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Wanda Sarr
Harriet Clark
John Rosengren
Chester Clark III
Re: An Evaluation of the Six Lectures in the “Healing the Mind Seminar” held
this past February at the Forest Lake Church by Dr. Timothy Jennings
Dear All,
It has taken me longer to complete this project than I anticipated. The six
lectures combined amount to about 7.5 hours of listening time. Dr. Jennings
frequently goes overtime.
But he is far from making a slow delivery. Indeed, I took well over 8,000
words of notes in real time while listening to these lectures. And I know how
to abbreviate when typing notes. His lectures are content rich and are
profusely illustrated.
As you are all busy, I will (A) give a summary of my conclusions – 400 words,
(B) give some data that I believe supports my conclusion – 2000 words (C)
give an appendix that amounts to the entire 8,000 words of notes which I
believe not one of you will probably ever read. But maybe I am wrong. So I
will send them. Plus I will feel better about having typed so much if I think
that someone somewhere, someday, reads it.
(A) My summary
Like Dr. Kellogg of yesteryear, he has been used by God to uncover a great
deal of truth in his professional studies. I found my self remarking repeatedly
that this man was teaching things that I teach that I have never heard taught
by any other person. His teachings regarding the relation of the various
faculties of the mind (will, appetites, passions, reason, conscience, emotions,
imagination, etc.) are profound and incredibly consistent with EGW’s
teaching on the same (though Dr. Jennings doesn’t make use of her writings.)
And like Dr. Kellogg of yesteryear, he has woven into his presentations a
deadly net of falsehoods that destroy the most fundamental of Christian
virtues – faith.
In short, Dr. Jennings believes that God takes no initiative in the destruction
of the wicked, and that to prolong or cause punitive suffering is torture and
that such a view of God destroys love and trust.
But even worse than this view, which is explained thoroughly in two lectures
and is alluded to in two others, Dr. Jennings has espoused the moral-
influence theory of the atonement. He does not believe in substitutionary
atonement and mocks the idea that sins must be “paid” for.
These views, woven into such a collection of profound insights into human
nature, make for an extremely cogent parallel to the book Living Temple with
its incredible insights into physiology interwoven around a philosophy of life-
is-God.
And like the book Living Temple, which was critically evaluated by Jones,
Waggoner, and several other notable messengers of God, and was
pronounced harmless by them all, the lectures of Dr. Jennings seem to have
elicited no protest from the audience. (This I gather from the 30 minute
question and answer period at the conclusion of the final lecture.)
Lecture One
In his first lecture Dr. Jennings sets the stage for what he will develop more
thoroughly in lectures four and six. He begins to explain that “lies believed”
destroy love and trust. Then he begins to hint that the audience may even
believe lies. Then, to paraphrase (all statements in quotes are quotes from
my notes, paraphrases only of Dr. Jennings) him from my notes,
“The most destructive lies we believe are lies about God himself. Some
of you will be shocked by the evidence. I want you to look at the
information and weigh it.]
This idea is important to him. He emphasizes repeatedly that:
What comes clear later is that if one believes in the executive judgment and
the substitutionary atonement, one will not trust God, but will become selfish
and self protecting from such a cruel Being.
The first lecture ends with six suggestions. Number 2 introduces an idea that
will be repeated throughout the series,
“If you have seen me [Jesus], you have seen the Father.”
This Jennings develops into a hermeneutic such that if Jesus didn’t punish
then the Father won’t, if Jesus could forgive men before dying, then the
Father could forgive men without Jesus dying. But that comes in lectures 4
and 6, and the person listening doesn’t realize what the repetition of the
“principle” is setting him up to experience.
Lecture 2
The principle seems true and obvious as it relates to marriage. But Dr.
Jennings has wider applications in mind, and he begins to make them in this
lecture. If you believe that God threatens disobedience with punishment,
“love is damaged” and see above for the rest. This places the cause for
rebellion squarely at the feet of whoever inspired a prophet to threaten. Dr.
Jennings indicates that he is very aware of the implications.
Jennings explains that the sinner killed the lamb, not the priest. His point is
about the relation of the Father to Christ’s death at Calvary. But it is a poor
way to make his point. Priests did kill hundreds of sacrificial animals in the
sanctuary service.
He is saying that the law does not condemn men in such a way as to require
their death.
