PSYCHIATRY
and CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
by Chet Schmear, Richard Tegnalia, and Dan Melendes
edited by Soul Winners Bible Church
and CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
by Chet Schmear, Richard Tegnalia, and Dan Melendes
edited by Soul Winners Bible Church
Blessing for Christians or a Curse?
Many Christians and Christian pastors are using psychiatry as an extrabiblical referral tool along with pastoral counseling. Is this practice a blessing for Christians, or a curse?
Webster's dictionary defines psychiatry as “the treatment of mental disorders”, and a psychiatrist is defined as “an expert in the treatment of mental disorders.” To discover these ‘mental disorders’ a psychiatrist uses ‘psychoanalysis’, which is a method of ‘mental’ investigation developed by Sigmund Freud, to bring to light hidden and underlying causes of behavior, and to determine their effects upon an individual’s life. The word, psychiatry is derived from two Greek words: psuche (which means soul), and iatros (which means doctor or medicine). Thus, the word psychiatry means soul-doctor or soul-medicine.
Body and Soul?
Webster defines the soul as the immaterial part of man; the moral and emotional seat of sentiments or ‘feelings’ in distinction from the intellect. From these definitions it should be obvious that psychiatrists are trying to deal with invisible, emotional, moral problems calling them ‘mental disorders’. Clichés and labels such as ‘mental illness’ and ‘mental disease’ are frequently jargoned around by psychiatrists to describe what is really spiritual, many times, in its causal roots. As Christians, what are we to make of all these psychiatric attempts to deal with sinful behavior, morals, thoughts, and emotions on a secular, humanistic level? Perhaps it may be best to start by reading excerpts from the writings of Sigmund Freud, himself, to see where he was coming from, and what the moral standards of his world view of religion and Christianity were, that led to the formulation of psychoanalysis. Let us see if his ideas are really a blessing for Christians or a curse. . .
Roots of Psychiatry
In the introduction of his book, Totem and Taboo (a book on pagan rituals)[1], Freud says:
“No reader of (the Hebrew version of) this book will find it easy to put himself in the emotional position of an author who is ignorant of the language of holy writ, who is completely estranged from the religion of his fathers (Judaism) as well as from every other religion . . . (Emphasis added)
Here we see that although Freud was aware of the Scriptures, yet, by self-choice, had abandoned not only Judaism, but ALL religious beliefs. We can only conclude from this that Freud was an atheist: an unregenerate, unsaved, natural man—an apostate to his own religious heritage—using only the resources of his limited intellect to judge all religions and moral values. He became his own judge, jury, and god! We know from his writings that, as a natural man, he did not accept the things of the Spirit of God; they were foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). He was unable to understand spiritual things, and admitted to a friend in one of his writings, that he had no feelings about eternity, and lacked any such belief. Like B.F. Skinner, he was an atheist and judged only by what he saw, and did not believe that man had an eternal spirit within him.
Freud’s “Religion”
As a result, Freud was forced to invent his own religion . . . psychiatry . . . making up his own dogmas, labels, and semantically redefining biblical terms such as sin, into a complex, psycho-terminology that appears scientific because of its inclusion with physiological, medical model terminology. He thus re-interpreted human behavior into his own ungodly psychology. As Carl Jung, another psychoanalyst, said about Freud:
“He has devoted his life and his strength to the construction of a psychology which is a formulation of his own being.”[2] (Emphasis added)
And what was Freud’s “own being”? By his own words he called himself a “completely godless Jew” and a “hopeless pagan.”[3] Freud’s writings are often cynical, critical, and arrogant in condemning religious beliefs of any kind. In his book, TOTEM and TABOO, he says:
“We have succeeded, as it were, in getting behind the demons, for we have explained them as projections of hostile feelings harbored by the survivors against the dead . . . it would be another matter if demons really existed. But we know that, like gods, they are creations of the human mind.”[4] (Emphasis added)
Freud had discovered in his investigations of pagan and other religions, that demonology and evil spirits were frequently blamed for abnormal behavior in these religions. Freud sought to explain such ideas away as primitive and unsophisticated figments of men's imaginations.
No such things as Demons?
But we Christians know that Freud was a spiritually blinded and deluded man in regards to demons, since demonology has ALWAYS been an active doctrine in the biblical Christian faith, and Jesus Christ, Himself, cast out demons, proving from “holy writ” that demons do exist (Matthew 8:16, 28-33; Luke 4:33-36,41), and Paul, Peter and James showed they continued to exist into the New Testament age (1 Corinthians 10:20, 21; Ephesians 4:27, 6:11; 1 Timothy 4:1, 3:7; 2 Timothy 2:26; James 2:19, 3:1, 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8). But Freud’s arrogance as well as his ignorance of demonology as reality did not end there. He also denied that spirits exist. In the same book, TOTEM AND TABOO he wrote:
“Spirits and demons, as have shown . . . are only projections of man's own emotional impulses.”[5] (Emphasis added)
By denying the spirit world, Freud was forced to concentrate on the soul (emotions) and body of man as the bases for his fabrication of psychoanalysis, and thus he eliminated the concept of anything spiritual from his philosophy and teachings. Since he was an atheist, psychoanalysis, as an extension of his own being and belief, had to be atheistic in its ideas as well.
Christian “Myths”
Freud also denies the Christian doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ when he says:
“They (the Arunta tribe of central Australia) have enlarged the MYTH of the impregnation of a virgin by the spirit into a general theory of conception; but that is no reason why ignorance of the conditions governing fertilization should be imputed to them anymore than to the peoples of antiquity at the time of the origin of the Christian MYTHS.”[6] (Emphasis added)
Here Freud subtly denies the virgin birth of Christ as a MYTH, thus in effect, denying the Deity of Christ. To Freud, Christianity was mythology. He says, “There can be no doubt that in the Christian myth, the original sin was one against the Father.”[7] (Emphasis added) In another book, CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, Freud went on to say,
“One of these exceptional men calls himself my friend in his letters to me. I sent him my little book (FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION) which treats of religion as an illusion, and he answered that he entirely agreed with my views on religion.”[8] (Emphasis added)
Being an evolutionist, Freud also had to find a way to justify his false, unscriptural, psychoanalytical premises, so he wrote again in CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS:
“the ordinary man cannot imagine this Providence in any other form but that of greatly exalted father, for only such a one could understand the needs of the sons of men, or could be softened by their prayers and placated by the signs of their remorse. The whole thing is so patently infantile, so congruous with reality . . . it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life."[9] (Emphasis added)
Obviously, Freud fancied that he had “risen” above all mortals evolutionally, and placed his ideas above “holy writ.” In denying the Christian truth that there is a Providence over all mankind Who is God the Father, Freud also eliminates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, having denied the Spirit, the Deity of Christ, and now, the Father. Freud, also in the last quote, denies the effectiveness of prayer, as well as prayer itself, and no wonder, for in Freud's manner of thinking, if there is no God, there is no need to try to communicate with God, and if there is dependence on anyone, it will be on the psychoanalyst, not God.
The Obvious is not always Apparent
Christian, can you now see the seed thoughts behind much of psychoanalysis and psychiatry today for what it is: anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Judaic/Christian with humanistic atheism at its core? Freud did not stop there. Other ideas that can be found in his writings are that religion is mental infantilism that induces upon the world a mass-delusion; that God's omniscience, as an idea, 'evolves' from childhood fears that later develop into adult “doctrines;” that the truth of religion may altogether be discarded; and that religion is a danger for mankind.
As Christians we are shocked by such blasphemous ideas and must conclude that psychiatry that substitutes the ungodly ideas of man in place of the Word of God is the REAL DANGER to mankind. Even today, many psychiatrists deny the concept of self-responsibility for their criminal clients who have committed heinous crimes such as murder, rape, violence, etc., testifying in their defense with their scripturally false opinions, that these criminals were “temporarily insane” . . . men who physically and organically are in perfect health! Yet the Bible says, “Thou shalt not murder . . .” (Exodus 20:13), and that murderers deserve death (Genesis 9:5,6). No wonder crime is epidemic in America! And no wonder Hal Lindsey in his book, SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL ON PLANET EARTH, refers to this present increase in crime as “Freud's Fruits!”[10]
Scriptural Viewpoint on Psychiatry
What should our viewpoint be on such anti-Christian, psychiatric practices? The Bible claims, without apology, that IT is the ONLY method of SOUL COUNSELING for Christians. (As a matter of fact, it also claims the same jurisdiction even for unbelievers). The Scriptures clearly state they have no peer, and condemn every other system not in conformity to the Bible, as false. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word . . .” (John 1:1). Where were Freud, Rogers, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry “in the beginning”? Since psychiatry didn't come from God, who did it come from? Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;” (John 14:6). How can psychiatry claim it is the truth, and the way for one's life, when Christ's declaration EXCLUDES all other “ways?” In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read:
“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, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (KJV)
By this statement the Bible claims that it is COMPLETELY capable to diagnose and correct every spiritual and emotional problem of every man on this planet who obeys the Scriptures.
What about Organic Problems?
