Narcissism?
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6, ESV).
A Destructive Force
The field of Psychology is probably one of the greatest destructive forces to permeate the Christian church in the past 200 years. We have seen many helped, however, by the anointed ministry of gifted Christian men and women.
Threatening Lawsuits or Suicide
In the recent past, Psychologists have infiltrated churches by warning pastors of potential lawsuits if they don’t bow down before the Altar of Therapy. “Church members might commit suicide if they don’t receive proper counseling,” the therapist warns. “Pastors aren’t trained to deal with these issues,” therapists argue.
This is a mildly coercive and threatening tactic. Furthermore, it is presumptuous and arrogant to assume that any one person or psychological technique or method is more effective than God or the Holy Spirit in healing men of their torment.
Be aware, however, that these same therapists and counselors typically leave their business cards with the pastors they threaten. It’s good for business. Consider that each patient referred by a pastor potentially means another $150 weekly for the therapist. So please be careful. Don’t get sucked into the vacuum of therapy, not even through the referral from a well meaning pastor.
We certainly don’t mean to implicate all therapists and psychologists. There are a few who emphasize Scripture in counseling and who seek to educate patients about God’s healing powers. But, sadly they are rare and very difficult to find.
Burned-up Works on Judgment Day
If you’ve read some of our articles about the judgment seat of Christ for believers, then you know that psychology is one of the first areas that scholars like Dr. Paul Benware feel will “burn-up” during the judgment of a believers’ works.
“If any man’s work is burned up he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).
The Foundation – Redemptive Work & Person of Christ
Dr. Benware presents good reasons for believing that psychology will burn-up at the judgment seat of Christ. This is because psychology or therapy is not built upon the foundation of Christ.
The foundation of Christ refers to the redemptive work and person of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-5). The gospel, or Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are the “gold, silver, and precious stones” referred to in 1 Corinthians 3:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-5. Therapy is the “wood, hay, and stubble” that will be burned-up (1 Cor. 3:12). Psychology or therapy is not built upon the foundation of Christ.
Scripture Regarding Laying a Foundation
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10-11, ESV).
The foundation is Christ:
“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (1 Cor. 12-13, ESV).
It is clear that the gold, silver, and precious stones refer to the core of the gospel message described in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5. Wood, hay, and straw refer to beliefs and deeds which will be burned up:
“If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:14-15, ESV).
Not to belabor the point, as we have seen psychology and therapy are not built upon the foundation of Christ’s redemptive work and person. They will most likely be destroyed at the judgment seat of Christ.
Key Point
The key point is to recognize that prior to the entrance of psychology into the church, we believed that we could do nothing without Christ. Yet, now we hear that we can do nothing without the help of “Christian” psychology. Even the Holy Spirit is deemed ineffectual without the “right” psychological counseling methods. This is a form of blasphemy. It is a false-teaching which will surely be consumed as “hay and stubble” at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:11-15).
(Benware 2002, 60-66).
Caution against “Biblical Counseling”
Please be careful not to be “hooked” into the concept of “biblical counseling,” either. More often than not, this is a field comprised of Christian counselors who continue to promote the medical model and traditional therapeutic techniques. At best, such therapists throw in a few scriptural verses to make it look as if their medical model is based upon the Bible. It usually isn’t. Surprisingly, most have learned the “medical model” in the psychology department of Christian colleges.
Therapy based on Insurance Reimbursment
Therapists have been well trained during their schooling to base treatment upon a “medical model” of diagnosis and treatment which reimburses them through insurance coverage. It is not necessarily based on your potential well being. They are indoctrinated into this mind set. It is the foundational education of all that they do or practice.
Personal Experience in the “Wilderness”
How do we know about therapy?
We have personally traveled our own road of therapy over a period of forty years. This road includes our own personal experiences, those of our foster children and those of friends. We consider this part of our “wilderness experience.” We have observed how people are healed and those who are not.
We have observed individuals who are treated for depression, schizophrenia, paranoid disorders, sleep disorders, homosexuality (which is no longer considered a “disorder”), anorexia, bulimia, anger management, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder (which apparently has replaced schizophrenia as a catch-all term), and so-called multiple personality disorder. Traditional therapy has worked in very few of those cases.
Bio-Chemistry
The only glimmer of light seems to rest in the field of bio-chemistry practiced by a few psychiatrists. Some have partially succeeded in helping a few patients through the use of medications.
Medication has helped partially, but not completely. This includes treatment of severe hallucinations in schizophrenia, paranoid disorders, major depression, sleep disorders, and bi-polar disorders.
