Mental Illness (Part 3)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, "...but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you."

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

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Mike Abendroth here. It is now June. We're almost one year into No Compromise Radio ministry.

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Fascinating things are happening. I'm just going to keep preaching until I run out of material.

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I guess when I run out of material, I just start over again. Someone told me that they think that I'm a one -drum person.

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I just have one drum to beat. In one sense, that's true. If the topic's from the Bible, and it's therefore a provocative topic,

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I'm going to teach that topic. If you mean you don't like that if I'm against something or stand up against some kind of error,

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I don't know what to tell you. I guess you should listen to Wednesdays and Thursday shows. I think I've had a number of guests who are on to teach something that's different than whatever that drum is, and I will just keep teaching, and I'll just keep teaching over and over again, and I guess until there are no drums to bang.

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And by the way, I like to ascribe to pop culture stuff anyway, and so it's bang the drum slowly, often, repeatedly, over and over.

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So if you've got a different drum that you'd like me to bang, why don't you give me an idea? You can email me at info at nocompromisedradio .com

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and say, why don't you bang this drum for a while? So in my hands here before we do part three today on mental illness, and is there such a thing,

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I have some Holy Land water. Next year Bethlehem Bible Church and No Compromised Radio and Omaha Bible Church will be taking a group of people to Israel, Lord willing.

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You can get on the website and see that if you'd like to sign up. And we have, in my hot little hands,

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I have, we, the royal we, olive oil from Galilee. In this little cardboard box, there are three containers.

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Olive oil from Galilee, it says. Holy soil from Jerusalem. It looks like some kind of limestone, although I'm not a stone expert, a soil expert.

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And then holy water from Jordan River, don't even say from the Jordan, from Jordan River.

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That sounds kind of like New England. We're going down Cape. We're going down cellar. We just don't put the, you know, the articles in there.

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So holy water from Jordan, down Cape. And on the back it says, certificate of authenticity.

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We hereby certify the authenticity of the products in this package.

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Holy water is from the Jordan River. Virgin olive oil was made from olives of old

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Galilee olive trees. And holy soil is from the city of Jerusalem. And so I have this in my hand and, you know, sanctification is difficult.

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Holy living is hard. The Christian life requires, by the grace of God, still sweat and toil and labor.

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Kapiao is the Greek word. And so when things are bad and you don't really want to go for Christianity and live wholeheartedly for the

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Lord, then why don't you just have this kind of theology? And I call it the Brylcreme theology.

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And if you're old enough, you remember Brylcreme, and it was before men would put gel.

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When I was first young, any man that would put gel on his hair, even be that concerned about his hair, was kind of effeminate, we thought.

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You're kind of girly. Gel was for girls. But there was Brylcreme, and you could put some

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Brylcreme on your palms and rub it in and then slick your hair back like Elvis or somebody else.

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And the slogan, the catch line was, a little dab will do you. Little dab will do you.

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So it's the same thing here. A little olive oil on your forehead, maybe a little holy water for your gullet, and the holy soil,

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I don't know what that's for. Maybe you put that down on the carpet and you run across it like Tony Robbins does with the hot coals or something, holy soil running.

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Not exactly sure. So anyway, if you'd like to get some holy water, if you'd like to get some holy soil, if you'd like to get some olive oil, actually this does not say holy oil, and it probably should be holy oil or it wouldn't quite work.

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And so that is sitting right here, and I'm going to just put it here in my No Compromise Radio Ministry studio so I can always remember.

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I put it right next to the In -N -Out Burger bumper sticker. Today we want to talk about part three when it comes to the topic of mental illness.

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Mental illness. And here's what we've covered so far. We've covered that it's a controversial subject, that people have mental problems and they're very real and they can be very, very difficult.

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We've covered that if you're on any kind of medicine, that it's not my place to tell you to stop taking psychotropic medicine.

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That is between you and your doctor, and I'm not a medical doctor. I have a doctorate of ministry and expository preaching, which is far from pharmacology or anything else.

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I'm not trying to give medical advice online, so don't do anything without talking to your doctor.

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I did talk a little bit about psychology and how it is not a science. There are too many competing philosophies.

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It is more of a religion than it is a science. And then I talked about how the brain is not the mind.

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The brain is not the mind. And how I'm not so sure, matter of fact, I'm very sure that mental illness is not factual.

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And so today I'd like to talk about, I guess I did talk about last time how the brain can have problems that are unrelated to the mind, like thyroid, some kind of blunt trauma, cancer,

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Alzheimer's. And so today we're kind of doing the Q &A, true and false type of teaching format regarding mental illness.