Christians do accept the fact that behavior disorders can be organically caused by brain damage, lesions, tumors, retardation, injury, and various organic diseases. Where organic dysfunction is manifested, a medical doctor, or neurological specialist is recommended, NOT a psychiatrist. The Bible DOES recognize organic illness, and confirms that psychosomatic illness can be sin caused! However the Bible does not CONDONE sin, even when there are medical problems or psychosomatic. Illness NEVER justifies sinning.
Specifically what we are talking about in this booklet, is that branch of the medical profession called psychoanalysis or psychiatry that deals with the organically healthy person who is labeled “mentally ill,” and to which various other psychiatric labels (there are at least 7500 such definitions and labels), may be attached.
Non-Biblical Therapies
Psychiatric treatment is characterized by “talk,” by the imposition of the will of the psychiatrist on the patient, many times, to structure moral standards by suggestion, or behavioral change by hypnosis, ECT, control drugs, and other non-biblical “therapies”. Hypnotism, used by many so-called Christian psychiatrists and psychologists, is condemned by the Bible in Deuteronomy 18:11 (casting spells). It is also condemned by many State Supreme Courts, since they have recently recognized “that deception is an integral and inescapable part of hypnosis!”[11]
In “electro-shock” or ECT (electro-convulsive therapy), electrodes are attached to the subject's head, either at the temples or at the front and back of one side of the head. The electricity is turned on for a tenth to a half-second, generally at strength of 130 to 170 volts at 500 to 900 milliamperes—roughly the power required to light a 100-watt bulb. Since electric current travels at the speed of light, in one-tenth of a second, 18,000 MILES of electric current has passed through the subject's brain cells. The consequence is a convulsive grand mal seizure, an artificially induced epileptic fit. The convulsion usually occurs immediately with an initial tonic (rigid body) phase lasting about 10 seconds. The tonic phase slowly goes over into the clonic (twitching- body) phase, which fades out after a total of 30 to 40 seconds for the whole seizure. The convulsion is accompanied by apnea (breathing stops temporarily). The seizure is followed by coma lasting from 5 to 30 or more minutes. Occasionally there are bone fractures due to muscular contractions (tonic & clonic). Intravenous muscle relaxants, such as suceinyleholine, are often used to prevent this complication.
Many Christian-psychiatrists believe that electro-shock can “kick” the sinner out of a depression; but it only masks the root cause by blanking out the recent memory of the sin situation . . . something like an electronic absolution. But since the sin problem has really not been dealt with, and electricity cannot remove our sin natures, the sin will remain and surface again. In Christianity, 1 John 1:9 is the ONLY way to get rid of sin-caused depressions:
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness . . .”
. . . and it's cheaper than electroshock therapy, and less painful, with the use of NO drugs!
The employment of control drugs to change, modify, or limit behavior in place of self-control is another use of a chemical god instead of simple obedience to the commands of the real God when the patient has no organic dysfunctioning. Such drug use, to control the soul, is considered by the Scriptures to be “sorcery”; a sin which the Bible predicts will increase and be rampant in the end times.
Bible-believing Christians are not against the use of drugs or medicines in physical disease, and to assist organic healing. It is the psychiatric use of drugs (in the same manner that the Russian KGB uses drugs to produce peaceful, co-operative, docile behavior among dissidents) that we cannot support in place of spiritual counseling. It is no accident that Freud's atheistic beliefs and methods of contemporary psychiatry neatly fit the Communist ideology against non-conformists and the Marxist belief that all “religion is the opium of the people.” is is why Christians who are arrested in Russia are forced into psychiatric hospitals to be treated as “mentally ill” people.
Who's in Charge of Morality Anyway?
We see then that the psychiatrist or psychologist who enters the ethical-moral area of the soul-life of a patient is, from the Christian point of view, trespassing on Biblical ground, and comes into conflict with the biblical method of counseling. Christians should see the psychoanalysts as usurpers and squatters, sitting on holy ground, when they moralize their patients and try to direct their soul life in contradiction to the commands of the Bible. The Bible clearly says: “Blessed is the man who does NOT walk in the counsel of the UNGODLY . . .” (Psalm 1:1). Psychiatrists who follow the Freudian model, or who have built a modified psychoanalysis on the Freudian or on some other godless psychotherapy, are using UNGODLY counsel. B.P. Skinner's operant conditioning theories also are the seed thoughts of an atheist who views man as a mere animal whose behavior can be controlled environmentally from without. Carl Rogers, another psychoanalyst who absorbed Freudian thought, says in his book, ON BECOMING A PERSON, “No approach (to counseling) which relies upon knowledge, upon training, upon the acceptance of something taught, is of any use.”[12] (Emphasis added). This statement is just the opposite of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 previously quoted. Rogers continues to say, “There is also a complete freedom from any type of moral or diagnostic evaluation, since all such evaluations are, I believe, always threatening.”[13] Here we observe Rogers’ method to be AMORAL and with NO DIAGNOSIS . . . totally NON-DIRECTIVE. The Bible, on the other hand, is totally MORAL, totally DIAGNOSTIC, and totally DIRECTIVE, faulting Rogers' whole approach. Christians ought to reject Rogerian therapy as ungodly, and inverted, since his methods criticize the Word of God and thus God, Himself.
Psychiatric Education
It should be noted in this survey of psychiatric thought—which by no means is comprehensive—that schools of psychiatry and secular psychology never teach and promote the God-given and inspired truths of the Bible such as the fall of Adam and Eve; the resulting sin nature passed on to the human race; sin as a cause behind man's “emotional” problems, and psychosomatic illnesses; Satanic oppression as a cause of abnormal behavior, physical illness, and even premature death; demonic possession as a cause behind some criminal behavior, etc., because no school of psychiatry accepts these Biblical behavioral precepts as being true or having any validity.
False Christian Notions
Christians have been deceived for too long by the false idea that “they are to deal only with spiritual problems while psychiatrists or psychologists are to handle emotional problems”; this cliché, in much of Christianity today, is not true. Such a “meat cleaver” approach of trying to separate the spirit from the soul (emotions) is clearly an UNBIBLICAL notion. Emotional “feelings” FLOW from our actions, and precisely reflect the nature of our action. They cannot be separated from our actions as if in a vacuum. Voluntary actions produce involuntary emotional responses, either internalized or externalized. “Bad” emotions are the resulting reactions that FLOW from BAD BEHAVIOR: the emotions are working fine; they are reflecting the PRESENCE of “bad” or sinful behavior! Thus, Christian counselors must see that emotional problems result from behavioral problems, which are spiritual problems that have sin as their root cause.
How to Cure Emotional Problems without Psychiatry
Take for example, immorality, impurity, sensuality, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, etc. Aren't these many of the chief “emotional problems” of mankind? Yet the Christian Bible calls these “the deeds of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21), and no psychiatrist or psychologist has ANY non- biblical method or ability to solve these emotional problems, which result from the sinful actions of the flesh. Again we stress that “bad” emotions reflect “bad”, sinful behavior. There is no such thing as a Christian having “good” behavior and “bad” emotions at the same time.
God says “walk in the Spirit”, and you WILL NOT have these “emotional” problems (Galatians 5:16). You cannot “walk in the Spirit” and have “bad” emotional problems at the same time. In Christianity, man is a WHOLE BEING: body, soul, and spirit; and ALL of his entities or constituent parts AFFECT the other parts. Therefore we see that “walking in the Spirit” is the ONLY God-approved method of eliminating emotional problems, rather than making referrals of Christians to psychiatrists, as if they have some secret method that can by-pass “walking in the Spirit.” To make such referrals is to deceive the Christian who is having a sin-engendered emotional reaction to his own sinful behavior, and to give him a false hope and a psuedo-scientific solution (that costs $120 an hour), and does not, in the end, deal with the sin problem behind the emotion, but may compound the problem by masking the sin through such masking agents as psycho-drugs, hypnosis, ECT'S, etc. Pastors who make such referrals do not understand the soul/spirit relationship and must come to see that by making such referrals they are grievously sinning against and defrauding their own brethren, as well as sinning against the Word of God.
A Contradiction: The “Christian” Psychiatrist
But aren't there such things as Christian psychiatrists? In biblical REALITY, there aren't! If you can believe that there is such a person as a Christian ATHEIST, then there probably is such a person as a Christian psychiatrist, but such a person as a Christian atheist doesn't exist, and neither is there such a person as a Christian psychiatrist.
We know this because ALL psychiatrists receive essentially the same, foundational, atheistic, humanistic, God-ignoring education; and if they are certified as a psychiatrist, they AGREED or claimed they agreed with what they were taught in their classes. One reason why a psychiatrist might call himself a Christian psychiatrist is because, in his highly competitive profession, (one of the highest paid of all professions), he treats UNBELIEVERS in the normal course and bulk of his operation with Freudian or other ungodly practices, while also advertising himself elsewhere, either directly or indirectly, as a "Christian" psychiatrist in order to gain a specific clientele—untouched by other secular psychiatrists—the unknowledgeable Christian (usually referred to him by an unsure pastor who may be fearful, or possibly incompetent to counsel him from the Scriptures). The Bible would call such a man double-minded who uses atheistic principles with one group of patients on the one hand, and tries to play the Christian role with other patients on the other hand, for the obvious advantage of money and reputation.