He says:
There is an illustration that Jennings uses four or five times in his lecture
series. Imagine, he says, a happily married couple. Someone approaches the
wife with digitally altered photographs that falsely prove that her faithful
husband has been having an affair. How will she react. Each time he uses the
illustration he concludes:
The problem with this illustration and conclusion is that it is one-sided. If the
only kind of lie that could be told about God is that He is cruel, Jennings
would be more sensible. But there is an opposite type of lie, that God
accepts you as you are. What does this lie lead to? Not “fear and selfishness”
but self-confidence and selfishness. There are many lies and they produce a
plethora of evil effects.
Lecture Three
In this lecture, on the family, Jennings begins to really advertise for his future
lectures on the issues. He begins by making the case that lies about God are
commonly believed and are the reason that people have problems with their
relation to God. He urges people to come to the fourth lecture.
Like much in the first two lectures, this lecture is full of useful material on
human-human interaction. But he makes one questionable point by
suggesting a different translation of the proverb. I have not checked into this,
but my gut reaction is that this is the wrong solution to the problem of well-
raised lost children:
“Raise a child according to his way and when he is old he will not
depart from it.”
Ironically, and interestingly, Dr. Jennings makes a good point about the
damage done by threatening consequences to children and then not
following through. He says the children will learn not to trust their parent. If
only he had thought the implications of this through in relation to his
theology regarding the judgment….
Lecture Four
“Our weapons are not spiritual, the battlefield is the mind, a war over ideas
about what God is like. What happened in [a patient’s] mind when the
preacher said what he did? She was hardened.”
The lecture boils down to “seven basic strategies” Satan uses, and defense
that “demolish Satan’s strongholds in our minds.”
This second “lie” about God examining Jesus, is very subtle. It is the first
attack on the idea of substitutionary atonement in the lectures. It mocks, by
illustration, the idea of the Father accepting the righteousness of Jesus in
place of our life in the judgment.
“Defense: Examine the facts about the Father through the lens of
Jesus. Don’t read the Old Testament to see Jesus, but study Jesus to
understand the Old Testament.”
This is a direct exalting of human reason over inspiration. But he comes back
and challenges:
What is the defense against such lies (that originate in Bible verses…)?
“Examine your beliefs in light of truth. Reject anything that
requires you not think.” And by this he seems to mean, anything that
challenges your understanding, such as the harmony of justice and mercy.
But we are not cleansed, in the metaphor, by the blood in the lamb. We are
cleansed by the blood spilled from the lamb. We are cleaned by the death,
the shedding of the life, of Jesus. And this is an important point.
The fourth through seventh strategies are mostly well explained and
harmless. But on the fifth… “Surrendering judgment to others.”
Here methinks that Dr. Jennings shows that he has read Graham Maxwell. He
makes a point that we can not surrender our beliefs to the “28 beliefs” of the
church and then launches into the “servants or friends” theme of Maxwell.
But this is speculative on my part and he doesn’t make any applications
here.
Lecture Five
Lecture 5 was on Depression. I didn’t take notes and was doing two things at
once while listening to it.
Lecture Six
“Our Goal is to know God better, to develop trust and love and faith in God.”
One of these myths is that “Forgiveness comes after the offender says ‘I’m
sorry’”
“How many believe that Jesus died to pay our debt? That God forgives our
debts as we forgive our debtors? If you collect the debt, can you forgive it? If
you forgive it, can you collect it?”
He observes that in 1 Cor 13, “Love keeps no record of wrong” and uses this
to belittle the idea of a record being kept of our sins in heaven.
He says that our view of atonement is a “split in the godhead” and thus
false.
“Did Jesus need appeasement? Where did this distortion come from?”
Thus he equates the idea of justice with appeasement. And that is a great
fault.
“ ‘[You say] the Father applies Christ’s record to our record and
declares us innocent when we accept him.’ In what universe will it ever
be true that Adam never sinned. If we say God declares us innocent,
we make God out to be a liar.”
OK, I admit it. I am getting tired of writing on this. See the appendix if you
want to see what else was in the sixth lecture. You will find an attack on the
doctrine of the blotting out of sins; you will find an attack on the use of
records in the judgment of consecrated persons; You will find that sins are
blotted “not from a book” but from our character. You will find that the
punishment for sin is the damage the sinner experiences in sinning.
You will find him answer an objection or two about God’s OT threatenings by
saying that God was desperate and risked being misunderstood by rebels by
communicating in a way they might listen – in other words, didn’t mean what
He said.
You will find in the Q and A, after the lecture, that a lady asked him more
about “hell.”
His summary is that God is a fire that burns sin, not material things, so the
people won’t be burned, but will die naturally from the brightness of God and
the sin in them will be naturally consumed by the fire of God’s presence, so
God will not actually do anything to destroy them.
