Psychological methods in evangelism are critiqued for their potential harm and ineffectiveness in leading to genuine salvation. The sermon distinguishes between the spirit, soul, and body, asserting that psychology primarily addresses the soul and its emotions, neglecting the spirit's connection to God. It argues that psychological techniques like emotional appeals, altar calls, and signing confessions rely on human effort and emotional manipulation rather than the Holy Spirit's work, leading to false professions and a dishonoring of God. True conversion, the sermon concludes, is solely the work of God through the Holy Spirit, not a result of human-engineered psychological tactics.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 1.97 → restored 4.31
We're going to study now the errors of psychological methods. I do not intend any of these remarks to be insulting or debasing anyone who has studied psychology. I think it has its place, but I do see some great dangers. I do see some great harm done by the use of psychological methods in evangelism. Our first section is on the spirit and the soul of man. One, definitions.
A, psychology, which is made up of two words, psyche, P-S-Y-C-H-E, And Logia, L-O-G-I-A, means the science of the soul. So psychology deals with the soul. B, the soul is the seat of emotions and of self-consciousness. James three, fifteen says, The wisdom which is of this world descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, that's the same word, of the soul, or soulish, and devilish.
Earthly, soulish, or soulical, and devilish. See, the spirit is the means of God's consciousness. We need to be very careful that we keep these two separate in our minds. Self-consciousness is in the soul. It's the emotional part of man. God-consciousness is possible only by the spirit. And D, the body is a means of world consciousness. By means of my body and my five senses, six in the case of some special or breed, they tell us.
We have consciousness of what's going on about us in the world. That means really that the body is just a vehicle for the soul and spirit. I think you need to think this over a little bit because we spend too much time on the vehicle and not enough time on the passenger. Your car is going to break down on these days anyway, no matter what you do to preserve it. Just the passing of time will see to that. You don't have any ailments. And yet we spend most of our time concerned about the body. E, the mind, may be controlled by either.
For instance, we read in Romans eight, five, to be carnally minded is death. And then he says to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Carnally minded means controlled by the flesh. And this has to do with the ego, myself, I myself am carnal, Paul said. That is apart from anything that God can do for me. Now if I am carnally minded, this leads only to death. A mind may be controlled by either the soul or the spirit. Number two, they are not identical.
A body and soul may be separated. Acts twenty gives the story of the young man whom Paul went down and picked up after he's fallen out of the window. And when he, when Paul brought his life again. He said to the people, don't be disturbed. His life is in him. The word life there is psyche. His soul is in him. His soul is returned to him. He has his life back. So the body and soul may be separated. And beneath the spirit and body may be separated. Ecclesiastes, twelve and one.
There's a little typographical error there on twelve. Got a capital L instead of a lowercase L but you know what it is Ecclesiastes twelve and seven where it describes the death of a body and it says the spirit the body the body goes to the dust and the spirit returns to God who gave it so they may be separated and see the spirit and soul may be distinguished I don't use the word separated here because I don't have any scriptural precedent for that. But they certainly are distinguished in Hebrews four and twelve, where he says the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing the thunder, the soul and spirits, and the joints and marrow.
He says it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So the Word of God distinguishes between these two, and D, the three. make up the total man. First Thessalonians five, twenty-three. Now, chances are that if you're going to recite the three, you'll say body, soul, and spirit, which is absolutely wrong. First Thessalonians five, twenty-three, I pray God, first of all, he said that you may be, that he will sanctify you wholly, and then that you're whole, not body, soul, spirit, but spirit, soul, and body. may be preserved blameless.
The reason for putting spirit first is because it is the most important, and the body last, because it is the least important. Now, once you have these clearly in your mind, you will understand that if evangelism is aimed by means of psychology, which recognizes little but the soul, if it is aimed at the soul, you will resolve in stirring emotions, but nothing else will happen. Now let's look at section two, the field of psychology. One, it is the science of the emotions of man. Of man. It is the science of the emotions of man.