So if there is a Christian-Muslim, or a Christian agnostic, or a Christian atheist, then there is such a thing as a “Christian” psychiatrist. Freud would probably turn over in his grave if he ever found out that there is a Christian psychiatrist; and, no doubt—in Freud’s manner of thinking, he would call such a person a “schizophrenic.” No, there are no such things as Christian psychiatrists, but only people who “think” they are.
What about Psychology?
At this point, we should also define the role of psychology and psychologists, particularly the clinical variety. Generally a clinical psychologist works with “mental” patients, usually collaborating with a psychiatrist. But what, in fact, is a psychologist? Webster's dictionary says psychology is “that branch of metaphysics which has for its subject the human soul, its nature, its properties, and operations.” A psychologist then, is a “psycho-logos”—in Greek—a “soul describer” or a “soul diagnostician.” Like the psychiatrist (“soul doctor”), psychologists deal with the soul; the immaterial, invisible, moral, and emotional entity of man.
A clinical psychologist is one who applies so-called psychological principles to the mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders of individuals. A psychologist studies the human soul in its behaviors, which from a Christian viewpoint, certainly includes sinful behavior as well as non-sinful behavior. If he studies the soul's nature, then he has also stepped on biblical ground TWICE. And since he diagnoses and tries to theorize changes in behavior, he is acting out the Christian pastoral or shepherding role, in his secular specialty, whether he knows it or not.
God’s Word: Sole Authority on “Soul”
As Christians, we KNOW that the Bible is the ONLY authoritative text on the nature, properties, and operations of the soul of man. It is the ONLY text written by the Creator of man’s soul, and the Creator needs no help from the created—the psychologists—who redefine in their own terms a secularist definition of the biblical entity called “soul,” and who create psychological therapies which EXCLUDE God, the Creator, from their practices. It is the Christian who knows his Bible who is the TRUE soul studier or diagnostician, the authentic and genuine psyco-logos! Psychology bases its ideas on EXTERNAL observations of human behavior. But the Bible says: “Do NOT judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Since psychiatry and psychology do NOT use righteous judgment (biblical perception) in their diagnoses, they cannot be right in their theoretical therapies, either.
God Condemns the “Wisdom of Man”
Secular psychological theorists such as Skinner, Fromm, Maslow, and Rogers, as well as most other “self” psychology hypothesizers, are generally hostile to Christianity, tend toward atheism, and strongly favor their own humanistic, self-made ideas over biblical concept.[14] Like psychiatry’s error, psychology also is condemned by Scripture in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5:
“And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should NOT rest on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God.”
The “wisdom of man”—psychology and psychiatry—can be very persuasive. But the Bible clearly says we are NOT to rest our faith on such wisdom. Sadly, some so-called “Christian” psychologists and “Christian” psychiatrists have attempted to justify their compromised positions by trying to blend Freudian and other psychotherapies with biblical excerpts. But they, in their own deceived minds, violate Colossians 2:8-10:
“See to it that no one takes you CAPTIVE through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to CHRIST. For in Him (CHRIST, not Freud, Rogers, et. al.) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made COMPLETE . . .”
These verses of God's Word show that Christians CAN be taken captive by the wisdom of men and empty deception. Both psychiatry and psychology are “traditions of men” with contributors going back to Hippocrates.
Isn't all Truth “God's Truth”?
Often such “Christian” psychiatrists, psychologists, and even pastors will blurt out the idea that “it doesn't matter what the source of ‘truth’ is, since all truth comes from God,” in order to justify their Freudian/Christian yoking of ideas. Here we must consider the vast differences between Spiritual truths and physical truths. Physical truths are those tangible, laboratory provable, objective laws and precepts that God, in Creation, has put into motion. Some examples of these physical truths are: gravity, thermodynamics, atomic and molecular structure, medical truths that explain organic disease, the function of our body, its organs, circulatory and respiratory systems, etc. Obviously, the Bible is not concerned with physical truths, per se. The Word of God concerns itself with the revelation of Spiritual truths, concepts that man CANNOT discover by himself, and MUST have revealed to him, verbally and literally, from God, such as: the Person of God, His Creation, and that which we are discussing here—the soul and spirit of man, and those personal and spiritual forces that affect him.
The “Christian” psychiatrist believes that he has obtained (from atheists, agnostics, and humanists) new, revealed extra-biblical knowledge (truths not found in God’s Word) that can aid mankind in his search for peace, self- control, patience, joy, love, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and goodness. Yet these very things that virtually all men seek are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. God tells us that these “emotions” and attitudes are achieved by “walking in the Spirit”, and being “led by the Spirit.” They CANNOT be achieved by “walking in his office”, and “being led, by the psychiatrist” in spite of all of his theories, speculations, drugs, hypnotism, and electro-shock treatments.
We are to Separate from Sin
God commands Christians to SEPARATE (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) from unclean “sources” no matter what “truths” they espouse. The so-called “truths” in psychiatry and psychology are neither “new revealed” truths nor special insights that Christians or the Holy Bible lack, as some psychiatrists would have us to believe, but are distorted ideas and half-truths, in some cases, wrenched from the Bible, and twisted into psychoideations as “new truths.” The error of such “Christian” psychiatrists is to confuse the medical facts in their field with the man-made theories and beliefs of psychiatry's many atheistic founders (1 Corinthians 14:33).
Psychiatric Double-Talk
A quick look into any psychiatric dictionary will reveal many medical facts (i.e. various descriptions of organic functions or organic diseases) mixed in with other descriptive case studies of historical characters whose names are attached as ‘labels” to various behavior types, i.e. complexes. There are many concrete truths given, but there are also many abstract theories given with NO concrete, factual foundation except an occasional reference that some well-known psychotherapist “believes” it to be so. There is also a tendency towards empirical “truths”—things learned experientially without “science,” or subjectively felt to be true.
Other things in such dictionaries are re-named sins that appear renamed to conceal what they really are: sin, a biblical term. Some examples are: acolasia, viz. “lustfulness”, aeschromythesis, viz. “obscene language”, kleptolagnia, viz. “stealing”, as well as demonic behaviors that are explained away with such terms as “dissociation”, or “eaco-daemonomania,” or the “Clerambault-Kandinsky complex.”
It does not take too much analysis to see the distinction between legitimate medical facts in these dictionaries, and mental fables. Christian psychiatrists try to combine all psychiatric concepts and labels into the “medical” model, while remaining deceived to non-medical speculations.
Thus, the “Christian” psychiatrist and psychologist have crossed their wires, twisting the factual with the fictive, and calling both “truth.”
We must always remember as Christians, that the seed roots of non-medical psychotheory are a denial and a replacement of Christianity (and all religious beliefs) with a substitute of half-truths that simulate “new truths,” that are neither “new”, nor spiritual truths, when they are compared to the primary source of all truth: God’s Word, the Holy Bible. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf, even though it looks like a sheep. Psychiatry is simply a form of Gnosticism revisited, mixed in with medical facts.
All the truths of Holy Scripture came as direct revelations from God in a set, prescribed manner. The Apostle Peter says:
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20- 21)
Peter makes it clear that no new revelation is of one’s own interpretation. Therefore we cannot take psychiatric theories and say they are part of God's truth, and use them to interpret human behavior. No “new truth” was ever made by an act of the human will AS IT WAS IN FREUD'S CASE, and we know that Freud had NO connection to the Spirit of God by his own admission. Therefore, whatever he produced was not new “truth”, but formed by an act of his own will and mind. The difference between the “wisdom of man” (Freud, et.al.) and the wisdom of God (Spiritual truths) should be obvious even to Christians who call themselves “Christian” psychiatrists, but apparently it isn’t. There are some things that are seemingly too deep for even “Christian” psychiatrists and psychologists to comprehend, and even they need counseling in this matter.
“There is Nothing New Under the Sun”
We conclude that psychiatry and psychology really have no “new truths” to give, no matter how much they tickle the ears (2 Timothy 4:3- 4), and because we do not see psychotheorists as “new revelators” from God, or possessors of “special” knowledge hidden from the Bible. Since the Bible is the ONLY truth, and purveyor of truth, and truth Personified is ONLY Christ Jesus (John 14:6), then neither is there any room for extrabiblical ideas that parade as “new truth”, or biblical ideas torn, twisted, or distorted out of context and put into Freudian clothing, that masquerade as psychotherapeutic notions, (e.g., “superego” as conscience) and that eliminate Christ as Truth Personified. The Apostle Peter has well described such so-called “Christian” psychiatrists in 2 Peter 3:16-17 when he said that there are some things hard to understand that the unstable DISTORT, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction . . . be on guard lest, being carried away by the ERROR of unprincipled men (Freud), you fall from your own steadfastness.”