And this flies entirely in the face of both scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy.
You will find the strangest argument from the Greek word for sulfur in the
third angel’s message.
*****************
***********************
Lecture 1
Introduction
Picture: Jesus with hands on a disciple’s head
Let this be your mental image – Jesus with his hands on your mind
healing you
Re 7:1 Sealing
Forehead is where we do our reasoning, our thinking
Sealing is healing the mind, bringing the character in line with God’s
mind
We will discuss God’s plan for the mind, self-esteem, seven things you can do
to balance your mind.
Our conscience – the spiritual eye; the conscience can be healthy, unhealthy,
blind
Mat 6:22-23 The eye, the conscience, if it is full of light, then you are, if
not, then you are not
Paul wrote of those “seared with a hot iron” in their conscience, imagine the
eye that way
Why worship God? Because of the law of worship, the law of beholding
In psychiatry that is called modeling. It is the reason to worship.
Healthy worship ennobles our judgment, helps our reasoning and our
conscience
Next faculty: Your will. This is the CEO, the power to choose.
Will must be used, or even a smoker will never do what he judges to be best.
Feelings are the caboose of the faculties… the last one in our list.
Heard of placebos? Give men placebo’s, and it actually works because the
mind releases endorphins that block pain medication. If they doubt, they get
no pain benefit, no release.
Maids work, climb, … “Do you exercise?” They informed them … and they
began losing weight. (laughter). (recent published study).
How would news of a recent death of your child affect you…even if it was a
lie that you believed? Beliefs, unhealthy ones, affect you much.
[Most destructive lies we believe are lies about God himself. Some of you will
be shocked by the evidence. I want you to look at the information and weigh
it.]
There is a feeling not in original design – “fear.” It is part of the infection, like
self-centeredness.
Woman as man’s helper? No. Man is in image of God. Eve was created as an
object of service for Adam so he could enter into godly experience.
Reciprocal experience would imitate Godhead.
The desire to unite is a spiritual desire. Then shouldn’t the desire for love be
up in our spiritual nature. Answer: God’s invisible qualities are seen or
explained by illustrations in nature. Animals can love each other – but not
reason. No conscience. No moral decisions.
Will and conscience must govern the expression of love. This gives the
stability and legitimacy needed to make love useful.
Imagine you save $ to buy a fancy car. If your new car has a big dent in the
side, you feel badly. That is an emotional attachment. You must guard your
emotional attachment to things…this is spiritual circumcision. Jesus said
“those who prefer family to me are not fit….” We are crippled by our
affections so as not to do what must be done and said. We must cut those
ties.
Imagine that someone tells you a believable lie with digitally manipulated
pictures and with tears, that your spouse is cheating on you. When you
believe the lie, does that change you. Lies believed break the circle of love
and trust. Broken love and trust produce selfishness and fear.
Fear and selfishness produce destructive acts. They (sins) are the symptoms,
the third step down, not the real problem, and they damage everything
(mind, character and body) and lead to death. Unless there is a divine
intervention.
Warped by fear and selfishness. We are born with fear and self-centeredness.
Ego-centrism is the natural wiring of humans. There are three main avenues
-- sensualism, egotism, materialism….
Those who live according to the sinful nature set their mind to those things,
converted minds live according to the Spiritual things.
When the Spirit comes in, it begins changing the mind, purifying what is
there. The converted mind is still tempted, but combats those temptations
with trust and love. (Even though it doesn’t feel good.)
Examples: First baby, husband is gone on a trip, day has slipped by, at 11:00
you are tired. You sleep and baby wakes at 2:00 AM wet and hungry. You will
get up despite how you feel. How do you feel in the morning?
She has feelings. She has a choice. If she says “no” does that feel good or
tense? How does she feel the next day? Confidence? Up! Esteem? Up!
But listens to feelings? Confidence and esteem, worth, always will fall,
leading to insecurities, so we search for external approval, and we spiral
down.
Real story, pastor’s wife, in ministry for 28 years, several adult children, life-
long history of feelings of depression, insecurity, etc. She told how (way
back) she had taken a class. She marked Wed night for preparation for a Thur
exam. The church organist called asked for Wed. night, feelings flooded her,
and she played…But living by feelings reduced her confidence, etc.
Some have a real difficulty with this. “People who let feelings lead their lives
are like bobbers on the ocean.”
People who put their judgment in charge are like ships on the ocean. Jesus
lived this way.
