Psychology, Prayer, and the Spiritual Life

In Pastor Kim’s opinion, psychology is one of the worst academic fields that is anti-Scriptural. That’s because psychology is pseudoscience, just as he believes evolution is pseudoscience. However, he does not mean that someone with a family member suffering from mental issues or mental defects should simply throw away medication, ignore therapy, or reject treatment.

Pastor Kim is not saying that all of psychology should simply be rejected. He explains that, just as with evolution and even with Satan’s statements, there can be an element of truth. A person cannot totally reject science, psychology, or even everything Satan says because there can be an element of truth within them.

That is how Satan deceives people. The element of truth is sufficient to cloak the lies. Christians therefore need to filter things down, see through them, and expose the lies.

Pastor Kim uses Eve as an example. Eve fell into sin because Satan lied to her, but Satan did not entirely lie. He told her that she would know good and evil, and she did.

Concerning psychology, Pastor Kim explains that he took some master’s courses in the subject and saw how easily psychology can replace the spiritual walk with God.

The Christian’s Relationship With Jesus Christ

Pastor Kim emphasizes that sanity, success, mental health, and well-being should be centered upon a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the most important thing in a person’s entire life.

He goes so far as to say that a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ is even more important than doctrine. There are people who have all the doctrinal corrections and yet have a weak spiritual walk. They may know doctrine, but they have not read their Bible or prayed. He questions how that right doctrine will benefit them at the judgment seat of Christ if their spiritual life is neglected.

Pastor Kim also criticizes Bible believers who spend their time on social networks picking fights, criticizing everyone, searching for imperfections in preachers who are trying to preach, teach, and help people grow, and continually finding something to critique. He describes such behavior as coming from someone who thinks he knows everything despite having little spiritual maturity.

Pastor Kim says that people may think he is divisive, but he is against division. He explains that his reason for attacking false preachers is that false doctrine itself causes division and breaks up unity.

Body, Soul, and Spirit

Pastor Kim refers to the basic discipleship teaching concerning body, soul, and spirit.

The soul refers to the real person. The soul is in desperate need of something spiritual.

Pastor Kim explains that the word “psychology” comes from a word “psyche” referring to the soul. Scientists, however, tend to use the word “mind” instead. The reason is that they do not believe in something spiritual. When they refer to the soul, they interchange the concept of soul with the mind. The mind is something they believe can be measured and understood through physical, empirical, and scientific methods relating to the physical realm.

Pastor Kim believes that the spiritual realm is different. The danger of psychology is that the soul is seeking refreshment after going through conflict, pain, and turmoil in life. When God becomes the center of a person’s life during deep turmoil and trouble, that can become the most life-changing experience in his entire life. That experience can permanently change the person’s thinking, character, personality, and entire future.

Psychologists recognize that painful experiences can permanently change people’s lives. Pastor Kim argues that the problem is that psychology removes God from the picture and instead refers to the subjective experience of the client. The emphasis becomes experience,  and experience in the mind. This is why psychology tends to favor a subjective approach.

The Deceitfulness of the Heart

Pastor Kim points to what the Bible says about the human heart.

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Romans 7:18: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

Pastor Kim asks whether a person really trusts himself that much. His answer is that he does not trust himself. He then identifies this as one of the elements of truth in psychology. Psychology recognizes that there is turmoil within a person’s mind and that there can be many thoughts and issues of which the person himself is not fully aware.

Discovering the Deeper Problem

Pastor Kim explains that psychologists attempt to filter through the many thoughts occurring in a person’s mind.

He gives the example of recording oneself speaking. If a person voice-records himself complaining about everything in his life and then listens to the recording, he may realize that he did not know he sounded that way or that he actually believed certain things.Video recording can reveal even more. A person may see his own behavior, manner, facial expressions, and reactions and realize, “What are you doing?” He may even realize, “Wow, I cannot believe that I actually said that.”

Pastor Kim explains that this is similar to what psychologists do through restatements and paraphrases. A client may initially respond that the psychologist’s restatement was not what he meant. The psychologist can then ask what the client really meant. The client begins wording things more carefully. As the psychologist continues to repeat and reflect the statements back, the client may begin to open his mind and realize that there was a great deal of strange or confused thinking going on inside that he did not really believe or mean.

He may have simply been responding according to how his flesh felt. Pastor Kim explains that this affects the flesh, the soul, and the mind. Through this process, the deeper, core issues can begin to emerge. The psychologist’s job is therefore to discover a deeper inner problem of which the client may be unaware.

A person may complain about busyness at work or problems caused by family members. But as the person continues talking about those experiences, the therapist filters what is being said and attempts to discover a deeper meaning or core issue. The therapist then guides the client through the process of discovering that problem. As the client becomes more aware of the core inner issue, the therapist can also discuss possible solutions.

Talking Through Solutions

When a person talks about possible solutions, he is taking the time to ponder, analyze, listen, and pay attention to what he is actually saying. The therapist may ask what solutions the client can think of concerning the core issue. The client may respond with several possibilities. The therapist can then focus on those possibilities.

But the client may respond that even though there is a solution, other things could happen that would prevent it from working. The therapist can then return to the previous statements, filter them again, identify another core issue, and seek another solution. Pastor Kim acknowledges that this process can be effective.

