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.  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  And ye are complete in him,  which is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:8-10

          All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect,  throughly furnished unto all good works.  II Timothy 3:16,17
           

          And Satan whispers as he did to Eve, "Yea, hath God said...?"

          O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane [and] vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:  Which some professing have erred concerning the faith.  Grace [be] with thee. Amen.  I Timothy 6:20, 21
           

          You can hear him again, "Yea, hath God said...?"

          The psychological seduction of Christianity is the most subtle and widespread leaven in the church.  It has permeated the entire loaf and is stealthily starving the sheep.  It promises far more than it can deliver and what it does deliver is not the food that nourishes Christians.  Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  (John 6:35)  Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life," not Freud, Jung, Adler, Rogers, Maslow, or Ellis or any other such men.  Jesus, the apostles, and the early church did not send the sheep out to feed in other pastures.  They did not turn to man-made systems either to understand the nature of man or to discover answers to the problems of living.  Jesus offered Himself as the bread of life.  He gives the pure water of the Word of God which springs up into eternal life.1 (Martin & Deidre Bobgan)

          Sisters, God has given unto us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him," and unto us "exceeding great and precious promises".  (See II Peter 1:1-11)  If you have need of counsel, if you think you're depressed, if your children are seemingly out of control, if you believe you have a poor self-image, God's answers are not held by the community of psychologists, whether they're religious or not.  And there is nothing "Christian" about the Godless tenets of psychology.  I truly believe if you knew the undergirding of the practice of psychology, you'd run quickly to the Shepherd's feet and turn neither to the right nor to the left on your way.

          "The seduction of Christianity is definitely not confined to fringe elements.  The Freudian/Jungian myths of psychic determinism and the unconscious have been so universally accepted that these unfounded assumptions now exert a major influence upon Christian thinking throughout the church."2(Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon)

          The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought:
          he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
          Psalm 33:10

          Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen...
          Jeremiah 10:2

          Whose voice is saying, "Yea, hath God said...?"

          ...Now corruption, sin, death, and every evil of the world have entered into the Church, the spouse of Christ, just as they entered into Eve, the spouse of Adam, in Paradise.  And in the very same way, and from the same cause:  namely, a desire for knowledge other than that which comes from the inspiration of the Spirit of God alone.  This desire is the serpent's voice in every man, doing everything to him and in him which Satanic deception did to Eve in the garden.  It carries on the first deceit, it shows and recommends to him that same beautiful tree of human wisdom, self-well, and self-esteem springing up within him, which Eve saw in the garden.3 (William Law)

          Have you noticed there is a psychological diagnosis (and accompanying psychotropic drug) for seemingly everyone now?  My, when and how did we all become so sick?  Is the population of the entire world "mentally ill", or are hordes of people spiritually starving while being fed a lame diet of psychobabble?

          How many children do you know who have not been taught to obey their parents or other adults to whom they've been discharged, so they're being medicated to "calm them down", "help them focus", "help them concentrate"?  What about children in transitional years who struggle to overcome the complexities of coming of age?  I know of an adolescent girl who stood at a podium and extolled for her church's youth group the virtues of psychology and mind altering drugs, urging others who were struggling in adolescence to seek a shrink and a pill of their own.

          How often do psychologists encourage their adult victims to dredge up and analyze "their pasts"?  You know, that's the devil's way--take you backward instead of forward.  Paul said in Philippians 3:13-15:

          "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you."
          And in II Corinthians 5:17, we read of a believer:
          "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
          I've not yet met anyone who can say they had a perfectly lovely childhood, void of disappointment, grief, mishandling of crises, and bound by the love of perfect parents.  Yet, psychologists thrive on guiding people to recount the unlovely events in their lives and deal with them.  God's Word bears repeating: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. ["Yea, hath God said...?"]  If our focus is on the unlovely things which have happened to us rather than on our Lord and the future He's promised us, we're going to remain "mentally ill" until we stop having our eyes so full of ourselves!

          Paul delivered this exhortation to Believers:

          Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  Philippians 4:8
          Is our focus on these things when we're lying in a heap of despair or in our bed with a fit of depression?  We can certainly understand how heathens believe they have nothing more than themselves and the world's counterfeits to rely upon, because they have rejected the Saviour, the Counsellor.  That's depressing!  Yes, God's children are tempted to flirt with focusing on themselves and their woes.  But we have a Counsellor, a Saviour, the Great Shepherd who is able to tend His sheep.  Make no mistake, we encounter things which are sad, even grievous; temptations and trials.  God tells us in Ecclesiastes there is a time and a season for everything.  We certainly should never be dismayed if our happiness flees for a time in the face of a grievous situation.  But we retain the joy of the Lord, for His mercies are new every morning.