Use imagination to help them instead of hurting them. If they aren’t careful
when addicted, they will start going through the process of imaging good
things. I tell them to imagine their flip box of cigarettes to open to be full of
maggots or cockroaches. We can use our imagination to change the way we
feel about the addiction.
They want to supplant the warm-fuzzy feeling that goes with indulgence.
PET scans regarding the imagination, (scan shows real-time action in the
mind)…and they watch the mind firing while listening to a piano piece. When
they imagine listening to the piece the same neurons fire as when they were
listening to it.
Jesus said “look on a woman” same as “with a woman” – this is why. Changes
happen in our minds when we imagine things. As a man thinks in his heart,
“so is he.”
I have an entire lecture on guilt that we won’t do tonight.
I had a patient with a two-year old sick child. Diagnosed ear infection. 105-
106 fever despite antibiotics. Middle-ear infection. Child worsened.
Meningitis. Child died.
Guilt ridden parent. But he did the right thing. He wasn’t responsible for the
outcome. He did the right thing, experienced grief, and took those feelings
as feelings of guilt. Mental gymnastics to find a fixable way…subtle self-
deception. Lies believed lead to guilt.
Imagine a filing cabinet. Each event is unchangeable. But you can put the
fact in a different file. You can put it in a “poor man” file instead of the “gross
girl” file. Many misfiled experiences affect the way abused people think of
themselves.
Ever walk in a cow pasture? Know what a cowpie is? Imagine you slip and fall
in a cow-pie. Now you are a gross and disgusting person? Children don’t
make this distinction, and they need to be helped to make the distinctions.
A lady was married, had a seven-year ago one-event one-night stand. Never
was getting over the guilt. Confessed, repented, rebaptized. Why never over
the guilt?
Is an affair ever in harmony with judgment? No. She never balanced her
mind in the right way, never went from feelings to judgment, so always
dealing with false guilt, etc.
(examples given)
Mind dredges up the worst example and implements the guilt. She needed to
get things straight.
No one should say God temps, we are tempted when dragged away by our
own feelings. –James 1.
Seven changes:
1. Think for yourself. Friends better than servants. Fully persuaded. Discern
right from wrong.
2. Establish trust in God based on the evidence. He said if you have seen me,
you have seen the father.
3. Evaluate feelings in light of evidence. (We want to work through them, not
ignore them).
4. Control the imagination.
5. Establish healthy religious practices
6. Chose to do what is healthy, right and reasonable because it is healthy,
right, and reasonable
7. Missing number 7.
Joe was a devout Christian; believing a wife should submit, he was a dictator.
What to wear, spend, use of time, where to go. He concluded that she must
be a lose women.
Illustration: Gravity works even if you don’t believe it, don’t think much of it.
Law of Liberty is a natural law like this. Gravity is predictable. So is the law of
liberty. The degree of violation determines the effect.
Third consequence: If you choose to stay when liberties are taken, you lose
your individuality, you become a shadow person.
Shirley came to see me after years of low moods. Regular basis of abuse. “I
hit you because I love you.” It wasn’t his fault…if I hadn’t been late he
wouldn’t have had to hit me.
Mary was a 30 year old female, depression, panic, can’t think, make
decisions, lots of meds under her belt. During a dating period, she was
pressured into having sex. She tried to break up, he became demanding, and
they went and got married at a justice-of-the-peace.
If you don’t do what your spouse wants, they may pout, slam, etc. Love is
damaged, individuality.
John was in his 50’s, senior foreman of a construction company, ran several
large crews. Received multiple bonus, married 30 years, father of three sons.
Came to see me insecure, depressed, confused.
You can test these things in your marriage. When you give liberty, it works.
When you take it away, the law works. Liberty sets you and others free at the
same time. Love can not exist in an atmosphere without freedom.
What is love? Where does it come from? How can we know it? Genuine is the
thing to study today.
Law of Love is the basis of all other laws. It is the law that emanates from
God’s very being. God is love. Love is not “self seeking.” Love is other-
seeking. God is not self-seeking, he is outward moving, other seeking. God is
uplifting, being and giving blessing.
His nature “can be seen in what he has made so that men are without
excuse.” We can see it in nature? Yep. The oceans, and all life in the
universe, operates this way. [water cycle described as giving cycle.
Stagnation is result of separation from cycle.] [insect/plant relation;
tree/squirrel relation] [o2/co2 cycle] [You want out of the cycle? Want to keep
your CO2? You will die.]
When God accomplishes his plan, it will be as easy to love as to breath. (We
don’t stress over the need to love a lot.) (Electricity physics as illustration,
circuit needed for flow.) For electrons to flow in your brain, you need full
circuits. (galaxies, other circuits, etc.). What does Ezekiel see? Wheel in
wheel, circle in circle.
