Participants: Don Mackintosh (Host), Timothy Jennings
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000120
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00:51 Hello and welcome to "Health for a Lifetime"
00:53 I'm your host Don Mackintosh 00:54 We're glad that you've joined us today. 00:56 We're going to be talking about our minds today. 00:59 We going to be talking about worship and modeling. 01:02 We're going to be talking with Dr. Timothy Jennings 01:05 He is a Christian psychiatrist from Dalton, Georgia, 01:09 and in your practice, you lead people to know really 01:13 about how to use their minds, 01:14 and how they were designed by God. 01:16 That's right, that's right - many people come with 01:19 various problems and those that are struggling with issues that 01:22 are of a religious nature or just issues where 01:26 they don't know how to intelligently 01:29 use the faculties of their mind, 01:30 and we work on teaching them how to do that 01:32 to recover self-governance and self-control. 01:34 And self-governance, I guess, is learned through understanding 01:38 how the mind is actually organized, 01:40 and you've developed a model, I think that is a gripping model 01:43 It's one of the reasons that 01:44 I invited you to be on the program - that we want to 01:47 review right now and it gives us a basis for talking about 01:51 modeling and worship... work us through that, will you? 01:53 Okay, the highest faculties we possess are those faculties 01:57 which God has created us with that make us in His image, 02:00 and as Christians, we call those faculties 02:02 our spiritual nature. 02:03 And the spiritual nature is not some ethereal, mystical vapor 02:08 that comes in and out of the body, 02:10 but it is those faculties, those abilities, those capabilities 02:13 that make us in God's image. 02:14 The highest of those faculties is our ability to reason, 02:17 weigh evidences, draw conclusions, 02:19 but reason is not enough! 02:21 God designed that reason should work in conjunction with 02:24 conscience and the conscience is the mental faculty that is 02:27 sensitive to the movements of the Spirit of God. 02:29 What's right and wrong... Exactly! 02:30 And God can impress us directly through his conscience. 02:34 But conscience isn't a work by 02:36 itself either - they are to work jointly. 02:38 We're going to go into worship today, 02:39 and God created us with an innate 02:41 desire or drive to worship, 02:42 and we're going to come back to that in just a minute. 02:46 The spiritual nature is to direct our will 02:48 which is the aspect of our mind that actually makes choices, 02:52 and we choose to implement the conclusions 02:55 of reason-conscience in the formation of healthy thoughts, 02:58 thinking the right things, formation of healthy beliefs, 03:01 values, morals and the right use of our imagination, 03:03 and in healthy relationships which are from our 03:08 natural desire for relationships and healthy attachments. 03:11 Okay, so those then are subordinate... 03:13 You have feelings at the bottom and you have reason at the top. 03:17 That's exactly right - In God's order of things 03:19 feelings always follow behind, like the caboose on the train, 03:22 they are never to be in charge or to dictate our decisions, 03:25 but they are to be part of our experience and we are not to 03:27 ignore our feelings. 03:28 I tell my patients that feelings are data; 03:31 they are information that you can elevate 03:32 to reason and conscience for evaluation and understanding 03:36 but reason and conscience remains in control. 03:38 So you can't just say... "I FELT that way, 03:40 and that's why I'm doing this" 03:41 When we get into worship, just feeling that that's the way 03:44 to worship is probably not going to be good enough then. 03:46 You're exactly right. 03:48 Well let me ask you a question before we go on... 03:50 You know, I have a diagram like that and it looks so nice, 03:52 and compact, but I wrote it down and if I could just follow 03:55 those steps, then I'd be all right; 03:58 if I reason about it, I know my conscience is there 04:00 and all those different things, I can maybe work my way 04:03 into being a pretty good person. 04:04 Would you say that's true or false? 04:06 Well, it's true and false... 04:09 Because it requires our participation - to be sure, 04:12 but all by ourselves, without the assistance or the input 04:17 or the cooperation of God, we would be lost. 04:19 We cannot do this alone and isolated... 04:22 And, one of the ways to help us from falling into such a trap, 04:26 would be to remember our proper relationship to God. 04:29 God is the Creator and we are created beings. 