Secularizing Christian Principles
Shame on such Christians caught up in psychiatry and psychology who try to JUSTIFY the real, hidden motives of atheism behind psychotheory, and who misrepresent Christ in their own compromised positions, and who uphold Satanic devices to secularize Christian principles under a NON-BIBLICAL and DECEPTIVE NOMENCLATURE. Such people are deceived, deluded, and caught in Satan’s snare, and are in need of counseling as Paul has said in 2 Timothy 2.25-26
“. . . correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
Paul reveals that people, who claim Christianity, may be the servants of Satan when he says:
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Yes, even Christians can be deluded, and supposed “Christians”, acting in righteousness, can be the servants of Satan by wresting the Scriptures and leading other Christians astray by their erroneous conclusions. False religions and cults also take Christian principles out of context to justify their false existence. Cult leaders say they have God’s truth too, by weaving Christian ideas with the false cultic ideas and wisdom of men. “Christian” psychotherapists, likewise use the same kind of “mental-juggling” that the cults use, to justify their “new truths” and new “revelations” or ideas of men like Freud, Skinner, and other atheists.
Psychiatry: Another False Gospel
But as any Bible-believing and obedient Christian should know, psychiatry is merely another “false” gospel, and Christians who support it have been led astray. Ephesians 5:6-11 says:
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even EXPOSE THEM.
There is no way in which a Christian can ascribe to Freud or Rogers “all goodness”, “righteousness”, or “truth”. The Bible says “trying to learn what is PLEASING to the Lord.” Did Freud try to find out if his “truths” were “pleasing to the Lord”? Or Rogers? Or Skinner? How can a “Christian” psychiatrist use Freudian or Jungian, or anyone's ideas as "truths of God,” without first CHECKING OUT in the Bible whether these ideas “please the Lord”? Speaking about the “hidden things” of God's wisdom (mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:7-9) Paul goes on in verse 10 and says:
“For to US God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”
Here we see that God revealed to US, us Christians, the wisdom of God. God's truth was NOT revealed to Freud! Paul continues:
“For WHO among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of GOD (God's truths) NO ONE KNOWS except the Spirit of GOD.” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
How can Freud or any psychotheorist provide “new thoughts” or “new truths” when the Bible clearly says NO ONE KNOWS the thoughts of God (Spiritual truths) except the Spirit of God? Did Freud or Rogers have the Spirit of God indwelling them when they devised their therapies? Of course not, and to say that “all truth is God’s truth” and that Spiritual truth can come through UNREGENERATES, is foolishness.
God’s Teacher of Biblical Truth is the Indwelling Holy Spirit
Paul says:
“Now WE (Christians) have received, NOT the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also I speak, NOT IN WORDS TAUGHT BY HUMAN WISDOM, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
Here we see, crystal clear, that NO psychiatrist, NO psychologist, NO psychotherapist can KNOW God’s revealed truth except by the Spirit. And since that is so, then all non-Biblical psycho-“truths” devised by human wisdom, and by such unregenerates as Freud, do NOT have God's approval, are NOT pleasing to Him, and in fact, are false, since they were not discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:14). In verse 16 Paul conclusively says:
“For who has KNOWN the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?”
Sadly, Freud’s (and the psychotheorist’s) error and delusion was to try to construct his own system of human wisdom—thus presuming even to teach God! And sadly, the “Christian” psychiatrist and psychologist’s error and sin, is to promote this human wisdom as “truth.” Paul once again sets the record straight:
“But WE have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
That's right! Christians HAVE the mind of Christ IN US NOW! So since ALL Christians have the mind of Christ in them NOW, who needs the mind of Freud, or anyone else's mind?
Adding to Scripture Forbidden
Christian psychiatrists and psychologists are ADDING TO SCRIPTURE when they say that the founders of the psycho-professions have provided new truths or insights into man's behavior. The Bible holds ALL the truths and insights into man's behavior that we need to know. Clearly, it is a sin to ADD to scripture (Proverbs 30:5-6). Perhaps another motive for being in the psycho-professions as a Christian may be what Peter said:
“. . . shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and NOT FOR SORDID GAIN.” (1Peter 5:2)
There is not too much argument that a church pastor is not a very highly paid man. But no one can deny that psychiatry is one of the highest income professions. But perhaps even sadder than the possible motive of love of money (1 Timothy 6:9-10) is the possibility that many of these so-called "Christian" psychiatrists and psychologists may have the gift of pastor (Ephesians 4:11), and ought to be shepherding churches instead of being side-tracked into a godless, compromised profession.
Christians are to Reject Psychiatry
Psychiatry and psychology ought to be rejected by Christians because of these professions’ antithetical positions to the Word of God. Perhaps Joshua has some good advice for Christians caught up in the psychoprofessions who defend the “gods” of Freud, Rogers, Jung, etc.:
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods . . . and serve the Lord. And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves whom you will serve . . .” (Joshua 24: 14-15)
Carl Jung, a friend of Freud, does have one idea we can almost agree with. He writes in his MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL, “It is in reality . . . the CLERGYMAN, rather than the doctor, who should be most concerned with the problems of spiritual suffering.”[15]
Back to Basics
Christians, as a whole, need to regain preeminence once again in the area of spiritual soul care, which has been usurped by atheistic, humanistic ideas and practices. Christians should also realize that they are not alone in taking a stand against psychoanalysis. Many medical doctors and even some psychiatrists, who do not claim to be Christians, have openly criticized the fallacies and practices of this cure-all profession. One psychiatrist wrote that “witch-doctors get about the same therapeutic results as psychiatrists do.”[16] He added the comment that he was, in effect, a “witch doctor”, and that “psychiatry” is DYING now because it finally has come to full bloom and, as such, is found NOT TO BE VIABLE.”[17] (Emphasis added)
Medical Model Under Fire
Psychiatry continues to justify its theories and speculations concerning behavioral problems as ‘illnesses” by including them in the organic, physical category called the “medical model.” Yet criticism of the “medical model” used by psychiatry has come from within the psychiatric profession as well as without. Such critics as Szasz, Laing, Fouchault, Liefer, Torrey, Coles, Albee, Ryan,.Sarbin, Sheff, Goffinan, and many others have attacked it.[18] One can even find informational societies, such as, NAPA, (Network Against Psychiatric Assault), that have been organized AGAINST psychiatry by former psychiatric patients, doctors, and psychiatrists who believe that much of present psychiatry is a danger to society.
The absurdity of classification of “mental disease” has also been under fire within the profession. Karl Menninger has dismissed the most recent classificatory efforts (of psychiatry) as “sheer verbal Mickey Mouse.”[19] Finch has said that children's mental “disease”. . . “can only be termed unscientific and bordering on the ridiculous.”[20]
That Christians should categorically reject the psycho-professions must be obvious. They are also to avoid persons who call themselves “Christian” psychiatrists or “Christian” psychologists who use and justify their Freudian and other godless therapies as “God’s truth” in order to beef up their incomes, and even use these godless therapies on their Christian patients. Besides being caught in the unequal yoke of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, and like their non-Christian professional associates, the Christian psychiatrist and psychologist share the same condemnation that Paul warned Timothy of in his First Letter, that is:
“. . . the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
We exhort all Christians caught up in the psycho-professions to reject these “false shepherds” (Ezekiel 34:8) of psychiatry and clinical psychology, that have usurped the role and position of the True Shepherd and His Word. We urge you to return to the Bible as the ONLY guide to solving emotional problems, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” And if you do these things, then what the Apostle Peter has said will come to pass in your life:
“For you were continually, straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guide of your souls. (I Peter 2.25)
Moment Of Truth
Christian, you have been given eye-opening facts from some of the primary sources of psychotherapists, as well as comments from some of the critics of psychiatric practice, both within and without the profession. We have measured these “wisdom of man” theories by the “wisdom of God” and found them wanting. We encourage you to check out these teachings and practices of Freudian and other so-called methods of the psycho-professions at your public library (as well as the growing number of controversial books being written AGAINST these practices), comparing them with the Scriptures, and coming to a settled decision for yourself: ARE PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY BLESSINGS for Christians, or a CURSE?
[1] Sigmund Frued, TOTEM AND TABOO, (London: Routledge, Kegan, 1933 p 134
[2] Carl Jung, MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL, (London: Routledge, Kegan, 1933) p 134
[3] Heinrich Meng and Ernst Freud, eds., PSYCHANALYSIS AND FAITH, (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1963) pp 63, 110
[4] Freud, op. cit., pp 62, 64
[5] Ibid., p 92
[6] Ibid., p 118
[7] Ibid., p 154
[8] Sigmund Freud, CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, (Chicago: Britannica Great Books, Sect. V, Vol. 54, 1952) p 767
[9] Ibid., p771
[10] Hal Lindsey, SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL ON PLANET EARTH, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972) p 94
[11] Dave Hunt, PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND THE COMING HOLOCAUST, (Eugene: Harvest House, 1983) p 113
[12] Carl Rogers, ON BECOMING A PERSON, (New York: Houghton-Miflin, 1964) p 32
[13] Ibid., p 34
[14] Paul C Vitz, PSYCHOLOGY AS RELIGION: The Cult Of Self Worship, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub., 1977) pp 17-27
[15] Jung, op. cit., p 262
[16] E. Fuller Torrey, THE MIND GAME—witchdoctors And Psychiatrist, (New York: Hall Emerson, 1972) p 102 and Book Jacket
[17] E. Fuller Torrey, THE DEATH OF PSYCHIATRY, (Radmor: Chilton Book Co., 1974) p 24
[18] Ibid., Preface
[19] Ibid., p42
[20] Ibid., p 42
Many Christians and Christian pastors are using psychiatry as an extrabiblical referral tool along with pastoral counseling. Is this practice a blessing for Christians, or a curse?