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Matter of fact, I think this is a biblical topic. It evokes scripture and passages to think through things clearly and properly.

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It also is provocative because probably many of you listening today, maybe some of you are even at home on disability, but it's mental illness disability, and because of depression or because of anxiety or something else, bipolar, schizophrenic, whatever it might be, however the latest terms are used, you might not even be able to work and you might be taking money from the government and you're at home not working.

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And so some of you are listening today and I'm sure you're going to disagree with me. That's okay. What I'm after today mainly is, first of all,

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Christians can differ and still be redeemed, can still love one another.

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And the way I'm going to show my love to you today is to question what people think and say and maybe take as fact.

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I want you to think through the issues so that if you don't need to be on drugs, you can work through that with your doctor.

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So that if you think the drugs aren't helping, you can work through that with your doctor. So if you think there are behavioral issues and sin issues that the medicine just masks, you can work through that with your doctor.

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And so I want you to try to think through these issues. If you disagree with me, you disagree. I'm sure quite a few of you listen because you disagree and you go, what is that guy going to talk about today that I disagree with?

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This could be disagreement radio. And like I said before, sometimes I like to talk about these issues this way because it spurs thinking.

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And sometimes I'm just probably ornery, who knows. But I have no chip on my shoulder.

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I have no grudge. I have nothing like that. I just think too many people are medicated. And by the way, hopefully lots of psychotherapists think that way too.

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I think the world is too medicated. We've got too many drug commercials during the

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Super Bowl and other sporting events and other things are indicative of how popular this stuff is.

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Then I think we probably do need to step back. There's a pill for every kind of mood, for every kind of thing, syndromes, diseases, all kinds of things.

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And so today at No Compromise Radio, we want to deal with that a little bit more. True or false number seven, the mind can have problems that are unrelated to the brain.

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And I think the answer is yes. The answer is true. The brain can work just fine, but the mind can still have a problem.

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It was back in the Shema, the testimony of the Jews, testimony still of the

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Jews in Deuteronomy chapter 6, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

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And loving the Lord with your heart for the Jew and with the soul for the Jew contained the mind.

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It wasn't some kind of emotional thing only. It was with your mission control center.

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You were to think highly, critically, abstractly about God.

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And that's why Jesus, using Greek language, when he recapitulated, reiterated those two great commandments, the

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Shema, he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and all your strength.

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He didn't add to Scripture. He made explicit what was implicit in the

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Hebrew in Deuteronomy chapter 6. The Jews knew loving God with your heart and soul contained your mind, and Jesus made sure he told the people in Greek exactly what that meant.

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Christianity is a thinking person's religion. It is a religion of the mind. And we believe here at this radio station and at this radio show and at Bethlehem Bible Church that the fall affected the mind.

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The mind was affected. And so you have sin in the fall, and sin because you're a sinner has affected the mind.

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Your mind is torqued. Your mind is warped. Everyone has been affected by the fall.

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And so what if you don't love God with all your mind? What if you don't have the right thoughts after God?

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We call those things sinful thoughts. And so you need to make sure you understand that your brain can work perfectly, but your mind is affected by the fall.

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Let me give you another true and false question regarding mental illness here on No Compromise Radio. True or false?

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Chemical imbalance can be proven. You hear it all the time. I'm chemically imbalanced, and therefore I have to take the medicine.

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And the thinking is then that medicine balances what was imbalanced before.

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Well, for many people who are schizophrenic and they take lithium, I'd like to know what lithium, a poison, balances.

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You will not find any raw proof, any real data for chemical imbalance.

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Here's what you'll find in medical literature. The assumption that it's true. It is implied that it's true.

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It is assumed that it is true. And so you should ask your doctor, what kind of literature could you give me?

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I'd like to read. I'm taking all these drugs, and I'd like to know what I'm putting in my body. Could you give me some literature regarding chemical imbalance and how scientifically that is true?

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And I think you are going to be quite interested to hear the response. So find out.

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Prove me wrong. I love to be proven wrong. It's a great thing. When it happens, probably happens regularly,

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I'm not going to make some kind of joke that doesn't regularly happen. Find out for yourself chemical imbalance.

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Is it really myth? Is it a hypothesis? Is it true? Can it be demonstrated empirically?

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I don't think you're going to find the answer to be true. Number nine, true or false. The Bible has all the answers that you'll ever need for all your problems.

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True or false? Well, if it comes to your life, it has the answers.

