During the first six decades of the 20th century, psychological theories abounded. All were godless.
Man’s fundamental struggle, according to Freud, was not sinful rebellion against the will of a holy God but rather a struggle for expression between the id, ego and superego.
Man-Centered Pseudo-Religion
In all their theoretical expressions, the psychologists and psychotherapists were humanists, always man-centered rather than God-centered. B.F. Skinner, in Beyond Freedom and Dignity, stated, “The idea of human freedom is a myth.” “Humanistic ethics,” noted Eric Fromm, “is based on the principle that only man can determine the criterion for virtue and sin, and not an authority transcending him.” Carl Rogers boldly declared, “Experience is, for me, the highest authority. Neither the Bible, nor prophets—neither Freud nor research—neither the revelations of God nor man—can take precedence over my direct experience.”
Feelings became lord as faith bowed to feelings. In discussing “Self-Actualization Psychology,” Abraham Maslow made clear, “We need a … system of human values we can believe in … because they are true rather than because we are exhorted to ‘believe and have faith’.”
Jesus Saves—Self Becomes King
By the 1970s, the “theology” of psychology had invaded our churches from coast to coast. Jesus was still proclaimed as savior, but SELF had become king. Feelings increasingly trumped faith. Truth became relatively irrelevant. Therapists emerged as the new “high priests” of American culture. What therapists said about serving one’s experience had become the ultimate arbiter of truth, mediated by fleeting and fickle feelings.
Self-esteem replaced self-denial. Preaching righteousness became a relic. We no longer needed to be saved from sin, but rather healed from the consequences of sin. Christ had become our mascot; the culture our master.
By the late 1980s, the syncretism of faith and feelings was complete. The promise of happiness replaced the preaching of holiness, and now we are neither happy nor holy. The church has prostituted her soul for the spiritually salacious offerings of a false salvation in order to savor Satan’s tantalizing offer that “ye shall be as gods.”
As Paul Vitz, associate professor of psychology at New York University, noted in Psychology as Religion:
“Psychology has become a religion, a secular cult of the self. More specifically, contemporary psychology is a form of secular humanism based on the rejection of God and the worship of self.”
The Lordship of Feelings
Psychology is self-centered and man-centered. It exalts your feelings and emotions over your faith. It declares the lordship of the soul over the spirit.
Selfishness spreads like poison. A little of this leaven will leaven the whole lump of your life, your family, your congregation, your city and your nation—verily, the whole world.
Think soberly about the apostle Paul’s warnings concerning the season ushering in Christ’s Second Coming.
“In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves… lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:1-5, KJV).
Have You Been Seduced?
Hedonism is now the reigning philosophy of American life and of Western Civilization. God has been replaced by “ME.” Is that not what Satan promised Adam and Eve? “You shall be as gods…” (Gen. 3:5). Psychology has been the engine to drive this profoundly seductive deception deep into our hearts and minds… even into our ministries.
Have you been seduced? For some, the deception remains subtle; for others, it is substantive; but for all, it is sinister.
Self cannot save. Therapy is not a substitute for obedience to God’s truth. Feelings do not replace faith. The soul is not the “alter-ego” of your spirit. And experience will never supersede the eternal Word of God that abides forever. {eoa}
Chuck Crismier is an author, pastor, former trial attorney, president of SAVE AMERICA Ministries and host of the VIEWPOINT podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. His website is saveus.org, where his book, Seduction of the Saints, can be obtained.
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