tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116801781275872522024-02-19T00:13:39.786-05:00Spirit Filled LifeMy blog is to share what I have learned after nearly 50 years as a psychologist and a minister. To leave comments, click on the capitalized heading of the post and at the end, click on "Post a Comment" or you can also click on the word "comments" below each post.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-70418595776693513672017-08-30T03:00:00.000-04:002017-08-30T10:21:41.270-04:00NO DARK NIGHT FOR TODD BENTLEY<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp7-3hXLJk6pGUfq8VBFKTsvLE0cgvPxiTML0_4CbOjkGDyxs419m2SJcUmYeDwPRQM8Bd80n8GFTJ_EoMNXIYv4K6Rwj5QGDlhQLz8yrP4HRpfT6Ya-3chasm-AKtDrWWoLEJz1a-t4R/s1600-h/Dark+Nigh+tiny.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251825805794876770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp7-3hXLJk6pGUfq8VBFKTsvLE0cgvPxiTML0_4CbOjkGDyxs419m2SJcUmYeDwPRQM8Bd80n8GFTJ_EoMNXIYv4K6Rwj5QGDlhQLz8yrP4HRpfT6Ya-3chasm-AKtDrWWoLEJz1a-t4R/s200/Dark+Nigh+tiny.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br />
Recently we all witnessed the crashing and burning of the powerful evangelist, Todd Bentley. In reaching for an explanation of what happened to himself, he claimed he was “passing through the Dark Night of the Soul.” Then person in charge of his rehabilitation, Rick Joyner, of Morningstar Ministries, trying to help people understand what was happening, picked up the same term: “the Dark Night of the Soul.”. All of which prompted me to write the following letter: to Joyner, <br />
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Dear Rick, <span id="fullpost"><br />You wrote in your newsletter, that Todd Bentley is suffering the Dark Night of the Soul. The reason I am writing this to you is to say that we in the medical profession, know that wrong diagnoses result in wrong treatments. Our friend is the least likely person I know to suffer what St. John of the Cross means in his classic “Dark Night of the Soul.” If you read on, I will explain. <br /><br />(At the same time, included in my reason for writing this, is to protect St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul from being misunderstood and dummied down. Both Christians and New Agers alike are casually tossing the term around, emptying it of its profundity.)<br /> <br />One of the best ways to approach St. John is to come at him first from other systems of mysticism. What mystics of all faiths have discovered is that, before you can enter the mystic realm, the cognitive system must shut down. In Zen for example, an unsolvable Koan (sound of one hand clapping, etc.) brings the discursive mind (the intellect) to its knees, causing it to flat line. With the discursive mind out of the way, the psyche can enter the mystic realm. In Hinduism, some meditation systems accomplish this state by overloading the discursive processes. Others under load them. Islamic Sufi’s dance and twirl. The outcome is the same. The cognitive processes flat line and the person breaks through into direct encounters of the mystical experience.<br /><br />St John has given us the Christian way of accomplishing this entrance into the mystic realm. True to our belief system, it is God Himself (not our meditation efforts)Who does the work. He achieves this by challenging the discursive system to the point it accepts that reaching the mystic realm is above its pay grade. <br /><br />St John includes in the discursive system, the “understanding,” the will,” and “the memory”–all our mental processes except “the intuitive”. He uses the words “soul” and “sense. (I translated “soul” as “psyche”*) St. John writes:<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> “. . . .it is God Who is now working in the psuche; He binds its interior faculties, and <br /> allows it not to cling to the understanding, nor to have delight in the will, nor to reason<br /> with the memory. For anything that the psuche can do of its own accord at this time serves only, . . . .to hinder inward peace and the work which God is accomplishing . . . .</span> p. 67<br /><br />Thus, the Dark Night is actually a negative experience only from the point of view of one’s intellect. This darkness is not a pleasant experience for the intellect which believed itself capable understanding everything. St. John explains:<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> . . . .the Divine wisdom is not only night and darkness for the psuche, but is likewise, affliction and torment . . . because of the height of Divine Wisdom, which transcends the talent of the soul and in this way is darkness to it. p. 100</span><br /><br />Most of us have had the experience of our mind hurting when it works on an unsolvable math problem. Most of us are also aware of how our mind annoyingly intrudes into our quiet times with God which it can’t understand. St. John was describing the mental anguish that comes as the mind is being forced to surrender. His fellow monks were straining with every technique they had been taught to reach God. He was teaching them to let go and let God take the mind into darkness. Those who rely on their intellects would never make such a journey.<br /><br />On the other hand, from the point of view of the entire psychological system, The Dark Night is a positive experience and has a happy outcome.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">“When God leads the soul into this night of sense in order to purge the sense of its lower part and to subdue it, unite it and bring it into conformity with the spirit, by setting it in darkness and causing it to cease. . . . He brings it into the night of the spirit, and (although it appears not so to it) the soul gains so many benefits that it holds it to be a happy chance to have escaped from the bonds and restrictions of the senses of its lower self. . . .” p. 74 </span><br /><br /> Of all the people on this planet, Todd is the least likely to be suffering from St. John’s Dark Night of the Soul. More than most people, he has poked through the mental cloud of unknowing into that mystical realm--to paraphrase Star Trek “where no mind has gone before.”<br /><br />What many who are suffering what they want to call a dark night is more likely what we psychologists diagnose as Dysthymia. Some of the depression can result from an intense overload of emotions which can knock neurotransmitters out of whack. <br /><br />Another possibility is what I am seeing in all the Charismatic leaders with whom I interact. Agnes Sanford observed years ago, that when the Holy Spirit pours through a person, any glitches will be blasted out into the open. The more powerfully the Spirt moves, the more any blockages can expect to be dislodged. She wrote:“ The subconscious will not peaceably store memories which are contradictory to the nature of God. Attention is constantly drawn back to these unstored memories. If unattended, these memories become problematic.”<br /><br />As I travel among Charismatic leaders, I see a lot of unexamined pathology. The higher the power of the Spirit works through them, the more these unacknowledged glitches are going to flush up. <br /><br />So to conclude, please don’t let St. John of the Cross’ great contribution to Christian experience be depreciated.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Donald L. Clark, EdD, FAACoP<br />Board Certified Psychologist<br />Emeritus Professor of Psychology<br /><br />*(In order to keep any reader from putting his or her own unique meanings into the word “soul,” I have substituted the Greek word ‘psuche” to keep the purity of St. John’s use of the word. In addition, psuche is closer to our word psyche or the psychological system.)<br /><br />Reference: St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, N. Y.: Image Books Doubleday (Translation 1990)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-70617707111043928012016-11-11T10:45:00.000-05:002016-11-11T10:45:54.797-05:00Thank You Lord For Giving Us Trump <br />
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This election year has been unimaginable stressful. From the day that Donald Trump came down that escalator and announced his candidacy for president, I felt he was God’s choice for our time. However, holding that faith all year was exacting. <br />
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In my lifetime I had never known such irrational rage against a public figure. Of course, such<br />
<a name='more'></a> madness could only best be understood as Satanic. Therefore, the entire year had to be given over to intercessory prayer. <br />
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Following is the way I prayed. Praying what I believe to be the Lord’s will, I daily ran past Him what I believed that will was, asking Him to correct me if wrong. First, I said I believed He would want a Supreme Court which would support His church. Secondly, I believed He would not want a political party who would make it illegal to mention His name even in public. <br />
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We are taught that when we do intercessory prayer, we are to put Him in remembrance of what is written in His Word. So, I reminded Him of Moses telling Him that if He let His people be destroyed, the Egyptians would say that their God had led them out to the desert in order to slaughter them. My understanding of this event was that Moses was saying Yahweh would not only be humiliating him, Moses, but He would be humiliating Himself.<br />