This is not to minimize those true cases of schizophrenia, anorexia or depression where parents have agonized over finding the right treatment for their child. But, it is to say that those true illnesses may be more rare than previously thought.
For most addictive behaviors and emotional problems, help may be found through Celebrate Recovery church programs and through “nouthetic counseling.” (Refer to: nouthetic.org. celebraterecovery.com)
Millions $$$ Wasted
The fortunes lost and wasted on most forms of therapy, hospitalizations, and medications add up to millions of dollars. These are precious resources that could have been spent for missions, churches, hospitals, and charities for the poor.
Biblical Solutions Explored
Therefore, we will try to examine false assumptions that may hinder a Christian from seeking scriptural alternatives to therapy. Then we will attempt to explore biblical solutions that have effectively helped thousands of hurting believers worldwide – without medications, hospitalization, or traditional therapy.
Before reading Part 1 , please read the following Addendum taken from Dr. Paul Benware’s book, The Believer’s Payday.
Addendum
The Alternatives to “Living by the Book”
If a true believer does not live by the standards of Scripture, what standard might he or she be living by? It is important to realize that simply attending a church with a good orthodox doctrinal statement does not insure that individual believers, or even the church at large, will be living and serving on the basis of biblical principles. In fact, it may be that believers in a church with an excellent doctrinal statement might be less inclined to see their deviations, assuming they are protected by their doctrinal position. They could well be living according to man's wisdom and not God's truth. It is not enough to say that such believers could be living according to man's wisdom, as were the believers at Corinth. That is too vague. How do Christians in the twenty-first century live according to man's wisdom and not according to the Book? How would such a thing be manifested? The following are some suggestions as to what this might look like in the church of today.
Psychological ideas rooted in humanistic thinking are one virulent form of man's wisdom that has found its way into the body of Christ. We are not speaking here of theologically sound counseling from one believer to another. Over the past thirty years in North American evangelicalism, a tide of psychological thinking has flowed into the Church, bringing with it a diminishing view of the sufficiency of the Word of God. The entrance of such ideas, which usually have Scripture verses attached to them, has significantly altered the way many believers look at life's issues, life's priorities, and the sin question.
'The presuppositions and counseling methods of psychology have become so integrated into evangelical thinking at every level that to venture criticism is to invite wrath and censure. The 'discovered' truths practiced by 'Christian' psychology are fast approaching the status once reserved for the Scripture.' (4)This author goes on to lament the subtle but seismic changes that have occurred.
'Once we were told we could do nothing without Christ. Now we almost hear that Christ can do nothing in us or for us without the help of 'Christian' psychology. Even the Holy Spirit is pictured as ineffectual without the right counseling methods. (5)
One may not agree totally with this author's assessment, but it is hard to escape the obvious changes that have taken place in the way many believers think due to the replacing of biblical truth with psychological ideas. It seems that while many believers today can speak fluently about being 'codependent' or 'dysfunctional,' they simply cannot talk intelligently about 'justification' or the 'hypostatic union.' The words we speak represent ideas and thinking processes, and surely the phenomenon just mentioned is a telltale sign that something is terribly wrong in the church. Is it not a real possibility that many believers, probably unknowingly, have substituted the truth of God with man's wisdom with the result that they are not building with gold, silver, and precious stones? In light of the fiery destruction of life's labors described by the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 3:15), it would be wise to investigate this issue carefully. It would be far better to switch building materials now."(Benware 2002, 62-64).
References:
Adams, Jay. 1986. The Biblical view of self-esteem, self-love, self-image. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.
—1994. From forgiven to forgiving. Amityville, NY: Calvary Press.
Almy, Gary. 1994. Addicted to recovery. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.
Benware, Paul. 2002. The believer’s payday. Chattanooga, TN: AMG.
Ganz, Richard. 1993. PsychoBabble: The failure of modern psychology and the Biblical alternative. Wheaton, ILL: Crossway.
Owen, Jim. 1993. Christian psychology’s war on God’s Word. Santa Barbara, CA: EastGate Publishers.
Tyler, David and Kurt Grady. 2006. Deceptive diagnosis: When sin is called sickness. Bemidji, MN: Focus Publishing.
Authors Valorie Mays Emilio holds an MA in History from UCLA focusing upon Christian origins. Ken received the MA in Biblical Studies from Louisiana Baptist University and a Certificate in Persecuted Church Ministries from Oklahoma Wesleyan University. They helped to raise 11 foster children who suffered great injustices and were helped by the Holy Spirit – not by “professional therapists.”