Webster's dictionary defines psychiatry as “the treatment of mental disorders”, and a psychiatrist is defined as “an expert in the treatment of mental disorders.” To discover these ‘mental disorders’ a psychiatrist uses ‘psychoanalysis’, which is a method of ‘mental’ investigation developed by Sigmund Freud, to bring to light hidden and underlying causes of behavior, and to determine their effects upon an individual’s life. The word, psychiatry is derived from two Greek words: psuche (which means soul), and iatros (which means doctor or medicine). Thus, the word psychiatry means soul-doctor or soul-medicine.
Body and Soul?
Webster defines the soul as the immaterial part of man; the moral and emotional seat of sentiments or ‘feelings’ in distinction from the intellect. From these definitions it should be obvious that psychiatrists are trying to deal with invisible, emotional, moral problems calling them ‘mental disorders’. Clichés and labels such as ‘mental illness’ and ‘mental disease’ are frequently jargoned around by psychiatrists to describe what is really spiritual, many times, in its causal roots. As Christians, what are we to make of all these psychiatric attempts to deal with sinful behavior, morals, thoughts, and emotions on a secular, humanistic level? Perhaps it may be best to start by reading excerpts from the writings of Sigmund Freud, himself, to see where he was coming from, and what the moral standards of his world view of religion and Christianity were, that led to the formulation of psychoanalysis. Let us see if his ideas are really a blessing for Christians or a curse. . .
Roots of Psychiatry
In the introduction of his book, Totem and Taboo (a book on pagan rituals)[1], Freud says:
“No reader of (the Hebrew version of) this book will find it easy to put himself in the emotional position of an author who is ignorant of the language of holy writ, who is completely estranged from the religion of his fathers (Judaism) as well as from every other religion . . . (Emphasis added)
Here we see that although Freud was aware of the Scriptures, yet, by self-choice, had abandoned not only Judaism, but ALL religious beliefs. We can only conclude from this that Freud was an atheist: an unregenerate, unsaved, natural man—an apostate to his own religious heritage—using only the resources of his limited intellect to judge all religions and moral values. He became his own judge, jury, and god! We know from his writings that, as a natural man, he did not accept the things of the Spirit of God; they were foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). He was unable to understand spiritual things, and admitted to a friend in one of his writings, that he had no feelings about eternity, and lacked any such belief. Like B.F. Skinner, he was an atheist and judged only by what he saw, and did not believe that man had an eternal spirit within him.
Freud’s “Religion”
As a result, Freud was forced to invent his own religion . . . psychiatry . . . making up his own dogmas, labels, and semantically redefining biblical terms such as sin, into a complex, psycho-terminology that appears scientific because of its inclusion with physiological, medical model terminology. He thus re-interpreted human behavior into his own ungodly psychology. As Carl Jung, another psychoanalyst, said about Freud:
“He has devoted his life and his strength to the construction of a psychology which is a formulation of his own being.”[2] (Emphasis added)
And what was Freud’s “own being”? By his own words he called himself a “completely godless Jew” and a “hopeless pagan.”[3] Freud’s writings are often cynical, critical, and arrogant in condemning religious beliefs of any kind. In his book, TOTEM and TABOO, he says:
“We have succeeded, as it were, in getting behind the demons, for we have explained them as projections of hostile feelings harbored by the survivors against the dead . . . it would be another matter if demons really existed. But we know that, like gods, they are creations of the human mind.”[4] (Emphasis added)
Freud had discovered in his investigations of pagan and other religions, that demonology and evil spirits were frequently blamed for abnormal behavior in these religions. Freud sought to explain such ideas away as primitive and unsophisticated figments of men's imaginations.
No such things as Demons?
But we Christians know that Freud was a spiritually blinded and deluded man in regards to demons, since demonology has ALWAYS been an active doctrine in the biblical Christian faith, and Jesus Christ, Himself, cast out demons, proving from “holy writ” that demons do exist (Matthew 8:16, 28-33; Luke 4:33-36,41), and Paul, Peter and James showed they continued to exist into the New Testament age (1 Corinthians 10:20, 21; Ephesians 4:27, 6:11; 1 Timothy 4:1, 3:7; 2 Timothy 2:26; James 2:19, 3:1, 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8). But Freud’s arrogance as well as his ignorance of demonology as reality did not end there. He also denied that spirits exist. In the same book, TOTEM AND TABOO he wrote:
“Spirits and demons, as have shown . . . are only projections of man's own emotional impulses.”[5] (Emphasis added)
By denying the spirit world, Freud was forced to concentrate on the soul (emotions) and body of man as the bases for his fabrication of psychoanalysis, and thus he eliminated the concept of anything spiritual from his philosophy and teachings. Since he was an atheist, psychoanalysis, as an extension of his own being and belief, had to be atheistic in its ideas as well.
Christian “Myths”
Freud also denies the Christian doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ when he says:
“They (the Arunta tribe of central Australia) have enlarged the MYTH of the impregnation of a virgin by the spirit into a general theory of conception; but that is no reason why ignorance of the conditions governing fertilization should be imputed to them anymore than to the peoples of antiquity at the time of the origin of the Christian MYTHS.”[6] (Emphasis added)
Here Freud subtly denies the virgin birth of Christ as a MYTH, thus in effect, denying the Deity of Christ. To Freud, Christianity was mythology. He says, “There can be no doubt that in the Christian myth, the original sin was one against the Father.”[7] (Emphasis added) In another book, CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, Freud went on to say,
“One of these exceptional men calls himself my friend in his letters to me. I sent him my little book (FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION) which treats of religion as an illusion, and he answered that he entirely agreed with my views on religion.”[8] (Emphasis added)
Being an evolutionist, Freud also had to find a way to justify his false, unscriptural, psychoanalytical premises, so he wrote again in CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS:
“the ordinary man cannot imagine this Providence in any other form but that of greatly exalted father, for only such a one could understand the needs of the sons of men, or could be softened by their prayers and placated by the signs of their remorse. The whole thing is so patently infantile, so congruous with reality . . . it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life."[9] (Emphasis added)
Obviously, Freud fancied that he had “risen” above all mortals evolutionally, and placed his ideas above “holy writ.” In denying the Christian truth that there is a Providence over all mankind Who is God the Father, Freud also eliminates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, having denied the Spirit, the Deity of Christ, and now, the Father. Freud, also in the last quote, denies the effectiveness of prayer, as well as prayer itself, and no wonder, for in Freud's manner of thinking, if there is no God, there is no need to try to communicate with God, and if there is dependence on anyone, it will be on the psychoanalyst, not God.
The Obvious is not always Apparent
Christian, can you now see the seed thoughts behind much of psychoanalysis and psychiatry today for what it is: anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Judaic/Christian with humanistic atheism at its core? Freud did not stop there. Other ideas that can be found in his writings are that religion is mental infantilism that induces upon the world a mass-delusion; that God's omniscience, as an idea, 'evolves' from childhood fears that later develop into adult “doctrines;” that the truth of religion may altogether be discarded; and that religion is a danger for mankind.
As Christians we are shocked by such blasphemous ideas and must conclude that psychiatry that substitutes the ungodly ideas of man in place of the Word of God is the REAL DANGER to mankind. Even today, many psychiatrists deny the concept of self-responsibility for their criminal clients who have committed heinous crimes such as murder, rape, violence, etc., testifying in their defense with their scripturally false opinions, that these criminals were “temporarily insane” . . . men who physically and organically are in perfect health! Yet the Bible says, “Thou shalt not murder . . .” (Exodus 20:13), and that murderers deserve death (Genesis 9:5,6). No wonder crime is epidemic in America! And no wonder Hal Lindsey in his book, SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL ON PLANET EARTH, refers to this present increase in crime as “Freud's Fruits!”[10]
Scriptural Viewpoint on Psychiatry
What should our viewpoint be on such anti-Christian, psychiatric practices? The Bible claims, without apology, that IT is the ONLY method of SOUL COUNSELING for Christians. (As a matter of fact, it also claims the same jurisdiction even for unbelievers). The Scriptures clearly state they have no peer, and condemn every other system not in conformity to the Bible, as false. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word . . .” (John 1:1). Where were Freud, Rogers, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry “in the beginning”? Since psychiatry didn't come from God, who did it come from? Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;” (John 14:6). How can psychiatry claim it is the truth, and the way for one's life, when Christ's declaration EXCLUDES all other “ways?” In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read:
“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, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (KJV)
By this statement the Bible claims that it is COMPLETELY capable to diagnose and correct every spiritual and emotional problem of every man on this planet who obeys the Scriptures.
What about Organic Problems?
Christians do accept the fact that behavior disorders can be organically caused by brain damage, lesions, tumors, retardation, injury, and various organic diseases. Where organic dysfunction is manifested, a medical doctor, or neurological specialist is recommended, NOT a psychiatrist. The Bible DOES recognize organic illness, and confirms that psychosomatic illness can be sin caused! However the Bible does not CONDONE sin, even when there are medical problems or psychosomatic. Illness NEVER justifies sinning.