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How does that idea apply? Well, during this election year, God had revealed to some of His best prophets that Trump is to be our next president. And, among them were two that I partner with–Sid Roth of It’s Supernatural and Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries. God revealed His choice to Sid from the beginning. He revealed a lot of hints to Rick until finally, it became clear to Rick that it was to be Trump.<br />
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Therefore, my daily prayer was “Father do not let your prophets be humiliated.” I have to admit that when all Hell was breaking out, my faith was sorely tested. So, Praise His Holy Name, I can now exhale.<br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-59433493935533717112016-11-10T17:56:00.001-05:002016-11-10T17:56:29.344-05:00Most Important Book I Ever Read<br />
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In Dr. Heiser’s new book, he has revealed the Bible as one coherent story. It has changed the way I look at everything. This post will be a simple outline. Hopefully, many of you will read the book available on Kindle.<br />
<a name='more'></a><strong> THE PAST</strong><br />
<strong>FIRST REBELLION--HUMANS </strong>The story of the Bible opens with the rebellion of the first humans, resulting in the entire human race being banished from YHWH’s intimate fellowship in Eden.<br />
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<strong>SECOND REBELLION--THE WATCHERS </strong> Next, though YHWH did not reestablish the relationship with humanity, He did appoint a group of gods called the Watchers to watch over them. But, the Watchers too rebelled, mating with humans (creating the Nephilim) and teaching them things destructive to them. The Watchers were punished by dying not as the gods they were, but as humans. Therefore, as human spirits with no place to go, they seem to still be among us.<br />
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<strong>THE THIRD REBELLION--THE SONS OF GOD </strong> After destroying the Watchers, YHWH restarted the human race with Noah and his family. But, at the tower of Babel, they too rebelled. Again, YHWH did not restore fellowship. Rather, he divided the people into 70 territories with a Son of God over each. Many of the 70 have rebelled, convincing their subjects that they are their true god.<br />
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<strong>THE FOURTH REBELLION--THE HEBREWS</strong> Next, YHWH rescued the tribe of Abraham from the gods of Egypt. He then led them in violent bloody battles against the gods of the Middle East and their followers along the way, finally getting them to the one little patch of land that He would call His. During the next few millenniums YHWH communicated to them only through special people, the prophets.<br />
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But again there was rebellion, with Abraham's offspring worshipping the other gods. YHWH then banished them throughout the world until 1948.<br />
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<strong>THE PRESENT</strong><br />
Finally, "in the fullness of time" YHWH carried out the archetype that He had been placing in humans’ spiritual DNA from the beginning of time.<strong> One human destroyed the relationship. One human sacrificed would be accepted to reestablish the relationship</strong>.<br />
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It worked! How do we know? Because at Pentecost, the human race once again experiences direct fellowship with their Creator. Eden is being restored. Under YHWH, they then went out to rescue one by one, all who were in captivity. But, just as the other gods fought the Israelites (and still are), this new species, find themselves also in a battle with the gods. (Whether they want to or not.) <br />
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<strong> THE FUTURE</strong> <br />
The last chapter of the story, YHWH finally has had enough of his 70 sons, and the spirits of the Watchers as well as the other elohims which He banished from Heaven for rebelling. With His loyal followers, both human and elohims, He rounds them up, and imprisons them. But they will not go quietly and the war will be savage.<br />
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But, for the next thousand years, He has His family back together with Him in Eden.<br />
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(<b>Can you believe that 40 different writers over a period of 1500 years, were able to write just one coherent story? But they did!) </b></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-47712378288286921562015-12-22T19:37:00.003-05:002015-12-22T19:39:57.312-05:00Answering a Question From a New Christian<span id="fullpost">A new Christian calling herself<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>"Confused in Montana," <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/psychicmetaphysician-vs-seerprophet.html">Confused in Montana</a> asks "how can I know what God wants me to do for him in my life?" Well first of all, congratulations! You are now where life starts becoming exhilarating?" <br />
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You should soon discover that one of the greatest benefits that comes with having invited the Holy Spirit to set up His throne in the core of your personality, is that He can now communicate directly with you. First of all I suggest you click on the following link: <a href="http://sidroth.org/television/tv-archives/bob-hazlett">hearing from God</a><br />
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Some, who are fortunate, begin to learn to hear Him quickly. For others it takes time.<br />
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As the speaker in the second link teaches, we have three voices inside vying for our attention. First, is the voice of the enemy. Second, is our own voice. Third is our Lord’s voice. Our work is to learn to discern.<br />
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The enemy’s voice often has a discomforting sound about it. Your own voice often just ruminates over many trivial things and mine is very boring to me. Our Lord’s voice "is so sweet the birds hush their singing (as the old hymn goes). <br />
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As to psychics, my experience with them is they are being used to channel the enemy but don’t know it. Some of the early things said to you are like the shining bait on a fisherman’s hook. Then zap! You are hooked in and you discover that too late.<br />
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My final advice is to pray every day, that God will send a Christian prophet into your life. You will know if he or she is the real thing, first by their good track record and secondly the Holy Spirit will find a direct way to confirm it. Secondly, get in a good Spirit Filled church, and as you grow in your ability to hear the Spirit you will begin to determine if your minister is for real. Also, ask God to send you a good prayer partner. Mine is my wife who gets more awesome every day in her ability to know when I am hearing from God or just listening to the voice of my own ego. 50 years we have been married, and she has now grown so much spiritually, that she has a 100% track record.<br />
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Be patient. I have been on this walk for almost 90 years. God has lead me at every turn including several times that I thought it was Him and it wasn’t and I almost really messed up. But bless Him, He grabbed me back at the last minute.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-56098781709505323352015-10-21T20:03:00.000-04:002015-10-21T20:03:14.269-04:00Brief History of God's Communication Programs<br />
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God’s Communication Program 1.0 Creating a special place, He fellowshipped with us. We blew it. "So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden" (Gen 3:23) Communication severed.<br />
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God’s Communication Program 2.0 Selecting a few exceptional people "the Sovereign LORD never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) Israel blew that.<br />
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God’s Communication Program 3.0 (Pentecost) "In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy." (Acts 2:17) "you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, (1 John 2:27) so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true." <br />
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So far, so good with 3.0. (It busted out of Israel and circled the globe.) The only glitch in this program is in receiving messages. Some receive better than others but there is a lot of noise. Messages gets corrupted. Then there are charlatans who pretend they hear. Then there is hacking by the enemy.<br />
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4.0 Maybe after God hits the delete button He then fellowships with us in Heaven</span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-54477561258350115942015-08-04T16:12:00.000-04:002015-08-04T16:12:16.988-04:00Letting Him Know We Believe<span id="fullpost"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Me at March on Washington</div>
This morning I heard a preacher quoting John 3:16 "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life." It was the word "believes" that caught my attention. Searching it out I found this or similar phrases used 35 or 40 times or more. <br />
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I began to ask the Lord how might someone let Jesus know he or she believed in Him. At least four ways popped into my head. <br />