But he then raises the central concern: has psychology replaced the role of God and the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit as the Guide

Pastor Kim argues that this is where Satan has achieved success.

The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s guide. When a Christian prays to the Lord, he should not merely present a superficial statement. Real prayer involves opening up before God.

Pastor Kim points out that when people in the Bible had a deep prayer life with God, they would often speak aloud, become emotional, or describe their problems in specific detail. This resembles what happens in therapy, where people show their emotions and explain their issues in greater detail. The difference, according to Pastor Kim, is that the Holy Spirit is the Christian’s guide.

The Holy Spirit filters what the Christian says. This is not merely a subjective experience. The Christian has something objective upon which to rely: the Word of God becomes the standard. When the Christian places the standard of the Word of God over what he is saying, the Word filters those statements.

Pastor Kim encourages Christians to examine their own experiences. There may have been moments of crisis in their lives, but something was filtered out when they heard the Word of God. This is why the Word of God is important. Christians need to read and memorize the Word. They need to hear the Word preached in church.

The Simplicity of God’s Word

Pastor Kim anticipates someone saying that these are simply the basics that God has already taught. People sometimes think there is some complicated spiritual or psychological mystery that requires a psychologist or guru to explain a deeper issue.

His answer is that it is not necessary to explain things using complicated measures.

God says to take His Word simply as it is and obey it.

Pastor Kim emphasizes that Christians often think there must be a deeper or more complicated answer. But they do not necessarily need to know every detail. The human problem is that people want to know why, especially in the middle of problems. They ask God why something is happening.

Pastor Kim says that this is the problem.

Real Prayer

When Pastor Kim speaks of prayer, he means real prayer. He argues that prayer should be more real than therapy. If a person is more real, genuine, honest, and willing to work on himself in a therapy session than he is in prayer, there is a problem. Pastor Kim says that there are clients in therapy who are working on their souls better than some Christians are.

The reason is that the therapist encourages and guides them to open up and work on themselves. When Christians go through trials and problems, however, they may feel that this is too much work. Because of that, they may not want to work on themselves.

When talking about a problem, they may not want to explore it. They may instead want to repress it. Pastor Kim identifies this as an issue that therapists recognize. Instead of repressing problems, they explore them. Yet the Christian has a Father who is better than any therapist.

Hebrews 4:16: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

God tells His children to come boldly to the throne of grace.

God Already Knows the Mind

Pastor Kim points out that therapists do not actually know everything that is going on inside their clients’ minds. Every therapist recognizes this. That is why they use restatements and paraphrases to discover what the client is really saying. But the Word of God has already searched the mind.

Pastor Kim therefore encourages Christians to speak openly and genuinely to God. Instead of merely saying, “God, this is my problem,” a Christian should be specific. The Christian can say: “God, this is my issue because of this, this, this, and this.”

The Holy Spirit can then work upon the conscience. The Christian has a conscience, and the Holy Spirit works through it. The Holy Spirit may bring the person to the realization that something is wrong.

A Christian should not deny what the Holy Spirit is showing him. Sometimes, while hearing preaching, reading the Bible, and especially while praying, a Christian knows inwardly that God is showing him something. This is not necessarily a verbal or audible experience. It is the Holy Spirit inwardly speaking through the conscience.

The Holy Spirit may expose a problem and cause the Christian to ask why that problem exists. A person may realize that he is afraid of pain and hardship. The question then becomes: Why is he afraid of pain and hardship? The Word of God provides the answer that he does not have to live in fear because God is in control.

Pastor Kim emphasizes that God wants honesty.

It is not enough for a Christian to say, “Yes, I know that Your Word says that.”

The Christian should be honest enough to say:

“God, I know Your Word says that, but this is what my flesh is feeling.”

When a person explores that honestly before God, the Word of God becomes even more alive to him.

Real Prayer and Working on the Self

Pastor Kim identifies another lesson concerning real prayer. Real prayer involves the same kind of honest examination of the self that people experience in psychology. The “self” is the person—the real individual.

Pastor Kim explains that when psychologists speak about the soul, they are referring to the self, the real person, and the mind.

The real person is spiritual and will live with Jesus Christ in heaven. As the Lord and the Holy Spirit speak to a Christian through preaching, through reading the Bible, and through memorized verses, the Holy Spirit shows the Christian things about his life and his encounters. As this happens more and more, the Christian gets closer to the core of the matter.

Trials Reveal the Core Issues

When God gives a Christian grace to go through a trial, the Christian may discover a deeper core issue about himself that he did not realize was there before.

This is not merely Pastor Kim’s subjective experience. He describes it as an objective experience based upon the Word of God and upon the inward testimony and witness of the Holy Ghost among Christians who have experienced the same thing. Through trials, Christians can discover core issues within themselves.

This helps explain why the Bible repeatedly teaches that trials are for the Christian’s betterment. Psychologists have also recognized that a better and more mature self can emerge through crisis and problems.

Pastor Kim considers this remarkable because people can so easily replace the Word of God and put it on the shelf. He points out that a King James Bible can be purchased for less than a dollar at a Dollar Tree store, while people may spend hundreds of dollars on various psychological practitioners.

Just because it gave you a positive experience and helped your life, it doesn’t prove that it’s fruitful.