04:31 We are finite - there are things that we don't know, 04:34 and, therefore, remembering that that relationship 04:39 helps to keep us from becoming filled with self, 04:41 and letting our reason take control to the 04:44 exclusion of our conscience. 04:46 So when the Bible says He works in us both to will and to do His 04:49 good purpose - does He do it then? 04:52 Well yes and - I have to say this... no 04:56 He won't do it against your will. 04:58 Okay, so it requires our willful participation with Him, 05:03 and God's goal is to heal the faculties of the mind 05:05 that He created in us, to restore those faculties 05:07 in proper balance - so that we have a nobled reason 05:10 ...a clear conscience, healthy worship, 05:12 a strengthened will and we make healthy choices 05:17 moment-to-moment, that we are able to discern 05:19 the right from the wrong. 05:20 Now, some people I've heard pray... 05:21 "Lord, I surrender my will to You - You take control" 05:24 "I don't want to be in control anymore; 05:26 I've made too many mistakes" 05:27 I've even heard some people made the analogy of... 05:30 "Well whenever I'm in the driver's seat of my life, 05:33 I mess up and wreck my life, but I want to just ride in the 05:36 passenger seat and let the Lord 05:38 drive and be in control" Sounds good! 05:40 Yes, it sounds good but the Lord won't do it... 05:42 Because to take control of your life, 05:44 means to take control of your will and if He's in control, 05:47 and you're not, you're not able to freely choose to love Him. 05:50 And we used an analogy before, 05:51 but I'll just hit it real quick again... 05:52 Imagine you could take some nano-chips, 05:55 put them into your children... 05:56 Nano-chips are microscopic computer chips. 05:58 ...Put them into your children and have them lodge 06:00 in your children's brains, make a network that you could 06:02 interact with your computer... 06:03 And then you could program your children, 06:05 you could be in control... program your children to come 06:07 and tell you that they love you 4 times a day. 06:09 Would that be love? No... 06:11 No... and if God takes control of us - in that way, 06:16 then we are not able to love Him - 06:17 we only are robots at that point. 06:19 The way God takes control is by establishing 06:23 His truth in our hearts, His principles that we come 06:25 to understand and intelligently 06:27 cooperate with Him as free-will beings. 06:29 And then we make healthy choices that He has 06:31 helped us see and revealed to us... Right, exactly 06:34 Okay, then why does God say, or what does it mean when He 06:37 says, "Worship Me?" 06:39 You know, a lot of people think 06:40 that - critics will sometimes say - 06:42 "God says "worship Me" because He is insecure, 06:44 He needs our affection. " 06:45 Some say, "Well no, God is a loving Being and He wants us 06:48 to worship Him because He wants 06:49 to share in that relationship with us. " 06:50 Others will say, "Well God is the Creator and He is the 06:54 Sovereign, He is the all-powerful and He has the 06:56 right to our worship. " 06:57 But there is another reason for worship... 07:00 Those things may be somewhat true... 07:01 Those MAY BE somewhat true, but if we leave it there, 07:03 we miss the bigger reason. 07:05 And the bigger reason is... 07:06 God created a law in the universe that I call 07:09 the law of worship; 07:10 psychiatrists call it... the law of modeling. 07:13 And the law of modeling in the Bible is referred to as... 07:16 "By beholding, we become changed" 07:18 And we actually assimilate ourselves or adapt ourselves 07:21 or become like things we worship and admire. 07:24 So the reason for worship was to help us. 07:26 Exactly! As the highest created beings on this planet, 07:29 there is nothing we can worship, on this planet, and grow. 07:35 Everything we worship on this planet will devolve. 