Whatever else they say for it, they really cannot go any farther than this. A, it includes the mind as affected by the emotions. It includes the mind as affected by the emotions. D. It is not an exact science. Now there's some things which can be tested and tried. There are some things which can be put into a test tube and weighed and measured and so on. There are many things that we can do in exact sciences. But in psychology, we can only assume that certain things are true because this is the way that people react, or this is something that works in a particular situation.
See, there are many conflicting schools of thoughts. I studied a type of behavioristic psychology, which is... thrown out now completely. The thing that has been most popular for the last few years has been the psychology of Freud, a German that spelled F-R-E-U-D. Freud was a man who, in my little judgment, considered to be a man who needed psychological treatment instead of writing a book. He was a person who was way off in left field. Everything was caused by sex.
Everything is related to it. And it's now falling into disrepute and largely being replaced by newer schools. But they will continue to come because nobody, no two psychologists can agree. My son was studying psychology in the University of Colorado. He went to hear a lecture by a very astute doctor from Columbia. And he sat between... the head of the School of Psychology and his instructor in psychology. And halfway through, the instructor leaned over and said to the head of the department, what's he talking about?
He said, I don't know, and I don't think he does. And they didn't even set up the lecture. And yet they paid a lot of money to have that man come out from Columbia. to tell them something that he didn't know anything about. Nobody understood after he said it. That's the story I got, and I'm not a bit surprised because I have had a lot of talks with students of psychology and there's a great problem as to what is really true. Of thee, most of them ignore God and the spiritual sphere. Not all are many Christian psychologists.
There are many men who have adopted the useful parts of psychology and have adapted them to Christian things, but most of them ignore God and the spiritual sphere. Number two, psychological influence is useless in the spiritual realm. That sounds very dogmatic, but you test it out. Psychological influence is useless in the spiritual realm. Let me give you a few reasons. A, it denies the fall of man and the results of it.
One man made this ridiculous statement. He said, if every man had a fall, he must have fallen upward. I believe in the fall of man, I think you do too. I have never yet been able to find anything in the book on psychology to accept this fact. It denies the fall of man and the results. D, it is animalistic in theory. It thinks of man as an animal, the higher, the higher, the highest of the animals, but nevertheless an animal. And they think that what happens to dogs when you ring bells will, of course, happen to men, because men are just big dogs.
But the Bible doesn't teach this. I can't accept it. Now, here again, there are exceptions. There are men who do not have an animalistic theory, but most of them do have. See? It counts entirely upon environments and reactions. I think this is a fair statement. I think you can put everything under these two headings. And D, it leaves no room for the Holy Spirit's work. Remember in John, verse that we've had a time or two before, The Lord Jesus said, when he has come, the Holy Spirit has come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father, and of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.
Well, there's no room for that, if you believe the psychology unquestioningly. Section number three, some psychological methods which are used in evangelism. One, building up the ego. A, encouraging men to, quote, take a stand for the Lord, unquote. Now in the light of Ephesians two and one, how in the world can a dead man take a stand for anything? If you believe that the man is totally dead to God, how can you urge him to do anything?
Being, teaching that men are capable of doing something good. Romans eight and eight. You know that verse by now, I'm sure. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. And you see, they offer you, they offer the sinner. In psychological methods, they offer the sinner a number of things to do. Put your hand up. Stand up. Step out of the aisle. Show that you're going to be a man for God. Come down to the front. Pray. All kinds of things that they give the unsafe sinner to do. Instead of telling him the gospel story.
And asking him simply to receive what God has to give. They tell him all the things that he is to do. Number two, the so-called, quote, altar call, unquote. A, invented by Charles G. Finney, F-I-N-N-E-Y. He lived from seventeen ninety-two to eighteen seventy-five. So the altar call is almost a hundred years old. There were nineteen hundred years before that. when there's no record in any of the church's history than an altar call was ever used.