Sinner, not priest, killed the lamb by stopping the circulation of the blood of
the lamb. (Not the priest that killed the lamb… [but this is a poor statement.]
Life-blood of the universe is love. Ps 19:7 the Law of the Lord is perfect
[rejuvenating] the soul.
Paul speaks of another law, the Law of the Spirit of Life sets me free from the
Law of Sin and Death. God’s law is not the source of death.
Does God have to use his power to kill? To inflict penalties? My patients don’t
understand natural consequences. Have you stopped smoking? Then how do
you pray for good lung function? (Illustrations of prayer as substitute for
sowing and reaping.)
I will come in and sup with him and he with me. How does Jesus knock on our
hearts? With truth. We are faced with truth and decide to let the truth in or to
turn away from it. God is knocking on our hearts.
Imagine a married couple. Imagine close to you lies about your spouse
(repeat of last night’s illustration…) if you believe, does something inside of
you change? This is what happened in heaven. Lucifer told lies and this
caused the change in heaven. “God isn’t all he claims; he only loves those
who have no autonomy. I’ve learned this from being close to him.”
Go to God for wisdom. How do I respond? Lucifer says God is lying. How
could you know who is telling the truth? Lies believed broke the circle of love
and truth in heaven, in earth.
Lust look and adultery, hate and death; Jesus is saying bad acts come from a
bad heart and mind.
Two principles war with each other. Self-sacrificing (to death) warring with
survival of the fittest (to your death).
To write God’s law in us, that is the covenant he wants to make with us. No
one will say “know the Lord” for we will all “know him.” John 3:16. End-time
people, must have selfishness purged from them. Saul killed, then “I would
give m life” Moses killed, then offered his life. Rev 12 shows end-time
faithful, “love not their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
Open your hearts and minds to the truth about God. Join again the circle of
love, of giving, of life.
Prayer
LECTURE THREE
Four dead girls, ages 4 to 16, found three weeks ago, mother arrested for
their murders. Six welfare workers have been fired. Mother met a social
worker, was rebuffed. Mrs. Lobes called police concerned regarding no
investigation.
890,000 children were victims of abuse in the US last year. Other statistics of
child murder, abuse.
77% of deaths caused by one or both parents. 1/3 in 1985 born to unwed
mother. ½ of all first marriages end in divorce. 2nd marriage divorce rates are
higher.
1. Know God well, his principles, his plans. (not a cliché this time.)
(We may not have known God well, his law of love. Do we really believe that
God the Father is just like Jesus. Does it really matter? Paul says six times in
Romans 1, truth about God has been rejected.
Mark this well, “There will be terrible times in the last days….disobedience,
lovers of money,….brutal…” lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
These are not atheists, they are the religious people! We have accepted false
ideas about God into our hearts, minds.
Science has shown that extrinsic religiosity increases the risk of child abuse.
Those that have intrinsic religiosity, it goes down.
2,000 years ago conservative faithful religionists had so many lies in mind
that they didn’t like God when they met him.
Matthew 7, professed Christians, depart from me, “I have never known you.”
We have accepted lies about God into our belief system.
Connecting to him, life eternal, they might know thee, the only true God. We
know about our presidents, but we don’t know them. Analogous to our
knowledge of God.
Sue admitted gaining 100 lbs in her marriage and then was upset that she is
not attractive to her husband. Does he come out to you? Does he talk to
you? Yes. She had blamed her husband and thus didn’t take ownership.
If you have a loved person that has a problem with you, would you prefer
that person to confront you or keep it in? You want to work it out, you must
create an atmosphere where it is safe to come, safe to communicate.
4 Principles of communication.
1. Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.
2. After you hear what the other person’s concern is, sympathize.
Thank them for informing you. Acknowledge, affirm their position.
3. After 1 and 2, clarify and correct and explain
4. If in fact you made a mistake in judgment or action, own your
mistake, make it right, apologize.
Ron was married to one wife, saw many deaths of Iraqi persons and of his
own units. His marriage was strained, but he argued that he loved his wife.
Ron learned to use the tools above, and she began to describe how he was
tense, wasn’t happy around her, he identified with her, clarified, made it
right. She began to support and encourage, fear removed by accepting the
truth.
Roger was fed up when he came to see me. He had two teenage sons. He
gave them assignments, chores. They didn’t do their duties. The played their
xbox. Roger forgot that his authority rested in governance of himself. Healthy
parents are in governance of themselves. When he began to change himself.