07:37 In ancient Egypt, there was a frog-god. 07:40 Imagine, today, if you were a worshipper of the frog-god, 07:42 you might have a little idol of a frog in your home, 07:44 and you gather your family around at the end of the day, 07:47 and say, "Dear lord frog, 07:48 Bless mommy and daddy and help me be like you. " 07:50 And then he hops away and you're in trouble. Yeah 07:52 Or in India today, there is a form of Hinduism, 07:55 a sect of Hinduism, that worships the rat. 07:57 And if you go into one of their temples, 07:59 they have a large idol of a rat; 08:01 the temple is infested with rats and they have bowls of grain 08:04 around this idol of a rat... 08:06 And the worshipper goes up and picks up a handful of grain, 08:09 and lets the rats come eat out of their hand, 08:10 and it's considered a great blessing 08:12 to be bitten by a rat! OH man... 08:15 And they believe in reincarnation, 08:17 and they pray that when they die, 08:19 they might be reincarnated as a rat. 08:21 Now consider this... beings created in the 08:23 image of God with dignity, nobility of character, 08:25 intelligence, individuality, PRAYING as their 08:28 highest goal to become a rat. 08:30 Yes, that's not being restored to any image 08:33 that we want to be restored to. 08:34 Exactly! God says worship Him because it is only 08:37 in worshipping Him that His intelligent creatures 08:39 throughout the universe continually 08:41 advance and continually grow. 08:42 He is the only Being in the universe 08:44 than can be worshipped and not be selfish 08:46 because by worshipping Him, 08:47 He is giving of Himself to all creation. 08:49 But any other being in the universe that seeks worship, 08:53 becomes self-centered because they don't have anything 08:55 they can give that will cause the rest of the beings 08:57 that are worshipping them to grow in advance, 08:58 and actually destroys the beings 09:00 that worship any other being. 09:01 So when we say - Why does God say, "Worship me," 09:05 you're asking - Why does the Creator God say "Worship Me" 09:08 because there are many other gods that say "Worship me" 09:11 I mean, all around us, every day 09:13 they are calling upon us to do that. 09:16 It is only the true Creator God that can say - Worship Me, 09:19 in a healthy way because He, by worshipping Him, 09:22 He is giving of Himself for your own growth and advancement. 09:25 It makes it a whole new idea about the exodus; 09:28 He led them out of all those different things 09:30 they worshipped whether it be scarab beetle and bugs, 09:33 or the Nile and then comes and says, "Worship Me" 09:36 and He says, "Why? Because I created heavens and earth. " 09:39 Well and Paul, in Romans the first chapter talks about 09:42 people who reject the Creator God, 09:43 and worship the created THINGS, 09:45 that they minds become darkened and futile. 09:48 And it's not because God curses their mind, 09:50 it's when you worship a frog, as we described, or a rat, 09:53 where else can your mind go - but in the darkness? 09:56 So then these people that claim not to believe in God 09:59 so they don't need to worship, there's really nothing to that. 10:02 Well, everyone worships something. 10:05 People who claim to not believe in God, they still worship. 10:10 Some may call worship a drive for meaning or purpose, 10:12 looking outside of one's self or frame of orientation, 10:15 which gives focus, meaning purpose and direction to life. 10:18 "Centering" I've heard. Yes 10:20 Some might worship the Dallas Cowboys; 10:22 some might worship the scientific method or themselves, 10:25 or money, but everyone worships something. 10:28 Karl Jasper, in his book "Way to Wisdom" states... 10:36 That's an interesting quotation. 10:38 So in other words, he is saying... 10:39 Whatever you center on, that really becomes your God. 10:43 Yes, and Richard Creel, in "Religion and Doubt" states, 10:54 And so the question is not "Are we worshipping?" 10:57 The question is, "What are we worshipping?" 11:00 So it's really a false dichotomy or it's a false premise to say- 11:05 "Because I don't believe, 11:06 I don't worship" That's exactly right 11:08 Because if you ARE, you you worship. 11:10 That's exactly right... 11:11 If you have awareness, you worship. 11:13 So the question is... "What are you worshipping?" 11:15 And maybe in your practice with your patients, 11:19 you have to figure out what it is they exactly are worshipping 11:22 and that helps you diagnose or see-through 11:25 and understand the problems they're dealing with. 11:28 Yes, because worship directly affects the health of reason, 11:32 and the health of conscience, the use of the will, 11:35 and the overall health of the mind. 11:36 It's interesting and all the commandments, 11:38 when you think about them, they are related to worship 11:41 and they have to do with focusing on God 11:43 and not others and that really affects our relationships. 11:46 I was thinking, for instance, the 7th commandment, 11:49 "Don't commit adultery" is really saying 11:51 don't worship someone else or don't give someone else 11:54 attention under God than your wife or your husband. Right 11:58 So those kind of things are what you see playing out in your 12:02 practice and what you're dealing with from day-to-day. 12:05 Can a person who has never accepted Christ 12:09 or, you know, like we have accepted, 12:12 we hear about that in a Western culture, 12:14 accepting Christ in 3 points in a poem or whatever... 