          Let's look at even one miniscule therapy within the practice of psychology.  Do you know someone who has subjected themselves to hypnotherapy?  Dave Hunt teaches that there are several avenues through which we can knowingly or unwittingly open ourselves to the spirit world; hypnosis is among them.  Any time people place themselves (or allow others to place them) in an altered state of consciousness, they better believe there are plenty of demons poised and ready to whisper or shout to them whatever suits the adversaries' purposes--certainly not God's.  Do we really want to "open our minds" to whatever is out there?  You ask--they'll surely supply some answers.

          Sometimes people avail themselves of hypnotherapy in order to retrieve supposed repressed memories.  I believe "repressed memories" may be a legitimate phenomenon; mine is an experientially-based belief, and I certainly cannot say it's upheld in Scripture.  I don't know it to be.  Having made that disclaimer, I'll say that it does make sense to me that our loving God could and may erase from our memories those things which might be debilitating to recall and would serve no good purpose in our lives.  Sister, if God erased it, we shouldn't seek to have it rewritten.  Additionally, submitting to hypnosis--being placed in an altered state of consciousness--is a risky and highly unscientific way to supposedly restore a memory.  Remember the poised demons?  Now what feigned "memory" might they like to implant in your mind?

          I know drugged and therapied children, women, men, and even pastors.  "He seems so much happier now."  "She's so much more peaceful now."  "He's much easier to get along with now."  "She can sit still now."  "His anger is under control."  I have no doubt there are pills which will mask any behavioral, emotional, or spiritual issue with which a person won't deal.  What unresolved spiritual issue is God not able to tend because a person has chosen to go into the world for a counterfeit panacea rather than to the throne of The Most High God for the peace which passeth understanding?

          For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6
          I cannot believe our Counsellor requires the aid of a mythical, humanistic system of beliefs which is decidedly not scientific.  Since the undergirding of psychological counseling is the Freudian/Jungian myths of psychic determinism, it seems a very serious issue if The Body of Christ chooses to marry it to Christianity.  What an unholy union it is.

          I dare not judge the motives of those professing to be "Christian psychologists" -- the oxymoron to end all.  That's between them and God.  But the fruits of religious psychology have a stench wafting from them.  The world, once again, seeks to ursurp God's authority and dismiss His commandments...and even His promises.

          A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Galatians 5:9

          There is another matter for your thoughtful consideration.  God's counsel is not, or should not be, for sale.  A Christian should give a hurting or confused brother or sister counsel from the Word of God and should not require payment for ministering to them from the Scriptures.  Payment required for leading a person to the glorious truths in God's Word, the Bible calls "filthy lucre".  God and His counsel should never be for sale.

          I highly recommend you visit the Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries website.  Mine has been a paltry offering compared with the knowledge and wisdom the Bobgans have to share.  While on their site, be sure to visit the  Q & A link.  The Bobgans have thoroughly researched this topic and present credible, verifiable, and certainly convincing evidence that the field of  psychology, replete with its "...over 250 competing and often contradictory therapies and over 10,000 not-always-compatible techniques"4  is absolutely not scientific.  And please visit "Psychology--Science or Religion?" for revealing and compelling information about psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

          "Psychotherapy is a most subtle and devious spectre haunting the church, because it is perceived and received as a scientific salve for the sick soul rather than for what it truly is:  a pseudoscientific substitute system of religious belief."5  (Martin & Deidre Bobgan)

          Shall we seek unto wizards that mutter and peep?  Shall we lay our burdens on the desk of the psychologist or at the feet of our Lord?  God is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
           

          GOD HATH SAID
          Humble yourselves therefore under  the mighty hand of God,  that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.  I Peter 5:6-7

          For I know whom I have believed,  and am persuaded that he is able  to keep that which I have committed unto him  against that day.  II Timothy 1:12b

          1  Martin and Deidre Bobgan. Psychoheresy. (Santa Barbara: EastGate Publishers, 1987), p. 7.

          2  Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon. The Seduction of Christianity.  (Eugene:    Harvest House, 1985), p. 189.

          3  William Law.  The Powers of the Spirit.  Dave Hunt, ed.  (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1971), p.52.

          4  Martin and Deidre Bobgan. Psychoheresy. (Santa Barbara: EastGate Publishers, 1987), p. 34.

          5  Martin and Deidre Bobgan. Psychoheresy. (Santa Barbara: EastGate Publishers, 1987), p. 40.

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