Appendix C

Psychology and Psychiatry


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Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:8-10)

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

There is no counsel, nor prudence, nor strength against the Lord. (Proverbs 21:30)
Unless the blessing of God be present, from which alone we may expect a prosperous issue, all that we attempt will necessarily perish. Since, then, God declares that he is at perpetual war with the unmeasured audacity of men; anything we undertake without his approval will end miserably, even though all creatures above and beneath should earnestly offer us their assistance. -- John Calvin commenting on Genesis 11:7

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
The life verse of David Powlison (1949-2019).

So the God of creation becomes the God of recreation. And that process is what the dynamic of biblical change -- David Powlison's basic, essential, glorious, wonderful, foundational course -- that's what it's all about. David's course 'The Dynamics of Biblical Change' changed a lot of lives at WTS.

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Cornelius Van Til makes the theologically valid point that "irrationality in the mind of man, that is, insanity, must be the result of a deflection of man from the source of absolute rationality," God, and consequently "all men have merited insanity because of their departure from God." [Or, not until man repents is he truly sane. -- compiler]. Eternal punishment is "the abyss of irrationalism," and what we call rational or normative experience is a gift of God's common grace. No man is worthy of it. -- Frederick Leahy

The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact. (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21b; Ecclesiastes 9:3b; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3-5) -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990). See John Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah Chapter 33 [Isaiah 33:1-66].

Mortimer Adler, in GREAT BOOKS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, concluded that more problems are caused by the denial of God than by anything else -- it changes the whole tenure of life.

For whatever the philosophers may have ever said of the chief good, it was nothing but cold and vain, for they confined man to himself, while it is necessary for us to go out of ourselves to find happiness. The chief good of man is nothing else but union with God. -- John Calvin

There is no solution to any problem apart from God. -- William James

If God does not exist, everything is permitted. -- Fyodor Dostoevski (1821-1881)

But they [philosophers] uniformly omitted to state the most important truth of all, that God governs the world by his providence, and that we may expect a happy issue out of our calamities, by coming to that everlasting inheritance which awaits us in heaven. It may be asked, what that dominion is which the upright shall eventually obtain? I would reply, that as the wicked must all be prostrated before the Lord Jesus Christ, and made his footstool, His members will share in the victory of their Head. It is indeed said, that he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, but he will not do this that he may put an end to his Church, but that God may be all in all, (1 Corinthians 15:24.) It is stated that this will be in the morning -- a beautiful and striking metaphor." -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 49:14 and context

"For several decades we psychologists looked upon the whole matter of sin and moral accountability as a great incubus [a cause of difficulty or anxiety -- compiler], and acclaimed our liberation from it as epoch making. But at length we have discovered that to be free in this sense, that is, to have the excuse of being sick rather than sinful, is to court the danger of also being lost. This danger is, I believe, betokened by the widespread interest in existentialism, which we are presently witnessing. In becoming amoral and ethically neutral and free, we have cut the very roots of our being, lost our deepest sense of self with an identity, and with neurotics themselves find ourselves asking, Who am I? What is my deepest destiny. What does my living mean?" -- Hobart Mowrer (1907-1982), one-time president of the American Psychological Association (1954), who ultimately ended up committing suicide at age 75, in The American Psychologist, 1960
The reality of human nature is best portrayed in the teaching of Christ. And even secular atheistic psychologists, such as Hobart Mowrer was, said something has been lost, when we lost the understanding of the dogma of sin. And he said that, when he wrote that article, he received more letters to him than any other thing he had ever written. He was trying to recover a concept of sin, the reality of human nature. -- Ravi Zacharias, in an address, "The Uniqueness of Christ in History and World Religion" (part 2 of 2), accessed October 20, 2014

Take Psychology. What is it? Nothing but a theory. Look at the different schools of psychology, how they cancel one another out. And yet on these mere theories and suppositions we are asked to reject the Bible and disbelieve the Gospel. -- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Expository Sermons on 2 Peter

Bunyan [John Bunyan (1628-1688)] had better insight into the human heart than modern psychology; namely, because he did not study man apart from his Creator and apart from his deep inward problem." -- Ernest Reisinger (1924-2018)

The character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the longest incentive in its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists. -- W.E.H Lecky (a skeptic), on the influence of Jesus

Counseling is a theological matter
Why is this so? Because everything about people is actually happening in reference to God. The troubles of life. Health or financial problems. Inner struggles. The conscious, willful sins. The unconscious lights-out experiences of forgetfulness, drift and unbelief. Life and death. The meaning of it all. Counseling always expresses theological commitments.
Hold onto this core principle. Your integrity as a Christian who counsels hangs on grasping this. Counseling programs may or may not arise from or live up to this core principle. You have to keep your head no matter where you train. God is always involved when you counsel. Consider several key questions. . . .
Every counselor brings a message: an interpretation of problems, a theory that weighs causalities and context, a proposal for cure, a goal that defines thriving humanness. How does the message of biblical counseling compare with their messages? Simply consider what our culture's other counselors do not say.

In other words, other messengers always counsel true to their core convictions. They counsel the same message that they live. Christians can't help but mention these things, and long to live within these realities. Even more, a Christian is never content merely to mention such realities to another, as if a troubled person simply needs the bare bones of didactic instruction. Like a skilled musician, you develop a trained ear. In every detail of every person's story, you learn to hear the music of these often unmentioned realities. You help others hear what is actually playing. A relevant, honest pastoral conversation teaches another person how to listen, and then how to join the song. Need I say more? No one else is listening to what you hear. No one else is saying what you have to say. No one else is singing what you believe. No one else is giving to others what you have been given that you might freely give. Every person who needs counseling actually needs Christ's unique message.
May God make all our words (and the thoughts within our silences), ring true to our convictions. Do get training that helps your convictions come to life. Whether you are a pastor or a mom, a friend or a teacher, a small group leader or someone with counselor in your job title, CCEF training can help you. CCEF exists to come alongside you in hands-on ministry, to equip you to help people through the struggles of life. -- David Powlison, from CCEF Training: Counsel True to Your Convictions, in CCEF NOW, vol. 2, July 2012, p. 4

A religious doctrine involves practical consequences so important, and its effects upon individual and social life are so infallible and so profound, that it can never be contemplated with indifference by the mass of society, and much less by their rulers. We pray you to observe, amongst other things, that the stronger the feeling of dependence to which religion reduces the individual, the more she invests him, on the other hand, with a lofty independence. All religion is freedom. By introducing us into the service of one master, she emancipates us from the dominion of all others. If she does not altogether do away with dependencies of another order, she transforms them from absolute into relative ones. We still belong to society, we are perhaps linked to it by closer ties than before; but it is in a mediate manner, for man cannot serve two masters. It is this independence which exasperates the rulers of this world, and indeed, for the most part, all those who do not share in it. It is this sacred retreat of liberty which they would invade -- this freedom, of which they would deprive us; as if the numerous sacrifices which from time to time liberty has made for the common weal were insufficient, as if it were not enough, or rather as if it were nothing, for us to have devoted all our bodily powers and all our worldly goods to the service of society, so long as this offering is not completed by the sacrifice of the soul. It is spiritual domination, dominion over the soul, of which despotism, whether of princes or of the people, is especially desirous. Thus, when a tyrant has bereft a nation of all its liberties, until throughout the realm his will has become law, his ambition having nothing else wherewith to satiate its appetite, directs itself against religion. Thenceforward, having subjugated the bodies of men, he directs his attacks against their souls. It is because he cannot but be sensible that dominion over souls -- what do you say? -- over one single soul, is as much superior to that over bodies, as the soul itself is superior to its envelope of clay. He cannot endure the humiliation of knowing that there is a sphere in which the most obscure man, by the force of sympathy alone, wields a greater power than his own. A deep-rooted and bitter feeling of envy takes possession of him; he can enjoy no more repose, until moral force shall have yielded to the pressure of physical force -- until the second Mordecai shall have bowed down to this second Haman -- until the soul, by dethroning itself, shall have delivered him from this odious rivalry. And should he encounter in this enterprise an unlooked-for resistance, his impatience becomes fury, and he destroys those whom he cannot subdue. This has been the origin of many religious persecutions, and it discloses the secret motives of those atrocities by which some have been distinguished.
It does not follow, however, that all the evils with which the world has been inundated in the name of religion, are to be referred to this cause alone. They have originated in that preeminently just idea, that religion gives the true signification of every man, and of the whole of society; that there is nothing more deeply seated in us, nothing which more decisively determines what we are; and that to declare what we believe, is at the same time, and as a matter of necessity, to declare what we wish to be. The influence of a lordly spirit apart, it is not astonishing that the social power has everywhere, more or less, attempted to regulate the faith of the citizens and the instructions of the priesthood. Nor is it surprising that the priesthood, in aid of the state, have themselves attempted to dictate in a matter of this importance. For the suppression of this evil, the assistance of ages has been necessary, and this has not proved sufficient; the veto of public opinion has been also needed. Perhaps in certain countries something further has been required -- the progress of religious indifference. But nowhere is the fire extinguished, because nowhere is man changed; he will never witness unmoved, the energetic manifestation of religious principle; he may be indulgent to philosophical religions, or to religious philosophy, which penetrates not to the very sources of will and of action; but he will be, with his own full knowledge and consent, severe upon genuine faith. And why? because man possessing genuine faith, rises to his highest elevation; an elevation to which it is necessary that others should rise also, not indeed to rule over him (for this is impossible), but to treat with him, and to be at peace together. This is the true position and individuality of each renewed man, and everything is put in requisition to annul, subdue, and modify it. -- Alexander Vinet and Charles Theodore Jones (translator), An Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, pp. 73-76

The growth of interest in psychology (which has its proper place in the scheme of things), and a worldview that is increasingly human centered, have moved the center of gravity in our thinking toward our feelings and responses. A direct response to human needs and aspirations may seem to produce more and quicker 'results,' but in the long-term it is self-defeating. Explaining God's Word, emphasizing God's works, defining God's greatness -- these are what motivate God's people, and Joshua knew that well. -- Morgan Derham

1650 The ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, in its article on the History of Psychology, credits Ren‚ Descartes (1596-1650), as being the initiator of the discipline of psychology.

1653 The term "psychologie" was used for the first time in 1653 in the Vack Discourse.

1882 Viennese physician Joseph Brever uses hypnosis to treat hysteria (beginning of psychoanalysis).

1909 Sigmund Freud lectured in the U.S. on Psychoanalysis. -- THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

The fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God.
They are corrupt,
they have done abominable works,
there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 14:1)
See the Theological Notes: "Mankind's Guilty Knowledge of God" at Romans 1:29 and the note at Psalm 14:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.

Above all, we must at all times remember what intellectuals habitually forget: that people matter more than concepts and must come first. The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas. -- Paul M. Johnson, his concluding statement in Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky

The simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the (investigations) disquisitions of philosophers, and than all the exhortations of moralists. -- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

And to wake us more effectively, Scripture shows that God the Father, as he has reconciled us to himself in his Christ [cf. II Cor. 5:18], [2 Corinthians 5:18], has in him stamped for us the likeness [cf. Heb. 1:3], [Hebrews 1:3] to which he would have us conform. Now, let these persons who think that moral philosophy is duly and systematically set forth solely among philosophers find me among the philosophers a more excellent dispensation. They, while they wish particularly to exhort us to virtue, announce merely that we should live in accordance with nature. (Cicero, On Duties III. iii. 13 (LCL edition, pp. 280 e.); De finibus II. xi. 34; III. vii. 26; IV. xv. 41 (LCL edition, pp. 120 f., 245 f., 344 ff.); Seneca, On the Happy Life viii. 2 (LCL Seneca, Moral Essays II. 116 f.): "To live happily is to live according to nature.") But Scripture draws its exhortation from the true fountain. It not only enjoins us to refer our life to God, its author, to whom it is bound; but after it has taught that we have degenerated from the true origin and condition of our creation, it also adds that Christ, through whom we return into favor with God, has been set before us as an example, whose pattern we ought to express in our life. What more effective thing can you require than this one thing? Nay, what can you require beyond this one thing? For we have been adopted as sons by the Lord with this one condition: that our life express Christ, the bond of our adoption. Accordingly, unless we give and devote ourselves to righteousness, we not only revolt from our Creator with wicked perfidy but we also abjure our Savior himself. -- John Calvin in Institutes of the Christian Religion, (McNeill/Battles edition), 3.6.3 and context

The Christian has a distinct advantage over the non-Christian when it comes to studying the soul (psychology) because he has God's inspired Word -- the psychology book. Any person who spends their life studying the soul book can grow in their understanding and practice of the purest psychology known to humanity.
Non-Christians grope in the dark when it comes to understanding psychology because the Bible is a mystery to them, if not downright foolish (Deuteronomy 29:29; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 2:14).
The Christian has the illuminating power of the Spirit of God to guide him into all the truth contained in the Word of God (John 16:13; John 17:17). The Christian also has the providential guidance of a sovereign Lord, who orchestrates life events on behalf of His children (Genesis 50:20).
Additionally, the Christian has a community of psychologists (God's children) who are constantly pursuing a better understanding of the psychology book while seeking to make practical applications for God's glory and each other's mutual benefit. (Hebrews 10:24-25) -- Rick Thomas, The Perfect Self-Help Book That Will Change Your Life, rickthomas.net/

*Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), The Biblical View of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, Self-Image, ISBN: 0890815534 9780890815533.
"The self-esteem fad has spread as people combat what is seen as the great modern enemy: low self-esteem rooted in childhood neglect and criticism. Adams traces the roots of these ideas in Adler and Maslow. Challenges the notion of psychological 'needs' ('Scratch out the word "need" and substitute the word "desire," and the result will be a much more accurate reading of the facts'). Exegetes the two great commandments ('Love yourself?'), and Romans 6/Colossians 3 ('Man of infinite worth?'). Unpacks biblical view of self-loathing and self-denial. 'While there is no concern evidenced in the Bible about people having too little self-esteem, and therefore no directions for enhancing self-esteem, God does indicate that He wants us to evaluate ourselves accurately.' (Summary, p. 119). Most of book rebuts popular errors; last seven pages give positive ideas for helping depressed counselees." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"How to evaluate the modern movement promoting 'self' and Psychology, ideas now well entrenched in many churches. How to determine if this movement has any biblical basis and how Christians can relate to these teachings. Related item: Ganz's PSYCHOBABBLE: THE FAILURE OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE BIBLICAL ALTERNATIVE." -- Publisher

Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), Change Them? . . . Into What? Counseling in America Today, 18 pages.
"Reprint of an address at the University Psychiatric Clinic in Vienna, Austria. 'You are planning to help people; fine. But that means changing them. The question is not only how, but (most basically) -- into what? The Christian replies, "Into the likeness of Jesus Christ".' Discusses the 'general failure of the psychotherapeutic community to succeed in doing anything significant for people and their problems.' Pastors in the 1950s either referred to psychotherapists or sought to incorporate psychotherapy into their practice. Since the mid-60s, however, distinctively biblical counseling has developed. 'This counseling draws upon the wisdom of God in the Scriptures and the power of God in the Holy Spirit.' This is what such counseling looks like: speak the truth in love to responsible people who need to change in order to grow up into the image of Christ." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

*Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), Counseling and the Sovereignty of God, 14 pages. Reprint of a chapter from WHAT ABOUT NOUTHETIC COUNSELING? Reprinted in LECTURES ON COUNSELING.
"For people in tough life circumstances there is only one hope: 'Knowing that God knows, that God cares, that God hears their prayers, and that God can and will act in His time and way to work even in this for good to His own. . . a confident assurance that God is sovereign.' Addresses the 'question on the lips of nearly every counselee -- Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did it have to happen to me? Why did it have to happen now?' Lucid summary of Adams's attitudes toward psychology and psychiatry." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), Counseling Workshop: An Alcoholic Partner; Long-Term Counseling; Suicide; Forgiveness; Larry Crabb's Approach (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
Audio cassette JA504 [audio file].

Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), How to Help People Change: The Four-Step Biblical Process, 203 pages.
"Unfolds the counseling process through an exposition of II Timothy 3:14-17. Bases all on the centrality of God and the vertical dimension for counseling: The Holy Spirit and the Word work in concert. Change unfolds through teaching, conviction, correction and training. 'Learn both how to launder your mind of pagan psychological and psychiatric theories and how to use the Bible cogently and effectively in its full strength.' Contains reprint of Adams's 1982 journal article on 'Integration'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), The Power of Error: Demonstrated in an Actual Counseling Case, 49 pages.
"A summary of a pastoral counseling case that went on for many months, meandering and fruitless. Critiques both the pastor's handling of the case and the psychiatrist's supervision in the light of nouthetic principles." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), Your Place in the Counseling Revolution, ISBN: 0801001005 9780801001000.
"The confusion in the counseling world exists because 'they have rejected the one and only perfect and lasting textbook on counseling': the Bible. Christians have all too often accommodated the faith wrongly to secular psychology. God refuses to be brought in as an additive to a pagan system or to be 'discovered' in a pagan theory. Christians have unresolved personal problems; Bible-believers largely neglected matters of practical Christian living during the battles with liberalism. What is your place in the counseling revolution?: [1] the ministry of everyday Christians is described where 'many of the 'one another' verses refer to exhortation, encouragement, restoration, admonition, rebuke and the giving of other sorts of counsel'; [2] if God has called you to full-time counseling, go to seminary to get training in the Bible and go into the pastorate. Reprinted in Lectures on Counseling." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

*Allen, Charles L., God's Psychiatry: The Twenty-third Psalm, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, ISBN: 0800780159.
"In this powerful book, Charles L. Allen explains the essence of God's psychiatry -- the four best-known passages of the Bible: The Twenty-third Psalm, The Ten Commandments, The Lord's Prayer, and The Beatitudes. These 'prescriptions' will cure discouragement and doubt and dramatically change your life for the better." -- Publisher
"Inappropriate title but an excellent application of the 23rd Psalm, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Beatitudes to the everyday problems of life." -- Robert B. Somerville

Almy, Gary L. How Christian is Christian Counseling? The Dangerous Secular Influences That Keep us From Caring for Souls, ISBN: 1581341350 9781581341355.
"As a Christian counselor with a Phd working in the field of Christian counseling. I always wondered how christian counselors could cross and blur the line of psychological and biblical counseling. If you want to where the line is and how not to cross it, I recommend to you this book. I will not only recommend it to all Christian counselors, I will recommend it to all Christians." -- James J. Kruger

Almy, Gary, and Carol Tharp Almy, with Jerry Jenkins, Addicted to Recovery: Exposing the False Gospel of Psychotherapy: Escaping the Trap of Victim Mentality, ISBN: 1565071859 9781565071858, 251 pages.
"The Almys are medical doctors who have written a polemic against the pop psychologies that have recently swept into the church. Through a series of detailed case studies, they portray the dynamics operative in therapeutically-induced false memories, the healing of memories, multiple personality disorder, unmet love needs, and codependency." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Ankerberg, John, The Facts on False Teaching in the Church, ISBN: 0890817146 9780890817148.
"If you are concerned about the new philosophies and psychologies that are infiltrating today's churches, THE FACTS ON FALSE TEACHING IN THE CHURCH is an invaluable resource to help you judge which teachings are biblical and which are not." -- Publisher

Ankerberg, John, and John Weldon, The Facts on Self-Esteem, Psychology, and the Recovery Movement: Psychology and the Recovery Movement, ISBN: 1565072596 9781565072596.
"This book conclusively shows much of the psychology and recovery movement's anti-Christian, pro-occult, pro-humanist foundations. This is a must read for anyone who thinks that modern psychology and the Church can successfully mingle.
Ankerberg and Weldon raise some serious questions and concerns that need to be considered by lay Christians, pastors, students, and people in the mental-health industry." -- Reader's Comment

*Baxter, Richard (1615-1691), A Treatise of Self-Denial, ISBN: 1877611360. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #21. Included in THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST: BAXTER'S PRACTICAL WORKS, VOL. 3.
"This item is the work of Baxter that has been translated into the most number of different languages." -- compiler
"It is also a great antidote to the prominent spirit (of antichrist), preached by psychologist and psychiatrists which focuses on self (self-esteem, self-actualization, etc.), and/or hedonism, in an idolatrous manner, rather than self-sacrifice and service in obedience to God. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, . . . This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Pet. 3:3 [2 Peter 3:3], 2 Tim. 3:1-5 [2 Timothy 3:1-5])" -- Publisher
The Saints' Everlasting Rest, Richard Baxter, edited by Benjamin Fawcett
http://www.ccel.org/b/baxter/everlasting_rest/saints_rest.html

Beechick, Ruth, A Biblical Psychology of Learning: How Your Mind Works, ISBN: 0896360830.
"May be the finest book on the contemporary scene that explains the learning process, while allowing the Scriptures to judge the vast array of learning theories. The mode of learning the author presents and her discussion of creativity, higher thinking, and the spiritual developmental tasks are provocative. But her use of the Biblical concept of the heart marks the book with its uniqueness. It pries open a variety of areas with a new touch." -- Warren S. Benson

Belgum, David Rudolph, Guilt: Where Religion and Psychology Meet.

Belgum, David Rudolph, Hypocrisy and Mental Health (1962). Available in MORALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH.

Bersoff, Donald N., Ethical Conflicts in Psychology, ISBN: 155798591X 9781557985910 1557985995 9781557985996.

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, 12 Steps to Destruction: Codependency Recovery Heresies, ISBN: 0941717054 9780941717052, 247 pages.
"The people labeled 'codependent' have serious problems and need help. 'However, we question the diagnoses, answers, formulas and systems that are being offered in the name of help, in the name of love, and even in the name of Christ. Beneath many programs that purport to be Christian lurk ideas, philosophies, psychologies, and religious notions that are antithetical to biblical Christianity.' Extensive criticism of 12 Step programs." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Against Biblical Counseling: For the Bible, ISBN: 0941717097 9780941717090.
"Martin Bobgan puts forth an appeal for Christians to abandon the Biblical Counseling movement and return to an earlier dependence on the Bible and on Biblically-ordained ministries and mutual care in the Body of Christ.
"A great book where an author dares to speak against positions previously held. This book is for Christians who already are against psychology but have replaced it with the "Biblical Counseling" model. This book shows that concepts such as paid sessions, timed sessions, and segregation of counselor and counselee outside of counseling are not in line with Biblical teachings and instead patterned themself after psychological counseling. Urges readers that Biblical counseling is only an attempt to replace psychological counseling when only a return to the Bible is needed." -- Publisher

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Competent to Minister: The Biblical Care of Souls, ISBN: 0941717119 9780941717113.
"The question raised in this book is, how did Christians minister to suffering souls before psychology was developed? The author says that knowing and using psychology in caring for souls is not the biblical or best way to help people. He writes to Christians and raises many important issues that need to be looked at long and hard. You will either hate this book or love it, for it forces us to look at things that we have be avoiding. Mr. Bobgan should be commended for his courage to take on the "Christian/Psychology" movement. He is blunt and yet give a positive alternative that is clearly needed and easily applied. It should set people free to love and help those that are hurting." -- Reader's Comment

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, CRI (Christian Research Institute): Guilty of Psychoheresy? ISBN: 0941717135 9780941717137.

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, The End of 'Christian Psychology', ISBN: 0941717127 9780941717120.
"This book shows how Psychology does not satisfy even the basic requirements of science, yet it is accepted as if it were. It also explains the various absurd teachings that 'Christian' psychologists are choosing from. Psychology is such a non-science that anyone can take just about any position and still practice psychology from those assumptions. Urges Christians to outright reject psychology in their lives." -- Reader's Comment

*Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Four Temperaments, Astrology and Personality Testing, ISBN: 0941717070 9780941717076.
" 'From the beginning, typologies have been designed to help people both understand themselves and improve their condition.' But, 'The Bible does not categorize people according to temperament and personality. Instead, the richness of variety permeates the pages of God's Word.' The four temperaments, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and psychological typologies describe universal traits that can apply to all human beings to a greater or lesser extent. They give the illusion of significant self-knowledge. Their net effect is to excuse sin, to feed pride, and to distract attention from the issues the Bible considers significant. Temperament theory and astrology have numerous links conceptually; modern psychological typologies are heir to many of the same faulty assumptions. Describes and assesses Meyers-Briggs, Personal Profile System, Taylor-Johnson, Spiritual Gifts Inventory, et al. "Biblical classifications of people are always in terms of their relationship to God." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"Why are the four temperaments so popular among Christians, but have all but disappeared from the field of psychology? Do these personality typologies give true insight into behavior? Can knowledge in these areas foster Christian love and maturity? Does the Bible establish any temperament or personality types? Critiques the work of Tim LaHaye, Florence Littauer, et al." -- GCB

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Hypnosis and the Christian, ISBN: 0871234025 9780871234025.
" 'Hypnosis has been used as a method of mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical healing for hundreds and even thousands of years. . . . From witchdoctors to medical doctors and from past to present, the rituals and results have been reproduced, revised, and repeated.' Hypnotists use 'techniques such as repetition, deception, stimulation of the imagination, and emotionally overtoned suggestions to effectively influence the will and condition the behavior of the subject.' Discusses hypnotic regression and the links between hypnosis, occult activities, and Eastern meditative trances. 'Hypnotism is demonic at worst and potentially dangerous at best'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, James Dobson's Gospel of Self-Esteem and Psychology, ISBN: 094171716X 9780941717168.
"Another well written, well documented and footnoted book by the Bobgans. They do not attack Dr. Dobson personally, but they do quote extensively from his work and then show where he has moved away from biblical truth. It is a very eye opening book and is a must read for anyone who is wanting to hone their discernment skills. Don't take what the Bobgans say at face value, get your Bible out and see for yourself. Be a "Berean!" -- Reader's Comment

Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Larry Crabb's Gospel, ISBN: 0941717143 9780941717144.
"This book can be eye-opening to many of us who truly are hopeful that Crabb is moving toward a more biblical approach to counseling (and in understanding man and his vertical relationship with God and his horizontal relationship with his fellow man). If you have been impacted by Crabbs' books, this is a must read. It will give you a very discerning look at how Crabb, many times, still sees the world through the eyes of secular psychology. I do believe that a few times the authors were more sarcastic rather than the more loving exhortation for a brother (1 Cor. 2:3-9 [1 Corinthians 2:3-9]), we're called to in God's Word. However, overall, we need to be warned: Psychology is at war with God's Word and let us be discerning in these last days." -- Reader's Comment

*Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Prophets of Psychoheresy I, ISBN: 0941717038 9780941717038 0941717046 9780941717045.
"Critiques the teachings of Gary Collins ('Can You Really Trust Psychology?' pp. 13-103), Larry Crabb ('Inside-out Theology,' pp. 105-220), and Frank Minirth and Paul Meier ('Fellowship with Freud,' pp. 221-334). Each of them, in different ways, takes the basic building blocks of his system from secular psychology. 'The largest of the four branches of psychotherapy is the humanistic one. The Association for Humanistic Psychology is the professional association of humanistic psychologists. Its president, Dr. Lawrence LeShan, says, 'Psychotherapy may be known in the future as the greatest hoax of the twentieth century.' It may also be known as the greatest heresy of twentieth-century Christianity'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"The Bobgans maintain the position that counseling must be based upon Scripture alone and not upon an integration of Scripture and psychology. To that end they critique the integration approach of Gary Collins, Lawrence Crabb, Paul Meier, and Frank Minirth. . . .
"Martin is a Vice President of Continuing Education at Santa Barbara City College. . . . This book is an exposé of the fallacies and failures of psychological counseling theories and therapies, and it is intended to arm Christians with the sound scriptural principles which will deliver them from the people who are displacing, diluting and distorting God's word. . . . [the Bobgans], insist on the absolute sufficiency of Scripture in all matters of life and conduct (2 Peter 1). . . . The sad condition of Christians, and of their churches, cannot be remedied by a mixture of human wisdom and scriptural wisdom, but only by the deepening and expanding of the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, which comes solely from the Bible. As seen on age 120, 'A Christian's answer to problems of living depends on his [or her], relationship with God and obedience to His Word.'
'For the word of God is quick, and powerful . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)

*Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Prophets of Psychoheresy II: Critiquing James Dobson, ISBN: 0941717046 9780941717045.
"Critique of James Dobson, primarily his use of the self-esteem concept as fundamental to his teachings. Dobson is a leader in 'promoting the psychologizing of Christianity. . . . We use the word prophet to mean a spokesman for a cause or movement. The heresy is the departure from absolute confidence in the Word of God for all matters of life and conduct and a movement toward faith in the unproven, unscientific psychological opinions of men. Thus we call it 'psychoheresy'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"Here is a call to the church to rely on the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, rather than on the psychological opinions of men. Topics include: self-esteem, self-love, childhood memories, birth order, behaviorism, and many more." -- GCB

*Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Psycho-Heresy: The Seduction of Christianity by Psychoanalysis, ISBN: 0941717003.
"Some people will say the Bobgans are hitting too hard -- naming names and all that -- but I don't think so. Whenever someone writes for the Christian public he sets forth his views to the scrutiny of others, but if others think that what he says is dangerous to the church, they, like Paul (who names names, too), have an obligation to say so. The chapter 'Amalgamania' is the best. Indeed it should be enlarged and made into an entire book." -- Jay Adams
"Psychology is an anti-biblical religious system not a science. The church has bought the system, rather than building counseling from the Bible. Labels and categories matter, because they either describe things truly or falsely, e.g., the myth of mental illness. Psychotherapy is quackery, with very little documentable success. 'Although some disciplines in the broad field of psychological study have contributed some information about people, much of the information that has filtered down into popular literature and into the psychological office is spurious. The most seductively dangerous area of psychology is that part which seeks to explain why people are the way they are and how they change.' Includes critiques of evangelicals who 'amalgamate' psychology and Christianity: Richard Dobbins, H. Norman Wright, Larry Crabb, Paul Tournier, M. Scott Peck, H. Newton Maloney, Charles Solomon, and others." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"In the 'Amalgamania' chapter (5), the authors use 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, the separation between light and darkness, between Christ and Belial, between believers and unbelievers, to point out the unbiblical practice of mixing Bible and psychology, with the palm going to the latter. Note the many 'How to' books being produced, the fact that they do not have the Bible as the sole rule of faith and practice. It is the Bible plus something else that will solve your problems. Just as teens think that the wisdom of their parents is pass‚, so the writers of today's books in effect regard the Bible's teaching in the same way. To hear the psychologists is to find that they think that the Bible is not adequate for this present age . . . . Find a church 'counselor' who sticks strictly to God's Word, and you will know that you have seen a rare bird indeed. . . . The truth of the matter is that the Christian counselor who determines by the grace of God to know and use the Scriptures in his counseling is the only one who can ever have a solid basis for what he says and does (p. 203). Read the Puritan sermons, for instance. They expounded the Word fully, and then they gave application after application to everyday life to show that every situation was covered by the Scriptures" -- Jay P. Green Sr.
"Analyzes attempts to integrate psychology with the Bible, exposes fallacies of psychological counseling, examines four commonly held myths about psychology, and encourages a return to sound Biblical foundations for Christian living. Praised by Jay Adams, Ed Payne, et al." -- GCB
Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries
http://www.pamweb.org/

Bobgan, Martin, The Psychological Way/The Spiritual Way, ISBN: 0871230267 9780871230263.
"The cure of minds through psychotherapy ('psychological way'), has almost totally displaced the cure of souls through biblical counseling ('spiritual way'). 'Psychotherapy is questionable at best, detrimental at worst, and a spiritual counterfeit at least'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

*Bobgan, Martin, and Deidre Bobgan, Twelve Steps to Destruction: Codependency Recovery Heresies.
"This book relates to those who are thinking about joining a recovery group or entering a treatment center for addiction, where the 12-step programs are a major thrust. The authors urge Christians who offer such programs to return to the faith once delivered to the saints. A much needed book." -- GCB

Bobick, Michael W., From Slavery to Sonship: A Biblical Psychology for Pastoral Counseling. Distributed by Westminster Theological Seminary Discount Book Service. Includes bibliography.
"Attempts to break fresh theoretical ground for understanding people biblically: 'We need not choose between solving problems and understanding people; this is a false dilemma. . . . But in the absence of a published Biblical psychology that helps counselors. . . our present need is to emphasize the dynamics of motivation.' Instead of a how-to format for specific problems, this book tries 'to span the gap between theological anthropology and actual ministry.' Part 1 develops a model of the sinful human heart as a maze of lies and 'covenants with idols.' The renewed human heart is increasingly ruled by God's truth and power in Christ. Part 2 shows how the model can be used in the counseling process." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Brandt, Henry, Breaking Free: From the Bondage of Sin.
" 'A knowledge of sin and what to do about it is the most important information in the world, and the Bible is the source of that information.' First half of the book is a general discussion of the nature of sin, in contrast to psychological views of human nature. The second half deals with particular sins, particularly anger. Brandt's purposes are that people would take responsibility for their lives, and so find God's grace." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Brandt, Henry, The Struggle for Inner Peace, revised edition, 128 pages, ISBN: 0882072455 9780882072456. Alternate title: THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE.
"Challenges the mental health model of human life. Argues for the biblical process of humbling self-discovery that leads to Christ's grace: 'The struggle for peace is just that -- recognizing and dealing with the sin that causes your problem.' Dissects the sin issues within emotions, bending of truth, and psychosomatic problems. Life's pressures and temptations can become opportunities for growth in godliness rather than occasions of continuing in sin." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Brandt, Henry, "When You're Tired of Treating the Symptoms and Ready for a Cure, Give Me a Call": 18 Lessons for Making Changes That Last, ISBN: 1561210668. [See: The Heart of the Problem: 12 Lessons for Making Lasting Change.]
"Builds on the distinction between the temporary, symptomatic relief provided by psychology and the lasting, deep solution to problems offered in Scripture. 18 lessons for individual or group study, covering happiness, the past, negativism, pain, forgiveness, anger, death, and so forth." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Brandt, Henry, and Homer Dowdy, Christians Have Troubles Too: A Psychologist Finds the Answers in the Bible.
"Contains 70 case studies illustrating common life problems within individuals, marriages, parent-child relationships, and teenagers: resentment, anxiety, self-pity, alcoholism, disillusionment with church, manipulation, lying, and so forth. The first section revolves around the issue of personal peace: 'Peace of mind is available to anyone who will turn to God for it, simply because God is the source of peace. . . . The inner life of a person need not depend on what other people do. . . . Nor does peace depend on circumstances.' The second set of problems deal with marriage and the way selfishness destroys unity. Third, parenting problems reveal the need for parents to be unified as they set consistent limits in a context of affection. Lastly, teens face many challenges, but at the center is the challenge of self-centeredness." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Bulkley, Ed, Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology, ISBN: 1565070267 9781565070264.
"I found that this book greatly increased my confidence in the Bible as the only reliable source for God's solutions to life problems. Although I believed that for myself, as a Bible teacher I had become intimidated by the Christian counseling community. The title is unfortunate in my mind. It is not a negative book. It's overall effect is to help you understand how God changes people. It is very positive in its proclamation that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. That message drives you to the scriptures with great hope and confidence." -- Reader's Comment

*Bunyan, John (1628-1688), The Pilgrim's Progress, complete and unabridged. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available (THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #21.
Said to be "the greatest book, other than Scripture, which an Englishman has given to mankind." -- GCB
The Banner of Truth Trust publication is recommended. It is facsimile reprinted from the unabridged edition of 1895 published by John C. Nimmo, Ltd. containing the original marginal notes and Scripture references and illustrated with etchings by William Strang.
"Bunyan had better insight into the human heart than modern psychology; namely, because he did not study man apart from his Creator and apart from his deep inward problem." -- Ernest Reisinger (1924-2018)
Pilgrim's Page: A John Bunyan Archive
This is the complete set of THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN, George Offor edition, reprinted by The Banner of Truth. It is free online, and is downloadable in the following formats: HTML, RTF, TEXT, and PDF.
http://www.chapellibrary.org/literature/bunyan/
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN is also available at Project Gutenberg.
Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan [audio file]
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=John%5EBunyan

*Bunyan, John (1628-1688), and Robert Philip (1791-1858), The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate. Alternate title: THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF: WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT: FIRST PREACHED AT PINNERS HALL, AND NOW ENLARGED, AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available (THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"In the 1660s, Charles II, King of England, asked John Owen (1616-1683), why he went to hear the preaching of an uneducated tinker. [John Bunyan -- compiler]. Looking the King in the eye, Owen answered, 'May it please your Majesty, could I possess the tinker's ability for preaching, I would willingly relinquish all my learning'." -- Andrew Thomson, John Owen, Prince of Puritans
Owen would not have been surprised to learn that Bunyan's most influential work, PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, would be translated into more languages over the next 400 years than any book except the Bible.
The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate
http://archive.org/details/greatnessofsoulu00bunyuoft
Pilgrim's Page: A John Bunyan Archive
This is the complete set of THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN, George Offor edition, reprinted by The Banner of Truth. It is free online, and is downloadable in the following formats: HTML, RTF, TEXT, and PDF.
http://www.chapellibrary.org/literature/bunyan/
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN is also available at Project Gutenberg.

*Bunyan, John (1628-1688), Craig John Lovik, Tim Lundeen, and Oasis Audio (firm), The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which is to Come [audio file], ISBN: 9781441622846 1441622845. A Christian classic.
"The entire book, virtually unabridged -- rewritten for the modern ear by Jim Pappas and brought to life by 77 actors with original music and sound effects -- is now available on audio cassette [audio file]." -- GCB
Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan [audio file]
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=John%5EBunyan

Caouette, Jonathan, Tarnation, 2004, DVD.
We recommend this documentary to mature individuals who are concerned about Mental Health Policy in his country, but who have never had the experience of caring for persons who are emotionally disturbed, having them as neighbors, or working with them. It will educate the viewer on the nature of the problem of "mental illness." Part of the problem is their characteristic appeal for respectability and sympathy. I sense this was a subliminal motivation for the documentary. Caouette turned out a homosexual, and seems to be accepting it as an alternative life style.
Caouette videoed his life and edited his archives to tell the story of growing up with a schizophrenic mother. So this is a glimpse of the reality of growing up in an emotionally disturbed and dysfunctional family.
It also dramatizes the failure of psychiatry.
"A multitude of family snapshots, Super-8 home movies, old answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, snippets of '80s pop culture, and dramatic reenactments are used to create an epic portrait of an American family travesty. Begins in 2003 when Jonathan learns that his schizophrenic mother, Renee, overdoses on her lithium medication. He is shot back into his real and horrifying family legacy of rape, abandonment, promiscuity, drug addiction, child abuse, and psychosis. He grows up on camera and finds his escape in musical theater and B-horror movies. A look into the future shows Jonathan as he confronts the almost unbearable love he shares with his tragically damaged mother." -- Publisher

Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), Behaviorism and Christianity, ISBN: 9997791185. Alternate title: Mindless Men: Behaviorism and Christianity. Available at The Trinity Foundation, Trinity Review #14.
"American public education has been heavily influenced by the theories of the behaviorists. Many people know that behaviorism is wrong, but few know why. This book provided a detailed refutation of behaviorist arguments and a solid defense of the Christian view of man. It may be studied with profit by both teachers and parents . . . Dr. Clark says, in part, 'Theology does not require brains, it requires a mind or spirit; and behaviorism is a denial of the Gospel'." -- Publisher

*Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), A Christian View of Men and Things, 3rd edition (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 1998), ISBN: 1891777009 9781891777004.
"It is important to learn many subjects in detail, but it is equally important to understand the whole picture. How does Christianity relate to history, politics, ethics, science, human religions, and the study of knowledge? This book carefully and clearly answers those questions. It may be studies with profit by teachers and parents . . . Clark's command of both worldly philosophy and Scripture is evident on every page, and the result is a breathtaking and invigorating challenge to the wisdom of this world." -- The Trinity Foundation
Contents: Foreword, Introduction; The Philosophy of History; The Philosophy of Politics; Ethics; Science; Religion; Epistemology; Index; Scripture Index.
"It was a Christian view of men and things that created and sustained Western civilization. It is a Christian view of things and men that gives us truth about history, science, religion, ethics, politics, and philosophy. . . . Gordon Clark demonstrates that it is Christianity, and Christianity alone, that offers hope both for this world and the world to come." -- Publisher
In Chapter V, "Science," Clark makes, among many others, the following points: "Theism gives coherence to history, politics, and ethics, whereas naturalism does not. . . . Christian theism furnishes a basis for significance in history, orderly freedom in government, and a life that is still called respectable west of the iron curtain. . . . Scientific laws are not discovered but are chosen. . . . Not only are scientific laws non-empirical, they must indeed be false. . . . The fallacy of asserting the consequent is invalid whenever used. But it is precisely this fallacy that is used in every case of scientific verification. . . . There is a prior and much more important question: What is the purpose of science? . . . If there are any scientific facts, they are unattainable values with zero variable error. . . . No scientific or observational proof can be given for the uniformity of nature. . . . Science is incapable of arriving at any truth whatever. . . . Ethics and history do not depend on science, but science depends on them. . . ."

Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), First Corinthians: A Contemporary Commentary, ISBN: 094093129X 9780940931299.
"Clark was an internationally known and admired philosopher, theologian, and educator. He authored more than forty books.
"As in all of Clark's commentaries, this one is marked by fresh and challenging thinking. Since 1 Corinthians has much to say about the philosophy of natural man, it is a book which allows Clark's extensive knowledge to shine forth. At the outset Clark deplores the fact that God's plain teaching in the first three chapters has not been fully credited by those holding positions as Christian philosophers. He says that it is an evident besetting sin of these that they have allowed 'the current conclusions of science, the arguments of natural theology, the speculations of psychologists and counselor,' etc. to be incorporated into their thinking. He believes much time and effort would be saved every Christian college student if he could but understand what Paul is saying in the first 3 chapters . . ." -- Jay P. Green Sr.

Coleman, James M., Psychology of the Social Redemption, 1919.

*Conn, Harry, Four Trojan Horses of Humanism, ISBN: 0880620099 9780880620093. Alternate title: FOUR TROJAN HORSES.
"This is one of the most important works to be published on this subject. The recollections brought before the reader of the fall of Troy are intentional. This time, however, it is the citadels of psychology, sociology, politics, and theology that have taken the deceptive 'trophy' in their midst. The result is the overthrow of the truth in these disciplines." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Includes the Humanist Manifesto I and II."

Cramer, Raymond L., The Psychology of Jesus and Mental Health.

DeBardeleben, Martha Graves, and Jay Adams (foreword), Fear's Answers: Case History in Nouthetic Counseling, ISBN: 087552236X 9780875522364.
" 'It was the summer of 1970. I had already discarded my faith in psychology as the source of truth and remedy for the human dilemma. I was more and more finding in God's Word the answers. I was introduced to Jay Adams and his systematizing of Scripture as it applies to the problems of everyday living. I was thrilled to find that Dr. Adams' discoveries both paralleled and went far beyond my own.' Then in 1978 a 78 year old woman with pain, fear, depression, manipulation, hallucinations comes to live with the author. They speak biblically about pride, anger, fear, self-centeredness and lack of trust in God, instead of saying she needs her delusions and is too old for truth. 'What was most crucial in her recovery was that because she had a loving Savior, she could dare face the truth about herself'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Dewart, Debbie, and Jay Adams (preface), A way That Seems Right: John Bradshaw's False Gospel, 278 pages.
"John Bradshaw is the public television guru of the recovery movement (dysfunctional families, inner child, adult child). He eclectically combines various popular psychologies with the language of New Age spirituality. Dewart examines Bradshaw's system in depth, comparing his teachings with the Scripture." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Dineen, Tana, Manufacturing Victims, ISBN: 189585458X 9781895854589.
"Dr. Tana Dineen clearly demonstrates that providers of psychological therapy do manufacture victims.
"Dineen knows the profession from her experience of twenty years on the inside. Contrary to most practicing therapists, Dineen knows the research regarding the efficacy of psychotherapy. Through the years she saw more and more problems with the profession and finally closed her practice. In her book she provides enough scientific research to discourage anyone from ever wanting to combine psychology with Christianity. She also reveals the many ways in which therapists do create victims. We believe every Christian leader should read MANUFACTURING VICTIMS.
"Another eye-opening book is HOUSE OF CARDS: PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY BUILT ON MYTH by Dr. Robyn M. Dawes, who is a widely recognized researcher and a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University. His book demolishes all pretensions of psychological counseling theories and therapies and relegates clinical psychology to the realm of pseudoscience.
"In his book THE CRISIS IN PSYCHIATRY AND RELIGION, O. Hobart Mowrer poses this question: 'Has evangelical religion sold its birthright for a mess of psychological pottage?' Yes, that is exactly what evangelical Christianity has done! Isn't it time to confess that horrible sin, throw out the psychological stew and cleave to the Lord and all He has given through the New Birth?" -- Reader's Comment

Douma, Doug J., Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark, ISBN: 9781532607257 1532607253.
"This is the story of Gordon Clark (1902-85), respected philosopher and prolific writer, who held that Christianity, as a logically coherent system, is superior to all other philosophies. Clark fought no wars and conquered no kingdoms. Yet he was a leading figure in many theological wars fought for the Kingdom of God. These battles for the minds and souls of men were every bit as crucial as physical wars between nations.
"In an age of increasing secularization, he put up an intellectual defense of the Christian faith. This faith, he believed, was a system. All of its parts link together, a luxury of no other philosophy. His stance shows a Christianity that is in fact intellectual, not relying on appeals to emotion or experience.
"In propounding this view, he encountered frequent opposition, not from the secular world, but from within his own denomination. This biography helps explain why his thought was so profound, why resistance mounted against him, and how his struggles impacted American Presbyterianism. Additionally, this book calls for a reappraisal of Clark's views, which have been maligned by controversy. Understanding and applying his views could significantly fortify Christians combating irrational and non-systematic ideas prevalent in today's churches." -- Publisher

Du Plessis, Susan, and Jan Strydom, The Myth of ADHD and Other Learning Disabilities: Parenting Without Ritalin, ISBN: 1563841800 9781563841804.
"If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD or some other behavior disorder, be careful. This diagnosis might be false. . . . The authors of this book explain how parents can teach their children the skills of concentration and self-control without drugging them into submission. Book jacket." -- Publisher

Eakman, B.K., Cloning of the American Mind: Eradicating Morality Through Education, ISBN: 1563841479 9781563841477.
"Mrs. Eakman's book is an excellent overview of various psychological schools of thought that have done more than almost any other discipline to adversely effect the modern age. As Mrs. Eakman points out, it is no accident that psychology and politics have come together in order to discover ways to manipulate attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors on a mass scale. While her book is meant to describe the ways in which psychological based curriculum, coupled with electronic data retrieval systems on the part of the State have created psychological profiling and attitude readjustment programs for all school-aged children, her book really out to be read as an exposé of more sinister agendas and programs undertaken by governments in this century. The most interesting sections of the book are the ones that connect the development of 19th century materialist atheistic psychologies and 20th century totalitarian politics: the career paths of Nazi and Soviet psychologists crossing with that of such influential Foundations as the Ford and Carnegie Foundations, together with psychological programs emerging out of the Intelligence community after the War, is particularly disturbing. Mrs. Eakman connects the dots, pointing out how a particular person started off in Intelligence, made his way into academia, only to find his way to the corporate world or the media. The only draw back of her book is the absence in many places of detailed footnotes and citing of sources. However, for anyone who has actually read Kurt Lewin or Frankfurt School luminaries, it isn't hard to believe her claims. Additionally, Mrs. Eakman sometimes confuses personages and history: when referring to Dr. Albert Hoffman, the Swiss chemist who developed LSD, she claims he later became a counterculture icon known as Albert 'Abbie' Hoffman -- almost suggesting that Abbie Hoffman of the Sixties and Dr. Albert Hoffman are one and the same. She is also out of her element when discussing philosophers and leading intellectuals. At one point she claims that in Bertrand Russell in his writings about 'a certain educator, Johann Fichte' -- not realizing that Fichte was a Neo-Kantian German philosopher of the earlier 19th century. There are other snafus like these here and there but these can be easily forgiven in light of her insightful analyses and heroic overview of 20th century psychology. To some, Mrs. Eakman's book may sound like 'wacky' conspiracy theories. However, there are a number of so-called mainstream books and publications that have made the same accusations that Mrs. Eakman does and have provided histories of psychological warfare. For the skeptical, try reading Christopher Simpson's book -- published by Oxford Press." -- Reader's Comment

Frankl, Viktor E., The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy, ISBN: 9780394743172 0394743172.
"Emphasizing spiritual values and the quest for meaning in life in its approach to the neurotic behavior, by the founder of logotherapy." -- Publisher
"A shining light in the darkness of the moral relativism.
"Adler thought all human motivation was based on the will to power, manifesting itself in men's desires to get rich and to exercise dominion and women's desire to marry such men. Freud thought all human motivation was based on the will to sex, that is to say the will to procreate the manifestations of which we see in our sex obsessed society. Frankl shows that the misplacement of these desires in the center of human life causes all of the psychological turmoil under which our society suffers. He shows that by putting (dare I say), God, and the purpose for which He created each individual at the center of human existence (the will to meaning), love (misunderstood as the will to sex), and creativity (misunderstood as the will to power)are put into a proper perspective. Frankl's treatise makes the insights of Adler and Freud useful to the religious individual who consider either of these great psychologists secular humanist riff-raff. More over it renders the endless the tangled web weaved by psychoanalysis unnecessary as it shows how understanding oneself as a purposeful being one can alleviate all the binding ties of compulsion, addiction, and irrational fear. INCREDIBLE." -- Reader's Comment

Frankl, Viktor E., and Gordon W. Allport (preface), Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, ISBN: 0671244221 9780671244224.
"This book will change your outlook on life. It will change you and the way you think about your experiences and your life situation. It's an extraordinary exploration of survival, the meaning of other people, what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior. It will make you question and answer these imponderables. You will change." -- Reader's Comment

Fransway, Rebecca (compiler), 12-Step Horror Stories: True Tales of Misery, Betrayal and Abuse in AA, NA and 12-Step Treatment, ISBN: 1884365248 9781884365249.
"But what you do get are some very compelling tales of personal experiences within Twelve Step groups themselves. The stories are very individual and might not have a bearing on one's own story. They run the gamut from simple tales of irritation with other members, to gossiping, to tales of rape and incredible manipulation and abuse. But taken all together, they provide what I have always considered to be a very important lesson in group dynamics: when there is no leadership, evil may ensue. A culture develops where people who have been "sober" for a long time are revered out of all proportion to their life accomplishments or even personal virtue. Manipulation is common, particularly of women members. These stories draw a picture of a very misogynistic group culture and even describe what is apparently a commonly understood phenomenon, the "13th step," which involves the old timers (men) taking advantage of the newcomers (women). It is also a culture in which thought and analysis and a questioning frame of mind are actively discouraged, even belittled. Groupthink is reinforced by a whole collection of clichés which are derisively directed at anyone who questions the program or suffers the cardinal sin of thinking too much. If a member starts drinking again, it is not the program's failure, it is the individual's failure, this in spite of the fact that studies indicate that 12-step programs have a no higher success rate than doing nothing at all. What is particularly troubling is how the 12-step mentality has seeped into our legal system, so that people arrested on alcohol-related offenses are now often legally required to participate in what is essentially a religious program, one without any scientific basis whatsoever and no track record of success. Despite their assertions that they are not a religious organization, AA quite clearly is just that, and legal demands that people attend these programs in order to stay out of jail are clearly a violation of the Constitution." -- Reader's Comment "The official bedtime story book for 12-Step members. A collection of true tales of suffering endured by step group participants at the hands of sponsors, stepper gurus, fellow members and treatment providers. Makes a great gift for hardliners who insist: 'It works if you work it' by cleverly responding, '. . . unless of course your program, group, sponsor or treatment provider is sicker than you are!" -- AA Deprogramming

Ganz, Richard L., Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative, ISBN: 0891077340 9780891077343.
"First person, passionate statement of the case for nouthetic counseling, Ganz's Competent to Counsel. The first half tells a good bit of Ganz's own story -- a psychotherapist who has become a pastor and nouthetic counselor -- and critiques secular psychology. The second half unpacks the positive vision in broad strokes. The church of Jesus Christ ministers to people whose lives have been torn apart by sin. The Christian life is a Holy War conducted in God's power. 'Christianity does not work when there is a false expectation regarding what the Christian life is all about. . . . Most important, it does not work apart from the saving grace of God through Christ. But Christianity does work for sinners'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"PSYCHOBABBLE explains the dichotomy between secular and Biblical counseling and shows the danger of incorporating secular techniques into a Christian approach. This book will provide scriptural answers to the hurts of a broken world." -- Editorial Review
"I've been on both sides of the fence concerning integration (Psychology and Christianity), and I've always believed that the two could coexist; however, I was wrong despite my sincerity. PSYCHOBABBLE: THE FAILURE OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE BIBLICAL ALTERNATIVE opened my eyes. Richard Ganz shows his readers that Psychology and Christianity cannot be united. Throughout this book Ganz shares insights from his own personal journey, and encourages his readers to take a bold stance for Christ. This is a book that confronts modern psychotherapy with the Word of God. Within its pages we see Ganz cutting away the fluff of this 'feel good' theology that has crept into our homes and churches; he reveals the 'Psycho . . .' fields true motives. Armed with only the Bible he successfully confronts many of societies crutches (self-esteem, etc.). I would highly recommend this book for those who truly believe God's Word is sufficient for ever need." -- Reader's Comment