Specifically what we are talking about in this booklet, is that branch of the medical profession called psychoanalysis or psychiatry that deals with the organically healthy person who is labeled “mentally ill,” and to which various other psychiatric labels (there are at least 7500 such definitions and labels), may be attached.
Non-Biblical Therapies
Psychiatric treatment is characterized by “talk,” by the imposition of the will of the psychiatrist on the patient, many times, to structure moral standards by suggestion, or behavioral change by hypnosis, ECT, control drugs, and other non-biblical “therapies”. Hypnotism, used by many so-called Christian psychiatrists and psychologists, is condemned by the Bible in Deuteronomy 18:11 (casting spells). It is also condemned by many State Supreme Courts, since they have recently recognized “that deception is an integral and inescapable part of hypnosis!”[11]
In “electro-shock” or ECT (electro-convulsive therapy), electrodes are attached to the subject's head, either at the temples or at the front and back of one side of the head. The electricity is turned on for a tenth to a half-second, generally at strength of 130 to 170 volts at 500 to 900 milliamperes—roughly the power required to light a 100-watt bulb. Since electric current travels at the speed of light, in one-tenth of a second, 18,000 MILES of electric current has passed through the subject's brain cells. The consequence is a convulsive grand mal seizure, an artificially induced epileptic fit. The convulsion usually occurs immediately with an initial tonic (rigid body) phase lasting about 10 seconds. The tonic phase slowly goes over into the clonic (twitching- body) phase, which fades out after a total of 30 to 40 seconds for the whole seizure. The convulsion is accompanied by apnea (breathing stops temporarily). The seizure is followed by coma lasting from 5 to 30 or more minutes. Occasionally there are bone fractures due to muscular contractions (tonic & clonic). Intravenous muscle relaxants, such as suceinyleholine, are often used to prevent this complication.
Many Christian-psychiatrists believe that electro-shock can “kick” the sinner out of a depression; but it only masks the root cause by blanking out the recent memory of the sin situation . . . something like an electronic absolution. But since the sin problem has really not been dealt with, and electricity cannot remove our sin natures, the sin will remain and surface again. In Christianity, 1 John 1:9 is the ONLY way to get rid of sin-caused depressions:
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness . . .”
. . . and it's cheaper than electroshock therapy, and less painful, with the use of NO drugs!
The employment of control drugs to change, modify, or limit behavior in place of self-control is another use of a chemical god instead of simple obedience to the commands of the real God when the patient has no organic dysfunctioning. Such drug use, to control the soul, is considered by the Scriptures to be “sorcery”; a sin which the Bible predicts will increase and be rampant in the end times.
Bible-believing Christians are not against the use of drugs or medicines in physical disease, and to assist organic healing. It is the psychiatric use of drugs (in the same manner that the Russian KGB uses drugs to produce peaceful, co-operative, docile behavior among dissidents) that we cannot support in place of spiritual counseling. It is no accident that Freud's atheistic beliefs and methods of contemporary psychiatry neatly fit the Communist ideology against non-conformists and the Marxist belief that all “religion is the opium of the people.” is is why Christians who are arrested in Russia are forced into psychiatric hospitals to be treated as “mentally ill” people.
Who's in Charge of Morality Anyway?
We see then that the psychiatrist or psychologist who enters the ethical-moral area of the soul-life of a patient is, from the Christian point of view, trespassing on Biblical ground, and comes into conflict with the biblical method of counseling. Christians should see the psychoanalysts as usurpers and squatters, sitting on holy ground, when they moralize their patients and try to direct their soul life in contradiction to the commands of the Bible. The Bible clearly says: “Blessed is the man who does NOT walk in the counsel of the UNGODLY . . .” (Psalm 1:1). Psychiatrists who follow the Freudian model, or who have built a modified psychoanalysis on the Freudian or on some other godless psychotherapy, are using UNGODLY counsel. B.P. Skinner's operant conditioning theories also are the seed thoughts of an atheist who views man as a mere animal whose behavior can be controlled environmentally from without. Carl Rogers, another psychoanalyst who absorbed Freudian thought, says in his book, ON BECOMING A PERSON, “No approach (to counseling) which relies upon knowledge, upon training, upon the acceptance of something taught, is of any use.”[12] (Emphasis added). This statement is just the opposite of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 previously quoted. Rogers continues to say, “There is also a complete freedom from any type of moral or diagnostic evaluation, since all such evaluations are, I believe, always threatening.”[13] Here we observe Rogers’ method to be AMORAL and with NO DIAGNOSIS . . . totally NON-DIRECTIVE. The Bible, on the other hand, is totally MORAL, totally DIAGNOSTIC, and totally DIRECTIVE, faulting Rogers' whole approach. Christians ought to reject Rogerian therapy as ungodly, and inverted, since his methods criticize the Word of God and thus God, Himself.
Psychiatric Education
It should be noted in this survey of psychiatric thought—which by no means is comprehensive—that schools of psychiatry and secular psychology never teach and promote the God-given and inspired truths of the Bible such as the fall of Adam and Eve; the resulting sin nature passed on to the human race; sin as a cause behind man's “emotional” problems, and psychosomatic illnesses; Satanic oppression as a cause of abnormal behavior, physical illness, and even premature death; demonic possession as a cause behind some criminal behavior, etc., because no school of psychiatry accepts these Biblical behavioral precepts as being true or having any validity.
False Christian Notions
Christians have been deceived for too long by the false idea that “they are to deal only with spiritual problems while psychiatrists or psychologists are to handle emotional problems”; this cliché, in much of Christianity today, is not true. Such a “meat cleaver” approach of trying to separate the spirit from the soul (emotions) is clearly an UNBIBLICAL notion. Emotional “feelings” FLOW from our actions, and precisely reflect the nature of our action. They cannot be separated from our actions as if in a vacuum. Voluntary actions produce involuntary emotional responses, either internalized or externalized. “Bad” emotions are the resulting reactions that FLOW from BAD BEHAVIOR: the emotions are working fine; they are reflecting the PRESENCE of “bad” or sinful behavior! Thus, Christian counselors must see that emotional problems result from behavioral problems, which are spiritual problems that have sin as their root cause.
How to Cure Emotional Problems without Psychiatry
Take for example, immorality, impurity, sensuality, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, etc. Aren't these many of the chief “emotional problems” of mankind? Yet the Christian Bible calls these “the deeds of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21), and no psychiatrist or psychologist has ANY non- biblical method or ability to solve these emotional problems, which result from the sinful actions of the flesh. Again we stress that “bad” emotions reflect “bad”, sinful behavior. There is no such thing as a Christian having “good” behavior and “bad” emotions at the same time.
God says “walk in the Spirit”, and you WILL NOT have these “emotional” problems (Galatians 5:16). You cannot “walk in the Spirit” and have “bad” emotional problems at the same time. In Christianity, man is a WHOLE BEING: body, soul, and spirit; and ALL of his entities or constituent parts AFFECT the other parts. Therefore we see that “walking in the Spirit” is the ONLY God-approved method of eliminating emotional problems, rather than making referrals of Christians to psychiatrists, as if they have some secret method that can by-pass “walking in the Spirit.” To make such referrals is to deceive the Christian who is having a sin-engendered emotional reaction to his own sinful behavior, and to give him a false hope and a psuedo-scientific solution (that costs $120 an hour), and does not, in the end, deal with the sin problem behind the emotion, but may compound the problem by masking the sin through such masking agents as psycho-drugs, hypnosis, ECT'S, etc. Pastors who make such referrals do not understand the soul/spirit relationship and must come to see that by making such referrals they are grievously sinning against and defrauding their own brethren, as well as sinning against the Word of God.
A Contradiction: The “Christian” Psychiatrist
But aren't there such things as Christian psychiatrists? In biblical REALITY, there aren't! If you can believe that there is such a person as a Christian ATHEIST, then there probably is such a person as a Christian psychiatrist, but such a person as a Christian atheist doesn't exist, and neither is there such a person as a Christian psychiatrist.
We know this because ALL psychiatrists receive essentially the same, foundational, atheistic, humanistic, God-ignoring education; and if they are certified as a psychiatrist, they AGREED or claimed they agreed with what they were taught in their classes. One reason why a psychiatrist might call himself a Christian psychiatrist is because, in his highly competitive profession, (one of the highest paid of all professions), he treats UNBELIEVERS in the normal course and bulk of his operation with Freudian or other ungodly practices, while also advertising himself elsewhere, either directly or indirectly, as a "Christian" psychiatrist in order to gain a specific clientele—untouched by other secular psychiatrists—the unknowledgeable Christian (usually referred to him by an unsure pastor who may be fearful, or possibly incompetent to counsel him from the Scriptures). The Bible would call such a man double-minded who uses atheistic principles with one group of patients on the one hand, and tries to play the Christian role with other patients on the other hand, for the obvious advantage of money and reputation.