He went to talk to his sons, talk to them, then appropriately explained his
discipline. No argument, but identified with the pain they would suffer with
their discipline. Healthy parents are in governance of themselves. Parents
remember their responsibilities.
Parents are not responsible for the outcome of their children’s lives.
Children grow up to shack up, use drugs, etc. Parents are guilt ridden.
The proverb: Raise up a child the right way, and he will not depart from it.
Accurate: “Raise a child according to his way and when he is old he will not
depart from it.”
[Interesting idea.] How do we know this is the way? Data: God parenting
Lucifer or parenting Adam.
Parents are not responsible for being their child’s friend, buddy, or for getting
their approval. They are responsible for doing what is best for the children
despite what he or she may want.
Imagine on feelings of child…would you give him the vaccine? The vaccine is
a metaphor and we pray to God, “I thought you cared about me!” “I am
protecting you for something greater.”
John wanted his son to love him and so couldn’t discipline his son without his
son’s permission.
Healthy parents do what is in the best interest of the child, not because the
child will approve.
Healthy parents are united in love and don’t allow the children to split the
spouses. You talk, you share your values, have a vision in common.
Spouses…if your spouse makes a mistake…if it can’t be cleared up, don’t
discipline your spouse in the presence of the child.
Sheila was 35, anxious depressed can’t focus, two teen sons living with her
and her second husband. She would object and tell the boys they didn’t have
to listen, she would roll her eyes. Constant turmoil, shouting, in this home.
Then she learned these principals. She apologized to her husband, he was
able to get his discipline under control, and boys conformed.
That angel didn’t have any history upon which to draw information about
who was telling the truth, Lucifer or … God said “let there be light.” “Let us
make man in our image” “new beings able to bring forth beings in their own
image.”
Imagine if Adam and Eve had done what they had been told. Adam and Eve
would have been giving of themselves for the good welfare of their children.
Image to expose the lies of Satan.
Satan split the godhead, not literally, but in the illustration of the human
family. Jesus vs Father, mean vs kind one. Do ever think like that? Jesus said
“I and the Father are one.”
Imagine that you have a child in first grade and you tell them that if they get
a grade they get $5, and you don’t give them the $5…what do you teach
them? That you are not trustworthy.
If you don’t pick up, no desert. Child cries, you give them. You teach that you
can not be trusted. Never set a boundary that you are not willing to enforce.
For children: Secret – parents have a goal for you, number one, to raise you
in such a way that one day they can quit parenting you. They want you to
take over the governance of yourself. When you consistently govern yourself,
you get more freedoms. Opposite is also true.
Set your vision to see the children becoming like Jesus. Medals and money
are not our goal. Sports Illustrated published study on athletes. You are
offered a substance, 195 said would take substance if offered to not be
caught, would win, more than half said “yes.”
My class man said “My life is not perfect, but she wants to be.” “when she
errs, I know she is already heartbroken over her mistakes, therefore I am
never upset with her and her mistakes. And I want to be a perfect husband,
and when I err, I am sad about it. And she knows that and treats me with
grace.”
You have a student that you believe is dropping the ball, and is doing it on
purpose. Another failure is clumsy, but is trying. Same attitude in both
circumstances? No. When your family goofs, how do you view them? As
trying their best? Or as trying to mess things up and let you down.
Prayer.
---
Lecture 4
I thank the choir for the song, “Be like Jesus in my Heart”
Laura worried about everything, be hired, was she liked, worried about losing
persons close to her, married, unhappy, children in conflict, had been
medicated, but not with much use. When I asked her if she believed in God,
she said “don’t you dare talk to me about God.” She didn’t believe, but was
angry. She saw God’s hand hurting her whenever something happened. God
would take the goodness from her life. At 7 her mom was killed in an
accident. She was still hurting as a grown-up. As the preacher went through
the eulogy. Preacher said “Jesus took your mommy to be with him.” “I
needed my mother.”
Our weapons are not spiritual, the battlefield is the mind, a war over ideas
about what God is like. What happened in her mind when the preacher said
what he did? She was hardened.
We are talking about demolishing Satan’s strongholds, his lies about God.
Satan got his foot-hold into the heart about humanity.
[Illustration third time, about spouse having an alleged affair, lies believed
break the circle of love and trust.]
Lies – broken trust – fear – selfishness – acts, sins – damage to mind, body,
death
Darkness covered the people, gross darkness. Lies have been spread.
