L. Wade Johnson - · PDF filespontaneous does not occur in a vacuum. ... conform to His will....
Transcript of L. Wade Johnson - · PDF filespontaneous does not occur in a vacuum. ... conform to His will....
L. Wade Johnson
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Psychology
And Salvation
The study of Psychology is
as old as Mankind itself.
Our creator installed it in the humans He
created.
Psychology is the scientific study of
mental processes and behavior.
Mental processes = Thinking > behavior
So.
Just how does Psychology relate to our
salvation?
As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. Proverbs 23:7
Our thoughts
and
subsequent
behavior make
us who we
are.
Humans do not think in words we think
in
cognitions.
A cognition is made up of
billions of bits of data.
When we think, billions of bits of
data come from our memory
banks into our conscious mind.
Lets experience a
cognition!
When you came to
the assembly this
morning you Re-
cognized people
To recognize some one is to recall
everything you know about them and
how you feel about them.
Cognitions are developed,
improved and changed, when
needed as we engage in new
and repeated experiences.
The more experiences you have
the more complete are your
cognitions.
This is why we have problems with teen
agers.
They know they can reason, and they
believe they have reasoned correctly.
But their conclusions lack
sufficient knowledge
and savvy that can only
be attained from
experiences over time.
You can see by this chart – the more we
engage in Bible Study and personal
research, the more we understand
Perception Interpretation
Keep this in mind, it is a fact of human nature;
we don’t see things as they are.
We see things as we are.
Usually a great deal more inquiry is needed
before we can determine what is really going
on in any given situation.
How data is interpreted is
determined by the
internal state (values,
culture biases etc).
Selective Attention:
There is always an excess of sensory
information, but the brain manages to
sort out what we consider the
important messages at the moment
and discard the rest.
Too often we as humans tend to consider
as important only that which we want to
believe.
Many who think they know and follow
Bible truths actually shove aside
information that is contrary to those
sheltered beliefs.
Humans, are by nature curious entities.
We want to explore and discover and see for
ourselves.
From these cognitions we form concepts
and we arrange those concepts into
words.
You are what you think about.
Out of the mind the mouth
speaks.
Every word you speak tells others the kind
of person you are.
But what may be even more startling your
words tell you the kind of person you are.
What you think about
prompts your words
and by your words
your character is
revealed.
Reckless words pierce like a sword, but
the tongue of the wise brings healing –
Proverbs 12:18
When man’s ways please the lord he
makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him proverbs 16:7
Demonstrate your faith and your beliefs by
your words.
Your words will betray you or establish
you.
But you must walk the talk, not talk the
walk.
Thoughts, no matter how
spontaneous does not occur in
a vacuum.
What we focus on, read, talk
and harbor becomes a self
fulfilling prophesy.
From these experiences we can
draw conclusions and develop
our own set of heuristics, or
rules of thumb.
Heuristic
exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques
Thinking based on
experiences allow us
solve problems
Human nature, then is
made up of mental
processes and behavior.
We could say Psychology is the
study of human nature.
The study of Psychology is as old as
Mankind itself.
Human
nature
does not
change!
Adam and Eve were created with
Human Natures.
Did Messiah take on the form of a man in
order to better understand human nature?
NO!
He understood human nature very well.
He created human nature and placed in the
human he created!
He took on human nature and
died as a human.
Humans, are by nature curious entities.
We want to explore and discover and see for
ourselves.
Satan used that feature
of human nature to
deceive Eve.
Satan knew Eve could influence Adam.
God had to give Mankind (Adam and Eve) a
choice.
Without free will to choose, Adam and Eve
would have been mere puppets.
True love always requires choice.
God wanted mankind
(Adam and Eve)
to choose to love and trust
Him.
The only way to give this choice
would have been to command
something that was not allowed.
Since God had planted in the
garden all the different trees from
which we now get fruit, the test
was not too difficult.
They had plenty to eat and a large
variety of fruits from which to choose,
and could have chosen to believe God.
Satan found Eve by herself
away from Adam.
Ja has put his saints on a
specific path.
He has given you fellow saints in
which to fellowship.
He has given us a conscious
Conscience is your early warning
system, designed to keep you out of
trouble.
Freud’s Personality Structure
Personality consists of three interacting mental structures:
Id: (it) Innate biological instincts
The creator gave man a conscience for a good reason. To conform to His will.
Ego: The conscious identity of ones’ self (based in reality)
Super Ego: one’s conscience (ethical rules and personal Standards)
The creator gave man a conscience for a
good reason. To conform to His will.
“Reason often makes mistakes but
conscience never does.” Josh Billings
“Most people follow our conscience as we
follow a wheelbarrow. We push it in front
of us where we want to go.” Billy Graham
He has given you wisdom and knowledge
about His WAY.
When we stray from that
path we are vulnerable
to Satan’s
confederates.
“To walk out of God’s will is walk into
nowhere.”
C.S. Lewis
Satan has studied the
psychology of man.
Satan used the oldest
Psychology ploy in his
playbook of deceit to
deceive mankind
Play Book for Evil against
mankind
Why is God keeping something from you?
There is a difference between doubt and
unbelief.
Doubt is a matter of mind; we can’t
understand what God is doing or why He
is doing it.
Unbelief is a matter of will: We refuse to
believe God’s word and obey what he tells
us to do. (Warren Wersbe)
He used Eve’s human
curiosity to convince her to
eat of the tree of Good and
Evil
Satan Told Eve she would come to know the
difference between good and evil.
Adam’s human
nature gave in
to Eve’s pleas
and those
decisions cost
them eternal
life and
estranged
mankind to
the true God.
All decisions have consequences. All big
decisions have big consequences, and if
you don’t think about those consequences
now, you may pay a big price later.