Gay, Peter, A Godless Jew: Freud, Atheism, and the Making of Psychoanalysis, ISBN: 0300040083 9780300040081.
"Freud himself asked why psychoanalysis had to be created by a 'completely godless Jew.' Gay elegantly and convincingly answers his question." -- Choice
"In 1918, Sigmund Freud posed the following question in a letter to his unlikely Swiss friend, the Christian pastor and lay analyst Oskar Pfister: 'Quite by the way, why did none of the devout create psychoanalysis? Why did one have to wait for a completely godless Jew?' It is this question that provides both the epigraph and the intellectual predicate for A GODLESS JEW, Peter Gay's erudite, brief and readable exploration of the relationship between Freud's atheism and his seminal, world-changing innovations in how mankind came to view the human mind in the twentieth century.
"Subtitled FREUD, ATHEISM, AND THE MAKING OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Gay's short book was originally embodied in three lectures delivered at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in December 1986. It is an attempt, in Gay's words, 'to translate [Freud's] two light-hearted rhetorical questions into three propositions.' Gay states these propositions as follows: 'It was as an atheist that Freud developed psychoanalysis; it was from his atheist vantage point that he could dismiss as well-meaning but futile gestures all attempts to find common ground between faith and unbelief; it was, finally, as a particular kind of atheist, a Jewish atheist, that he was enabled to make his momentous discoveries.'
"After an introduction exploring the late nineteenth century intellectual milieu in which science and religion did battle ('Science Against Religion: "Clericalism, There's the Enemy" '), wherein Gay succinctly draws a counterpoint between the thought of William James and Freud, A GODLESS JEW successively examines each of Gay's three propositions.
"Chapter One ('The Last Philosophe: "Our God Logos" '), advances the notion that Freud was a child of the Enlightenment, a confirmed atheist who rejected all belief in supernatural faith as inconsistent with the scientific method. 'Freud appropriated the whole range of the Enlightenment's agenda, its ideals and its methods, its very language.' In doing so, Freud saw his mission, like that of the Philosophers that preceded him more than a century earlier, as one of 'awaken[ing] the world from the enchantment in which the magicians and priests had held it imprisoned since pagan antiquity.'
"Chapter Two ('In Search of Common Ground: "A Better Christian Never Was" '), examines the antagonistic relationship between psychoanalysis and religion, an antagonism adumbrated by Freud himself: 'Analysis produces no new worldview. But it does not need one, for it rests on the general scientific worldview with which the religious one remains incompatible.' It also examines, however, the way in which many religious thinkers (including Freud's friend Pfister and the brilliant Paul Tillich), managed to absorb psychoanalysis into Christianity and Judaism through a syncretic legerdemain that simultaneously exasperates and amuses.
"Chapter Three ('The Question of a Jewish Science'), explores the relationship between Freud the Jew and Freud the scientist, for while Freud may have denied the existence of God, he never denied that he was a Jew. The question for Gay, then, is not one of Freud's Jewish identity, but 'just what share that identity could have had in the making of psychoanalysis.' In exploring the way in one may speak of the presence or absence of a 'Jewish quality' in psychoanalysis, Gay examines the professional, intellectual, tribal, and sociological meanings of such a quality. It is an interesting, if at times unsatisfying, discussion that fails to provide the reader with a conclusion more definitive than Gay's statement that 'Freud was a Jew, but not a Jewish scientist'." -- Reader's Comment

Hanna, Charles B., The Face of the Deep: The Religious Ideas of C.G. Jung.

Hindson, Ed (author, 1948-2002), Howard Eyrich (author), Totally Sufficient, ISBN: 1857929608 9781857929607.
"Contributors Gary L. Almy, W. Wilson Benton Jr., Edward G. Dobson, Howard Eyrich, Ronald E. Hawkins, Ed Hindson, Arnold Hyndman, Wayne A. Mack, Paul Madtes Jr., David Powlison (1949-2019), C. Dwayne Shafer, Chris Thurman, Edward T. Welch. Christian counselors agree that the Bible's message of salvation can radically change lives. Scripture can lead even the most unlikely people to faith but when it comes to everyday problems is the Bible really enough? Here we have more than a dozen highly trained counselors, medical experts and pastors who are highly respected in their fields. Every one has at least one doctorate relevant to the area they examine in this book. Their answers to the question stated above are enlightening, thought provoking and surprising." -- Publisher

*Horwitz, Allan V., Creating Mental Illness, ISBN: 0226353818 9780226353814.
"In this timely and provocative critique of modern psychiatry, Allan V. Horwitz examines current conceptions of mental illness as a disease. He argues that this notion fits only a small number of serious psychological conditions, and that most conditions currently regarded as mental illness are cultural constructions, normal reactions to stressful social circumstances, or simply forms of deviant behavior.
"According to Horwitz, the formulation of mental illness as disease benefits various interest groups, including mental health researchers and clinicians, prescriptive drug manufacturers, and mental health advocacy groups, all of whom promote disease-based models.
"Presenting case studies in maladies such as hysteria, multiple personality disorder, and depression, he examines the major causes and treatments of mental illness, paying special attention to the use of pharmaceuticals. While biologically based causes and treatments fit some of the entities formulated, Horwitz finds that more often than not, social responses offer far more suitable remedies.
"Allan V. Horwitz is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University." -- Publisher

*Horwitz, Allan V., Jerome C. Wakefield, and Robert L. Spitzer (Foreword), The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder, ISBN: 9780195313048 0195313046.

Horton, Michael (editor), Power Religion: The Selling out of the Evangelical Church? ISBN: 0802467741 9780802467744.
"Not a counseling book, per se, but has chapters by David Powlison and Ed Welch critiquing both the 'integration' of psychology with evangelical Christianity and the 'recovery movement.' Other chapters include discussions of church growth, signs and wonders, and the church's involvement in politics." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)

Lannom, Jack, The Ministry of The Trinity Foundation, "Introduction to Economics," a lecture series on CD, The Trinity Foundation Lecture Series, 2005
This is Collection 1: Introduction to Economics, Lecture 3, "The Ministry of The Trinity Foundation" of The Conference on Christianity and Economics.
Jack Lannom speaks on the influence of The Trinity Foundation, and John Robbins on his life. "God's truth is all truth" not all truth is God's truth. The Bible is "Our Legacy of Salvation, Sanity, and Civilization." There is no truth in any science. Science provides us with much useful knowledge, but it is not a source of truth. http://www.trinitylectures.org/

*Leahy, Frederick S., Satan Cast out: A Study in Biblical Demonology, ISBN: 0851512348.
"It is often said that wherever there is a rejection of faith in the living God a corresponding upsurge of the demonic will eventually appear. That is true not only in the pages of the Bible and in the annals of Christian missions; it has also become a striking feature of the life in our materialistic, post-Christian society. . . . Full of sane exposition and wise counsel, his work has been widely appreciated since its first publication in 1975." -- Publisher
"Probably one of the best, most Scriptural books written today on the subject of demonology." -- Presbyterian Journal

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn (1899-1981), Conversion: Psychological and Spiritual.
"Deals with the efforts of modern psychology to 'explain away' the work of the Spirit of God." -- William J. Grier

Luther, Martin (1483-1546), and William Gáce (translator), Thirty Four Speciall and Chosen Sermons of Dr. Martin Luthers: Discovering Most Clearly, Excellently, and Evidently to Every Ordinary Capacity or Understanding: The Difference Betwixt Faith and Works, Law and Gospel, the Christian and Creature Operations, Troubles and Consolations, and the Best Way to Make Christians Keep Them so, and in Case of Relapses, to Recover Them Again by Christ, the Only Cure of All Soul-maladies. Englished by William Gáce, 1581.

MacArthur, John F., The Vanishing Conscience: Drawing the Line in a No-fault, Guilt-free World, ISBN: 0849936780 9780849936784.
"In this compelling book, John MacArthur challenges us to confront society's flight from moral responsibility. With sound biblical doctrine, Dr. MacArthur shows how and why sin must be dealt with if we are to live lives that please God. With clarity and insight, he provides biblical solutions for attaining a personal holiness that can move us from living a life of blame and denial to one of true peace and freedom. -- Reader's Comment
"In THE VANISHING CONSCIENCE, MacArthur addresses, from a biblical perspective, the issues of self-esteem, personal guilt, and individual responsibility. How does modern psychology's obsession with personal forgiveness, high self-esteem, and the love of self stand in the light of Holy Scripture? What became of the little word sin with all of its grave implications, ramifications, and negative connotations? In an age of self-absolution, it would appear that Jesus Christ suffered and died in vain, for, if we are to believe the modern self-proclaimed and self-ordained prophets of the "feel good" philosophy, we are to forgive, each his or her own, transgressions and iniquities by blaming our environment, our genetic predisposition, our parents, our teachers, our political leaders, our role models, anything or anyone but our individual selves.
"THE VANISHING CONSCIENCE is an extraordinarily germane work in that MacArthur not only elucidates the church's adoption and endorsement of this secular abomination as well as the inherent dangers of this heretical philosophy, but does so in such a manner that the reader is made knowledgeable of that which a just God demands of His children. Of far greater importance than self-esteem is our relationship to a God who will hold you and I accountable for each act, thought, word, and deed.
"On that Great and Terrible Day, conscience may be either a dear friend or a damning foe, but it will not claim neutrality. Self-esteem, that placebo of modern psychology, will not be a factor." -- Reader's Comment

Martin, Mike W., From Morality to Mental Health: Virtue and Vice in a Therapeutic Culture, ISBN: 0195304713 9780195304718.
"In this wide-ranging, accessible book, Mike W. Martin asks: are we replacing morality with therapy, in potentially confused and dangerous ways, or are we creatively integrating morality and mental health? According to him, it's a little bit of both. He surveys the ways in which morality and mental health are related, touching on practical concerns like love and work, self-respect and self-fulfillment, guilt and depression, crime and violence, and addictions. Terming this integrative development "the therapeutic trend in ethics," Martin uses examples from popular culture, various moral controversies, and draws on a line of thought that includes Plato, the Stoics, Freud, Nietzsche, and contemporary psychotherapeutic theories. Martin develops some interesting conclusions, among them that sound morality is indeed healthy, and that moral values are inevitably embedded in our conceptions of mental health. In the end, he shows how both morality and mental health are inextricably intertwined in our pursuit of a meaningful life. This book will be of interest to philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, as well as the general reader." -- Publisher

Matzat, Don, Christ Esteem: Where the Search for Self-Esteem Ends, ISBN: 0890817847 9780890817841.
"Matzat responds to the search for self-knowledge with a solid, Biblical truth: What we need is Christ-esteem, not self-esteem! Matzat points to the lasting identity that Christ offers." -- GCB

McLemore, Clinton W., Clergyman's Psychological Handbook: Clinical Information for Pastoral Counseling, ISBN: 0802815766 9780802815767.

*Miller, C. John "Jack" (1928-1996), Finding Healthy Self-Esteem Through Being Completely Forgiven (Quality Living Series. Jenkintown, PA [World Harvest, Box 2175, Jenkintown, 19046]: World Harvest, 1987).
"Do you feel inadequate? That you need to do more or be better in order to be happy and fulfilled? You may not realize it, but your biggest problem is . . . you don't feel completely forgiven."
World Harvest Mission
http://www.whm.org/home.htm

Navasky, Miri, Karen O'Connor, Mead Street Films (firm), WGBH (television station: Boston, Mass.), and WGBH Educational Foundation, The Released, DVD, ISBN: 0793670713 9780793670710. Originally broadcast on the PBS program Frontline.
Our Mental Health Policy has been a complete failure since the release of patients from mental institutions in the early 70's. Those released quickly ended up in prisons.
"In this follow up to the groundbreaking film 'The New Asylums,' Frontline examines what happens to the mentally ill when they leave prison and why they return at such alarming rates. The intimate stories of the released-along with interviews with parole officers, social workers, and psychiatrists-provide a rare look at the lives of the mentally ill as they struggle to stay out of prison and reintegrate into society." -- Publisher
http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-frontline-the-released-dvd--pi-3544620.html

Neal, John W., The Prayer for Help: A Biblical Theological Critique and Reconstruction of the Healing Memories Methodology (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Theological Seminary, D.Min. thesis, 1986).
Includes bibliography.

*Owen, Jim, Christian Psychology's War on God's Word: The Victimization of the Believer, ISBN: 0941717089 9780941717083.
"Owen presents his well-reasoned arguments with kindness, but also with a note of urgency as he relates the disastrous results of Christians using psychological counterfeits of sanctification. Throughout CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY'S WAR ON GOD'S WORD, Owen beckons believers to turn to the all-sufficient Christ and to trust fully in His ever-present provisions, the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit, and the sure guidance of the inerrant Word of God." -- Publisher

*Playfair, William L., The Useful lie: How the Recovery Industry has Entrapped America in a Disease Model of Addiction, ISBN: 1889032379 9780891076377.
"Challenges the disease concept of alcoholism, the 'useful lie' of the recovery movement. This lie underlies the widespread mistreatment of alcoholism and of other fundamentally moral problems, e.g., 'codependency.' Posits biblically based intervention that treats such problems as sins to be repented of. Opposes sending a person to the recovery industry because 'He will be told his sin is a sickness; he will never be confronted with his real and most basic moral and spiritual problem. And he will more than likely be introduced to the any god of Twelve Stepdom, who is, by Biblical criteria, a false god'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
"Dr. Playfair is a medical consultant to the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation/West in San Diego. He also is a board member of Family Research Institute. The theme and purpose of this book is to debunk the claims that alcoholism is a disease. This claim, says the doctor, contradicts science and medicine; it contradicts the Bible, which is more important; and it simply does not work in breaking the addiction of alcohol. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
"This book provided all the necessary evidence to blow the whistle on the recovery industry and also points toward genuine freedom from addiction." -- GCB

Powlison, David (1949-2019), Demons and Deliverance in the Evangelical Church, 5 sound cassettes [audio file].

Powlison, David (1949-2019), Secular Psychology and the Categories of Biblical Thought (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
Audio cassette DP101 [audio file].