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1. If I spend time in fellow shipping with Him. You don’t use up your valuable time talking back and forth with your imagination. That gets quickly weird.<br />
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2. If I spend my time worshiping Him when I have so much else to do. <br />
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3. If I spend my valuable time trying to learn as much about Him as possible from the Book and listening to people who know Him.<br />
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4. If I go around quoting Him.<br />
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(I am certain He also knows when I tell Him I do)</span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-27231310104848349552014-06-07T20:54:00.000-04:002018-12-09T13:27:19.545-05:00PSYCHOLOGIST SAYS SPEAKING IN TONGUES IS FOR REALThe following is a rewrite of an earlier post of how, in 1980, I began to speak in tongues. Since writing that, I have looked at many blogs on the subject. Some are distressing because they ridicule this fastest growing group of Christians in the world. Because I am a Board Certified psychologist I feel it is important for people to know that Christians who speak in tongues are not nuts. Actually, research indicates that in many cases those speaking in tongues are more emotionally healthy than the general public. <br />
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Here is my story followed <br />
<a name='more'></a>by three other posts in elaboration<br />
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I am laying on the floor of a little store front church proclaiming “I love you Jesus!!!” and laughing uproariously. My life was changing forever. <br />
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What was a psychology professor doing on the floor in the first place?<span id="fullpost"><br />
In August 1980, my son dragged me to a storefront church. Although reluctant, what can you do when all four of your children challenge you with “What are you afraid of, Mr. Psychologist?”<br />
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I needed to know what they were getting in to.<br />
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Surprised, I was impressed when the young preacher spoke with authority.<br />
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The following Wednesday night, I showed up, startled to find only the pastor, the piano player and me. Catching me off guard, the minister inquired, “Have you ever received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?” <br />
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As a seeker after spiritual experiences, I was interested. Earlier, as a Baptist minister, I had led the singing at revivals that had gone wild. I once gave an invitation to which an entire church responded by rededicating themselves. Scared the fool out of me.<br />
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I had seen some amazing things, but the only thing I knew about what they called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was that it had something to do with speaking in tongues. As kids, we had peeked through the windows at the crazy goings on in the local Pentecostal churches. But they were on the other side of the tracks.<br />
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Still, I had always been a high risk person when it came to spiritual things and that night I said to myself, O.K. you’ve danced with the Sufis, chanted with the Yogis, beat drums with the Baktis, so what the heck? I blurted out: “Well I want everything God has to give. I don’t want to miss anything.”<br />
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Then the young man said “O.K.., do what I do.” He began saying words of praise to God. I did what he did. All at once he said, “Now, no more words in English.” Pointing to my chest, he said, “Praise Him from there.” He began to make strange sounds.<br />
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One of the many meditations I had tried in the past, involved hours listening to various sounds deep within me. The Hindus teach that these are the sounds of the Chakras, energy centers of the body. Following his instructions, I focused on the region he pointed to. There were sounds! Not like his, but sounds. So I spoke the sounds I was hearing. <br />
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Along with the sounds bubbling up, came the most joyous sensations. They gushed up like I had tapped an oil well. (See next four threads as the story continues.)<br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-19738901936634801212014-06-06T20:28:00.000-04:002018-12-09T13:28:07.061-05:00A PSYCHOLOGIST DISCUSSES SPEAKING IN TONGUESRight after my experiences of tongues began, I wrote down some ideas as a psychologist on the subject. The following is what I wrote at the time.<br />
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I wonder how surprised my printer would be if it could be aware that it is not creating these words on this page by itself. Perhaps it would be no more surprised than I was when words from an unexplained source came out of me. <span id="fullpost"><br />
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As to my printer, if it could reflect on its own inner workings self-consciously as I can, it might try to explain to itself this unexpected discovery of words already formed somewhere in its circuitry. The words were there for a few moments before in some inner labyrinth. Deeper still, and even more impatient to get on with matters, are the ideas which I am now placing into the printer’s circuits. My printer would be quite humbled to learn that it is not creating these words. Rather, it has become an outlet for phrases and ideas already present.<br />
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Now, back to me. As I reflect inwardly, like the printer, I find a similar situation. As I focus, I soon discover words and phrases, already existing within me. To my fascination, language and thoughts are right there, waiting for my typing fingers, or for my vocal cords to give them an outlet. I sense that I possess a great deal more words and ideas than I can express. In addition, any problem of expression I have, lies merely in bringing to the surface already existing sounds, words, and phrases within me.<br />
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The whole process of speaking and writing, actually seems to be more an act of focusing awareness and then giving vent to what is already there. It is less of an act of self-consciously creating the thoughts I speak. The process is much like Plato’s metaphor of the bird cage full of birds. We reach in and release them. Thus the word “educe,” meaning to “pull out.” From educe, comes the word “education.”<br />
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One day, I discovered an entirely new language system within me that I did not know was there. That was the day, I spoke in tongues.<br />
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Pentecostals then informed me that what I was hearing within, was the Holy Spirit forming those words. The mind-blowing thought was that He had probably been carrying on that praying in me from the time, as 12-year-old youth, I had invited him to indwell me. HE HAD BEEN THERE ALL THE TIME JUST WAITING FOR ME TO DISCOVER HIM! When I finally did, He erupted like I had hit an oil well. He has been erupting ever since. (continued on next three threads)<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-73181858822764282882014-06-05T20:34:00.000-04:002015-07-06T17:32:15.254-04:00PSYCHOLOGIST SPEAKING IN TONGUES CONTINUESDays followed my first experience of speaking in tongues with many thrilling events. We laid hands on a woman who had congenital heart disease from birth, and she was healed. A few sundays later, a group of us laid hands on a man with prostate cancer. He was healed and the healing was certified by his Urologist.<br />
<br />
I began to notice changes in me. I could not get enough of reading the Bible. I would lock myself in my office and read for hours.<span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
Like many people, I had suffered from what I called the Paranoia of</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span id="fullpost"> the Father. I just did not trust Him. Either He was going to get mad at me and hurt me, or if I was enjoying something, He would take it away to keep me from having any fun, or on the other hand, He would love me and send me off to die in Africa just to prove myself. Whatever, God was scary.<br />
<br />
I woke up one morning and the Paranoia was gone. Shortly thereafter I was riding down Poplar Grove Rd. in Boone, NC, right past the Winn Dixie. Suddenly I was lifted into another level of consciousness. There was this incredible sense that God had stopped taking care of the Universe and was now focused only on me. I was all that existed in His attention. No one else. Nothing else. Now words begin to fail. But Love was communicating, “ Donald has come home. All of Heaven stopped to listen. “Donald I love you. Nothing that you have ever done, are doing, or ever will do, will make any difference to Me.” From that day on, I have never been without that sense of His love and His presence.<br />
<br />
Over the years, I have discovered in the writings of the great mystics, that others had this experience of a moment of God’s total focus. Mystics are defined as people who have a direct tangible experience of God.<br />
<br />