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If it comes to godliness, it has the answers. I am not saying that it teaches you how to build a boat, unless that boat happens to be

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Noah's Ark. I'm not saying that it tells you about titration analysis and calculus, but if it pertains to your life, and if it pertains to godliness, the

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Bible is sufficient. It has everything you need.

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And we did not have to wait, oh, those poor people of the Reformation, oh, those poor people of the Middle Ages, oh, those people back in Augustine's day that did not have

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Freud, Adler, Skinner, Maslow, or drugs that can affect the mind.

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I believe that 2 Peter 1, verse 3 is correct. His power,

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God's power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

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Do you believe this? Do you believe that verse? I didn't stutter.

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Do you really believe that? What if someone tomorrow calls you up and says, I'm a Christian and I'm depressed.

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Help me. What are you going to do? I think you have resources to help that person. I think you can admonish them.

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I think you can counsel them, is the other word, to put sense in their mind, because Romans chapter 15, verse 14 says you are competent, if you're a

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Christian, to give counsel. Because if you point people to the word, the Holy Spirit energized word,

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I did not say the Holy Spirit was energy, but energized by the person, the Holy Spirit, you can help them.

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Someone calls you up and says, I'm having an anxiety attack. What if you're having an anxiety attack? Can you get help from the scriptures?

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Does it pertain to life? Does it pertain to godliness? What if someone says, you know, I'm afraid to go out of the house.

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Can you help that person? Can you help that person? I'll never forget the time when

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I was listening to Lance Quinn, and he was talking about a person who was afraid to go out of the house, and what kind of verse would you help that person with?

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I mean, is there a verse? How about this, Proverbs 28, and Lance just quoted it. He said, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

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Can the Bible help? We live in a psychological world, crazy for psychology, crazy for psychotherapy, crazy for follow the money, and I think you'll find exactly what you need to find out.

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Romans 15, 14, and concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another.

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J. Adams said, the demands of the work are greater than any man may assume in his own strength, counseling people, ministering to people, but you are equipped to minister.

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If you're a Christian, you have your toolkit, the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and CVS Pharmacy.

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No, that's not true. There's nothing wrong with CVS Pharmacy, but you don't need CVS Pharmacy for godly living.

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The Bible is sufficient, and don't fall back on this. Well, if I break my leg, I go to the medical doctor,

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I go to an orthopedic surgeon. If I have a spiritual problem with sin, then I go to the doctor of ministry, the pastor, and if I have an emotional problem,

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I go to the shrink. Don't think that way. You are going to get into big, big trouble.

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You will watch as psychological experts, quote -unquote, have increased, pastoral assistance has been undermined.

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Oh, you're a pastor? I get calls. Are you trained in psychology? Are you trained in psychological treatments?

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Are you a professionally trained therapist? Friends, there's a real problem with that.

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There is a major problem when parishioners somehow think you've got to have a psychotherapy degree in order to help them with anxiety, with a lack of joy, with other things like bizarre behavior, according to James.

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We need to refer people to professionals. Now if an unbeliever wants to go to a professional and be drugged up, well, then that's their choice.

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I have a cure for them, and that cure is contained in the gospel. But if they reject that, the way of the transgressor,

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Solomon said, is hard, and they'll live a hard life. And if they want to be drugged up so they're not a threat to society,

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I guess that's fine. It's not the best. But if you look at Scripture and it says, be anxious for nothing,

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I don't think that's an emotional problem when you have an anxiety attack. I think it's a spiritual problem. And the best thing you can do if you have a spiritual problem is admit it, confess it.

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God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that's why we confess them. Confess means to say the same thing of, to agree with God.

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God, I'm not trusting in you, I'm anxious, I want to take a pill but I think you're adequate, I think you're sufficient,

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I think you're great, I think you're a rock. And help me, I want to sin, I want to be anxious,

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I treasure this, and it makes me feel good almost to do that, but I don't want to do it anymore.

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I repent, I want to forsake that. Get me past this problem.

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Help me. Did you know the Bible teaches that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness?

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That the man of God, this is not some kind of feminine translation for the woman of God, the men of God, the people of God, humankind of God.

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This is a pastoral epistle, Paul writes to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, then he says in verse 17 that the man of God, the

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Old Testament designation for the preacher, for the prophet, that the man of God, Timothy, if you want to have a toolkit for ministry, here's your toolkit, the

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Bible, that's what you need, because the Bible is adequate, equipped for every good work, thoroughly and fully equipped for all ministry, for all contingency, for all time, since God is the creator.

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We need to make sure that we don't automatically dismiss the Bible and run to psychotherapy.

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What does psychotherapy do if someone comes in and says, I'm anxious, I have depression, I have whatever disorder it might be, what kind of hope do they give?