You are a child of Ja When it comes to moral decisions you will
not need to talk yourself into making the
right decision, but will have to talk yourself
into making the wrong one!
When Satan said she
would know good and
evil all he was offering
her was evil.
She already knew good,
she had never
experienced evil.
What is Evil?
Evil
Morally reprehensible wicked Sinfulness
arising from bad character and offensive
conduct.
Evil & Wickedness
For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of the age, against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
Daniel 10: 12-20
Daniel prayed for help in resolving an
issue presented by King Cyrus.
Gabriel came to help him.
Gabriel was waylaid by Prince of Persia
Had to get Michael the Archangel to help
fight him off so he could be about his
mission to help Daniel
This Prince of Persia was one of Satan’s
generals assigned to this part of the world
or assigned to thwart the success of
certain missions Jehovah assigned to his
messengers.
Don’t be fooled by the apathy of the day
concerning demons and evil spirits.
The Devil uses them to guide willing
human accomplices in doing his work.
Sin Any action that is highly reprehensible to
God.
A transgression of the laws of God
Sin A vitiated state of human nature
in which self is estranged from
God because of conscious
decisions for self ingratiation.
Vitiated
Faulty, defective, impaired, debased in
morale or aesthetic state of mind.
Ineffective due to corruption of
psychological and morale mindset.
There are those pseudo Christians who play
at church.
Believing they are doing enough to satisfy
God.
They follow the traditions of their religion
they read the Bible, go to church, sing in
the choir and believe this regimentation
will be sufficient to get them into heaven.
Most folks are satisfied with the
Regimentation of religion to give
them a sense of salvation
Regimentation
A systematic plan or regular course of
action subject to order and uniformity
following specific patterns of behavior for
the purpose of accomplishing predictable
outcomes.
A regimented frame of mind is comfortable
and non-demanding.
Regimentation requires no exploration or
questioning the status quo.
Regimentation allows the
Christian to exist on the
milk of the word. 1 Corinthians 3:2
Always following the familiar path that does
not provide for spiritual growth.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is
unskilled in the word of righteousness, for
he is a babe.
But solid food belongs o those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:13,14
The Devil plays for keeps, and it is not a game to play on his terms.
Keeping the faith and continuing to grow in
the faith requires . . .
Discipline
Discipline
The maintenance of pre-established
standards.
Keep the faith and the discipline we learn
from his Holy Scriptures.
Keep the disciplined relationship between
you and the heavenly Father through His
Son Yahshua.
Stay in touch all day long.
Exercising the discipline to keep your mind
and body under control. Not giving in to
the base nature of man or being
influenced by others who would separate
you from the faith.
1 Corinthians 9: 25-27
Before all else in you life
Seek ye first the kingdom of Ja
and his righteousness.
Matthew 6:33
Don’t follow the crowd.
They are traveling in the wrong direction
Birds of a feather
flock together.”
Aesop
"You are not going to be what you decide
to be; you are going to be what you decide
to be around." — Dr. Jack Hyles
Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might.
Ephesians 6:1
It is not within your power to resist the evil
demons and spirits prevalent in this world.
It requires the power from the Eternal
We are in a battle and cannot hide from it or
refuse participation.
We are constantly bombarded by visual
and audio material designed to change
your way of living your life.
The entertainment and information media
frame the wicked way of life in such a way
as to make it seem as though it has
always been normal.
The propaganda industry vilifies any one who
denies the properness of immoral or evil
activities.
“Worldly people like to stereotype those
who hold conservative beliefs.
Stereotyping is labeling, putting those
people in a box in order to dismiss them
as ignorant, prudish or out-of-touch.”
Ken Swiger
The problem of labeling people or
ideas, putting them in a box and
dismissing them is they are rarely
given adequate or correct reasons for
the label
1. Maintain your disciplined relationship with
the Eternal.
1. Maintain your disciplined relationship with
the Eternal.
2. Be there for your God when He calls you.
1. Maintain your disciplined relationship with
the Eternal.
2. Be there for your God when He calls you.
3. Keep the faith by staying in touch,
reading your Bible and talking to and
listening to Him when He speaks to you.
1. Maintain your disciplined relationship with
the Eternal.
2. Be there for your God when He calls you.
3. Keep the faith by staying in touch,
reading your Bible and talking to and
listening to Him when He speaks to you.
4. Following the WAY is a way of life not a
religion.
Value truth above self-interest:
Accepting the truth even when it is not
what you want to believe.
Value truth above self-interest:
Your behavior and subsequent decisions
must be based on reality, not fantasy
regardless of how bright or stark that
reality is.
Do not allow yourself to alter your long held,
beliefs until you are satisfied they are no
longer relevant or true.
But be honest with yourself and
when you discover new truth
embrace it even if it is not what
you want to believe.
Type 1: Those who are eagerly seeking
the truth.
Type 2: Those who are eagerly seeking
justification to hide from the truth.
(There's no in-between; see Rev. 3:16)-
Dwaine Moore
Satan is fierce
Satan usurped this earth and he controlled
the people of the earth by subverting their
human nature
And the devil said unto him, All this
power will I give you, and the glory of
them: for that is delivered unto me and to
whomsoever I will I give it.” Luke 4:6
Apparently he had the power to offer a
partnership to Yahshua for control of the
earth.
It is easy to think of Satan as the ruler of this
world.
But Consider this
This is his kingdom for now
This is God’s Kingdom for
now and forever
Satan’s domain seems pretty
pathetic in comparison
Someday The Master will
retrieve the planet he
created.
Someday The Father will
authorize His son to return and
set up His kingdom here on
this earth.
Every Knee shall bow.
Even the fallen angels
Human Nature will still be part of
the human experience.
But there will be no Evil to
harasses us!
Living for your place
in the kingdom can
be trying at times.