I recently gave the title of this article as the topic
for one of my messages to an individual who was putting together a
prophecy conference. An obvious pause on his end of the phone line told
me that he was trying to imagine how psychology might possibly fit in
with the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, the Great Tribulation, the
Battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and other
events and individuals that are common subjects at prophecy conferences.
When his lack of response began to approach that awkward stage, I slowly
and deliberately quoted 2 Timothy 3:1-2: “This know also, that in the
last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves....”
“Go for it!” was his immediate response.
Although the conference organizer didn’t know exactly how I was going to
treat the subject, he immediately recognized the fit from the phrases:
“the last days...perilous times...lovers of their own selves.” It’s very
disturbing (yet understandable, as we will see) that most evangelicals
(especially pastors) have missed the Apostle Paul’s very clear, even
strident, warning about the perils of self-love and its connection to
psychology in the last days.
To better understand what Paul’s concerns were, we need to start with a
definition of the term “self.” It simply means the person himself. It’s
me—and all that comprises me. Being a lover of my own self, then, means
that I love me, first and foremost. Self fills up my heart, my mind, my
will, my consciousness. Self, prior to salvation in Christ, is an
autonomous being doing its own thing in rebellion against God. For
believers in Jesus who are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17),
self should be in submission to Him. A true believer denies himself
daily, takes up his cross, is crucified with Christ—and yet he lives,
with his life being in Christ by faith (Matthew 16:24; Galatians 2:20).
Why did Paul put such an emphasis on self as an issue of critical
concern in “the last days”? Hasn’t “self” been mankind’s common problem
ever since the first act of disobedience against God in the Garden of
Eden (Genesis 3)? Wasn’t Satan’s seduction of Eve a lying appeal to
enhance her “self”? Satan: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil” (3:5). And didn’t Eve fall for his lies of
self-gratification and self-deification? And wasn’t self-preservation an
obvious product of Adam and Eve’s sin as they shifted the blame away
from themselves? Adam: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she
gave me of the tree....” Eve: “The serpent beguiled me...” (3:12, 13).
Obviously, self took center stage in the life of mankind from the first
act of sin on earth and thereafter!
Yet Paul indicates a special emphasis on self in the “last days.”
Although self-seeking and self-serving have been dominant
characteristics of mankind as far back as the Fall,
it has only been
since the rise of modern psychology that self has been proclaimed as the
solution to all of our mental, emotional, and behavioral ills. This was
a new development of the 19th century that became inevitable as
Darwinian “scientists” began promoting their own theory of man’s origin.
Why inevitable? Well, as God “lost” His position as mankind’s Creator,
He eventually was replaced altogether. Evolutionary theory eliminated
any necessity for God, since all life, we were told, came about through
natural processes. Taking God out of the picture of life left us with
only “self”, resulting in humanity becoming the measure of
all things. That, however, has left evolutionists/humanists with a
dilemma.
On the one hand, man has been “relieved” of his accountability to his
Creator; on the other hand, he’s left by himself to solve all of his
problems. This evolutionary and humanistic belief posits that within man
is the ultimate and necessary potential for coming up with these
solutions. The Humanist Manifesto I declares, “Man is at last becoming
aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of
his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement.”
If the solutions are not within self, then godless mankind has nowhere
else to turn, and, consequently, humanity has no hope.
But we are
assured by today’s psychotherapists that the cures for humanity’s ills
are indeed found within mankind. Thus, Paul’s prophetic warning
regarding the “last days” being “perilous times” and characterized
primarily by men being “lovers of their own selves” is more fitting to
our time than any other period in history.
Replacing God with self leads to the central dogma of the religion of
psychology: mankind is innately good. Psychotherapy is an exercise in
futility unless innate goodness resides within man at his very core.
Here’s why: if man has an evil nature, as the Bible teaches, then it’s
impossible for him to change himself. In other words, if I’m innately
evil, I will always be evil because there is nothing within me to enable
me to change. But if I’m good within but am experiencing problems of
living, then through various psychological methods or techniques, I
should be able to tap into, utilize, or realize that goodness and thus
remedy the adversities I experience. All the psychotherapeutic selfisms,
from self-love to self-esteem to self-image to self-actualization to
self-realization—and ultimately to self-deification—are predicated upon
the innate goodness of one’s nature.
