Click to see preamble.

   

 
APRIL 1, 2018

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
   REPEAT FROM DECEMBER 3, 2017 
"Rediscovering Our Foundation"
with Pastor Guy Ascherman, Redding Christian Fellowship Church
 
Hour 1 WE THE PEOPLE RADIO Hour 2 WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
 

Guy Ascherman

 Director, Clinical Supervisor - Higher Ground Counseling

Licensed Therapist

MA, LMFT – 42120, LPCC – LPC193, AACC Life Coach

Visit my BLOG

GuyAschermanHG@gmail.com  (530) 941-9003

My wife, Anita, and I have dated since the 8th grade. We have been married for 43 years, have three grown sons, two daughters in Heaven, and ten grandchildren.  Jesus entered our lives when we were 22 years-old, living in Reno, attending the College of Agriculture at UNR.

Over the years, the Lord has allowed a rich diversity in our experiences. Like most people, that rich diversity is usually appreciated more in hind sight than at the moment.  Pain is a great teacher, but rarely appreciated until it has passed. Our journey has included church planting and pastoring, Christian school planting and teaching, church administration, and banking and financing.

In more recent years, as a result of seeking a deeper understanding of our souls, I studied at National University in Redding, became a licensed therapist, and love to contemplate the soul of man.  The spiritual journey is a fascinating one, and required if we desire health physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Our counselors are trained to evaluate the whole person, and lead people to health and meaning for their lives.

On Today's Show

 

Psalm 11:3 (NKJV) 

 

3 If the foundations are destroyed,  What can the righteous do? 

 

Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV)

16 Thus says the LORD:

    “Stand in the ways and see,

    And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,

    And walk in it;

    Then you will find rest for your souls.

    But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

 

American Foundations

Harvard – the first University founded on American Soil

By the Puritans…  1636

The original rules and precepts for Harvard

“Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore lay Christ at the bottom, as the ONLY foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”

MOTTO – “Truth for Christ and the church.”

 

Yale – 1701 – to train ministers and lay politicians.  Ten pastors, “The Founders” got together and donated their libraries to form the first Yale Library.

 

Princeton – 1746 – Founding Statement

“Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”

 

Benjamin Franklin was asked, as he waked out of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, “Dr. Franklin, what form of government did you give us?”  He replied, “A republic.  I hope you can keep it.”

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

 

G. Morris – a speaker at the Constitutional Convention, and one who actually helped write the Constitution.

“Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God.”

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Vladimir Lenin

"To rely upon conviction, devotion, and other excellent spiritual qualities; that is not to be taken seriously in politics."

 

"There can be nothing more abominable than religion."

 

"If we can effectively kill the national pride and patriotism of just one generation, we will have won that country. Therefore, there must be continued propaganda abroad to undermine the loyalty of citizens in general, and teenagers in particular. By making drugs of various kinds readily available, by creating the necessary attitude of chaos, idleness and worthlessness, and by preparing him psychologically and politically, we can succeed." - Vladimir Lenin

 

"We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn toward those who disagree with us."

 

Samuel Adams, Governor of Massachusetts, one of our Founding Fathers.  

His resistance to British rule resulted in the Boston Tea Party in 1773.  

In 1790 – in a letter to his cousin John Adams, our second president…

“Let diviners and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”

 

John Adams, our second President…

“Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”

“We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion… Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

 

Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence…

“We profess to be republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government.  That is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.”

“The only foundation for a republic is to be lain in religion.  Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”

 

Charles Carroll, another signer of the Declaration of Independence,

“Without morals, a republic cannot survive any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion … are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”

 

Patrick Henry

“The Great pillars of all government and social life are virtue, morality, and religion.  This is the armor, and this alone, that renders us invincible.”

 

George Washington’s Farewell Address…

“Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  … In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens… And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”

 

NEA – National Education Association – 1892 – issued a warning about the secular progression of the public schools – a recent experiment in American History.