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Well, if they're good, maybe they do give some hope. Maybe the hope is, you know, maybe we can cut off some of the medicine as time goes on and maybe we'll get better.

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But with biblical counseling, you can encourage people to change right away.

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You can encourage them to change right away. Don't buy into the lie that change has to take a long, long time.

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Ephesians 4, in reference to your former manner of life, lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

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Put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, which has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

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There can be change now. If you're a Christian, there's all kinds of new changes that have already happened positionally in Christ, but now practically, you can change now and you can give people hope right away.

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In the Handbook of Psychiatric Therapies, page 230 to 231, Paul Houston says, "...only be supportive, minimize thoughts of his hostility and guilt."

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Forget that. I'm going to give them hope. If you do God's business, God's way, as George Zemeck would say, you have hope.

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I'm not going to just give you a solution aimed at relieving some of the symptoms. Let's deal with the root.

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Let's deal with the cause. If you want to try to go to your doctor and ask them, you know, what hope do

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I have to get off this medicine? I think they're going to say, change them, stack them, increase them, switch.

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I don't think they're going to say, you're cured. I've met people before that have had disorders and they are now cured as Christians.

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How about that? Wouldn't you like to be cured? I think you'd like that. Did you know the American Journal of Psychiatry, it's dated, but it's still interesting.

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March, April in 1990, researcher John Grest had a study showing depressed people that were treated by computerized sessions and answers improved just as much as those who went to a therapist.

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Why? Because psychology can analyze behavior, but it can't change it into godly living. Mark that.

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Psychotherapy can analyze behavior. You do this, you feel that way, but it can't change it into godly living because if it could, the

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Bible is not sufficient. The Bible is inadequate, but we know that is not true. We know that is not true.

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We want to encourage obedience. Blessed are you if you do these things, Jesus said to the disciples in John 13.

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Blessed are you if you look intently into the perfect law, the Word of God, that gives freedom and continually to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it.

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He will be blessed in what he does. Psalm 128, you will be happy and it will be well with you.

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Why don't you just label sin as sin, confess it, don't blame shift, don't use words like can't instead of I can't do it.

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You mean I won't do it. Use biblical terminology instead of codependency, compulsive, obsessive, dysfunctional, workaholic, some kind of I'm in denial,

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I'm a victim, got disorders, got syndrome. Unconfess sins, snare people, capture them.

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His own iniquities will capture the wicked, 522 of Proverbs, and he will be held in the cords of his sin.

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Don't buy into this, I've got a disease, confess sin as sin. I don't have joy like I should.

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Rejoice always again, I say rejoice. Well, if you're not rejoicing, then confess it as sin. Look to the one who always had joy.

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Look to the one Christ Jesus who lived the life that we couldn't live. Get your eyes off of yourself and confess with David in Psalm 51, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

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Against thee, the only God, have I sinned and done what is evil in thy sight, so you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge.

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Make me hear joy and gladness, let the bones which you have broken rejoice.

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Restore to me the joy of my salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. That's what you need to be.

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You need to be solution oriented. That's not what a psychotherapist is going to typically give you.

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It's going to be needed, it's going to be mandatory rather for you to be replacement thinking and replace actions with what you're thinking now and not going on your feelings.

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That's a problem anyway, too many people go on their feelings. It's like the old poem, feeling, faith, and fact.

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Feeling had an awful fall and faith was taken back. Faith was so close to feeling that when he stumbled, faith stumbled and fell too.

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But fact remained and held faith up and that helped feeling too. I believe

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Lloyd -Jones is right when he says, we are so subjective, there's a book called Spiritual Depression, you ought to read that,

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Martin Lloyd -Jones. Spiritual Depression, Martin Lloyd -Jones. We are so subjective and we live in this unhealthy psychological generation that starts with man and ends with man.

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Matter of fact, he was a medical doctor. Most of our troubles are due to that. Now the commentator said, he believed that the

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Christian who is in constant state of defeat is there because he is being controlled by his subjective feelings instead of by an understanding of the truth.

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Deliverance from this condition depends on a total change in approach. Christians are not to look at themselves and their problems but at what

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God has done for them. I think that's what you need. Well I think I could probably go on and on and on.

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I think you should read the Bible, study for yourself, find out if these biblical terms are biblical terms, then use them.

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And I think you should talk to your doctor and say, I'm a Christian and I think I can get a lot of help at the local church, can

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I ever get off these drugs? And see what they say. There is hope for you, the listener today, who's got any kind of problem with any kind of sin, if they'll confess and look to Christ.