many, Axis 2 issues (personality disorders) as well. This research was presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting and was surprisingly well received. It was a real highlight of all of this work.

My books Changes That Heal, Boundaries, and How People Grow (by myself and John Townsend) came out of this work and this season.

And all along the way, I have had a blast. It is surprising to me as well as how many people just do not know what the Bible has to offer in these areas that psychology addresses. I fondly recall a conversation I had with a woman on an airplane one day.

“So, what do you do?” she asked.

NEXT UP:

Usually, on airplanes, I do not answer that question, as I know what is to come. The person wants to tell me about some problem, and I’m in for a four-hour session when I was hoping to …

Author Henry Cloud “If you remember from the Preface (Jun 24 post and subsequent posts on June 25 -27) this book began as a desire to talk to my friends about God … and help them understand how I could be “one of those?” And from that initial desire, I decided to treat it like a real book and share it with a larger audience. And to write it in a way that other believers who want to share their faith with their friends could pass it on and begin their own conversations.”

Merlin now, I envision this book may be an integral component in training others to share their faith and facilitate the vibrant underground discipleship modules now being envisioned by churches, fellowships and various Christian service organizations struggling to once again attempt to integrate (or revitalize) “His message” with “their mission.” Reminds me a bit of the bottom line from the Bethany House 2015 book Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, & Churches by Chris Horst, Peter Greer, & George W Sarris. I’m thinking perhaps the Plain Community Business Exchange (PCBE) folk understand and practice the book’s tenants best!

Christ Followers today possess such an inexpensive availability of life-giving resources today, and to what avail? Why are we allowing ourselves to be so stifled and deceived on so many fronts, while precious countdown hours are being wasted and the planets disintegrate as the Scriptures predict?

Here is Chapter 12. Psychology and Faith. Enjoy.

I have been in the field of psychology for many decades now; including being a student, decades of clinical practice, conducting research, being a clinical director for an entire system of hospital units and treatment centers, and decades of performance and leadership consulting. Add to that continuing education through out that time to stay current with the latest research and findings in psychology and neuroscience. It has been a long journey, and it is interesting to look back at the path and see how psychology proved the Bible to be true for me. And the proving grounds did not begin with the science. Actually, surprisingly, it was the Bible that had to rescue me from the “psychology” that I was learning from the church. My first few years of faith, as a psychology graduate student and “churchgoer” and treader of many Christian “psychology” books, I learned all the models of how the two go together. I did not know enough at that time to see their deficiencies. So I accepted what they were saying. Many in the faith world saw secular psychology as being antithetical to faith, coming from a humanistic worldview having little to offer. Others integrated it somewhat, picking and choosing what they liked.

There were models that taught that clinical issues all came from sins that were in need of repentance, or not knowing enough Bible to have in your heads to order your thinking to wellness, spiritual, or supernatural experiences of emotional healing, or deliverance from demons and spiritual oppression, for example.

Certainly, there is some truth in all of those arenas. Our own “sins” can cause a lot of suffering … think of wrecked homes, for example, from bad behavior, or lives destroyed through addiction and characteristic disorders. Of course, self-destructive thinking can cause a lot of pain, as the science in cognitive therapy has proven. And for sure, the need for God to touch our broken hearts and trauma is real, and He does; there are countless testimonies of that reality, including my own. You can wonder about the existence of the supernatural and other areas if you are a materialist, but many psychologists will attest to some “wicked” stuff they have seen that they cannot explain, which certainly at least seems supernatural at the time.

But s much as I saw some truth in all of those models, as I gained more and more clinical experience, the Christian models began to fall short of both my scientific understanding of the bigger picture, as well as my clinical experience. And here was the experience that threw me into a mini crisis of faith: what I was learning to be true clinically, and scientifically, was not what many of the “Christian “ models proposed.

Mostly because I saw them fall short … people were not getting well a lot of times when they had much treatment in those models of the “Christian way” of treating mental health issues. And all of these were touted as the “biblical” way, even though much within those models disagreed with each other. I chuckle at how many people call their system of change to be “God’s“ way, while disagreeing with the other “God’s “ way. Makes God look confused as to what His way is, it seems to me.