In Living Flame of Love, the great Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross wrote: “For the soul now feels God to be so solicitous in granting it favors and to be magnifying with such precious and delicate words, and granting it favor upon favor, that it believes that there is no other soul in the world whom He thus favors, nor ought else wherewith He occupies Himself, but that He is wholly for itself alone” p81<br />
<br />
The great English mystic, Julian of Norwich in Revelation of Love wrote: “It is God’s will that I see myself so bound to him by love as if he had done all his deeds just for me.” p145<br />
<br />
One of the phrases God implanted in her heart went as follows: “All shall be well, All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me.” p55 <br />
<br />
Julian understood her experience in much the same way as I do. Also, like me /<br />
over these past 27 years, her experience remained with her throughout her life. AND ALL OF THIS FOLLOWED BABBLING IN UNKNOWN TONGUES! AMAZING!! (Continued on next 2 threads)<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-45861744590674487022014-06-03T10:30:00.000-04:002017-11-20T19:59:35.090-05:00Southern Baptist Can't Pray in Tongues RePostedI notice that at a recent convention, Southern <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-04-05-baptists_x.htm">Baptists</a> are still fighting over speaking in tongues. Originally, I was ordained a Baptist minister. Though I am now a liturgical/sacramental priest, I do like to look in on my Baptist friends from time to time.<br />
<br />
Two Christian writers can help shed light on Southern Baptists’ problem <br />
<a name='more'></a>with tongues–the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross, and St. Paul. Both of these men recognized that we possess two mental systems. Discerning his two minds, Paul declares “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also...I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also”(1 Cor 14:15).<br />
<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />St. John of the Cross describes one of the mental systems like this: (Bk. 1 IX 4) “....The sensual part of a man has no capacity for that which is pure spirit. He uses the words sensual” and“soul” indicating “understanding, will, and memory <br /><br />He describes the other mental system like this.(Ch. 4-2 Bk.1) “The spirit (on the other hand) is moved to pleasure and delight in God,”<br /><br />St. Paul describes one system like this: 1Co 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.” St. Paul also liked to use the word “understanding” which in Greek is “the intellect.”<br /><br />He describes the other mental system like this: 1 Co. 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (Both writers use the Greek word “wind” for spirit, a good analogy for a power whose effects can be seen, but whose substance cannot.)<br /><br />The two writers are aware that the two <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/01/speaking-in-tongues-two-hemispheres-of.html">minds</a> get in each other’s way.<br /><br />For St John, (Bk. 1 IX) “For anything that the soul (read intellect) can do of its own accord at this time, serves only, to hinder inward peace and the work which God is accomplishing in the spirit.” <br /><br />For St. John, Bk. (1 IX 4) God communicates directly with the spirit mind, outside the intellect’s ability. He “binds (the intellect's) inner faculties and allows it not to cling to the understanding, nor to have delight in the will, nor to reason with the memory. When once the soul (intellect) begins to enter therein, its inability to reflect with the faculties grows ever greater.” At this point, the soul can go dark (flat lines). Thus, the title of St John’s book is: "Dark Night of the Soul”<br /><br />The intellect’s flat lineing is a good thing spiritually, but painful to the <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/our-mind-at-work.html">intellect</a>.<br /><br />Each man, St. John and St. Paul has his own way of working with this contest between the two minds. For St. John, As God infuses Himself into the spirit, (Bk. 1 IX 8) ...”the soul (mind) can no longer meditate (think discursively) or reflect in the imaginative sphere of sense as it was wont, however much it may of itself endeavor to do so....For God now begins to communicate Himself ... no longer thorough sense, but by pure spirit.”.. The intellect is temporarily sidelined by God Himself.<br /><br />St Paul recognizes the struggle for dominance between the two minds like this: (Rom. 8:7) “...the carnal mind is enmity against God.”<br /><br />The contest between the two minds is resolved in the following manner for St. Paul (1Co 14:4) “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself (Greek: “is a house builder,”, i.e. a beautiful metaphor–“building up his house”). Further, (1Co 14:14) “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding (intellect) is unfruitful (Greek: “barren,” not producing intellectual fruit”, the state of consciousness he is trying to produce). (For the record, he adds: 1 Co 14:5 “would that ye all spake with tongues” and, 1Co 14:18) I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all)<br /><br />In our present age of reason, most intellects refuse to go dark and will fight furiously to keep domination over our consciousness. The word hegemony is useful. Hegemony is used to describe the dominance of one state over another. It is mostly used about political states, but it can be used with states of consciousness. The intellect demands hegemony in the modern mind.<br /><br />Which brings us back to the Southern Baptists. The intellects of Baptists just don’t like to give in. Two historical forces are at work. Fundamentalists among the Baptists get their title as the guardians of the fundamentals of the faith. Guarding the fundamentals is a cerebral activity.<br /><br />Secondly, Baptists got their name for their insistence upon reaching an age of accountability before being baptized --i.e.believers baptism. Again a cerebral activity. Psychologists attribute this age of accountability which occurs around puberty, as resulting from the interconnections of the brain’s neurons reaching a level of maturity which makes rational thought possible. In other words, a core Baptist belief is the demand that you must be capable of understanding what you are doing. </span><br />
<span class="fullpost">(Continued on next thread) </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-55287915478846491362014-05-04T17:30:00.000-04:002015-05-14T10:21:58.206-04:00SPEAKING IN TONGUES, BAPTISTS, AND OTHERSOriginally, I was ordained a Baptist minister. Though I am now a liturgical/sacramental priest, I do like to look in on my Baptist friends. <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/southern-baptist-cant-pray-in-tongues.html">I wrote a post</a> on the Baptists’ problem with speaking in tongues. It became my most read post. Meanwhile, the issue <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070602/27749_Surprising_Study_Reveals_Half_Southern_Baptist_Pastors_Believe_in_Gift_of_Tongues.htm">became hotter</a>, so I decided to revise the article and print it again with some of the good comments added. Basically, the problem involves the intellect vs the spirit.<span id="fullpost"><br /><br />Two Christian writers can help shed light on Southern Baptists’ (as well as others’) problem with “tongues”. One is the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross, and the other, St. Paul. Both of these men recognize they possess two mental systems. Paul uses the word “understanding” (in Greek, the intellect) to describe one of the systems. He uses the word translated as “spirit” for the other system. We hear him describing how he works with his two systems in 1 Cor 14:15 “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also...I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also”. In other words, he is fully aware that he is using two distinct “mental” systems in his spirituality.<br />.<br />St. John of the Cross, similarly describes two systems. He uses the word “sensual” (the understanding, will, and memory) for one system and “spirit” for the other. <br /><br />Both men were conscious that the two systems had real problems with one another. <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/01/speaking-in-tongues-two-hemispheres-of.html">For more on this</a>. St. Paul describes the problem as follows: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.”1Co 2:14) St. John of the Cross describes this same problem as follows: "The sensual part of a man has no capacity for that which is pure spirit.” (Bk. 1 IX 4). . St John goes further: “For anything that the soul (the intellect) can do of its own accord at this time (i.e. when God has infused Himself), serves only, to hinder inward peace and the work which God is accomplishing in the spirit.” (Bk. 1 IX) The intellect is getting in God’s way.<br /><br />For St. John, God communicates directly with the spirit mind, outside the intellect’s capabilities. God even deliberately “binds (the intellect's) inner faculties and allows it not to cling to the understanding, nor to have delight in the will, nor to reason with the memory. When once the soul (intellect) begins to enter therein (arrive at that state), its inability to reflect with the faculties grows ever greater.”Bk. (1 IX 4) At some point, the soul can go dark ( flat line). Thus, the title of St John’s book is: "Dark Night of the Soul”. Flat lining is a positive thing spiritually, but intolerable to the <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/our-mind-at-work.html">intellect</a>.