Now, there are different names for this, but that's the name that Finney gave it. He called it an altar call. Sometimes people don't ask them to come up to the front. They just ask them to raise their hands, or they ask them to stand. But it amounts to the same thing. It's giving the sinner something to do. It was invented by Charles G. Finney. B. It is based on false premises. First of all, they assume that there is an altar up there in the front someplace. Hebrews thirteen says we have an altar where they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Our altar, our sacrifice, our high priest is all the same. It's all in Christ. Some people say the cross is our altar. And so now they've got to where they're putting crosses up in the front of the church building, so as to give that a more sacred appearance, that this is a sanctum sanctimonium, and you must come up here to meet the Lord and sit it back there. This kind of thing is repulsive to a Christian who sees that it's all in Christ. And Christ is just as close to you where you are as where you could move to. In Second Corinthians five and verse twenty, the Lord said very plainly to the Apostle Paul, God is begging you to be reconciled.
And we in Christ's stead pray you that you be reconciled to God. God is doing the praying. God is doing the asking. God is doing the beseeching. He's asking the sinners to accept Christ. Now, if God is asking the person to accept Christ, and you tell him to ask God something, who's going to give in first? You see, what you're doing is hindering that person's salvation by giving him a job to do. After he's accepted the Lord, then teach him to give thanks. But the only thing that he can do is what God is asking him to do. That is, to receive the Lord Jesus. And then see, it requires a public confession.
What's wrong with this? Doesn't it say in Matthew that if you don't confess Christ before men, he won't confess you before his Heavenly Father? Is he talking about salvation? He said that to believers. He didn't say that to the non-Christians at all. If you make it necessary to make a public confession as a part of salvation, you have given the sinner a work to do. And this is contrary to all the teachings on grace. Romans eleven in verse six says, if it's by grace, then it is no more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work.
Which simply says, you can't mix oil and water. You can't mix law and grace. Either you're going to be saved by free grace, or you're going to be given the job to do. If God gives you a job, He gives you the Ten Commandments. And that makes it totally impossible. Now this is what's wrong with these psychological methods. Number three, emotional appeals. This consists of many. Let me make some three of them. A. Deathbed stories. Preachers have a great repertoire of these. They know how to jerk tears and dollars and professions.
It's abominable. There is many other word for it. When you stir up a person's emotions without first of all giving him the facts of the gospel, you are simply working on the emotions and nothing is going to happen that will last. The emotional songs. The Lord says that we should sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. What is spiritual about tell mother I'll be there? What is spiritual about all of these songs that speak about the dying of a mother that was praying that her boy be saved, and perhaps that boy is you?
Where is my wandering boy tonight? Go search for him where you will, and bring him to me with all of his blights and tell him I love him still. Well, that's a... That'll get him every time. Don't think they don't know this. This kind of thing is used constantly. And then see... affected emotional voice of the speaker. I just gave you a little demonstration of that. It's affected. It isn't real. Now, this is very common in the movements today that are concerned with the charismatic gifts, Pentecostalism, and all of its different forms. Very common there. The preachers themselves have a preacher tone and a speaking tone.
The people who make testimonies have a very strained, high, squeaky tone. And then when the meeting closes, boom, it's all over and they immediately begin to talk about everything else under the sun. And all of this filled with the Spirit thing is gone to the wind. Which shows that it's pure psychological emotion. It isn't real at all. And then four, signing confessions of faith. Now this is used by good people. Some of the track companies have gone to this now, putting a signing, putting a confession to be signed in the back of the track.
Some publishing houses are using it on all their tracks now. What's wrong with it? Well, A, it is an imitation of, quote, closing a deal, unquote, in business. Anybody who sells life insurance, any salesman knows, The main thing is to get that tan into the prospect's hands and get his name on the dog's line. Once you've gotten that done, you're a success. So, psychology says, why won't that work in conversion? The reason it won't work is because there's no connection between what's happening in the spirit and what the hand is doing. The hand is doing what the soul tells him to do.
He has been emotionally stirred, so he signs the confession. And B, it gives the sinner a work to do for salvation. Goes back to the same criticism that I have of all the others. And number five, dishonest tricks. Dishonest tricks. That's all they are. A, ask to stand, step out into the aisle. Finally, to come to the front. I have seen this pulled. I don't know how many times. I haven't always been in attendance at the meeting.