“If the study of the Bible is to be excluded from all state schools; if the inculcation of the principles of Christianity is to have no place in the daily program; if the worship of God is to form no part of the general exercises of these public elementary schools; then the good of the state would be better served by restoring all schools to church control.”

Noah Webster considered education useless without the Bible.

In 1836 he wrote - “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

 

Daniel Webster, and early Secretary of State,

“To preserve government we must also preserve morals.  Morality rests on religion; if you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall.  When the public mind becomes impaired and corrupt, laws are a nullity and Constitutions are a waste of paper.”

 

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the university of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian republic some 2,000 years prior: 

 "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.  From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

 

 

Isaiah 59:14–15 (NKJV)

    14      Justice is turned back,

    And righteousness stands afar off;

    For truth is fallen in the street,

    And equity cannot enter.

    15      So truth fails,

    And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

    Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him

    That there was no justice.

 

Blaisé Pascal:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a4/bb/16/a4bb16560a3e15cd8f9a14b08c68b76c.jpg

Frédéric Bastiat "The Law"      http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

 

Why Christian Therapy? Part 1 of 10

Blog  Christian Counseling

By Guy Ascherman, MA, LMFT, LPCC, Life Coach

I want to use this series of blogs to address the validity of Christian Psychotherapy and Family Therapy, and the bias against a Christian orientation of psychology in academic circles, and thus the influence upon the profession and practice of individual and family therapy.
I live and practice individual and family counseling in Shasta County, California. In this county, the 10 largest faith groups include Roman Catholic, Mormon, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Independent Evangelical, Independent Baptist, Southern Baptist, Assembly of God, Seventh Day Adventist, Nazarene, and United Methodist. Twenty-Seven percent of the population in Shasta County claims to have a religious affiliation. Of this 27%, 18.9% fall in the category of these top 10 groups, and 25.9% fall in the category of Christian. Non-Christian religious traditions include Baha’I, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and Buddhist. Combined, these non-Christian religious affiliates represent 1.1% of Shasta County’s population.1
Outside of California, the percentage of the population aligning with the Christian faith is much larger. Forty-nine percent of the population in the United States has a religious affiliation, again with an overwhelming number of them being Christian. Chances that a family counselor or psychotherapist will have a Christian client are substantial, even inevitable. Having a thorough understanding of the various aspects the Christian faith is essential for a credible therapist, but most graduate programs in Counseling Psychology say little or nothing about the Christian faith. Many testify that their own personal experience in grad school was void of any meaningful discussion of Christian therapy, and this does not appear to be an isolated instance. For example, my textbook for family therapy states:
“Throughout most of the twentieth century psychotherapists have scrupulously avoided bringing spirituality and religion into the counseling room. We’ve wanted to be viewed as respectable clinicians…”2
“A survey of over three thousand articles in family therapy journals found less than one percent that mentioned religion in a positive light.”3
_________________________________________________________________

  1. Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

  2. Nichols and Swartz. 2001. Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods. pp.328-329.

  3. Kelly, E. 1992. Religion in family therapy journals: A review of Marital and Family Therapy, ed. New York: Hawthorne Press.

 

