Neil's Blogs
Today's Post
God and Mental Health
God and Mental Health
I am going to write a lot about mental and emotional health in the coming months, but I want to share this testimony now, because it reveals how our perception of God changes when we become mentally and emotionally free. I met with this 13 year veteran missionary one Friday afternoon. Two months later I received this letter:
I’ve been waiting to write to you for awhile now, but I’ve waited this long to confirm to myself that this is truly for real. This is what I wrote in my diary on Sunday evening following our time together on Friday. “Since Friday afternoon I have felt like a different person. The fits of rage and anger are gone. My spirit is so calm and full of joy. I wake up singing praise to God in my heart. That edge of tension and irritation is gone. I feel so free. The Bible has been really exciting and stimulating and more understandable than ever before. There was nothing dramatic that happened during the session with Neil, yet I know in the deepest part of my being that something has changed. I am no longer bound by accusations, doubts, and thoughts of suicide, or murder, or other harm that came straight from hell into my head. There is a serenity in my mind and spirit, a clarity of consciousness that is profound. I have been set free! It is so wonderful to have joy after so long a darkness.
It’s been over two months since I wrote that in my diary, and I’m firmly convinced of the benefits of Freedom in Christ Ministries. I’ve been in therapy for several months, but there is no comparison with the steps I’m able to make now. My ability to process things has increased many-fold. Not only is my spirit more serene, my head is actually clearer! It’s easier to make connections and integrate things now. It seems like everything is easier to understand now.
My relationship with God has changed significantly. For eight years I felt that He was distant from me. Shortly before I met you, I was desperately crying out to Him — to release me from the bondage I was in. I wanted so badly to meet with Him again, to know His presence with me again. I needed to know him as a friend, as companion, not as the distant authority figure he had become in my mind and experience. Since that day I’ve seen my trust in Him grow, I’ve seen, my ability to be honest with Him increase greatly. I really am experiencing that spiritual growth I’d anticipated in my journal entry. It’s great!
Dr. Neil
For Spanish, see: http://ficmm.org/blog
The Golden Rule
The Golden Rule At the time of Christ, Rabbi Hillel was asked to summarize Judaism. He answered, “Whatever is offensive to you yourself, do not do that to your neighbor. That is the whole law. Everything else is interpretation.” That is the not-so-golden-rule of...
Abandonment
Abandonment The Apostles Creed states that Jesus descended into hell, which is a translation of the word, sheol. Hebrew has only one word for hell and death and that is sheol. The emphasis should not be on destination, but isolation. Death means to be separate from,...
Isenheimer Altar
Isenheimer Altar The Isenheimer Altar by Matthias Grunewald is a powerful painting of the crucifixion. It stood in a monastery of the Antonian Hospitalers where people were cared for during the plagues that afflicted Europe during the late Middle Ages. In the...
Martyrdom
Martyrdom The liberal press has remained strangely silent about the persecution of Christians around the world. Twice as many Christians have died because of their faith this year than last year in Northern Africa, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. The rising state of Islam,...
Not What I Wanted
Not What I Wanted Question from a Facebook friend: When one asks God for something, and gets it, but it happens in a manner that is traumatic, is that God or Satan? The person does get what was requested, but in a way that the person did not want and is traumatizing....
Pure Thoughts
Pure Thoughts Question from an email friend: When a person is lusting or angry in thought but not doing the sinful act itself, wouldn’t that be already sinning? If this is so, then how does threshold thinking work since one has already committed the sin the moment...
The Blood Moon Tetrad
The Blood Moon Tetrad “And I will show wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” Joel 2:30-31. The other...
Marijuana
Marijuana Question from a blog reader: My son argues that smoking marijuana is less harmful than drinking alcohol. How can I convince him otherwise? The abuse of alcohol is ten to twenty times more detrimental to society than the abuse of street drugs. Alcohol is...
A Precious Mind
A Precious Mind I have been married to Joanne for 48 years. I don’t think she has ever had an enemy in her life, and I have never seen a mean bone in her body. Her discerning spirit was known in our ministry, which was a tremendous gift to me. Joanne was a prolific...
Helping Others
Helping Others Question from a Face Book friend: I come from a back ground of drug and alcohol abuse and have now been clean and sober for more than two years. I didn't know it before, but I was struggling with spiritual warfare for a long time. Eight months ago...