<br /><br />St. Paul also wants to flatline the intellect, but unlike St. John of the Cross who lets God do it, St. Paul works on the experience himself: He tells us how he does it. 1Co 14:4 “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself (in Greek: “is a house builder,”, i.e. “building up his house”). He describes then how this gets his intellect to “go dark.”. “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding (intellect) is unfruitful (Greek: “barren,” not producing intellectual fruit”).(1 Co 14:14).<br /><br />Today, if you read the attacks on “speaking in tongues”, you will quickly discern the resistance of the intellect to “go dark”, “to be unfruitful”, to enter “The Dark Night of the Soul”. Some attackers are appalled by an intellect becoming unfruitful. Others, <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/eyes-to-see-and-ears-to-hear.html">only mock</a> what they see or hear. In our present age of reason, most intellects struggle furiously to maintain domination over the consciousness. The word hegemony is useful. Hegemony is used to describe the dominance of one state over another. It is mostly used about political states, but it can be used with states of consciousness. The intellect demands hegemony in the modern mind. The idea of losing your mind temporally for the sake of making direct contact with God is unacceptable to most. <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/01/maybe-pentecost-never-happened-at-least.html">See another take.</a><br /><br />Which brings us back to the Southern Baptists. Baptists have two historical forces at work that give them problems with “tongues”. Fundamentalists among the Baptists get their title as the guardians of the fundamentals of the faith, i.e. correct theology. Guarding the fundamentals is a cerebral activity.<br /><br />Secondly, Baptists got their name for their insistence upon reaching an age of accountability before being baptized -- believers baptism. Psychologists attribute this age of accountability which occurs around puberty, as resulting from the interconnections of the brain’s neurons reaching a level of maturity which makes rational thought possible. In other words, a core Baptist belief is the demand that you must be capable of understanding what you are doing. Spirituality as rational.<br /><br />Following is a thoughtful comment received:<br />Anonymous said... <br />Fr Don has demonstrated something I have observed about the evangelical mind. Movie and TV often portrays evangelicals as emotional or simple-minded. In fact, behind some of the emotions of conversion is a tremendous rationality. Rather than conversion being a matter of emotion, Baptist theology tends to cast it as an act of the mind or will - the opposite of many of the images that are used to slam evangelicals like Southern Baptists.<br /><br />I am wondering about the origins of this intellectual view of faith. The Baptist opposition to speaking in tongues seems rooted in their public embracing of dispensationalism. Rather than asking how to do the works of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, their rational theology reasons that the absence of those works today is proof that they were temporary gifts given to establish the Church until the canon of scripture was set. This position leads them to misinterpret Paul's state about spiritual gifts ceasing when that which is perfect is come (1 Corinthians 13). Clearly Paul is envisioning the coming of Christ and the life of the kingdom of God when partial revelation will give way to the fullness of God's presence and relationship with us.<br /><br />In his books, "Surprised by the Power of God" and "Surprised by the Voice of God", former Baptist theologian Jack Deere shares a compelling account of his shift from dispensationalism to embracing the power and gifts and the Holy Spirit as described in the bible. I have come to a place where I cannot preach about a Jesus who cannot, or will not, do today all that the bible says he will do. This has not been a rational change and much as a change of heart. Speaking in tongues has become a wonderful means of prayer that helps me go beyond the limitations of my intellect. The child-like faith I exercise in praying from my born-again spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit helps me open up to God's ability to do beyond my wildest dreams. Like others, I constantly fall short of the fullness that is truly available - and is what I believe to be God's highest will for us. But I can't rationalize that reality away based on my short-fall because I have tasted enough of the real to know that there is gold in those hills that is worth the effort to mine it.<br /><br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-41699202636178661952014-01-31T13:57:00.000-05:002014-01-31T13:57:06.809-05:00My Epiphany in 2013!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOP_KzETYD3yIuxFRecletUTa9_jLB5U_ms6Z8y0CG9nihNNd15uO7gfGOrxkIZb0YsMidulAiIcOmCoyfhqnyFx8wlNenVK5DJRWw3bgLd8OxVQ80RCAW9CwCyVUagocSvT06_ewrcZ9g/s1600/Heiser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOP_KzETYD3yIuxFRecletUTa9_jLB5U_ms6Z8y0CG9nihNNd15uO7gfGOrxkIZb0YsMidulAiIcOmCoyfhqnyFx8wlNenVK5DJRWw3bgLd8OxVQ80RCAW9CwCyVUagocSvT06_ewrcZ9g/s1600/Heiser.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
Following is a letter I sent to <a href="http://www.michaelsheiser.com/">Dr. Michael Heiser</a> after listening to his lectures on You Tube.<br />
<span id="fullpost">
<br />
Dr. Heiser, I am a big believer in letting people know when they have blessed their life. So this note is to express my sincere gratitude for your work. I am 87 years old and have studied the Bible all my life, informally and formally in a Southern Baptist seminary and later under tutelage as an Anglican priest. I am also a retired Professor of Psychology.<br />
<br />
Last Fall, God took me to your You Tube lectures and I had an Epiphany. Two important areas<a name='more'></a> of my life were kicked up many notches. The first is my deeper understanding when I am ministering the Eucharist. The second is a totally new approach to the Old Testament.<br />
<br />
On your web page you said that you had little time to read e-mails, so I will just cut to the chase. With a little chagrin I have to confess that each time I elevated the Body and Blood for consecration, I was always privately pondering "What sins are these sins for which we are atoning?" Unfortunately as a psychologist, I knew we could psychologize away any human failing.<br />
<br />
Then listening to you, the aha moment came. We are not atoning for sins (plural) but for<b> the </b>sin (singular). In the Garden, our progenitors, as Elohims, joined the human race up on the rebel side of the War of the Elohims. <b>And, this is really what the entire Bible is about! </b> Thus, in the Eucharist, while asking "for the forgiveness sins," I could surreptitiously be thinking "for the forgiveness of <b>the</b> sin." <br />
<br />
After listening to you, I also think the puzzlement of why it took a human sacrifice to propitiate <b>the</b> sin became obvious. Dr. Heiser naturally this is just the skinny of what you have pulled together for me. I do think you have helped me synthesize a life-of-study beyond anything I could have imagined.<br />
<br />
As a bonus, I can now read the Old Testament with new eyes. It has become for me the story of Yahweh’s attempt to keep His little chosen tribe away from the rebel Elohims. I see now where over thousands of years, He tried everything from Divine Mercy to Divine Wrath--but to no avail. (The one success perhaps was to get the archetype of the Passover into their collective unconscious.)<br />
<br />
As God has blessed me throughout my life by leading me in chapters, at the same time He was preparing me by taking me to you, he took me to St Faustina and, soon to be, Saint John Paul II. The Lord then asked me to join these two in daily praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. <br />
<br />
You probably are aware, but just in case, it goes: <br />
<br />
On the large bead before each decade:<br />
<br />
Eternal Father,<br />
<br />
I offer you the Body and Blood,<br />
<br />
Soul and Divinity,<br />
<br />
of Your Dearly Beloved Son,<br />
<br />
Our Lord, Jesus Christ,<br />
<br />
in atonement for our sins (I think sin)<br />
<br />
and those of the whole world.<br />
<br />
On the ten small beads of each decade, say:<br />
<br />
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion,<br />
<br />
have mercy on us and on the whole world.<br />
<br />
Dr. Heiser, I hope you can see how my Epiphany with you prepared me for a whole new calling.<br />
<br />
My wife and I live in a beautiful log cabin on a ridge surrounded by an acre of wood land. <br />
<br />
Thus we have our own little private monastery in which to carry on this new work. <br />
<br />
Again, you have my deepest gratitude,<br />
<br />
Donald L. Clark Ed.D FAACoP<br />
<br />
Anglican Priest, retired<br />
<br />
Professor Emeritus of Psychology<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-28464628402161340712014-01-17T11:45:00.001-05:002014-01-17T11:45:42.378-05:00Weighing in on Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson<span id="fullpost">