12:18 Can they be worshipping God, the true God? 12:23 Well there's a great quote from a 19th century theologian 12:27 that many of your audience may have heard of, 12:28 the name - George MacDonald, and his quote is... 12:30 "Everything depends on the kind of God one believes in. 12:34 Instead of automatically blaming the person 12:36 who does not believe in God, we should ask first - 12:39 if his notion of God is a God that ought to be believed in. " 12:43 And so, some representations of 12:47 God are so distorted possibly... Hideous... 12:52 That a person, if that was the only representation 12:56 given to them, might make the BEST decision 12:58 to reject that representation of God. 13:01 And so there are people that 13:02 may have not heard the true picture of God. 13:04 Now, Paul in Romans the first chapter says that... 13:06 God's invisible qualities and divine nature have been 13:10 clearly seen in nature so that men are without excuse. 13:13 And so there are realities about God that have been 13:16 revealed in nature and the Holy Spirit is working 13:19 in everyone's heart and mind whether they have made 13:21 an affirmative proclamation of a belief in God or not, 13:25 so that it is possible for someone to be following God 13:29 in the leadings of the Holy Spirit - 13:31 that have not yet come to an affirmative 13:33 confession of faith in God ... Or in Christ. 13:36 Certainly, I mean even in the Old Testament, 13:39 He was called the Messiah and 13:40 wasn't called Christ until later on. 13:42 Well even in the issue of Christ Himself, He said... 13:45 that in the last day, they will come to Him and 13:47 say - Lord, Lord, we prophesied in Your name. 13:49 We cast out demons in Your name. 13:51 We performed miracles in Your name. 13:53 Not in the name of Buddha or Hare Krishna, 13:54 in the name of Jesus and He will say - 13:56 "Get thee hence, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you" 14:01 So you can even have an affirmative faith in Christ 14:02 and still not be worshipping the true God. 14:04 We're talking with Dr. Timothy Jennings 14:07 We're talking about the mind. 14:08 We're talking about worship. 14:09 We're talking about modeling. 14:11 Join us when we come back. 14:12 We'll be talking about television, 14:14 and it's effect on our minds - You won't want to miss it. 14:25 Have you found yourself wishing that 14:26 you could shed a few pounds? 14:28 Have you been on a diet for most of your life 14:30 but not found anything that will really keep the weight off? 14:33 If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions, 14:36 then we have a solution for you that works! 14:39 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington 14:42 have written a marvelous booklet called... 14:44 "Reversing Obesity Naturally" 14:46 and we'd like to send it to you FREE of charge. 14:49 Here's a medically sound approach successfully used 14:52 by thousands who were able to eat more and lose weight 14:55 permanently without feeling guilty or hungry 14:58 through lifestyle medicine. 14:59 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 15:03 and in this booklet, they present a sensible 15:05 approach to eating, nutrition and lifestyle changes 15:08 that can help you prevent heart disease, diabetes, 15:11 and EVEN cancer. 15:12 Call or write today for your free copy of... 15:14 "Reversing Obesity Naturally" 15:16 and you could be on your way to a healthier, happier YOU! 15:19 It's ABSOLUTELY free of charge, so call or write today. 15:31 Welcome back, we've been talking with Dr. Timothy Jennings 15:34 We've been talking about our MIND and how God has 15:37 organized it and put it together in a way that He can really be 15:41 leading our lives if we allow Him to. 15:43 You've suggested that there is a hierarchy in the mind 15:46 with the spiritual leading out; 15:48 that being the conscience and the reason and worship 15:51 and then the will being OUR choice about what we're 15:54 going to do with that information, 15:56 and then the thoughts and then, of course, the feelings 15:58 of being down at the bottom- 15:59 important but still following it along - giving affirmation 16:03 to our good choices, hopefully. Right 16:05 Is that a good way to summarize it? Right 16:08 And we want to talk a little bit more about modeling now. 16:10 You've suggested that God wants us to worship Him, 16:14 follow His example, not only for His joy but for our benefit 16:19 for our re-creation. Right 16:21 And, you've done some research or looked at some research 16:24 that has to do with modeling. 