The false stereotype that one cannot be a Christian therapist and also a respectable practitioner has unfortunately caused the academic community to steer clear of Christian Therapy among the many other orientations typically taught. One can only hope that this bias can be reversed in the years to come, so that the vast numbers of Christians in the US can be treated effectively. As to spirituality in the therapy room, it is interesting that Christianity seems to be getting left out but non-Christian spiritual views are not. This might be understood as a typical post-modern response to the Christian view that truth does exist and the law of non-contradiction isolates it from any other claims to truth, whatever the source. Truth is a quality of completeness that cannot be exceeded. It stands in contrast to relative or subjective truth, which finds a comfortable audience in university settings. Rightfully, both Christian and secular psychology understand the subjective nature of the emotional experiences of our clients, but a Christian frames the emotional world as needing parameters based upon the existence of unvarying and permanent life foundations.
The bias against absolute Truth and against Christian therapy is undeniable. It is also an observation and personal experience that even Christian Universities do not always teach Christian Therapy as a viable orientation. Christian universities often focus on a secular medical model without introducing graduate students to the valid place the Christian worldview holds, or warn of the inappropriateness of using secular or alternate spiritual interventions with a Christian population. Additionally, many therapists who themselves are personally aligned with the Christian faith are intimidated by the professional psychotherapy culture and have incorrectly been led to believe that Christianity should not be brought into the therapy room. Operating from the standpoint of the client’s world view, whatever it may be, is ethically required, or the therapist should refer the client to a therapist who is comfortable with Christianity.
“But is it possible to explore a family’s spiritual world without proselytizing or losing sight of the problem solving mission of therapy? Hawaiian therapist Paul Pearsall says it’s not only possible, it’s critical. He believes that people’s answers to those larger questions and the degree to which they live in harmony with their answers are intimately related to their emotional and physical health. He thinks that people need to feel connected – not only to their spouses and children, but also to something greater – to their ancestors, to a higher power, to an explanatory system that gives meaning to their lives and makes them feel loved.”1
It is encouraging to get this small acknowledgement from Nichols and Swartz, however their own textbook commits only 1 page to this subject, and concludes with:
“It will be interesting to see how this new spiritual emphasis affects family therapy… Yet the reluctance to impose, or the fear of being put on the spot about one’s own belief’s, will likely keep spirituality from being a central theme for some time to come.1
 
_________________________________________________________________

  1. Nichols and Swartz. 2001. Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods. pp.328-329.

 

It has been my observation in Shasta County that spirituality in the therapy room is increasing, but not in the Christian worldview. Some in our community feel very comfortable utilizing New Age and Eastern Philosophy in their therapy. Certainly this is ethical if this is what the client is seeking. If Christian philosophy represents the single largest category of citizens, it is equally ethical to use, and equally ethical to teach in graduate programs. I hear reports and have read articles that the bias against Christian counseling in the academic circles is pervasive across the United States.

On November 30, 2014, Psychology Today published an article on their web page on the subject of mindfulness and its association with Buddhism. The proponents of mindfulness view their approach to psychotherapy as being a gateway into the Buddhist philosophy. In their own words:

“Right mindfulness is the seventh aspect of the eightfold path of Buddhist awakening…

Promoters of “secular” mindfulness avoid using the loaded words “Buddhism” or “religion,” and may even steer clear of mentioning “spirituality” or “meditation.” But

the practice is essentially similar to that taught in many Buddhist basics classes. And the hope, expressed by certain key leaders in the secular mindfulness movement, is that introductory classes … (provide) at least some of them with a doorway into deeper, explicitly Buddhist meditation.”

Coming from a publication that largely represents secular psychology today, this statement reinforces the prejudice that favors eastern mysticism and philosophy but holds Christianity at arms length to say the least.

Prior to the middle of the 19th century, most counseling in the western world was based upon a Christian philosophy. With the advancement of rationalism, secularism, modernism, and post-modernism over the past 150 years, Christian philosophy and counseling continues to fall more and more out of favor because in academic circles the idea that absolute truth even exists is deemed as prejudice against subjective truth. But we must ask: Is society improving? Is emotional health improving? Are families doing better? Granted, there has never been a perfect world, but are we moving closer or further away from a healthier and more stable life?

Prior to the 19th century, the Bible held a prominent place in understanding psychological health. The word “psyche” appears 105 times in the Greek New Testament. It is translated mostly as “soul,” “life,” and “heart.”   The Bible is a psychology book, teaching us about love, life and emotions, and has been used for thousands of years. Is secular or eastern philosophy making improvements over centuries old approaches to understanding life? If not, isn’t it time to reconsider the unnecessary biases against Christian counseling, and at the very least use a Christian worldview for the 25-49% of our population that desire it? And shouldn’t it at least be incorporated into our graduate programs as an orientation that is as effective as any other secular or eastern view?