Satan’s stronghold is in our minds. Light is in the world. Jesus came to set
our minds free. Gates of hell will not prevail against God’s weapons.
Lies do not stand against the truth. Jesus came to help by telling the truth
about God. We open our hearts, without fear, etc.
I was the Division Psychiatrist for the military. Man came to see me. Work
problems, marriage problems. He was known as a Christian, but operated an
Abram’s tank. He asked for holy oil, dedicated his tank. Invasion came. Radio
was not working. Jones gave up his radio. Night fell, they mounted, having no
way to see or hear. War. Everyone panicked. They thought they were going to
die.
He believed that God had abandoned him and left him to die on the field. Not
one bullet hit you. He began to cry. He called me a week later and said he
was feeling so much better he didn’t need to see me any more. End of
nightmares, all went well.
What made the difference? He had believed a lie, that God had failed to
protect him. Truth set him free.
4. Blind faith.
Science criticizes Christians for believing on faith without
searching for evidence. Mark Twain, “faith is believing what we know aint so.”
Does Satan want people believing things without
searching? Or to search.
If faith is just believing what you can’t see.
“substance” – The foundation, the “understanding”
7. Sinful living.
Violations of God’s laws of health, worship, love, liberty,
living.
Shutting down avenues when we are … doing this.
Guilt comes when we have violated the law.
Repentance and restoration. – right way to be rid of
guilt.
Denial, transference – the wrong way to do away with
guilt.
Can’t bend truth; we can only bend our view of truth.
Warps our minds, makes us less and less reasonable.
Truth has to be applied. Warp unbends.
Defense: Live in harmony with the Laws of God.
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Lecture 5 on Depression
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Lecture 6
Goal is to know God better, to develop trust and love and faith in God.
Kate came, depressed. Distraught. Her husband cheated on her for the 6th
time. She caught him first, threw him out. He cried and confessed to pastor.
Pastor took him to Kate, pressured her to take him back.
I pointed out…forgive him in your heart, but forgiveness doesn’t change him.
Many persons function like 6 year olds. Sincere, but irresponsible. Kate’s
husband was like this.
Myth two: Forgiveness comes after the offender says “I’m sorry”
Bob was angry, hurt. Sister had gotten him drunk then stolen his coins. He
was bitter and untrustworthy. He said “I will never forgive until she
confesses.”
How will I relate to mean person? I chase after a man to reconcile. Adam and
Eve were afraid of God when he came calling. Why hiding? [He said “because
they believed lies.”] God has been running after mankind.
How many believe that Jesus died to pay our debt? That God forgives our
debts as we forgive our debtors? If you collect the debt, can you forgive it? If
you forgive it, can you collect it? Brother paid the debt, and you call it
forgiveness?
Ex 34
2Co 5:19 God was reconciling world, not imputing
1Co 13: Love keeps no record of wrong
Did Jesus need appeasement? Where did this distortion come from.
What do you want to happen to your son with Leukemia? Says “remission” is
going back to restored ideal. Cancer cells are cells that have lost self-control.
They are me-me-me cells. If something doesn’t “intercede” then death
ensues.
What if the reason that they got Leukemia is because they disobeyed you
and exposed themselves to a carcinogen. Would justice require that you let
your son die? Would justice require that you kill your child to be justice?
God will be forced to execute? Once infected by Adam what was needed was
a remedy and cure.
Problem with sin is actually a problem with God – this is the error. God wasn’t
changed when sin happened.
Son has power to forgive sins (Matthew 9). Were the forgiven persons at the
cross now saved? Not transformed, still his enemies, lost though forgiven.
Think salvation is an issue of legal pardon. Salvo – take something and put it
together, heal it.
Bitten by a rattlesnake. Doctor says “I forgive you.” Is that what you want?
Imagine Bush pardons Dahmer? Happy to have him be your neighbor? What
we need is much more than pardon.
We says “that’s ok.” Child lies, asks forgiveness, we say “that’s ok.” We can
distort things, but the relationship is ok.
The Father applies Christ’s record to our record and declares us innocent
when we accept him. In what universe will it ever be true that Adam never
sinned. If we say God declares us innocent, we make God out to be a liar.
Your child has terminal cancer all through the body. You visit the super
doctor. You hand him the record, and he replaces all the records. Is that what
you want?
The doctor looks at the records, rather, and intervenes and heals and
restores. The records will show the cancer, the treatment, the restoration.
This is what is happening in the process.
Sheila had the regular manic fear depression problems. Reported that she
was raped in college, still incredible amount of rage. She said she would
never forgive him because her anger made her feel strong. She was ready to
lash out at an attacker.