So if there is a Christian-Muslim, or a Christian agnostic, or a Christian atheist, then there is such a thing as a “Christian” psychiatrist. Freud would probably turn over in his grave if he ever found out that there is a Christian psychiatrist; and, no doubt—in Freud’s manner of thinking, he would call such a person a “schizophrenic.” No, there are no such things as Christian psychiatrists, but only people who “think” they are.
What about Psychology?
At this point, we should also define the role of psychology and psychologists, particularly the clinical variety. Generally a clinical psychologist works with “mental” patients, usually collaborating with a psychiatrist. But what, in fact, is a psychologist? Webster's dictionary says psychology is “that branch of metaphysics which has for its subject the human soul, its nature, its properties, and operations.” A psychologist then, is a “psycho-logos”—in Greek—a “soul describer” or a “soul diagnostician.” Like the psychiatrist (“soul doctor”), psychologists deal with the soul; the immaterial, invisible, moral, and emotional entity of man.
A clinical psychologist is one who applies so-called psychological principles to the mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders of individuals. A psychologist studies the human soul in its behaviors, which from a Christian viewpoint, certainly includes sinful behavior as well as non-sinful behavior. If he studies the soul's nature, then he has also stepped on biblical ground TWICE. And since he diagnoses and tries to theorize changes in behavior, he is acting out the Christian pastoral or shepherding role, in his secular specialty, whether he knows it or not.
God’s Word: Sole Authority on “Soul”
As Christians, we KNOW that the Bible is the ONLY authoritative text on the nature, properties, and operations of the soul of man. It is the ONLY text written by the Creator of man’s soul, and the Creator needs no help from the created—the psychologists—who redefine in their own terms a secularist definition of the biblical entity called “soul,” and who create psychological therapies which EXCLUDE God, the Creator, from their practices. It is the Christian who knows his Bible who is the TRUE soul studier or diagnostician, the authentic and genuine psyco-logos! Psychology bases its ideas on EXTERNAL observations of human behavior. But the Bible says: “Do NOT judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Since psychiatry and psychology do NOT use righteous judgment (biblical perception) in their diagnoses, they cannot be right in their theoretical therapies, either.
God Condemns the “Wisdom of Man”
Secular psychological theorists such as Skinner, Fromm, Maslow, and Rogers, as well as most other “self” psychology hypothesizers, are generally hostile to Christianity, tend toward atheism, and strongly favor their own humanistic, self-made ideas over biblical concept.[14] Like psychiatry’s error, psychology also is condemned by Scripture in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5:
“And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should NOT rest on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God.”
The “wisdom of man”—psychology and psychiatry—can be very persuasive. But the Bible clearly says we are NOT to rest our faith on such wisdom. Sadly, some so-called “Christian” psychologists and “Christian” psychiatrists have attempted to justify their compromised positions by trying to blend Freudian and other psychotherapies with biblical excerpts. But they, in their own deceived minds, violate Colossians 2:8-10:
“See to it that no one takes you CAPTIVE through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to CHRIST. For in Him (CHRIST, not Freud, Rogers, et. al.) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made COMPLETE . . .”
These verses of God's Word show that Christians CAN be taken captive by the wisdom of men and empty deception. Both psychiatry and psychology are “traditions of men” with contributors going back to Hippocrates.
Isn't all Truth “God's Truth”?
Often such “Christian” psychiatrists, psychologists, and even pastors will blurt out the idea that “it doesn't matter what the source of ‘truth’ is, since all truth comes from God,” in order to justify their Freudian/Christian yoking of ideas. Here we must consider the vast differences between Spiritual truths and physical truths. Physical truths are those tangible, laboratory provable, objective laws and precepts that God, in Creation, has put into motion. Some examples of these physical truths are: gravity, thermodynamics, atomic and molecular structure, medical truths that explain organic disease, the function of our body, its organs, circulatory and respiratory systems, etc. Obviously, the Bible is not concerned with physical truths, per se. The Word of God concerns itself with the revelation of Spiritual truths, concepts that man CANNOT discover by himself, and MUST have revealed to him, verbally and literally, from God, such as: the Person of God, His Creation, and that which we are discussing here—the soul and spirit of man, and those personal and spiritual forces that affect him.
The “Christian” psychiatrist believes that he has obtained (from atheists, agnostics, and humanists) new, revealed extra-biblical knowledge (truths not found in God’s Word) that can aid mankind in his search for peace, self- control, patience, joy, love, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and goodness. Yet these very things that virtually all men seek are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. God tells us that these “emotions” and attitudes are achieved by “walking in the Spirit”, and being “led by the Spirit.” They CANNOT be achieved by “walking in his office”, and “being led, by the psychiatrist” in spite of all of his theories, speculations, drugs, hypnotism, and electro-shock treatments.
We are to Separate from Sin
God commands Christians to SEPARATE (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) from unclean “sources” no matter what “truths” they espouse. The so-called “truths” in psychiatry and psychology are neither “new revealed” truths nor special insights that Christians or the Holy Bible lack, as some psychiatrists would have us to believe, but are distorted ideas and half-truths, in some cases, wrenched from the Bible, and twisted into psychoideations as “new truths.” The error of such “Christian” psychiatrists is to confuse the medical facts in their field with the man-made theories and beliefs of psychiatry's many atheistic founders (1 Corinthians 14:33).
Psychiatric Double-Talk
A quick look into any psychiatric dictionary will reveal many medical facts (i.e. various descriptions of organic functions or organic diseases) mixed in with other descriptive case studies of historical characters whose names are attached as ‘labels” to various behavior types, i.e. complexes. There are many concrete truths given, but there are also many abstract theories given with NO concrete, factual foundation except an occasional reference that some well-known psychotherapist “believes” it to be so. There is also a tendency towards empirical “truths”—things learned experientially without “science,” or subjectively felt to be true.
Other things in such dictionaries are re-named sins that appear renamed to conceal what they really are: sin, a biblical term. Some examples are: acolasia, viz. “lustfulness”, aeschromythesis, viz. “obscene language”, kleptolagnia, viz. “stealing”, as well as demonic behaviors that are explained away with such terms as “dissociation”, or “eaco-daemonomania,” or the “Clerambault-Kandinsky complex.”
It does not take too much analysis to see the distinction between legitimate medical facts in these dictionaries, and mental fables. Christian psychiatrists try to combine all psychiatric concepts and labels into the “medical” model, while remaining deceived to non-medical speculations.
Thus, the “Christian” psychiatrist and psychologist have crossed their wires, twisting the factual with the fictive, and calling both “truth.”
We must always remember as Christians, that the seed roots of non-medical psychotheory are a denial and a replacement of Christianity (and all religious beliefs) with a substitute of half-truths that simulate “new truths,” that are neither “new”, nor spiritual truths, when they are compared to the primary source of all truth: God’s Word, the Holy Bible. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf, even though it looks like a sheep. Psychiatry is simply a form of Gnosticism revisited, mixed in with medical facts.
All the truths of Holy Scripture came as direct revelations from God in a set, prescribed manner. The Apostle Peter says:
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20- 21)
Peter makes it clear that no new revelation is of one’s own interpretation. Therefore we cannot take psychiatric theories and say they are part of God's truth, and use them to interpret human behavior. No “new truth” was ever made by an act of the human will AS IT WAS IN FREUD'S CASE, and we know that Freud had NO connection to the Spirit of God by his own admission. Therefore, whatever he produced was not new “truth”, but formed by an act of his own will and mind. The difference between the “wisdom of man” (Freud, et.al.) and the wisdom of God (Spiritual truths) should be obvious even to Christians who call themselves “Christian” psychiatrists, but apparently it isn’t. There are some things that are seemingly too deep for even “Christian” psychiatrists and psychologists to comprehend, and even they need counseling in this matter.
“There is Nothing New Under the Sun”
We conclude that psychiatry and psychology really have no “new truths” to give, no matter how much they tickle the ears (2 Timothy 4:3- 4), and because we do not see psychotheorists as “new revelators” from God, or possessors of “special” knowledge hidden from the Bible. Since the Bible is the ONLY truth, and purveyor of truth, and truth Personified is ONLY Christ Jesus (John 14:6), then neither is there any room for extrabiblical ideas that parade as “new truth”, or biblical ideas torn, twisted, or distorted out of context and put into Freudian clothing, that masquerade as psychotherapeutic notions, (e.g., “superego” as conscience) and that eliminate Christ as Truth Personified. The Apostle Peter has well described such so-called “Christian” psychiatrists in 2 Peter 3:16-17 when he said that there are some things hard to understand that the unstable DISTORT, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction . . . be on guard lest, being carried away by the ERROR of unprincipled men (Freud), you fall from your own steadfastness.”