16:25 I think you wanted to share something about 16:27 that with us on television. 16:28 There was an interesting study done by Dr. Centerwall 16:31 published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" 16:33 and Dr. Centerwall wanted to diagram or actually document 16:38 the effects of television on the society, 16:40 and he asked the question... 16:42 Does television in a society increase the amount of violence 16:46 violence in that society? 16:47 In other words, if they watch it, 16:48 would they behold it and then become changed? Exactly 16:53 And he wanted to use a very black and white demarcation 16:56 measurement of violence, so he used 16:58 homicide rates - murder rates. 17:00 And he looked at murder rates in the United States, 17:02 Canada and South Africa. 17:04 Now the reason he chose these 3 countries... 17:05 The United States and Canada introduced television in 1945. 17:09 South Africa did not introduce television until 1974. 17:13 He chose Canada because Canada has very strict 17:15 gun control laws and the United States doesn't. 17:18 He didn't want any increase in murder rates in the 17:21 United States to be attributed to the fact that guns are so 17:24 easily available... 17:25 And so he looked at these 3 societies... 17:27 and from 1945... Oh, and by the way, 17:30 in South Africa, just to do away with any possibility of 17:33 racial issues and the apartheid policies playing a role, 17:36 he looked at white on white murder only. Okay 17:39 And from 1945-1974, in the United States, 17:45 after the introduction of television, 17:47 the murder rates increased by 93%, 17:50 and in Canada during that same time, 17:53 they went up to 92%. 17:54 But in South Africa where TV had not been introduced 17:57 during the same period of time, murder rates dropped by 7%. 18:01 Now, his next aspect was to look at these 3 countries 18:05 from 1974-1987 because television was introduced 18:10 into South Africa in 1974 and what we found was 18:14 in South Africa, the murder rates jumped by 130% 18:18 after television was introduced; white on white murder. 18:21 Wow - so there was a HUGE correlation then. 18:25 Yes and the study has been so powerful, 18:28 and other studies have been done that confirmed this study. 18:31 The "American Academy of Pediatrics" has come on record 18:34 and stated - called that no children, under the age of 2, 18:39 should watch any amount of television at all. 18:41 And those that are 2 and older 18:42 should only watch very limited 18:44 and restricted amounts of television. 18:45 And that was based on this study. 18:47 This study and other studies like it, yes. 18:48 So should people be watching us? 18:51 That's a very good question! 18:54 I'll leave that answer to you. 18:55 Well I think there's probably a difference between 18:58 programming that's positive in nature, 19:01 and negative in nature, wouldn't you agree? 19:03 Yes, there's no question about that. 19:04 The television itself is not an evil instrument, 19:07 it's what is coming across the television, 19:09 and it can be used for good or for evil... 19:11 And much of the material, as we know in our society, 19:14 that is put out on television is ultimately destructive in nature 19:18 So maybe the reason the "American Academy of Pediatrics" 19:21 didn't get into it is they didn't want to be making 19:23 a moral judgment about what 19:25 is right or wrong - just to avoid it all. Yes 19:27 Yes, especially for children. 19:28 Children - a 2-year-old wouldn't 19:30 be able to benefit from this program... That's right 19:34 Yes, usually television is not to benefit children at any time, 19:39 many times because they want just something to take 19:41 the child's attention so they don't have to watch the child. 19:44 That's the unfortunate reality. Yes - exactly 19:46 So maybe there are multiple factors, 19:48 but I think that the research clearly shows that by beholding 19:51 the concepts, the images, the things on TV, 19:55 that destructive elements occur. 19:56 Television also, different from radio. 20:00 You see, when you listen to radio, 20:02 you have to use your own imagination to visualize 20:05 and create an image in your mind. 20:06 When you read a book, you have to do that too. 20:08 But with television, the images are created for you; 20:12 you don't have to do any thinking whatever, 20:14 you just sit there and zone-out. 20:17 Someone has told me that reading is probably the best, 20:20 and then next is audio, then television - 20:22 in terms of the amount of the mind you're using. 