I've stood at the door of tents as I've driven through towns and seen revivals, they call them, going on. And I stopped my car and walked up to the dead door. More than once, it's been an altar call time. And I heard this several times. I'm not going to ask you to do anything to embarrass you. Just want you to slip up your hand and indicate that you want us to pray for you. So we slip up their hands. Then the man says, well, would you just show that that was real and just stand to your feet right there where you are? You don't need to move at all. Just stand to your feet. So they stand to their feet. This enables the counselors in the back of the room to get a B on them. And then, well, you really meant that. Why don't you just step out into the aisle?
So they do that. And the counselors move in. one right alongside of each one. And then the next thing is very simple, because a counselor's got one by an arm. So just come down here at the front, and I'll give you some papers. And down here at the front leads them on into the side room or into the tent adjoining, and they've got them hooked. This is the most despicable thing that I know of. What happens? If you wonder what's happening, all you need to do is read the latest report on England. England has been cursed with psychological evangelism ever since the Church of England was founded. And they were smart enough to make the king, the chief bishop of the church. The queen holds that position today.
And England has been sealed with psychological methods. Now they've had a lot of else. They've had a lot of good preaching. But they've had all kinds of trickery. What's the state of England today? Five percent of the total population attending church. That report came out just this week. Here's a good idea what's happening. B. Counselors are planted to lead the march. I mentioned that already. That's B. C. People are asked to repeat words or prayer. Repeat after me. I acknowledge myself to be a sinner.
I believe that Christ died for my sins and I do hereby accept him as my Savior. Does that make you saved? No, that makes you a good parent. Unless the Lord has done a work on the inside, all you've done is get that person to say a lie. And if God has done the work inside, you don't have to get him to say anything. When the heart believes, the mouth will say, I'm saved. And beneath, They are led to believe that, quote, feeling better, unquote, is conversion. How many times I've heard this said, well, I prayed and then I felt better.
So I'm sure I must be saved. It's all in the soul. It's all emotional and nothing has really happened. Now, this isn't to say that every person who felt better is still unsafe. because there is a genuine feeling that accompanies salvation. It doesn't have to come at the time. You may be saved today and the feelings may come later. I am glad, but you see my feelings are based upon the facts, which I know. You've got to begin with the facts, and then the feelings will follow. Now four, results obtained, this is section four, Roman numeral four, results obtained by psychological methods.
some are truly saved. A. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. First Peter one plainly says so. It's through the Spirit that you've been born again by the word, the gospel which is preached unto you. If there is anything done, the Holy Spirit did it. B. It is not controlled by man. John three, the Lord Jesus said, the wind blow up where it listed. Here's the sound thereof. You can't tell when's it coming or whether it go up. You cannot control the Holy Spirit's word.
You cannot do anything to make it automatic that a conversion will take place. You can go through the motions and make an imitation of it. If God saves, that's because he is sovereign. I know a person who got saved in a movie, went to a picture show instead of going to a gospel meeting on Sunday night. He had a praying mother at home. And something was flashed on the screen that made him think of what he'd learned before. And right there in the movie, a miserable soul trying to run away from God, he got saved. But would you recommend that all people go to movies because one got saved there?
Not anymore, and you'd recommend that all people crawl in a whale's belly just because Jonah gets saved there. Jonah said salvation is of the Lord and in the whale's beauty mouth. That doesn't, that's no credit to the whale. And there's certainly no credit to the movie. There's no credit to psychological methods that people get saved there. Two, many false professions are made. A, if conviction is absent. and B, if there is no true repentance. Now the Holy Spirit convicts and the sinner repents. Now if these don't take place first, it's going to result in a false profession.
Three, here's another result, three some premature babes in Christ. The Lord was dealing with them. He would have brought them to a clear point of salvation. but somebody hurried them into making a profession. The result of this, A, and not clear as to salvation, not clear as to salvation, and B, lacking assurance. Hebrews ten, twenty-two speaks about the full assurance of faith. When you give people the word of God to rest on, they have assurance.
And four, Two more results. Unscriptural memberships build up. Memberships in churches. This is unscriptural. It fills the churches. That's one result, psychological method. And five, God and his word are dishonored. That's an awful accusation, but I feel clear before the Lord to make it. It dishonors God and his word to use these methods. Amen.