Humanistic psychology—to which all psychotherapies are related—is the
pseudo-scientific belief system of the Antichrist, who is the
personification of human evil. The basics of his religion were
introduced to mankind by Satan in his seduction of Eve (turning her away
from obedience to God and toward her own self-interests, even
godhood–Genesis 3) and culminate in a man, the Antichrist, setting
himself up in the temple of God to be worshiped as God (2 Thessalonians
2:4). It’s all about the worship of self.
This Humanist/Selfist religion of the Antichrist does not just suddenly
appear on the scene when the Antichrist is revealed. As noted, the
religion of selfism has been in development since the Garden of Eden.
Moreover, it can be seen in the Tower of Babel and the idolatry of the
Gentiles throughout the Old Testament and is prevalent in all the
religions of the world today.
Only biblical Christianity stands against the exaltation of self that
ties all other religions together. The Bible declares self to be evil
and hopeless and says that man’s salvation can come only from God as it
is received by faith in Jesus alone, who satisfied divine justice by His
full payment for the sins of mankind, according to the Scriptures. All
other religions look to self to obtain salvation, ultimately through
one’s own efforts, whether by rituals, sacraments, meditation,
liturgies, good works, and so forth. Human achievement versus Divine
accomplishment—this is the critical difference between man’s way of
salvation and God’s way.
The Apostle Paul’s caveat about the “last days” is directed at
believers, warning them and indicating the peril that will follow the
practice of loving themselves. Therefore, it’s rather shocking to
witness the humanistic “self” concepts of the apostate religion of the
Antichrist taking hold in unprecedented fashion within evangelical
Christianity. Recently
there have been many influential
professing Christians who have wittingly or unwittingly sown the seeds
of the humanistic self-love teachings so far and wide and for so long
among Christians that the heresies have taken root and their deadly
fruit has been eagerly consumed throughout the church.
Norman Vincent Peale is widely recognized as the one who pioneered the
merger of theology and psychology that became known as “Christian
psychology.” Consistent with his humanistic beliefs, which he spread
through his nationally broadcast radio sermons and his highly popular
Guideposts magazine, he explained that people “are inherently good; the
bad reactions [sin?] aren’t basic.” Robert Schuller, whose “Possibility
Thinking” reflected (his mentor) Peale’s “Positive Thinking,” both of
which mirror the teachings of the Mind Science cults, sent 250,000
copies of his book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, to pastors all
around the U.S. Schuller’s “Hour of Power” is the world’s most popular
religious television program. Yet to millions, his humanistic views
presented under the guise of Christianity are not recognized for their
blasphemy: “Jesus knew his worth, his success fed his self- esteem....He
suffered the cross to sanctify his self-esteem. And he bore the cross to
sanctify your self-esteem. And the cross will sanctify the ego trip!”
Could the Antichrist himself add anything more unbiblical?
Sadly, many conservative evangelical preachers and teachers of note such
as Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Josh McDowell, Anthony Hoekema, Norm
Geisler, and others, bought into, taught, Christianized, and further
popularized the concepts of self-love, self-esteem, self-worth, and
self-image. It is the “new priesthood” of Christian psychologists,
however, with credentials that falsely imply the anointing of science,
that has convinced both shepherds and sheep of the legitimacy of the
theories and methods of humanistic psychology. Among the swelling
numbers of highly regarded, degreed professionals who teach the church
what they have gleaned from “the counsel of the ungodly” is Dr. James
Dobson, who, no doubt, is and has been the most influential individual
among evangelicals for the last quarter-century. Concerning self-love
and self-esteem he writes:
"In a real sense, the health of an entire society depends on the ease
with which its individual members can gain personal acceptance. Thus,
whenever the keys to self-esteem are seemingly out of reach for a large
percentage of the people, as in twentieth-century America, then
widespread “mental illness,” neuroticism, hatred, alcoholism, drug
abuse, violence, and social disorder will certainly occur"
If I could write a prescription for the women of the world, it would
provide each one of them with a healthy dose of self-esteem and personal
worth (taken three times a day until the symptoms disappear). I have no
doubt that this is their greatest need.