20:26 I don't know the truth of that or not, 20:30 but that would seem to go along with what you're saying. 20:33 The other aspect to this is that television gets people 20:36 to participate vicariously, meaning that you can 20:39 get these emotional responses and you can be choosing 20:42 things in your mind that are unhealthy. 20:44 Remember Christ said in Matthew chapter 5, 20:47 He told the people there - You say that if you commit 20:49 adultery, you've committed sin. 20:50 And I say if you look at a woman 20:52 with lust in your heart, you've committed sin. 20:54 You say, if you commit murder, you commit sin. 20:55 I say, if you hate your brother in your heart, you commit sin. 20:58 And in television, it sets up scenario after scenario, 21:01 after scenario in which you find yourself in a situation 21:03 with some poor maiden in distress running down a pier 21:06 for her life with 3 giant villains after her, 21:09 about to destroy her and kill her and she stumbles upon a 21:11 pistol and in your mind, your looking at them going - 21:14 "Shoot them, shoot them" 21:15 So it's leading you down a pathway, 21:19 and leading your mind down a pathway that you 21:22 would never choose any other way. 21:24 Exactly, and it's having you do 21:25 this repetitively in multiple scenarios. 21:28 So that's really a form of worship then, 21:31 and it kind of gets your focus off the right thing, 21:33 and models behavior of a type of person that you don't want to 21:37 end up being like and kind of sets your mind... 21:40 You want to stay away from that. 21:42 Yes and it also creates a world that is not possible 21:45 for you to create in your own experience. 21:48 I mean, imagine the young girl at home that sees 21:52 these images on TV and she then becomes dissatisfied 21:56 with her own life at home... 21:58 She wants to be this other person. 21:59 Well this other person is just a fictitious imagination 22:02 created by lights, cameras, Hollywood trickery, 22:06 and other things, but she now isn't satisfied 22:09 with herself, she's restless, she's uneasy, 22:11 and she is not at peace with herself at home. 22:13 A huge tool for propaganda and for manipulating. 22:17 Well, that would be a negative side of worship and modeling. 22:22 How can we choose more appropriate ways to 22:25 worship God, healthy ways to worship God? 22:28 Well, most importantly, we want forms of worship 22:31 that are going to strengthen our spiritual nature. 22:33 In other words, strengthen our reasoning abilities, 22:35 cleanse our conscience, have healthy relationships 22:38 with God and with each other 22:41 to improve our values and belief systems constantly, 22:47 to use our imagination in healthy ways, 22:49 not in unhealthy ways. 22:50 Now the way we do this is by thinking. 22:53 Paul said in Romans chapter 14, "Let everyone be fully 22:55 persuaded in his own mind. " 22:56 Isaiah 1:18-20, God said, "Come let us reason together 23:03 though your sins be like scarlet they will be made like snow 23:06 Though they are red like crimson they will be made like wool" 23:08 And it is the process of reasoning out the truth, 23:12 thinking it through, weighing it out, 23:14 coming to a conclusion and then willfully choosing the truth 23:17 that we cooperate with God for the healing of our minds. 23:20 So that's the next part of that verse... 23:22 If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land. 23:25 Exactly... and what is it the Holy Spirit will do for us, 23:27 and what the Holy Spirit will NOT do for us? 23:29 What the Holy Spirit does is... 23:31 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. 23:32 The Holy Spirit enlightens our minds. 23:34 The way I like to see it is that when I look 23:36 at the Godhead and their different functions, 23:37 I see Christ as a member of the Godhead 23:40 who has been intervening to bring historical facts to light. 23:44 In other words, He has actually been acting and doing. 23:46 In the context of history... 23:49 Have you ever seen those connect-the-dot books? 23:51 Okay, everyone of those dots would be some historical 23:53 event that Christ has done - whether it be leading the 23:56 Children of Israel out of Egypt and being the Rock 23:58 that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 10, 24:00 that watered them, or whether it be at the Cross. 24:03 He has given us dots of historical fact. 24:06 The Holy Spirit comes along and connects the dots. 24:08 So it enlightens our mind to the truth. 