And, past that … here is what really threw me: I was learning that there were real clinical modalities and interventions and approaches to therapy that worked. I was seeing eating disorders healed, depression healed, anxiety states overcome, thought disorders “cured” trauma healed, and the like. I was falling in love with my field as I saw the fruits of clinical practice. I loved my clinical work. But in falling in love with all that, I felt as if I was an adulterer … my new love seemingly was not the love I was supposed to have with my faith and the Bible. It was a spiritual crisis almost as severe as my first one of “where is God?” I saw people getting well … but where was the faith as I understood it in all of this? I was beginning to feel like two people : one who believed in my Christian faith, and one who believed in the truth that I was seeing before me that seemed to be in conflict with my Christian faith. Did I have to be a “science denier”? It felt like it. I was still using prayer and the Bible and knew that helped, but not in the ways that some of the systems of “Christian” counseling was espousing.

NEXT UP:

So, I decided to resolve this dilemma no matter what it took! Part II Thursday morning, early!

Utmost for His Highest June 26

II Corinthians 6: 1

KJV: We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

The Message Version: Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life of grace God has given us.

Understand now that the grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (II Corinthians 6:4).

Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.

“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself.

One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.

BOTTOM LINE:

“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (II Corinthians 6:10).

NEXT UP:

After extensively exploring grace in recent posts, this week looking forward, I’ve decided to use the next week plus to conclude Cloud’s book “Why I Believe.” My five loaner copies arrived yesterday, so if I wet your appetite to read it, first come-first served, to borrow a copy for a week before you buy, or not. This week I will present verbatim (no comments from me) from his last chapter, Psychology and Faith, therein containing Biblical wisdom for Christ-Followers if need be, to be retooled in order to thrive here forward. Indeed, purposeful reading!

I do realize a few of you may be tempted to pass or check out on this “endurance run (we will do it in short 5 minute segments), but Loretta & I have been so blessed by listening to this Psychology and Faith chapter repeatedly, I’d be remiss not to get you to reconsider and commit. In fact, I’m pretty sure your first read will insure you’ll buy the book. At, least that’s what I will tell the Worthy Publishing lawyers when & if they ever come calling….

So, as I see it, perhaps I’ll just be Worthy’s first blog post freebee book sales promoter! It’s simply my mission at this moment of my life that I or, actually anyone could do. As I prayerfully envision this, everyone involved or impacted will hopefully be blessed and elevated spiritually, while Worthy sells more wisdom books. FYI, page 117 – 121 titled “Do not sign it” details Cloud’s choosing to remain a free agent, a story you really need to hear before chapter 12.

Do not fret – it only causes harm. Psalm 37:8

The word “fret” comes from an eleventh-century Old English term meaning “to devour.”It was used of monsters and Vikings, and of animals that ate people, as you can see by looking closely at the word”fret.” The first two letters – “fr” – are similar to the word “for” or “for the purpose of.” And the last two letters are “et.” Think “eat.” The word “fret,” then, described the fear of being eaten by an animal. In biblical days, people worried about encountering a lion or a bear as they traveled. They fretted about it.

Nowadays we use this word to describe a worry that is eating us up on the inside. Here’s what the Bible says about it: “Do not fret … Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret … Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret … Do not fret because of evildoers” (Psalm 37:1, 7, 8 and Proverbs 24:19).

BOTTOM LINE:

Worry is a hard emotion to control, but you’ll find strength in remembering these seven words of Scripture: Don’t fret – it only causes harm.

David Jeremiah Destinations 2013 June 30

PS: This post was entirely not expected or planned as I have recently largely refrained from Sunday posts. However, early this morning when I read the above post, I was compelled to prepare it. Hours later at the pre-service prayer time, a dear saintly prayer warrior expressed concern that the author of yesterday’s post and a former pastor is indeed, breaking our hearts, again, as did Ravi Z, and numerous others over the years.

Again, I’m reminded the sermon this very morning heavily emphasized Satan is pulling out all the stops to create confusion and chaos in Christ’s Kingdom. The author of yesterday’s post, serves as yet another example of our Godly spiritual vulnerability, whether in church leadership or not, and our utmost need is to be authentically sharing in a “caring cultivating anchored community,” such as Marlin Miller speaks of in Plain Values.

I find it interesting now though, looking back over the decades, that too many of these leadership persons, such as Tullian T, Robert M, Ravi Z, etc. that initially connected and inspired my spiritual growth, are now “fallen from grace,” and honestly, that is a matter of concern to me. Am I spiritually gullible and lacking in discernment? Perhaps that is why now my first scriptures each morning are from dailylightdevotional.org, because it is so pure and simple without any detracting narrative! I do believe the greatest compliment a MM blog reader could give me is that they are now literally addicted to reading dailylightdevotional.org and extensive prayer every morning when they rise before tackling anything else. Thanks for your time!