Powlison, David (1949-2019), Various Audio Cassette Tapes [audio file] on Counseling Subjects in the (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation), for example:

  • Inner Healing and Visualization, N9112s
    "Where do these subjects belong in today's biblical counseling program?"
  • Demons, Deliverance and Counselor, N9212s
    "Helping the counseled confront these problems with a Biblical approach."
  • Don't Fail to get at the Idols, N8923
  • Inner Healing and Visualization #1, N9112
  • Inner Healing and Visualization #2, N9113
  • Demons and Deliverance (part 1 of 2), N9686
  • Demons and Deliverance (part 2 of 2), N9687
  • Demons, Deliverance and Counselor #1, N9212
  • Demons, Deliverance and Counselor #2, N9219
  • Critiquing Modern Integrationists, N9228
  • Critiquing and Converting Integrationists, N9304
  • Converting Psychologied Counselees, N9325
  • Counseling and Nature of Righteousness #1, N9511
  • Counseling and Nature of Righteousness #2, N9512
  • New Trends -- Or Enduring Truth? N9911
  • Faiths' Psychology and Psychological Faiths, N9962
  • Are You Using the Bible Biblically? N0003
    National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) Library
    http://www.nanc.org/Resources/NANC-Library

    • Powlison, David (1949-2019), Mike Bobick, John Bettler, Ed Welch, and Bill Smith, Theology and Secular Psychology, 20 sound cassettes [audio file].

    *Reilly, Cameron, The Psychopath Epidemic, ISBN: 0757323618 9780757323614.
    "This was a fairly eye opening book. To realize how successful psychopaths are and how society rewards and practically encourages their immoral and unethical behavior is frightening. . . .
    "A timely analysis of why so many of our institutions have failed us." -- Goodreads
    "After a career at Microsoft, Cameron launched the world's first Podcast Network, and invented the long-form history format, producing 100-hour audio documentary series on Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander, the Cold War and The Renaissance.
    "He's also the writer-director-producer of the documentary Marketing The Messiah.
    "Cameron lives in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife Chrissy and three sons, Fox, Taylor and Hunter." -- Publisher
    "This is a book which will make you look at what is happening in the world with a new insight. That insight is that corporations, political groups, religious sects and other organizations may have psychopaths in charge. The utterly selfish, sometimes charming and non-empathic manners of these types of people can make them very effective in achieving power over an organization, until their wired in manners and utterly self serving decisions cause organizations to self destruct. The people spotlighted in this book are beyond your usual Hitler, Stalin, or Ted Bundy psychopaths, but the seemingly normal executives who run businesses, big banks or other organizations. They can walk away from making decisions which cause ruin, with no shame, remorse, or empathy because they just don't have such feelings. The rest of us are left to pick up the pieces.
    "This book backs up this idea of psychopaths in power with many contemporary examples of business failures and political disasters. The focus is mostly on businesses and politics in the US, such as Enron or the big banks who drove the economy off a cliff in 2008. It is a compelling argument to think that psychopathic bank executives led their banks to ruin and jumped away with golden parachutes while their psychopathic allies in government kept them from prosecution. This is a very disturbing thing to contemplate but there is a lot of evidence it was true. This book sheds a light on many other examples of corporate and political disasters where psychopaths walk away and society suffers. This book will make you look at the world with a new eye on what type of people are running the show." -- Reader's Comment
    "According to psychiatrists, 1-2 percent of the adult population are high on the psychopath scale. Thanks to Hollywood, when most people think 'psychopaths' they still think 'serial killers.' In fact, the garden-variety psychopath is more likely to be the Hollywood producer.
    "Every day in the news we read stories of people in positions of power -- leaders of industry, politicians, religious leaders, law enforcement, military, media, the justice system -- doing horrible things, such as cheating, stealing, lying, raping, torturing, killing, bombing and invading countries, dropping drones on civilians -- and then justifying it.
    "The questions this book asks is: is our world run by psychopaths?" -- Publisher
    The Psychopath Epidemic
    https://thepsychopathepidemic.com/

    *Reisman, Judith A., Eunice V. Ray (editor), and Alfred Moreschi (illustrator), Kinsey: Crimes and Consequences the Red Queen and the Grand Scheme, ISBN: 0966662415 9780966662412.
    "Dr. Judith Reisman's new book, KINSEY: CRIMES AND CONSEQUENCES THE RED QUEEN AND THE GRAND SCHEME, presents sinister material on the man who seduced America.
    "The 1960s' sexual revolution was based on the most elaborate and carefully crafted scientific fraud of this century, writes author Judith Reisman. Early sexologist Alfred C. Kinsey, with his two famous reports just 50 years ago, seemingly legitimized both profligacy and deviancy, and thus established 'the sexual license he [personally] espoused.' SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE HUMAN MALE (1948) and its female equivalent (1953) kicked off no-fault divorce, the wife-swapping era, the gay rights movement, classroom sex education, sex 'therapy' as a growth industry, explicit imagery in the media and entertainment industry, and an avalanche of pornography and obscenity.
    "Although Kinsey was a sexual revolutionary, Dr. Reisman contends, he was falsely portrayed by Indiana University where he worked, and the Rockefeller Foundation which funded him, 'as just a normal American guy/husband/family man who simply "discovered" the "really" that most American men commonly engaged in sexually aberrant and outlaw behaviour.' Kinsey's 'research' alleged that 10 percent of American males were homosexual, that all of us were bisexual, that children were sexual from birth, and could engage in sexual activity with adults without harm, plus a whole broad spectrum of things taught today in our schools and practiced today in courts of law as fact and as true . . . It was fraud then, it is fraud now, and it revolutionized this nation and turned us into Kinsey's [psychological] clones.
    "His 'Grand Scheme' was to eliminate normal families in favour of selective breeding predicated upon racial and sexual eugenics, she charges, and his 'scientific conclusions' were concocted to advance it. The reference is to the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland who wanted the sentence (beheading) carried out first and the verdict pronounced afterwards.
    "Disturbing information about Kinsey's work and private life has been accumulating since his death in 1956 at age 62. (The official cause was pneumonia due to overwork, but his extensive homosexual and sadomasochistic activities were likely contributors). Dr. Reisman revealed much of it in 1990, for example, in KINSEY, SEX AND FRAUD. Even last year's resolutely non-condemnatory biography by fellow Indiana University scholar James H. Jones, ALFRED C. KINSEY: A PUBLIC/PRIVATE LIFE (Norton), is replete with gruesomely shocking details.
    "KINSEY: CRIME AND CONSEQUENCES cannot be described as non-condemnatory. Its central figure, Dr. Reisman asserts, 'fits the classic definition of a sexual psychopath.' Had the public known that he 'and his male population were sexually abnormal, the popular use of their data to change [our] law, education and public policy would have come to a screeching halt.' He was able, however, to blackmail into silence associates who knew about 'his extensive use of deviants, his large prison population or, worse, his active child molesters.'
    "Still, she thinks his 'findings' should have roused suspicion. 'When I first read Kinsey's research, I thought this man is not reporting on America -- he's reporting on himself and then projecting that onto the nation. Kinsey prostituted his own wife Clara . . . into acts of sodomy with fellow "researchers," which Kinsey filmed. He seduced his own students at Indiana University -- male, not female students. He devised sexual activities with his "co-workers," who then became his co-authors. He [personally] engaged in violent sadistic activity, in which he harmed himself terribly . . . and appears to have died, frankly, as a result of the trauma to his body.'
    "But his famed reports were carefully phrased to obscure the fact that words like 'contacts,' 'partners' and 'sex play' could signify grown men sodomizing children. He was also both racist and cautious about his colleagues, avoiding Jews, blacks and moral traditionalists. Dr. Reisman quotes Kinsey co-author Wardell Pomeroy (KINSEY AND THE INSTITUTE FOR SEX RESEARCH, Harper & Row, 1972), on his hiring technique: 'As usual . . . we took his sexual history first . . . [Then] Kinsey put down his pen and said, "I don't think you want to work for us." "But I do," the researcher insisted. "Well," Kinsey observed, "you have just said that premarital intercourse might lead to later difficulties in marriage, that extramarital relations would break up a marriage, that homosexuality is abnormal, and intercourse with animals is ludicrous. Apparently you have all the answers. . . . Why do you want to do research'?"
    "Biographer Jones describes Kinsey as 'one of the scholarly eugenicists of pre-WWII' who favoured mass sterilization for the lower classes and selective breeding for the 'better classes.' Moreover, Judith Reisman emphasizes, the Rockefeller Foundation was early interested in population control and in using the media to popularize it. The Reece Committee, investigating U.S. tax-exempt foundations in 1953-54, concluded that this 'plutocratic control' was accomplished by 'funding the "right" university research by the "right" researchers, then by funding mass media dissemination of the "right" science data to the public.' Kinsey's numbers made him a perfect fit for anyone eager to alter what he would call human 'breeding patterns.'
    "Dr. Reisman, a specialist in content analysis studies of written and visual media, lost many family members in the Holocaust. In that context she raises further sinister questions about Kinsey's data. For instance, who was the 'lone pedophile,' the 'elderly gentleman' cited by Kinsey for his sexual molestation of 800 children? Who were 'The Children of Table 34' and what became of them? How did Kinsey's 'technically trained' observers gain access to the claimed 1,800 American children for illegal genital experiments? 'To this day,' she observes, 'the Kinsey Institute and Indiana University have repeatedly . . . refused to reveal any names of the subjects or the experimenters.' Nor has any one of these children ever come forward, although the institute seems an excellent target for lawsuits.
    "Even in the destitute 1930s, at the cited rate of a dollar a day, she doubts that children as young as three months were obtainable in such numbers around Bloomington, Indiana. She suggests an ominous but credible alternative: a collaborative link between Kinsey and Nazi Germany, then a police state where such 'experimentation' could easily be conducted 'as part of an ongoing collegial, cross-cultural, multinational, "fact-finding" research project.' She cites significant links, such as one George Sylvester Viereck, who worked for the German embassy in Washington, D.C., in those years, setting up Nazi front groups, and who is known to have been a Kinsey correspondent. Furthermore, the Rockefeller Foundation was simultaneously funding eugenics projects in Berlin.
    "Kinsey consistently kept secret his hypotheses and the basic facts upon which his conclusions rested, Dr. Reisman charges. 'Neither Kinsey nor any of his team can rightly be termed "scientists." Their methodology was not scientific, for it was neither able to be replicated nor validated. Their data was anonymous, forced, secretly altered at will, and fraudulent. With the aid of the elite academic world and institutions and the support of public funds and the social planning foundations, Kinsey and his associates, who served as his own private male harem, conducted thousands of sexual interviews to present a false view of American sexual behaviours.'
    "Amazingly, however, use of Kinsey data as authoritative has never been seriously challenged -- until now. It must not continue, Dr. Reisman declares: 'There [must] be a full and open public investigation into Kinsey's fraudulent data and its impact upon lawmakers, the military, the church, the press, the academic world, the family and all our institutions'." -- Kevin E. Abrams, co-author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality In The Nazi Party

    Reisman, Judith A., Sexual Sabotage: How one mad Scientist Unleashed a Plague of Corruption and Contagion on America, ISBN: 9781935071853 1935071858.
    "Alfred Kinsey's statistics on American sexual behavior was greatly skewed towards unusual sexual practices. Subsequent researchers at the Kinsey Institute have claimed that they have cleaned up the data, and found the same incidence rates. It is not possible to clean up data that was drawn from a sample that was not representative of the American people as a whole. The psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out that Kinsey's data suffered from volunteer bias. And eminent statisticians pointed out that his statistics were invalid.
    "Reisman points out that if sex outside of marriage had really been as common as Kinsey claimed, there would have been much more abortion, divorce, children born out of wedlock, and sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s than there actually was.
    "Kinsey's books did much to weaken the laws against sex outside of marriage, because it did not seem reasonable to outlaw behavior that was commonplace. Reisman documents how the American Law Institute Model Penal Code was substantially changed by the Kinsey reports. The ALI MPC frequently quoted Kinsey as a reference when reducing or eliminating penalties for sex crimes. Kinsey's assertion that children desire sex has lead to efforts to lower the age of consent. Marriage was originally a contract designed to enforce sexual exclusivity, to provide for the care of children, and to prevent women from being abandoned. Kinsey's promotion of hedonism has weakened the institution of marriage, to the detriment of women and children.
    "Judith Reisman is a voice in the wilderness, repeatedly drawing attention to one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century. Alfred Kinsey lied about the sex lives of the American people, in particular, about the Greatest Generation, the people who carried America through the Great Depression and World War II. Kinsey claimed that sex outside of marriage was common, when, in fact, it was unusual. Kinsey caused the children of the greatest generation to believe that their parents were hypocrites, who preached traditional sexual morality, but practiced sexual immorality." -- Reader's Comment

    *Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Freud. Available through Exodus Books.

    *Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
    "So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
    "I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453

    *Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), Spurgeon's Devotional Bible: Selected Passages From the Word of God With Running Comments, ISBN: 0852343434 0852340583. Alternate title: Originally published under the title, THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON'S MORNING AND EVENING DEVOTIONS FROM THE BIBLE.
    "For anyone who wants to restore daily devotions on an individual or family basis, SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE is the perfect answer. One can read through this book in a year when morning and evening devotions are maintained. . . .
    "The gist of the entire Bible is found between the covers of this book. . . . some verses [and chapters], were omitted in whole or in part, but they are always summarized in such a way that the narrative or teaching remains clear. The emphasis is always on Scripture . . ." -- Publisher
    Commenting on typology is a way to convince piers of the reality and immediacy of the Gospel. The concise, succinct, erudite comments point again and again to parallels in Scripture to the life and work of Christ. For example, see the comments on the life of Joseph, on the first Passover, and on God's provision of manna for Israel in the wilderness.
    This work, by a modern Puritan, is preeminently practical. Spurgeon emphasizes application of Scripture to everyday life. Key verses appear at the top of each page.
    Spurgeon's discerning mind has captured essential and profound lessons. He brings together Old and New Testament passages with similar lessons. Here is little known insight that should not be ignored or overlooked.
    The Bible is full of wisdom on human behavior, real psychology, and Spurgeon points out these lessons everywhere.
    The text is the Authorized King James Version.
    A footnote at the bottom of page 643 (Baker Book House edition), states "In this reading the first five notes are from Lange's Commentary. All through the work we have gathered from every available source." Looking at other works by Spurgeon, for example, THE TREASURY OF DAVID, and knowing that he had a huge library, it could be expected he selected freely from the works of other authors. Poetry has been added after the Bible selection and notes. It would appear the notes and poetry have not been documented for practical purposes, to make the book seamless and uncluttered. It is a drawback, however, to not know which notes and poetry was from Spurgeon's pen and which he selected from other authors.
    The Interpreter: Spurgeon's Devotional Bible. Alternate title: SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE: SELECTED PASSAGES FROM THE WORD OF GOD WITH RUNNING COMMENTS.
    "THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON DEVOTIONAL BIBLE contains the text of the entire Bible, along with Spurgeon's reflections on nearly every verse. This Bible, arranged topically instead of canonically, allows readers to experience the text of Scripture along with Charles Spurgeon himself. His commentary illuminates the texts, and provides notes on interpretation and application of the Bible. The Logos Bible Software edition of THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE was originally published in London by Passmore and Alabaster from 1869-1887." -- Publisher
    https://www.logos.com/product/6798/the-interpreter-spurgeons-devotional-bible
    Pilgrim Publications
    Sells new copies of SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE.
    http://pilgrimpublications.auctivacommerce.com/
    Power BibleCD
    Includes SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE.
    http://www.powerbible.com/
    C.H. Spurgeon wrote, among other things:

    Szasz, Thomas Stephen, Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry; An Inquiry Into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices.