Right behind Dobson in terms of his influence in the church today is
Rick Warren. Although he has distanced himself of late from one of his
early mentors, Robert Schuller (Warren was a frequent speaker in the
nineties at the Robert Schuller Institute for Successful Church
Leadership), his article in Ladies’ Home Journal titled “Learn to Love
Yourself” is classic Schuller—and pure humanistic
psychology.
Warren lists “five truths,” none of which is either a
“truth” or biblical:
1) Accept yourself;
2) Love yourself;
3) Be true to yourself;
4) Forgive
yourself;
5) Believe in yourself.
Yet these humanistic, anti-biblical doctrines
have been taught so often from so many pulpits that most Christians,
when presented with what the Bible actually teaches about self and the
selfisms, are either shocked that they’ve been misled or bitterly resent
hearing the truth.
Although I could not adequately cover in this brief article the details
of how terribly subversive and destructive humanistic psychology
(especially as championed in “Christian” psychology) is to
Bible-believing Christians, here are a few concerns that we all need to
seriously and prayerfully consider:
One, humanistic psychology’s theories came from the atheistic, anti-Christian founders of psychotherapy, whose concepts qualify for what the Scriptures condemn as “the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1);
Two, the humanistic emphasis upon loving and esteeming self rejects the biblical commandment to “deny self,” which Jesus admonished us to do in Matthew 16:24;
Three, the increasing focus on esteeming one’s self gradually distorts a believer’s understanding of the truth regarding the sinful nature of man and hides conviction of sin in a morass of humanistic rationalizations;
Four, the subjective feelings orientation of humanistic psychology undermines the absolutes of God’s objective truth;
Five, as the leaven of humanism
grows in the mind of a believer, his interpretation of the Scriptures
gradually shifts from what God has indeed said (Genesis 3:1) to “a way
which seemeth right unto a man...” (Proverbs 14:12). Scripture tells us
that man’s ways, i.e., all his self and humanistic teachings, “are the
ways of death,” a death that separates a believer from the truth and
robs him of his faith and fruitfulness.
How “perilous” will all of this become in these “last days”? Consider
the following and, should the Lord tarry, weep for your children.
Generally, evangelical youth recognize the pseudo-science and myths of
evolution, thanks to the instruction of organizations such as the
Institute for Creation Research and Answers In Genesis, as well as
numerous other apologetic ministries, creation scientists, gifted
teachers, and so forth. Although the battle continues to rage in this
area, not many evangelical young people go off to college intent on
becoming “evolutionists.”
Yet what of the pseudo-science and myths of psychology? Who is teaching
our children about that? Certainly not the rapidly growing,
50,000-member American Association of Christian Counselors, whose main
goal is the “integration” of psychotherapy and Christianity. How serious
is this ignorance of the evil of psychology for our young people? The
prestigious Princeton Review reports that psychology is the number two
career choice for all those attending college. It’s even more popular in
professing Christian universities, from Liberty University on the East
coast to Fuller Theological Seminary on the West coast and nearly all
that reside between.
Who is telling the truth to our children? Not Dr. James Dobson of Focus
on the Family, who ironically advises, “Christian psychology is a worthy
profession for a young believer, provided his faith is strong enough to
withstand the humanistic concepts to which he will be
exposed...[emphasis added]”
Weep and pray for our next generation of evangelicals who are being led into the humanistic priesthood of what is tragically and deceptively called Christian psychology.
_______________________
Whilst I agree
with the above article, there should I think, be no condemnation for
anyone who has seen a psychologist and simply taken the opportunity
to "talk things out" or "get a few things aired and out in the
open". Sometimes just talking to someone helps one to suddenly realise something that beforehand was unclear or un-thought of. But when a psychologist begins to say that we need "more self esteem" or we need to "forgive ourselves" or that "all the answers to our needs lie within ourselves", then they are treading on unholy ground, ground we should not follow them over. ( my two cents worth, Keygar ) |