<a href="http://wataugarepubs.blogspot.com/2013/12/weighing-in-on-duck-dynastys-phil.html">From Conservative Blog</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-81164545655617735192013-02-01T17:51:00.002-05:002013-02-01T17:51:29.028-05:00The earth is the Lord's dejure. The earth is the evil one's defactoWe are told I John 5:19 that <span style="color: mediumblue;"><strong>“the whole earth lies in the power of the evil one.”</strong></span> Then again, we are told in Psalm 24:1 that <span style="color: mediumblue;"><strong>“The earth is the Lord’s, and all that it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” </strong></span>So the earth is presently in the power of the evil one, but it belongs to the Lord. The earth is the Lord's <i>dejure</i>. The earth is the evil one's <i>defacto</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-68682480138313579832012-12-27T18:36:00.000-05:002013-04-08T21:46:52.334-04:00Why Do They Hate Christmas?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsE4KTTz4ma92jH-cnZ9EusNhXK6NG8Pwkpk48qgnjQQ92-dB4KUEvW07PlvesOaeC-zU9PqxLmTfUDW9koGY_RQoAySKEiyCv8NPJnSMtB9TR2rFG-ZDu-0xYaGyMZlD3UjmNGHcM8Gh/s1600/Grinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsE4KTTz4ma92jH-cnZ9EusNhXK6NG8Pwkpk48qgnjQQ92-dB4KUEvW07PlvesOaeC-zU9PqxLmTfUDW9koGY_RQoAySKEiyCv8NPJnSMtB9TR2rFG-ZDu-0xYaGyMZlD3UjmNGHcM8Gh/s1600/Grinch.jpg" /></a></div>
An increasing number of grinches are trying to steal Christmas. This post is to open the discussion of explanations of why people would<a name='more'></a> want to rain on others’ parades.<br />
<br />
Example--on his TV program Huckabee opined that maybe these spoilsports worry “What if Christians are right? Then where does that leave me?”<br />
<br />
Another, but more serious explanation for the hostility toward<br />
Christmas is the one given from the beginning–that there really is an anti-Christ spirit -- still being channeled today.<br />
<br />
Then there is the “let’s give them the benefit of the doubt approach.” What if they have a legitimate position of wanting Christianity “out of my face!” After all, in the beginning it was all about a supernatural God sending his supernatural son to train and equip us with supernatural weapons against a supernatural enemy. So what’s this knockoff of the original–obsessed over morality and guilting people to be charitable? Scolds. Sharia lights. If this is what the grinches want out of their face and behind church walls, could they be on to something?<span id="fullpost">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-32940221695187342852012-10-31T12:15:00.001-04:002012-10-31T12:15:23.426-04:00Charisma Supporting Romney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuN0s8oUxnO_wJe4sSPevMxKkWz6en6DgKbqXfEHNw4tg1yk6ixBvwpkGGpgKnfWq254elDAJnYQ1xm3Ubx04AJdQVBP4tiJ1H-FpGq8Wvk4HrKRLjlPM-1WDb3Vw4yrcpFRt2mMZOa7J/s1600/Romney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuN0s8oUxnO_wJe4sSPevMxKkWz6en6DgKbqXfEHNw4tg1yk6ixBvwpkGGpgKnfWq254elDAJnYQ1xm3Ubx04AJdQVBP4tiJ1H-FpGq8Wvk4HrKRLjlPM-1WDb3Vw4yrcpFRt2mMZOa7J/s200/Romney.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/the-strang-report/15733-i-urge-you-to-vote-for-mitt-romney#readmore">Steve Strang Founder of Charisma Magazine Supports Romney</a><br />
<span id="fullpost">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-7805636956346409932012-10-17T12:33:00.000-04:002013-04-08T21:44:42.631-04:00Debating with My Friend Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="fullpost">When I was a child, there was a sign on the wall of a doughnut shop which read, </span><span id="fullpost"> <i><b>“Remember, brother, As you ramble on through life, Whatever be your goal, Keep your eye upon the doughnut, And not upon the hole.” </b></i>Obviously, I could not have known that this saying would become the guiding motto for my life. Later in adulthood</span><span id="fullpost">, I found the similar saying in Stephen Covey's books <b>"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."</b></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><b><i> </i></b><br />It was that principle that led me into a debate with one of my favorite people, Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries. It happened as follows.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span id="fullpost">During the offering at one of his meetings, they asked for money for a well-digging project in Africa. Because I loved giving to Morningstar, I was bewildered when I got a check in my spirit. I even left the meeting to ask the Lord what was going on with me. </span><br />
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<span id="fullpost">My motto came to mind.<br /><br />At lunch that day with Rick, I told him about the block I had at the offering and how my motto surfaced in my mind. Naturally, he was somewhat put off. So, I went on. <br /><br />I quoted my guiding motto: I said, Rick “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus healed the sick and cast out devils, demonstrating the Sovereignty of God. He then instructed his disciples to go do the same (Mat 10:8)”. <br /><br />Regarding works like well digging, I began to share my experiences in Kennedy’s Peace Corps and Johnson’s Vista in the War on Poverty. I added that many groups do such works of compassion, including other religions. <b>But only one organization on the earth is commissioned to cast our demons, demonstrating the sovereignty of God over the sovereignty of Satan.</b><br /><br />Rick retorted that he could walk and chew gum, meaning that he could do more than one thing at a time.<br /><br />I came back, “Yes, and that is exactly what the mainline churches and much of the Roman Church turned to doing. I have always believed that when the church lost the power to do what Jesus told them to do, they just began to do something they could do–Parkinson’s Law-- fill up the available time.”<br /><br />I then swung into overdrive. “There came a time when my fellow liberal ministers only seemed to know one Scripture, “Love your neighbor.” To which one man asked of Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?” <br /><br />My question exactly.</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />Jesus’ answer is convoluted. The man needing help obviously was not the Samaritan. That man in the ditch is most likely a Jew. Jews were supposed to help one another, but in this case they didn’t. So, a foreigner had to. Jesus asked them then, who was doing the neighborly thing. You can’t build a totally new religion calling for charity to the whole world on this one confusing parable. <br /><br />“How do you know the one being neighbored was a Jew?” Rick challenged me.<br /><br />Coming back, I said: “I can give you several observations. First of all, many scholars say he was. More importantly read between the lines. Jews were not obligated to help outsiders unless the person worshiped their God. Don’t you think if the people heard Jesus guilting them for not helping a nonbeliever in need, they would have had a different reaction then they did?” <br /><br />“Furthermore, the early Christians gave no evidence that they had heard they were to help people apart from the brethren. John even laid down an interesting twist on the Great Commandment. 1 Jn 3:23 ‘And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another (the brethren), as He gave us commandment.’ The money collections by Paul and others were always ‘for the brethren,’ not for non-Christians.”<br /><br />At that point Rick concluded: “Don, I believe you have a stronghold.” (For the reader: For me a stronghold is a place Satan finds in a person from which to cloud the mind and feelings.) Thus such an observation from a man I love and respect, had to be taken seriously.<br /><br />Suffice to say, I took all that to the Lord. For the next two years, I searched the Scriptures daily always asking the Lord to point out and to remove any strongholds. However, the more I studied, the stronger my conviction became. <b>Before Pentecost, the person to help was one who worshiped Yahweh. After Pentecost, it was the brethren.</b><br /><br />The Lord once used a single Scripture to open the meaning of the whole Bible to me: <br /> “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (<b>“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.")</b><br /><br /> But now I am going to get mischievous. Can you believe that apart from the Scriptures, I also found what I was looking for in one of Rick’s most consequential books “<i>The Final Quest</i>”?<br /><br />Rick records the Lord as saying to him the following: “Human compassion is just as contrary to me as human oppression. Human compassion is used as a substitute for the power of My cross.. . . . I do not enjoy seeing men suffer,” Wisdom (the Lord) continued. “But human compassion will not lead them to the cross, which alone can relieve their real suffering.” (The Final Conflict, Morningstar Publications, 1996, Charlotte NC, p194-195) .<br /><br />It is not my style to have to win a debate. So, unless someone points this blog out to Rick some day in the future, he will probably never see it. If he does though, I predict that in his good natured way, he will chuckle. Of course, Jesus did remind me that as I hang around with Him, I grow in compassion.
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-56392622920077915212012-07-17T17:26:00.001-04:002012-07-17T17:26:56.488-04:00St. John of the Cross on Praise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="fullpost">Something I found in Living Flame of Love by St. John of the Cross guides my praise life: <br /><br />He writes: “And with respect to the praise which the soul offers to God in union, there are three kinds of brightness here:<br /><br /> First, the soul praises God as a duty, for it sees that He created it to offer Him praise, as He says through Isaiah: ‘I have formed this people for Myself, it shall sing my praises. (Is 43:21)’<br /><br />The second kind of brightness of this praise comes from the blessings which the soul receives and the delight that it has in offering praise.<br /><br />The third is that it praises God for that which He is in Himself; even if to do so caused the soul no delight at all, it would still praise Him for Who He is.”