    *Szasz, Thomas S., Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, ISBN: 0060911514 9780060911515.
    "A classic work that has revolutionized thinking throughout the Western world about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. 'Bold and often brilliant'." -- Science
    "I believe this is one of the most important books in the history of psychiatry. The book is ground-breaking and establishes a new paradigm and organizing concept for many 'mind' disciplines. Dr. Szasz's ideas are timeless, revolutionary and common sense -- not to be construed as a criticism. Indeed many revolutionary ideas are simple and obvious and I think that is exactly why this book and Dr. Szasz must be taken seriously. I am speaking behind the times when I say this because the book is nearly 40 years on the market. However Dr. Szasz is as relevant today as ever. Institutionalized persecution of 'different' behaviours has evolved beyond the ridiculous to the absurd. Dr. Szasz's characterization of this as a 'war on personal responsibility' is important from a medical and a moral perspective, as a challenge to the popular notions of 'inner child,' the growing 'victim' industry (e.g. gambling and shopping 'addictions,' among many, many more), and similar conceptual garbage.
    "THE MYTH OF MENTAL ILLNESS creates for the reader a reference point for cross disciplinary thinking in sociology, linguistics, philosophy of mind and science, psychology, history and or course medicine. The concepts are true to human beings as self-responsible moral agents and consistent with the North American work-ethic. Dr. Szasz is commended for his insight and understanding of a psychiatric industry gone mad." -- Reader's Comment
    "Descriptive criteria aside, what is the essence of mental disorders? Are they merely physiological disorders of the brain, or, more precisely of its chemistry? If so, can they be cured by restoring the balance of substances and secretions in that mysterious organ? And, once equilibrium is reinstated -- is the illness 'gone' or is it still lurking there, 'under wraps,' waiting to erupt? Are psychiatric problems inherited, rooted in faulty genes (though amplified by environmental factors) -- or brought on by abusive or wrong nurturance?
    "These questions are the domain of the 'medical' school of mental health.
    "Others cling to the spiritual view of the human psyche. They believe that mental ailments amount to the metaphysical discomposure of an unknown medium -- the soul. Theirs is a holistic approach, taking in the patient in his or her entirety, as well as his milieu.
    "The members of the functional school regard mental health disorders as perturbations in the proper, statistically 'normal,' behaviours and manifestations of 'healthy' individuals, or as dysfunctions. The 'sick' individual -- ill at ease with himself (ego-dystonic), or making others unhappy (deviant) -- is 'mended' when rendered functional again by the prevailing standards of his social and cultural frame of reference.
    "In a way, the three schools are akin to the trio of blind men who render disparate descriptions of the very same elephant. Still, they share not only their subject matter -- but, to a counter intuitively large degree, a faulty methodology.
    "As the renowned anti-psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz, of the State University of New York, notes in his article "The Lying Truths of Psychiatry," mental health scholars, regardless of academic predilection, infer the etiology of mental disorders from the success or failure of treatment modalities.
    "This form of 'reverse engineering' of scientific models is not unknown in other fields of science, nor is it unacceptable if the experiments meet the criteria of the scientific method. The theory must be all-inclusive, consistent, falsifiable, logically compatible, monovalent, and parsimonious. Psychological 'theories' -- even the 'medical' ones (the role of serotonin and dopamine in mood disorders, for instance) -- are usually none of these things.
    "The outcome is a bewildering array of ever-shifting mental health 'diagnoses' expressly centered around Western civilization and its standards (example: the ethical objection to suicide). Neurosis, a historically fundamental 'condition' vanished after 1980. Homosexuality, according to the American Psychiatric Association, was a pathology prior to 1973. Seven years later, narcissism was declared a 'personality disorder,' almost seven decades after it was first described by Freud.
    "Szasz is the father of the 'anti-psychiatry' movement and this is his best book -- a riveting, mind boggling, scholarly read." -- Sam Vaknin, author of Malignant Self Love -- Narcissism Revisited
    "This is the seminal work by the great Thomas Szasz, psychiatry's most important critic. Szasz ranks with Hayek, Mill, and Madison as one of the greatest proponents of liberty. No educated person should be unfamiliar with his writings." -- Nicolas S. Martin
    Szasz is an atheist and a Libertarian.
    Thomas S. Szasz Cybercenter for Liberty and Responsibility
    "Liberty and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. No policy -- public or private -- can increase or decrease one without increasing or decreasing the other. Human behavior has reasons, not causes. . . .
    http://www.szasz.com/
    Mental Disorders are not Diseases, Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
    "Psychiatrists and their allies have succeeded in persuading the scientific community, courts, media, and general public that mental illnesses are phenomena independent of human motivation or will. . . .
    "No one believes that love sickness is a disease, but nearly everyone believes that mental sickness is, and virtually no one realizes that, if this were true, it would prove the non-existence of mental illness. If mental illnesses are brain diseases (like Parkinsonism), then they are diseases of the body, not the mind." -- USA Today (Magazine) January 2000
    http://szasz.com/usatoday.html

    Vaknin, Samuel, and Lidija Rangelovska, Malignant Self Love -- Narcissism Revisited, 1st edition, 8th revision, ISBN: 9788023833843 8023833847, 596 pages.
    Contents: The narcissistic personality disorder -- Narcissism, the disorder -- Narcissism and society -- Narcissists and family -- The mind of the narcissist Responsibility: Sam Vaknin; editing and design, Lidija Rangelovska.

    Vandeusen, Dayton, Redemptive Counseling: Relating Psychotherapy to the Personal Meanings in Redemption.
    Includes bibliography.

    *Webb, James, The Occult Establishment, ISBN: 0875484344 9780875484341.
    "A surprisingly serious look at the Occult and its influence on politics, science, art, and various other movements. . . . The influence of the Occult on psychoanalysis is also discussed in depth in THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT. The Occult influences (as well as background differences) of Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung provide insight into why the two men eventually went different ways.
    THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT is a serious and scholarly researched look at the Occult. . . ." -- Reader's Comment

    *Weeks, Noel, The Sufficiency of Scripture.
    "Weeks is currently a Lecturer in History at the University of Sydney. He has a B.S. (Zoology), B.D., Th.M., and Ph.D. To be guilty of understatement, the man is highly and broadly educated.
    "Weeks believes firmly that Scripture is sufficient for faith and practice. And he affirms that all disciplines of life are governed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that His providential actions impact on every individual, and every area of knowledge. This rule is not only declared by the Scripture, but the Scriptures themselves enunciate the response due from each person. Whether it may be culture, or science, or nation, all are subject to the Scripture; that is, all will be judged by the Scriptures in the end. Therefore, it follows that we are daily to judge all things by the Scriptures.
    "Weeks makes application of all this. And in doing so he again and again points out that the more we dilute the influence of the Scriptures, the further we go into doubt and confusion. The many apostasies which are today in evidence are the result of the diluting of, or the abandoning of, the authority of the Scriptures. . . .
    "In the matter of translations, Weeks shows that there is no solid scriptural reason for the dynamic equivalence form of translation. Rather there is a great disservice to believers. He also shows that making the 'receptor language' the governing language in translation is to subvert the original God-breathed words.
    "His conclusion is excellent, in which he notes that we are acquiescing in a limitation of inspiration throughout our Christian practice. And this leaves a Christian without power; yea, and also without excuse before God. God's words are absolute, just as His power is absolute. To seek to accommodate the Christian message to what the world is willing to hear, is to doom it to failure, even ridicule. Paul and Barnabas confronted the Greeks with God's commands. And they turned the world upside down. We must return to this practice of announcing to the world what God has said, and present it as authoritative. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)

    Welch, Edward T., Michael R. Emlet, David Powlison, and The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, On Redeeming Psychology: Must Reads From The Journal of Biblical Counseling.

    Zipporah Films, Titicut Follies, DVD, Frederick Wiseman (production), ISBN: 9781885918512 1885918518.
    This documentary is often listed among the 100 Top Documentaries. Released in the early 70s, reviewers have suggested that it was influential in bringing about the radical change in Metal Health Policy at that time, the practical closing down of mental institutions and the release of patients into society. This policy has been a complete failure as documented in The Released also listed here.
    The producer obviously plays on the emotions of the viewer. But this does not translate into artistic merit, as most reviewers seem to conclude. In fact it seems that the objective was to elicit sympathy from a naivety public for the plight of the "criminally insane," the "mentally ill," the demoniac. Only someone who has never been a psych nurse or lived with "mentally ill" neighbors could interpret their treatment in this documentary as harsh or cruel. In fact, the patient's incompetence in human relationships makes them impossible to deal with.
    "The film is a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. TITICUT FOLLIES documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers and psychiatrists."

    Zito, Julie M. (editor), New York Office of Mental Health Committee on Therapeutics Psychotherapeutic Drug Manual, ISBN: 0471305308 9780471305309.
    "Contains relevant, documented information on the effectiveness and safety of the most frequently prescribed psychotherapeutic agents. Focuses on the benefit-to-risk relationship for prescribing each drug and the use of these agents in combination. In this edition chapters have been updated to include newer drugs such as clozapine and clomipramine. Drug dosage and interaction guidelines, listed in the second section, have been revised based on pilot experience of the past two years." -- Publisher

    See also: The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), For all counselors, Epistemology, Sola Scriptura, Cannonicity, Textual criticism, Bible translations, Absolute truth and relativism, The all-sufficiency of christ, Justifying faith, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Mind control, intimidation, and coercion, The media, Public schools, public education, Theater, sports, and entertainment, Modern myths and fallacies, Politics, Healing of the mind, Appendix c: psychology and psychiatry, Spiritual discernment, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Self-justification, Self-righteousness, works righteousness, Carnality and flesh pleasing: lust, desires, ambition, Contagion of sin, imitation, conformity, Forgiveness of sin, Menpleasing, Sin and its consequence: physical and spiritual death, Forgiveness of sin, Healing of the mind, Self, selfishness, self-esteem, Sin, Temptation, Glory in iniquity, the temptation of vainglory, Bad relationships as a cause of disease and death, Spiritual warfare, Spiritual discernment, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy, Modern myths and fallacies, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, and so forth, and so on.
    TCRB5: 836

    Appendix C Related Weblinks

    A Deliverer is Born (part 1), a message by Ravi Zacharias
    Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
    "The breaking of the ego is the first thing that God wants to do in you life and mine." -- Ravi Zacharias
    Politicians | Indoctrination of Christians | Military anti-Christian indoctrination | The Witch is called philosophy | The fall of big Christians in the 70's | and so forth, and so on
    https://www.rzim.org/listen/let-my-people-think/a-deliverer-is-born-part-1

    Books Thought to be Among the ten Greatest in the English Language
    http://www.lettermen2.com/tengreat.html

    Brain, Mind and Body in Healing From Trauma, The People's Pharmacy Radio Program, show 980, February 7, 2015.
    "To help people heal from trauma, the best approaches find ways to reconnect brain and body with a feeling of safety. . . .
    "We often associate the term 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' with military veterans. Indeed, war creates many traumatic experiences, but it is not the only source of reactions that may cause people to shut down or blow up. Car, train or plane crashes, a life-threatening illness episode, family violence, or other events can create a dysfunctional reaction that may be largely out of conscious awareness.
    "Treating PTSD
    "One of the world's leading experts on PTSD explains how such reactions are rooted in the body's response to threat, and how it can be successfully treated. . . .
    "Dr. van der Kolk is co-director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, established by Congress to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities. His website is http://www.BesselvanderKolk.com
    "His book is THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE: BRAIN, MIND AND BODY IN THE HEALING OF TRAUMA (2014)."
    http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2015/02/04/show-980-brain-mind-and-body-in-healing-from-trauma/

    Childhood Sexual Abuse, Gender, and Depression Among Incarcerated Youth, Angela R. Gover, University of Florida Center for Studies in Criminology and Law
    http://ijo.sagepub.com/content/48/6/683.abstract

    Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF)
    1803 East Willow Grove Avenue
    Glenside, PA 19038
    Telephone: 215.884.7676
    http://www.ccef.org/

    Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation Resources Audio Archives
    http://www.wts.edu/resources/login.html/

    Christian Discernment Publications Ministry, Inc.
    "Its purpose is to provide educational materials to churches, pastors, biblical counselors, and other Christians concerning the conflict between the Bible and the theories/methods of modern psychology. Educational materials include: Critiques of popular secular psychology books, Critiques Christian psychology books, Exposing the "roots" of modern psychology, Theological papers concerning counseling issues, Counseling and the courts."
    http://www.christiandiscernment.com/