Here in FL you go out in the sun and fall asleep at 10:00 and at 6:00 you
awake. Your 5 year old jumps on you – you scream. Spouse hugs you.
Scream. Friend slaps you on back. When you are burned, you lose the ability
to tell the difference between play, love, aggression, everything hurts.
Best strategy – keep persons from touching you? Or heal the sunburn. Many
persons organizer their life on never being touched.
Does this mean things are blotted out from the records? Men are looking
forward to the fact that there will be no record of the sins we have
committed. So now we talk about David and Bethsheba. Do angels know
about this? Or has this been blotted out?
Do you expect to know your loved ones? Here comes Uriah, David, Solomon,
Bethsheba. Will they know what happened?
What happens is this: David is transformed, therefore the records are not
relevant.
Someone says before you vote on so and so, you should know that when he
was 5 he had a terrible illness. So what? He is well today.
Remember the woman being sniped at, washing feet with hair, if we have
been forgiven much, we love much. If we don’t remember, we don’t have
anything to sing. What, then, does it mean when it says he blots them out?
He blots it out of character! That is where, not out of a book! Sin doesn’t
happen in books, it happens in intelligent beings.
Sheri was bitter, couldn’t relax, afraid of being hurt and exploited. Was
molested ages 5-12 by her uncle. She refused to forgive because she
thought that would mean he gets away with it. She misunderstood the
nature of sin.
No one ever gets away with sin. Sin damages the sinner. Who do you think
got injured the worst? You or your uncle. Uncle has the worst of it, no one
would chose his life. His conscience and purity is seared, blemished.
Some struggle with Bible statements where it seems like God is meeting out
the punishment.
Not pure until anger felt. I believe the inspired word. But what happened? It
is recorded in the Bible. God stopped protecting them, let them go, and the
Babylonians did the damage, not God. Then why does God speak that way.
Hosea says, “they are stubborn, like a mule.” Heading for the cliff
unconscious. Your son is stubborn, he goes over the cliff. Now you must go
over and beat him?
Ephraim, Ephraim, how can I let you go? Jerusalem, how I long to take thee
as a hen. Oh son, you wouldn’t listen.
“Evil shall destroy the wicked.” Ja 1:15, sin when full-grown brings forth
death.
“If God could get a little self-control, we could live in our sin” Satan says.
QUESTIONS
Pastor made the announcements. You can get your book signed.
Q. Does grief affects the brain the same way as depression? Does it affect
our reason and conscience?
A. Grief works through the pain centers, but if processed well, it doesn’t
lead to depression. Guilt can infect the grief wound, resulting in depression.
Q. I watched all six segments of this on the web and came down for the
end. We should bring guests to lectures like these. What about race? I was
born elsewhere and came here. America is not ready for a black president? Is
the issue of race and issue of supremacy? I agreed with all you said today,
everything is on track.
Supreme being found equality with God was not something to be grasped,
but humbled himself. When we model after God’s kingdom, those serving the
most, waiting the most, are the most supreme. Self-advancement is the
earthly system.
A. Absolutely yes, studies have shown that Korea and Taiwan and PR have
the highest seafood consumption, bi-polar less than 1%, Germany 8%, USA
in the middle, 5%.
Q. Exercise? PTST. Was on meds, but until exercise, not much helped. Now
off his meds. Can you explain.
Until we say “I wouldn’t have chosen that, but I can live with that” we will
keep reviewing traumatic experiences.
Q. Can God help a person you pray for without their cooperation?
A. God won’t change a heart without engaging the victim.
What did the bush do? It burned? Sinai? It burned? Were they
consumed? Did the temple burn down when God filled the temple?
Satan said you don’t want to be where God is, the place of burning. Moses
wasn’t burned when he came down, he was glowing. But the people suffered
just looking at him. They had him cover his face.
What are these pews made out of? This window? What is sin made of?
Fire destroys sins. But sin isn’t made of substances. So the fire doesn’t
destroy substances. So the fire destroys selfisheness.
Burning sulpher = theon, similar to theos, God, Devine. Fire of God. In the
presence. Fire burns through the lies, causing tremendous … [pain]
But truth-rejecters will beg for rocks and trees. We should be afraid, not of
Christ, but of sin.
What comes into evidence? Medical records. They defend the doctor.
They are needed. For that, to exonerate God.
Q. I agree about sins being remembered? But what is this, as far as the
east is from the west? They are there? What does that mean?
A. No longer an issue in the relationship. Not between us and God. But
doesn’t mean we don’t remember.