Doctrines of Demons: Christian Psychology

What happens when the cross is emptied of its power

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul warned the early church not to add to the gospel by bringing in godless ideas from the outside world that were promoted as "new revelations."

Here's what Paul said: "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." (1 Corinthians 1:17)

To fellow apostle Timothy, Paul wrote this: "Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith." (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

Certainly, humanistic psychology didn't exist in Paul's day, and it wouldn't appear until many centuries later. 

However, various false teachings such as Docetism and Arianism were present during the early days of the church that threatened to dilute and pervert the gospel. 

The apostle Jude also urged the early Christians to watch out for those who would attempt to invade the church with dangerous heresies: "For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." (Jude 1:4)  

Today, with the exception of ecumenism, "Christian" Psychology has become the most dangerous heresy to invade the church since its inception. 

The very term Christian Psychology is a classic oxymoron because Christianity and humanistic psychology are totally incompatible. True Christianity comes from heaven while humanistic psychology comes from the godless, secular world.

Furthermore, no such term as Christian Psychology can even be found in the thousands of books, manuals, periodicals and digital files that list various psychologies named after their founders such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. 

What is the name of the Christian who founded Christian Psychology? There is no such person. Then where did that term come from? It came from those who found the scriptures insufficient for their spiritual and emotional fulfillment and therefore brought something into the church that should have been left outside.

The late Christian apologist and cult researcher Dave Hunt (The Berean Call) brilliantly described the fallacy of Christian Psychology along with its anti-biblical worldview. In a June, 2008 newsletter, Hunt wrote this: "How and why would psychology, invented by atheists and anti-Christians as a substitute for God, the Bible and Christianity, provide new insights into the Bible unknown to (and obviously unneeded by) millions of believers over the last 4,000 years or more? And why would we need it now? There is neither a biblical nor rational answer to that logical question."

And Hunt said this: "Of course, (some) Christian psychologists claim to have a firm faith in the inerrancy of Scripture. But no matter how firmly a psychologist adheres to inerrancy of Scripture, they all must deny its sufficiency. This is the only way to justify their profession."

What's the appeal of psychology that motivated the Christian church to embrace this heresy? It's promoted as a "science" when in fact it isn't. It offers a plethora of competing theories--many unprovable--that attempt to explain human behavior from a humanistic viewpoint cloaked with a Christian facade.

The apostle Paul warned that in the end times, preceding the return of Jesus Christ, "some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." (1 Timothy 4:1) "Christian" Psychology is one of those things taught by demons.

In part two, we'll compare the theories of "Christian" Psychology with the scriptures concerning human behavior to understand just how anti-Christian "Christian" Psychology really is.