    Combined Interactive Contents for The Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
    http://www.lettermen2.com/combtoc.html

    The Commandments of Jesus, J.S. McConnell (1925)
    http://www.wowzone.com/commandm.htm

    Depressive Characteristics of Physically Abused Children, Denise M. Allen, Kenneth J. Tarnowski
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2926018

    Destructive Heresies in Today's Church, a sermon by Gil Rugh on 2 Peter 2:1
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=102104172433

    The Effects of Violence in the Home on Children's Emotional, Behavioral, and Social Functioning: A Review of the Literature
    "I find this very interesting and think it has application to myself and most everyone I have known over the years. There is documented research proving the thesis that child abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, or spiritual, etc.) results in disturbances in learning, and disturbances in adjusting emotionally and socially, regardless of 'differences in age, sex, race, gender, IQ, or socioeconomic status.'
    "In other words, the implications are that child abuse has the effect of making it difficult for a child to learn (grow in knowledge of the truth and understanding, have an open mind, be teachable), and of making it difficult to relate to the world (relationships, spouses, family, church, workplace, government), regardless of the child's innate capabilities and gifts. So, even the gifted child, if abused, will in later life suffer, however subtle, learning disabilities/blocks/blind spots or abnormal behavior. 'If a parent and child love each other, then the parent can teach the child anything.' But emotional scars can be as hard to heal as chronic disease.
    " 'Physically abused and non-abused children were compared on child-completed measures of depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and locus of control. Results indicated that, in comparison with non-abused controls, abused children evidenced more depressive symptoms, heightened externality, lower self-esteem, and greater hopelessness about the future. Group differences in depressive symptomatology were not accounted for on the basis of differences in age, sex, race, gender, IQ, or socioeconomic status.'
    "This thesis certainly is connected with the question of who we associate with and the impact of good and evil on our lives.
    "So, it could be of interest, directly or indirectly, to practically every person I know, or have known." -- compiler
    http://ebx.sagepub.com/content/6/2/94.abstract

    A few Integrationists Affirm my Point About BC's Decline, Rick Thomas
    "Part of my critique of the BC [Biblical Counseling] movement was that there is little innovation within the BC movement and most books/resources are a rehash of the 'same old concepts,' lacking sophistication and complexity." -- Rick Thomas
    https://rickthomas.net/podcast/ep-424-a-few-integrationists-affirm-my-point-about-bcs-decline/3

    Four Reasons the BC (Biblical Counseling) Movement has Passed its Prime
    "1. The ascendancy of the BC movement began circa 1970 with Jay Adams and his book, COMPETENT TO COUNSEL.
    "2. The movement continued to ascend through the establishment of CCEF, mainly David Powlison, the de facto most extraordinary mind from the BC movement era.
    "3. ACBC, formerly NANC, came out of CCEF, and the BC movement continued to spread (and ascend). By 2010 the movement had hit its peak and has been declining ever since in its relevancy.
    "4. Again, you want to distinguish between the movement and the practice of biblical counseling, or what the New Testament calls discipleship." -- Rick Thomas
    https://rickthomas.net/podcast/ep-423-four-reasons-the-bc-movement-has-passed-its-prime/

    The Google Advanced Search
    This feature may be used to search one specific domain/website. For example, to search for "John 3:16" in "lettermen2.com," (THE WEB EDITION OF BIBLICAL COUNSEL: RESOURCES FOR RENEWAL), enter the search terms on the search screen in "this exact word or phrase:" and "site or domain:".
    A link to Google Advanced Search may be added to the Internet Explorer toolbar, so that any favorite website may be conveniently searched.
    https://www.google.com/advanced_search

    How Abuse Changes a Child's Brain, Brandon Keim
    "The brains of children raised in violent families resemble the brains of soldiers exposed to combat, say psychologists."
    http://www.wired.com/2011/12/neurology-of-abuse/

    How to Find a Book
    http://www.lettermen2.com/findbook.html

    Institute of Biblical Counseling and Discipleship
    http://www.ibcd.org/

    Institute for Nouthetic Counseling
    "Study Biblical Counseling with Dr. Jay Adams."
    "Here is a list of the courses we have ready:

    Introduction to Biblical Counseling/Counseling Principles and Practices
    The Counselor Himself
    Critical Stages in Biblical Counseling
    Counseling Problems
    Premarital Counseling
    Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
    Theology and Counseling
    Church Discipline
    Forgiveness
    Medical Issues in Counseling I and II
    Marriage and Family Counseling
    We are currently working on the following:
    Counseling Theories and Issues Abroad in the Church Today
    Legal Issues in Counseling
    Counseling Women
    The Christian Counselor's Casebook Studies"
    http://www.nouthetic.org

    International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
    "The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) is the world's premier trauma organization dedicated to trauma treatment, education, research and prevention. Through this organization, professionals share information about the effects of trauma, seeking to reduce traumatic stressors and their immediate and long-term consequences."
    http://www.istss.org/

    The Journal of Biblical Counseling
    http://www.ccef.org/jbc

    National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
    "The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was created within the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989, in response to a Congressional mandate to address the needs of veterans with military-related PTSD. Its mission was, and remains: To advance the clinical care and social welfare of America's veterans through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders. This website is provided as an educational resource concerning PTSD and other enduring consequences of traumatic stress."
    http://www.ptsd.va.gov/

    The Perfect Self-help Book That Will Change Your Life, Rick Thomas
    "The Lord created the soul (psyche), and He created the logos (Word) concerning the psyche. The purest soul book ever written is God's Word. Any literature outside of God's Word that seeks to explain our souls (psyche) is supported or discredited by the clear teaching of God's Word.
    "It is not wrong for someone to write about the soul. But the litmus test that verifies an author's truth claims about the soul is God's psychology book. Thus, you can conclude the following:
    1. God created the soul.
    2. God created the soul book.
    3. God gave us psychology: the Word concerning the soul or the study of the soul.
    "If you want to change your life, you need a self-help book. The good news is that there is a perfect book for you. It's called the Bible."
    https://rickthomas.net/perfect-self-help-book-that-will-change-your-life/

    *Powlison, David (1949-2019), Competent to Counsel? The History of Biblical Counseling, new edition. Alternate title: COMPETENT TO COUNSEL? THE HISTORY OF A CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANT ANTI-PSYCHIATRY MOVEMENT, ISBN: 0978556763 9780978556761 (College Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. thesis, 1996).
    David Powlison is editor of Journal of Biblical Counseling, a staff member of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Harvard University in 1972.
    Through the years I have often asked our students and alumni about the pivotal moments of their studies at Westminster Theological Seminary. High on the list of frequent answers was Dr. Powlison's class on "The Dynamics of Biblical Change." Students have told me repeatedly, "That course changed my life." We thank God for the gift of Dr. Powlison (1949-2019) who has left such a permanent impact on so many, including Westminster Theological Seminary. -- Peter Lillback

    *Powlison, David (1949-2019, compiler and annotator), Contemporary Biblical Counseling: With 1995 Additions, an annotated bibliography.
    David Powlison is editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling, current director of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Harvard University in 1972.
    http://www.lettermen2.com/powlison.html

    *Powlison, David (1949-2019), Speaking Truth in Love: Counsel in Community, ISBN: 0977080714 9780977080717.
    "SPEAKING TRUTH IN LOVE is the latest book by David Powlison, a faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary and The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. In his own words, it is, 'a book on how we are to live together.' Although primarily directed at pastors and counselors, there is much here to be savored by every child of God. Indeed, an emphasis of the book is that speaking truth in love, wisdom, and grace into another person's life is both the privilege and responsibility for every Christian, not just the 'professionals' or the 'trained.'
    "There are seventeen chapters, which are really separate essays all looking at differing facets of counseling, or 'loving another person well' as Powlison puts it.
    "Chapter 1 is an extended reflection of Psalm 119, beautifully portraying it as the cry of a faithful heart toward God. It is worth the price of the book for anyone struggling through a trial or helping another.
    "Chapter 2 talks about the need to face the truth of our rebellious flesh, while chapter 3 talks of hearing the music of the gospel. Chapter 4-8 deal with various practical steps of preparation, listening, and questioning, while chapter 9 specifically deals with gently handling people who have already been immersed in the false psychologies of the world.
    "Chapter 10 starts looking at a more global emphasis, challenging pastors (and all) to consider that most of the 'ministry of the Word' that Christ actually did was what we would now term private and small-group counseling, and not preaching sermons. Chapter 11 looks at how counseling should fit into the ministry of the church, and chapter 12 looks specifically at how the nature of prayer fits into counseling in the church.
    "The last chapters look at pastoral counseling, women in counseling, when to refer, where to train, and lastly a guiding doctrinal statement for Biblical counseling.
    "This is a rewarding book written by a wise servant of God, giving insight and direction on both the nature and the challenges the church faces in fulfilling our mandate on speaking truth in love to each other." -- Reader's Comment

    The Psycho State, Rep. Ron Paul, MD.
    "Parents must do everything possible to retain responsibility and control over their children's well-being. There is no end to the bureaucratic appetite to rule every aspect of our lives, including how we raise our children. Forced mental health screening is just the latest of many state usurpations of parental authority: compulsory education laws, politically-correct school curricula, mandatory vaccines, and interference with discipline through phony "social services" agencies all represent assaults on families. The political right has now joined the political left in seeking the de facto nationalization of children, and only informed resistance by parents can stop it. The federal government is slowly but surely destroying real families, but it is hardly a benevolent surrogate parent."
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul203.html

    Psychoheresy: The Church Weds the World
    http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/chweds52.html

    Psychoheresy Awareness Newsletter
    4137 Primavera Road
    Santa Barbara, CA 93110
    Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries
    http://www.pamweb.org/
    The Biblical Care of Souls
    http://www.pamweb.org/

    Rebellion and Lawlessness: Wickedness, Demonic Possession, Substance Abuse, Abnormal Behavior, Insanity, Mental Illness, Mental Retardation
    http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrrappd.html#rlinsane

    Reformed Publishers and Booksellers Online
    http://www.lettermen2.com/refpub.html

    Secular Psychology and "Christian" Psychology Versus Biblical Counseling (FREE MP3s, Books and Articles)
    http://www.swrb.com/newslett/freebook/psychology.htm

    *Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
    "So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
    "I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453

    The Christian Answer to Problems of Philosophy
    Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Christian View of Philosophy
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=790220101

    The Christian and Politics #09: The Place of Biblical Law in our Society #1
    Dr. C. Gregg Singer, The Christian and Politics
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183429

    Decline of Jurisprudence
    Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=82602124432

    Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), Part 2
    Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=8190218822

    Presbyterianism in the 20th Century
    Dr. C. Gregg Singer, History of the American Presbyterian Church, 42 min.
    http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12160371916

    Sound Word Associates Library of Biblical Counselors
    http://www.soundword.com/ccon.html

    *Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), Jesus Christ Himself. (Ephesians 2:20) A sermon by C.H. Spurgeon delivered on Lord's-day morning, December 9, 1877, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, Sermon no. 1388.
    "Beyond all argument or miracle, Jesus Christ Himself is the proof of His own Gospel. And as He is the proof of it, so, Beloved, He is the marrow and essence of it. When the Apostle Paul meant that the Gospel was preached, He said, Christ is preached, for the Gospel is Christ Himself! If you want to know what Jesus taught, know Him! He is the incarnation of that Truth of God which by Him and in Him is revealed to the sons of men. Did He not, Himself say, I am the way, the truth, and the life?
    "You have not to take down innumerable books, nor to pore over mysterious sentences of double meaning in order to know what our great Teacher has revealed. You have but to turn and gaze upon His countenance, behold His actions and note His spirit and you know His teaching. He lived what He taught. If we wish to know Him, we may hear His gentle voice saying, Come and see. Study His wounds and you understand His innermost philosophy. To know Him and the power of His Resurrection is the highest degree of spiritual learning. He is the end of the Law and the soul of the Gospel -- and when we have preached His Word to the fullest, we may close by saying, Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum -- we have an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the heavens." -- C.H. Spurgeon
    http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols22-24/chs1388.pdf

    The Stigma of Mental Illness, Rick Thomas
    "Psychiatric labels are said to be helpful and necessary, but many times those labels cause further damage and create the very stigma advocates claim to want eliminated.
    "In fact, being labeled as abnormal in itself stigmatizes individuals, since it unjustly delineates people into subjective groups." -- Daniel Berger II, founder and director of Alethia International Ministries (AIM)
    "We are all on the same level; no one is inferior, and when compared to Christ, we are all nothing. Next time someone brings up the idea of destigmatizing mental illness, lead them to the gospel, which declares that we are equal -- desperately needing Christ to change our minds, restore our souls, and transform our behaviors." -- Rick Thomas
    https://rickthomas.net/stigma-mental-illness

    Testimony for all Counselors: Meet Rick Thomas
    https://rickthomas.net/meet-rick/

    Therapy and Faith, Integration or Inundation? a podcast.
    "Dr. Powlison gives a brief critique of psychology and its origin. He then proceeds to implement the transcendental approach to understanding psychology properly and using it as a tool instead of an authoritative paradigm."
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/biblical-counseling/id430335488

    Rick Thomas Podcasts
    "And other resources -- transcripts, videos, books."
    https://rickthomas.net/enjoy-awesome-podcasts/
    Topic Index, Rick Thomas Articles
    https://rickthomas.net/topic-index/

    Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore
    http://www.wts.edu/bookstore/

    What we Believe at RickThomas.net
    https://rickthomas.net/what-we-believe/

    Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore (Westminster Media Tapes)
    http://www.wts.edu/resources/login.html



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