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-61961879861365583152012-06-28T18:22:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:39:51.875-04:00INTRODUCTION TO DOING PRAXIS AS A PSYCHOTHERAPISTINTRODUCTION TO DOING PRAXIS AS A PSYCHOTHERAPIST <br />
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“We need to turn the field of psychology upside down.” That was the rallying cry of the young revolutionary professors in my doctoral program. “We have studied the abnormal. Now is the time in psychology’s history to study the supernormal. Enough of what makes people sick. Let’s study those who function at high levels.”<br />
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I have always been grateful that God led me to that doctoral program. It was a good fit. From then on, I was searching for the vein of gold called the super-well. When I had the Charismatic experience, I knew I had hit the mother load!<br />
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Before that however, I went down many side shafts. In some there was gold. In others, rock. I will speak of this later.<br />
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I have already mentioned the <a href="http://donclarks.blogspot.com/2007/07/psychologist-says-speaking-in-tongues.html">experience that empowers my life,</a> but now I have a specific purpose. First, I want to establish my credentials for writing this. <br />
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My psychological career has been dedicated to the study of <span id="fullpost">the praxis of psychology. In psychology’s case, to do praxis is to practice the art of healing the psyche while simultaneously theorizing about what one is doing. Our great-grandfather Freud, started us in that direction from the beginning.<br /><br />I was able to demonstrate my mastery of praxis to my colleagues and was granted Board Certification, a level only one other person in my department achieved. Later, my national professional organization awarded me the Life Time Contribution Award. Some of that award was based on how many students credited me with inspiring them, not only to pursue doctorates, but later to achieve Board status as well as positions of leadership in the profession.<br /><br />Two audiences in particularly which I hope will find this part of my blog useful, include Christian psychology college professors who teach about their faith while avoiding proselytizing in the academy. The second group I hope will read this, are college students, especially psychology students, who don’t realize what a gold mine their Christian faith is. Some times their faith is damaged by the secularists who themselves, cheat on the “no proselytizing” convention.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-77625505633112441702012-06-28T18:20:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:39:35.255-04:00PRAXIS OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2PRAXIS OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2<br />
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I promised I would describe some of the shafts I explored searching for super-wellness. Even before I entered my doctorate program, I was already on a search for super-health but did not know it. My first job out of undergraduate school was with the Dale Carnegie Schools in Washington, D.C. In our classes we had governors, congressmen, business men, etc., all working on improving themselves beyond where they were. <br />
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Another fortunate break before graduate school was that I had my first clinical training in a Freudian school. One of the beliefs of Freud was that before you psychoanalyzed others, you should be psychoanalyzed yourself. I had several years then of personal psychoanalysis. My analyst actually could say he had Apostolic succession to Freud himself, having had his own analysis from a direct early disciple of the master. I still believe that Freud was right and anyone who delves into another’s psyche should go into his or her own first. For me, that was a profitable vein in the mine of the psyche and many of my dreams revealed psychological empowerment.<br />
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During graduate school, I encountered the stories out of the East of people with exceptional abilities. So the search led Eastward and for a number of years, I assiduously practiced a form of Yoga–Kriya.Yoga. Again, that was a profitable mine as I learned that when you alter your consciousness, you live at higher levels of spiritual insights and abilities.<br />
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Then I had the Charismatic experience which I have discussed earlier in this blog. As I have told the readers, the Charismatic experience is the absolute most empowering experience I have had to date. Nothing before it, even compares. That does not mean I don’t want anything else if God has any more surprises up His sleeve.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-68315965913551768572012-06-28T18:15:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:39:18.878-04:00INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAXIS OF CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY CONTINUES CHAPTER 3INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAXIS OF CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY CONTINUES CHAPTER 3<br />
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Because my expertise was the praxis of psychology, the task became, how to introduce a Christian health-giving theoretical model into the curriculum without violating rules against proselytizing in the university. How I answered that dilemma, I will now share.<br />
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My intellectual mentor was Joseph Rhylak PhD of Loyola University. To me his textbooks on personality were always the best in the field. Rhylak had taught me that those doing praxis needed to be able to answer the following seven questions: 1) How to describe the essential structure of personality (Freud’s id, ego, and superego are examples.) 2) How to describe what moves that structure? (Motivation). 3) Does the personality change over time, and if so, in what way? (Growth and Development.) 4) How does one account for the variety of differences among individuals? 5) What does it mean to be ill, and how does illness happen? 6) How does the personality get cured? 7) What unique procedures does the theorist utilize to create cures?<br />
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Praxis was my work.<br />
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Having taught Rhylak’s approach all my academic life, I immediately saw that Pentecostal/Charismatic healers were doing psychological praxis. They were<span id="fullpost"> healing the sick while simultaneously theorizing as they went along. So, all I had to do was to apply Rychlak’s seven requirements to the writings of the prominent schools of healing in the Charismatic/Pentecostal movements and the personality theory of praxis would be evident.<br /><br />Three of these Charismatic/Pentecostal movements that had most satisfactorily addressed at least most of these seven essentials, were the Word of Faith movement, the Inner Healing movement and Jessie Penn Lewis of the great Welch revival. In extracting the praxis from these movements and then publishing the results in scholarly journals, I could then introduce these models legitimately into my classes. That is what I did.<br /><br />That I did an acceptable job of describing the systems can be seen in the following: Kenneth Hagin the leading proponent of the Word of Faith Movement, after reading my manuscript, wrote giving me permission to use his material and called my work “interesting.” The Sandford’s of the Inner Healing Movement, wrote me a personal note that my work was one of the best analyses of their writings to date. The present minister who carries on the work of Jessie Penn-Lewis invited me to come to Wales where I stayed in his home for several days. Topping it off, after showing my work to his classes, my mentor Joseph Rychlak, came from Chicago to speak at my university in North Carolina. The day was one of those Carolina blue autumn days and we strolled about the campus. To my surprised joy, our conversation was mostly about the Lord. <br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-5285236749530811932012-06-28T18:13:00.001-04:002012-06-29T19:39:04.149-04:00HOW I INTRODUCED CHRISTIAN THEORIES INTO MY CLASSESPRAXIS CLASS METHOD CHAPTER 4<br />
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I go back for a minute and describe how I successfully introduced Christian psychotherapeutic praxis into my classes. I had always taught my class entitled Theories of Personality by allowing students to form groups and choose which theorist they wanted to study. Because I knew that some would go on to graduate school, in order to start them toward excellence, I actually used the format of the exam for psychotherapist excellence of the American Board of Professional Psychology. I hoped that some day they might all go for that highest standard in our field.<br />
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The Board exam was given in the following way. While being taped and watched through a one way mirror, the candidate conducted a session with a patient using his or her chosen theoretical approach. Afterwards, the psychologist met with four board certified psychologists, and explained what was done and why. Being able to do praxis, that is applying and explaining at an exceptional level, was the criteria of excellence.<br />
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In my classes, the students repeated the above format, role playing a simulated session before the class, then following with the class members grilling them on what they did and why. Just as in the Board exam, grades were given for their ability to articulate the theoretical position they had chosen.<br />
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Because my articles on Christian theorists followed the model of what makes a good theory, each term, there was always a group of Christian students who chose one or the other of the two Christian theorists I had written about. The only rule for them was that they were to follow the same model as the others in class, with no proselytizing allowed. The approach worked like a charm and over the years, many Christian psychology students were able to feel their Christian theory held its own with the other more well known theories of psychotherapy. Thus, their faith was not undermined by exposure to competing theories.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-44066229911295630952012-06-28T18:13:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:38:47.340-04:00HOW THE THEORIST DESCRIBES THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITYFIRST QUESTION: HOW DOES PRACTITIONER DESCRIBE THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN PERSONALITY? CHAPTER 5<br />
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The Faith Teachers<br />