Secularizing Christian Principles
Shame on such Christians caught up in psychiatry and psychology who try to JUSTIFY the real, hidden motives of atheism behind psychotheory, and who misrepresent Christ in their own compromised positions, and who uphold Satanic devices to secularize Christian principles under a NON-BIBLICAL and DECEPTIVE NOMENCLATURE. Such people are deceived, deluded, and caught in Satan’s snare, and are in need of counseling as Paul has said in 2 Timothy 2.25-26
“. . . correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
Paul reveals that people, who claim Christianity, may be the servants of Satan when he says:
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Yes, even Christians can be deluded, and supposed “Christians”, acting in righteousness, can be the servants of Satan by wresting the Scriptures and leading other Christians astray by their erroneous conclusions. False religions and cults also take Christian principles out of context to justify their false existence. Cult leaders say they have God’s truth too, by weaving Christian ideas with the false cultic ideas and wisdom of men. “Christian” psychotherapists, likewise use the same kind of “mental-juggling” that the cults use, to justify their “new truths” and new “revelations” or ideas of men like Freud, Skinner, and other atheists.
Psychiatry: Another False Gospel
But as any Bible-believing and obedient Christian should know, psychiatry is merely another “false” gospel, and Christians who support it have been led astray. Ephesians 5:6-11 says:
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even EXPOSE THEM.
There is no way in which a Christian can ascribe to Freud or Rogers “all goodness”, “righteousness”, or “truth”. The Bible says “trying to learn what is PLEASING to the Lord.” Did Freud try to find out if his “truths” were “pleasing to the Lord”? Or Rogers? Or Skinner? How can a “Christian” psychiatrist use Freudian or Jungian, or anyone's ideas as "truths of God,” without first CHECKING OUT in the Bible whether these ideas “please the Lord”? Speaking about the “hidden things” of God's wisdom (mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:7-9) Paul goes on in verse 10 and says:
“For to US God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”
Here we see that God revealed to US, us Christians, the wisdom of God. God's truth was NOT revealed to Freud! Paul continues:
“For WHO among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of GOD (God's truths) NO ONE KNOWS except the Spirit of GOD.” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
How can Freud or any psychotheorist provide “new thoughts” or “new truths” when the Bible clearly says NO ONE KNOWS the thoughts of God (Spiritual truths) except the Spirit of God? Did Freud or Rogers have the Spirit of God indwelling them when they devised their therapies? Of course not, and to say that “all truth is God’s truth” and that Spiritual truth can come through UNREGENERATES, is foolishness.
God’s Teacher of Biblical Truth is the Indwelling Holy Spirit
Paul says:
“Now WE (Christians) have received, NOT the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also I speak, NOT IN WORDS TAUGHT BY HUMAN WISDOM, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
Here we see, crystal clear, that NO psychiatrist, NO psychologist, NO psychotherapist can KNOW God’s revealed truth except by the Spirit. And since that is so, then all non-Biblical psycho-“truths” devised by human wisdom, and by such unregenerates as Freud, do NOT have God's approval, are NOT pleasing to Him, and in fact, are false, since they were not discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:14). In verse 16 Paul conclusively says:
“For who has KNOWN the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?”
Sadly, Freud’s (and the psychotheorist’s) error and delusion was to try to construct his own system of human wisdom—thus presuming even to teach God! And sadly, the “Christian” psychiatrist and psychologist’s error and sin, is to promote this human wisdom as “truth.” Paul once again sets the record straight:
“But WE have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
That's right! Christians HAVE the mind of Christ IN US NOW! So since ALL Christians have the mind of Christ in them NOW, who needs the mind of Freud, or anyone else's mind?
Adding to Scripture Forbidden
Christian psychiatrists and psychologists are ADDING TO SCRIPTURE when they say that the founders of the psycho-professions have provided new truths or insights into man's behavior. The Bible holds ALL the truths and insights into man's behavior that we need to know. Clearly, it is a sin to ADD to scripture (Proverbs 30:5-6). Perhaps another motive for being in the psycho-professions as a Christian may be what Peter said:
“. . . shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and NOT FOR SORDID GAIN.” (1Peter 5:2)
There is not too much argument that a church pastor is not a very highly paid man. But no one can deny that psychiatry is one of the highest income professions. But perhaps even sadder than the possible motive of love of money (1 Timothy 6:9-10) is the possibility that many of these so-called "Christian" psychiatrists and psychologists may have the gift of pastor (Ephesians 4:11), and ought to be shepherding churches instead of being side-tracked into a godless, compromised profession.
Christians are to Reject Psychiatry
Psychiatry and psychology ought to be rejected by Christians because of these professions’ antithetical positions to the Word of God. Perhaps Joshua has some good advice for Christians caught up in the psychoprofessions who defend the “gods” of Freud, Rogers, Jung, etc.:
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods . . . and serve the Lord. And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves whom you will serve . . .” (Joshua 24: 14-15)
Carl Jung, a friend of Freud, does have one idea we can almost agree with. He writes in his MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL, “It is in reality . . . the CLERGYMAN, rather than the doctor, who should be most concerned with the problems of spiritual suffering.”[15]
Back to Basics
Christians, as a whole, need to regain preeminence once again in the area of spiritual soul care, which has been usurped by atheistic, humanistic ideas and practices. Christians should also realize that they are not alone in taking a stand against psychoanalysis. Many medical doctors and even some psychiatrists, who do not claim to be Christians, have openly criticized the fallacies and practices of this cure-all profession. One psychiatrist wrote that “witch-doctors get about the same therapeutic results as psychiatrists do.”[16] He added the comment that he was, in effect, a “witch doctor”, and that “psychiatry” is DYING now because it finally has come to full bloom and, as such, is found NOT TO BE VIABLE.”[17] (Emphasis added)
Medical Model Under Fire
Psychiatry continues to justify its theories and speculations concerning behavioral problems as ‘illnesses” by including them in the organic, physical category called the “medical model.” Yet criticism of the “medical model” used by psychiatry has come from within the psychiatric profession as well as without. Such critics as Szasz, Laing, Fouchault, Liefer, Torrey, Coles, Albee, Ryan,.Sarbin, Sheff, Goffinan, and many others have attacked it.[18] One can even find informational societies, such as, NAPA, (Network Against Psychiatric Assault), that have been organized AGAINST psychiatry by former psychiatric patients, doctors, and psychiatrists who believe that much of present psychiatry is a danger to society.
The absurdity of classification of “mental disease” has also been under fire within the profession. Karl Menninger has dismissed the most recent classificatory efforts (of psychiatry) as “sheer verbal Mickey Mouse.”[19] Finch has said that children's mental “disease”. . . “can only be termed unscientific and bordering on the ridiculous.”[20]
That Christians should categorically reject the psycho-professions must be obvious. They are also to avoid persons who call themselves “Christian” psychiatrists or “Christian” psychologists who use and justify their Freudian and other godless therapies as “God’s truth” in order to beef up their incomes, and even use these godless therapies on their Christian patients. Besides being caught in the unequal yoke of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, and like their non-Christian professional associates, the Christian psychiatrist and psychologist share the same condemnation that Paul warned Timothy of in his First Letter, that is:
“. . . the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
We exhort all Christians caught up in the psycho-professions to reject these “false shepherds” (Ezekiel 34:8) of psychiatry and clinical psychology, that have usurped the role and position of the True Shepherd and His Word. We urge you to return to the Bible as the ONLY guide to solving emotional problems, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” And if you do these things, then what the Apostle Peter has said will come to pass in your life:
“For you were continually, straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guide of your souls. (I Peter 2.25)
Moment Of Truth
Christian, you have been given eye-opening facts from some of the primary sources of psychotherapists, as well as comments from some of the critics of psychiatric practice, both within and without the profession. We have measured these “wisdom of man” theories by the “wisdom of God” and found them wanting. We encourage you to check out these teachings and practices of Freudian and other so-called methods of the psycho-professions at your public library (as well as the growing number of controversial books being written AGAINST these practices), comparing them with the Scriptures, and coming to a settled decision for yourself: ARE PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY BLESSINGS for Christians, or a CURSE?
[1] Sigmund Frued, TOTEM AND TABOO, (London: Routledge, Kegan, 1933 p 134
[2] Carl Jung, MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL, (London: Routledge, Kegan, 1933) p 134
[3] Heinrich Meng and Ernst Freud, eds., PSYCHANALYSIS AND FAITH, (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1963) pp 63, 110
[4] Freud, op. cit., pp 62, 64
[5] Ibid., p 92
[6] Ibid., p 118
[7] Ibid., p 154
[8] Sigmund Freud, CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, (Chicago: Britannica Great Books, Sect. V, Vol. 54, 1952) p 767
[9] Ibid., p771
[10] Hal Lindsey, SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL ON PLANET EARTH, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972) p 94
[11] Dave Hunt, PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND THE COMING HOLOCAUST, (Eugene: Harvest House, 1983) p 113
[12] Carl Rogers, ON BECOMING A PERSON, (New York: Houghton-Miflin, 1964) p 32
[13] Ibid., p 34
[14] Paul C Vitz, PSYCHOLOGY AS RELIGION: The Cult Of Self Worship, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub., 1977) pp 17-27
[15] Jung, op. cit., p 262
[16] E. Fuller Torrey, THE MIND GAME—witchdoctors And Psychiatrist, (New York: Hall Emerson, 1972) p 102 and Book Jacket
[17] E. Fuller Torrey, THE DEATH OF PSYCHIATRY, (Radmor: Chilton Book Co., 1974) p 24
[18] Ibid., Preface
[19] Ibid., p42
[20] Ibid., p 42