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accomplish His work without the help of psychological models and methods”( Bobgan, Martin and Deidre: 1996. Competent to Minister. Santa Barbara: East Gate Publishers.).
The Mind versus the Brain
I have taught much, when it comes to psychotropic drugs, about the mind and the brain. We need to grasp that the brain is physiological; the mind is the inner man. I am not opposed to medication for physical ailments but I am opposed to medications that alter one’s mind. Dr. Caroline Leaf specializes in the area of cognitive neuroscience. She says, “The first argument proposes that thoughts come from your brain as though your brain is generating all aspects of your mental experience.” (How to Switch on Your Brain, Baker Books, 2013) She goes on, “So essentially their perspective is that the brain creates what you are doing and what you are thinking. The mind is what the brain does, they believe, and the ramifications are significant. Take, for example, the treatment of depression. In this reductionist view, depression is a chemical imbalance problem of a machinelike brain; therefore, the treatment is to add in the missing chemicals. This view is biblically and scientifically incorrect.” (ibid, p. 32) Dr. Leaf continues: “Our mind is designed to control the body of which the brain is a part, not the other way around.” (ibid.p.33)
What About the Hard Cases?
There are no cases too hard for God. It is only that we perceive that they are. I think of the man of the Gadarenes. If there ever was a hard case, it was he. And yet, Jesus delivered him and the man sat before Jesus clothed, in his right mind. ...And greater things shall we do... Do we believe the Word of God, or not?
We are instructed to seek first the kingdom of God and yet, it seems we seek Him as a last resort. After we have gone to all the doctors, then we get down to business with God. I believe in doctors. God uses doctors to heal our bodies. Medicine is a true science, but psychology is not. Psychology is a religion. Medicine treats the physical; psychotherapy aims at trespassing on territory that is God’s alone—the inner man, the soul.
Dale Rumble in the Foreword to The Sons of Oil, writes: “The result of this glut of sin is that many people who come to Christ are bearing deep wounds to the spirit. They are hurting...terribly. You can see the pain in their faces. They are marked by inconsistency, irrational thinking, and heaviness of heart.... How can [they] be helped? Pastoral counseling has its limitations, and psychology can’t get the job done—the hurts are too deep. Only the oil of God’s Spirit can heal the broken, shattered, crushed people around us.” (Huston, David: 1997. The Sons of Oil. Hagerstown, MD: EBED Publications.)
My late husband and I saw this oil work countless times on couples who came to us for counseling—one couple, for example, drove 800 miles and planned to spend a week, but left our home after two hours and went on a second honeymoon! Because of the Holy Ghost!
Beware of “Christian Psychology”
God’s tools are sufficient for any need. We do not need worldly psychology—and, sadly, much of what is called “Christian psychology” is merely worldly psychology dressed up in a few Bible verses and pious phrases. Beware! Being a “Christian” counselor is popular these days. Christians are realizing that they need help and are willing to pay for it. It is a profitable industry. One lady mortgaged her home to pay for “Christian” counseling, only to have the counselor persuade her to start taking Sunday mornings off. He convinced her that the best way to worship her Lord was at the lake, communing with nature.