The first article covers the Word of Faith Teachers who do praxis in much the same way as practitioners such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, and the like. That is, they heal personality dysfunction while self-consciously explaining their work. For those readers not familiar with the Word of Faith teaching, the best known is Kenneth E. Hagin (now deceased). Some of his ideas appear to come from the earlier works of E. W. Kenyon who wrote in the early part of this century. In a personal conversation with the James Buckingham, former Editor-at Large of Charisma magazine, he suggests that E.W. Kenyon was the grandfather and Kenneth E. Hagin Sr. the father of the Faith movement who popularized the teachings and then spawned others such as Charles Capps, Kenneth Copeland, Norvell Hayes, Fred Price, Jerry Savelle, John Osteen and others. Other famous names who, around the same time, arrived at similar conclusions about faith, but from different traditions were P. Cho, T. L. Osborne and Lester Sumrall. Today, there are many others all over the world who have their original roots in this school of thought, not to mention how much of these teachings have permeated throughout Christian practice. <br />
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In order to make the writings of the Faith Teachers parallel the major psychologist’s theories of personality, all I had to do was to answer Rychlak’s questions of a theory of personality. <br />
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FAITH TEACHING STRUCTURAL CONSTRUCTS<br />
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The first question required of a personality theory is to describe the structure of personality, i.e., “What theoretical analogies and metaphors are used in creating the outline of consistent behavior enabling us to speak of personality?” (Rychlak, 1981 p.31) <br />
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Again, most people know of Freud’s id, ego and superego. Just as Freud had his id, ego and superego, Kenyon (1970) describes a three part division. There are the spirit, the soul and the body. “Man is a spirit being. He has a soul, and he lives in a physical body.” The three different structures of the personality are further amplified by Hagin (1979) as serving three different functions: “With the body I contact the physical realm. With my spirit I contact the spiritual realm. (and) with my soul I contact the intellectual realm” <br />
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Spirit<br />
Hagin apparently became aware of this tri-partite division of his personality after an “out-of-body” experience in his youth. The experience left him with the distinct impression of these three structures to his personality. Later Hagin and others were influenced by Kenyon’s writings as they developed the concept of the spirt as a distinct structure. Kenyon (1966) taught that God is a spirit, angels and demons are spirits and humans are spirits. When the Holy Spirit infuses the human spirit, then the personality is returned to God’s class of Spirit. Now the individual’s spirit can make direct contact and communicate spirit to Spirit.<br />
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Although St. Paul was not careful in systematically using words for his own personality, in 1 Cor. Chapt 14:15 he reveals clearly that he was aware of two distinct structures to his personality, each with its own function. “ What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” <br />
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Soul<br />
Kenyon (1966) departed from the popular use of the word “soul,” the one my denomination used in the seminary at the time I attended, in describing this second structure of personality. In those days, I was just taught we had a soul and a body. Kenyon and Hagin’s use of the word “soul” is similar to Paul’s use of “understanding” in the Scripture above. For Kenyon, the soul is that which is derived through the senses: this then includes the cognitions, the will and the emotions. The term he preferred was “sense knowledge” which he used interchangeably with the term “soul.” Just as Paul taught in 1 Cor. 2, sense knowledge is incapable of knowing God.<br />
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The clearest teaching of this inability for sense knowledge to access God is found in the mediaeval mystic St. John of the Cross. In his classic “Dark Night of the Soul,” he describes how the sense knowledge, or soul, panics and goes dark (flat lines) when it suspects there is another part of the personality “the spirit” carrying out actions which cannot be accessed by its mental activity. <br />
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Kenyon points out that a central problem of sense knowledge is that it produces a form of faith in information obtained through the senses, which then claims hegemony over the entire system. He paraphrases Romans 8:5-7 “For they that are after the senses have the mind of the senses, but they that are after the spirit, have the mind of the spirit. . . . The mind of the flesh (that is, the thinking that derives its evidence from the senses) is enmity against God.” <br />
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Body<br />
Hagin equates the body with the senses. The body is the source of the information which is creating the soul’s experiences. It is also the outward man that is perishing, in contrast to the inward man, or spirit. The spirt is being renewed day by day. The body has to be brought under the control of the spirit eventually (not soul or mind control such as in Christian Science).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-26399695602949669892012-06-28T18:11:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:38:32.284-04:00FAITH TEACHING MOTIVATIONAL CONSTRUCTS, TIME CONSTRUCTS AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES CHAPTER 5MOTIVATIONAL CONSTRUCTS, TIME CONSTRUCTS AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES CHAPTER 5<br />
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Rychlak’s (1981) second, third and fourth questions ask: On what basis does the personality structure act or behave? How does the personality change over time? And, how does one account for the individual differences of people? The questions boil down to understanding what motivates people to grow and change and to answer the question of why we are all different from one another.<br />
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Kenyon and Hagin discuss motivation in a way similar to the discussion of the struggle between the id, ego, and superego in Freud’s theory. There is an ongoing striving for dominance (hegemony) among the three different parts of the personality. Just as in Freud, the id, ego, and superego struggle for primacy, in the Faith teaching, the physical, the sense knowledge, and the spirit struggle for hegemony. Just as in Freud, the process of this struggle and the outcome, explain how one’s personality comes to be, in a similar manner, so it is with the Faith Teachers.<br />
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The Process of the struggle to grow as mature Christian personalities<br />
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Kenyon (1971) writes: “When the spirit receives Eternal Life, it begins a war against the senses that rule the mind that has received all of its impulses from the human body. It demands ascendancy over the mind.” (p. 6)<br />
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Hagin (1978) adds: Even though your spirit is born again, even though your spirit has the Holy Spirit abiding within: if the mind isn’t renewed (or as James says, the soul saved) with the Word, then the mind, which has been educated through the body and through the physical senses, will side in with the body and the two will frame up on your spirit to keep you a baby Christian.(p 69) <br />
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Bottom line is that the personality is being formed as its different parts struggle with each other. We can reveal a fleshly dominated personality, a mentally dominated personality, or a spiritually dominated personality, as the different parts assume control.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811680178127587252.post-25483512377932934972012-06-28T18:09:00.000-04:002012-06-29T19:38:19.256-04:00FAITH TEACHING THEORY OF ILLNESS CHAPTER 6THEORY OF ILLNESS CHAPTER 6<br />
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How do we get sick?<br />
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According to Rychlak (1981), a personality theory must answer the question: “How does a personality get sick?” The answer to this question, together with the complementary question“How does a personality get well?”–issues seamlessly from each specific theory of personality. Faith teachers have a cohesive relationship between their personality theory and their theory of illness and cure.<br />
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Of course, like most Christians, Faith teachers believe that sickness came to the human race when Adam fell under “the curse.” The curse’s effects are outlined in Deuteronomy 28. Hagin (1981) gives his interpretation of these Deuteronomy passages of how sickness comes about as follows: <br />
“The King James’ translation of these Scriptures would lead us to believe that God Himself puts sickness and afflictions upon His people, for it reads, ‘The Lord will smite thee’ . . . In the original Hebrew, the verb is in the permissive rather than the causative sense. Actually it should have been translated something like this: ‘The Lord will allow you to be smitten. . . .’” (p. 15)<br />
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For the Christian thinker, sin is what makes us eligible for the curse. Faith on the other hand is what breaks the curse. From the Faith teachers point of view, to know how much faith one has, faith can be revealed by what we say. In relationship to sickness for example, if our words reveal a total confidence in God, then one demonstrates eligibility for the breaking of the curse. If on the other hand, one’s words expose lack of confidence in God, the person remains under the curse with all its pain and suffering. <br />
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How do we stay sick?<br />
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Kenyon (1971) expressed the situation like this: <span id="fullpost"><br /><br />“Every time you confess your doubts and fears, you confess your faith in Satan and deny the ability and grace of God. When you confess your weakness and your disease, you are openly confessing that the Word of God is not true and that God has failed to make it good.” ((God) declares that: ‘With his stripes you were healed’; and: ‘Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases.’<br /><br />Instead of confessing that He has borne my diseases and put them away, I confess that I still have them. I take the testimony of my senses instead of the testimony of the Word of God. . . . The believer who is always confessing his sins and his weaknesses is building weakness, failure, and sin into his consciousness.” (p. 60) Broadcasting words that reveal panic rather than trust in God during a crisis, is a dead giveaway as to one’s level of faith. We have to be especially careful what we say to our own self. <br /><br />As Paul said over an over, we are made righteous through faith. God’s revelation to us informs us that a righteous person is not subject to the curse, therefore, does not qualify for sickness and disease. Such is the theory of illness as explained by the Faith teachers.<br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0