24:10 And so the Holy Spirit enlightens our mind to truth, 24:13 but THEN the Holy Spirit leaves us FREE. 24:15 The Holy Spirit will NEVER make the choice for us. 24:19 We have to exercise the will. 24:20 Exactly and then when we make the choice though - 24:23 then we receive divine power to follow through on that choice. 24:26 Consider the example of the smoker... 24:28 A smoker may pray all he wants for deliverance from smoking, 24:32 but if he never chooses to set the cigarettes down, 24:34 God will not send an angel to snatch it out of his mouth. 24:37 That's correct... But when he does choose 24:40 to set the cigarettes down, he receives divine power 24:43 to follow through on that choice. 24:44 So this is really a form of worship where we then 24:49 exercise our reason and we do things that can 24:51 strengthen that or put the right decisions in front of us, 24:55 then we exercise our will to follow through on those... 24:57 So Bible reading would be effective, 24:59 and reading Christian literature and those kind of things. 25:02 Not only effective, NECESSARY... 25:04 We don't possess within us the understanding of 25:06 which direction to go - to go left, to go right... 25:08 Imagine yourself being in a dark cave... No light whatever! 25:13 And you're lost - and then you see a light 25:15 shinning from way down the other end of the cave... 25:18 If you follow that light, that light leads you out. 25:20 CHRIST is the light. 25:22 We are in a darkened world and only by following the light 25:25 as revealed in the life of Christ, 25:26 and ultimately in His Word, 25:27 are we able to map our chart of course to health in this world 25:32 So the Bible then becomes very important 25:34 in helping people be healed from whatever they're facing, 25:38 especially mental illness or these other things, 25:41 and your practice helps them get out of maladaptive 25:44 worship schemes, if you will. 25:46 There's no question about it. 25:47 It's become very popular recently in medicine - 25:50 to include spiritual issues or worship in medical practices. 25:54 There has been a lot of research done about it. 25:56 but particularly, meditation has become very popular. 26:00 That could be dangerous if it's not the right kind, right? 26:03 Exactly, and I wanted to talk about that with you. 26:05 There are certain forms of meditation that require people 26:08 to empty their mind. 26:09 They ask people to close their eyes, to take cleansing breaths, 26:12 to repeat a certain word or certain short phrase, 26:15 repetitively, over and over and over again. 26:19 To empty one's mind, exactly right... Probably not good 26:21 And in the Bible, you will not 26:24 find that type of meditation anywhere. 26:26 I was at a conference where this was being taught 26:29 to healthcare providers, over 2,000 people there, 26:32 and healthcare providers are being taught 26:33 this type of meditation... 26:34 And they had a rabbi, and they had several different 26:37 ministers or priests from Christian denominations... 26:39 And I asked them all... 26:40 If this type of meditation could be documented 26:44 in either the Torah or the Bible, 26:46 and all of them have said, "no," it's outside the Bible. 26:49 You find it in Judaism and you find it in Christianity, 26:51 but not in the Bible. 26:53 Very dangerous then. 26:55 Oh yes, because when the Bible calls us to meditate, 26:57 it calls us to meditate on God's handiwork, 27:00 or in God's Word, on nature, on His creation... 27:03 In other words, we have a focus that is higher 27:05 and outside of ourselves that lifts us up and ennobles us. 27:08 So focusing in on Him and on His Word, 27:12 will direct us the right way. 27:13 We shouldn't be clearing our minds because then the 27:15 devil can come in and take over. 27:17 But, if we open our minds to the Word, He'll take over. Exactly 27:21 We've been talking with Dr. Timothy Jennings 27:24 We've been talking about the mind, 27:27 the law of modeling and the law of worship. 27:30 We need to be focusing in on our relationship 27:33 with the Lord and His revealed Word. 27:36 We've learned about the effects of some of the things 27:39 in our culture that can be very damaging or very helpful 27:42 depending on whether or not God is involved. 27:44 If you've been listening today and you've been gripped by 27:47 this presentation and you'd like more information, 27:49 we hope that you do contact us. 27:51 We hope that today's program will bring healing 27:54 and health to you and that as a result 27:56 you'll have Health that Lasts for a Lifetime. |
Revised 2014-12-17