Robert J. St. Clair
awaited death. This minister prom ised to see Brother M . A fter several interviews it was apparent exten sive help was needed. The minister discussed the case with Mr. M ’s physician and the latter readily admitted the young man needed pastoral care. The minister worked closely with the doctor for nine months and did much of the counseling himself. The case was exceedingly complex but essentially here is what hap pened. The young man and mother lived together. The father had died o f a heart attack. The mother was panic- stricken at the thought of being de serted if Mr. M ever got married. She hinted in not too subtle ways that he ought to forego marriage. The young man’s hostility was ac tually against his mother but it remained unconscious because the Bible says we are to honor our fa thers and mothers. He felt horribly guilty but at first did not know thé actual cause o f the guilt. His hostil ity erupted against his foreman at work who had the domineering traits o f his mother. The heart trou ble was related to the anxiety he experienced when he felt angry, a condition known as “ cardiac neu rosis.” W hen Mr. M began to under stand his own life he slowly learned to s t a n d o n h i s o w n f e e t . H i s prayers for his mother were of in estimable value both to him and her. He appropriated the power of the indwelling H oly Spirit to conquer the actual causes of his failures. He is no longer quixotically fighting symptoms in the dark. N ow he is happily married and has a baby. He is a growing Christian. His “ heart trouble” has disappeared. His moth er, who also received help, is now married and has her own home. Needless to say, the first minister intensified M r. M ’s guilt and his anxiety. That pastor is a great help to most o f his congregation but he has not been trained in pastoral counseling and would be a greater help to God if he were. Does this mean every pastor must be a psychologist? No. The lesson here is that a working knowledge o f doctrine, a “ way with people,” a spirit o f love and help fulness and a sensitive appreciation of pain, sickness, fear, etc., are not
Counseling & Personal Maturity
A t least once a month the peni tent would respond to the altar call. Falling to his knees he repeatedly cried, “ Fill me, Lord, fill me.” This went on for several years until one impatient saint was heard to mut ter, “ D on ’t bother, Lord. He leaks.” Failure to grow into personal maturity and to fulfill one’s capabil ities is due to “ leaks” of spiritual power in the personality. An unquestionably sincere Chris tian may be growing in the know l edge of the Bible, in a deeper life of prayer and in Christian service, but still be quite unhappy and hin dered in his usefulness to church and community. These “ leaks” are found in inner conflicts, impedi ments in personal relationships, neurotic guilt, deep-seated anxiety, and twisted impressions o f self, its worth and function in life. I believe that the greatest lack in the evangelical m inistry and theol ogy is the ignorance of the most ele mentary discoveries of the science of human behavior and personality adjustment. Too long it has been assumed that feelings of guilt and anxiety were indicative of a back slidden condition. Ministers and psychologists alike have been ad monished because they spoke of “ peace” apart from salvation. W e are told that if a soul lacks peace of mind it can on ly mean he is un saved or has unconfessed sin in his life and that conversion clears up all problems o f the personality! This pitfall o f misunderstanding has not been avoided b y liberal pas tors either. Psychological terms have been substituted for theologi cal truth. A ll truth had to be under stood in terms of the workings of
the mind. This has been disastrous. Philippians 4 :6 , 7 makes it clear that the Apostle Paul was well aware of the problem of anxiety. He saw its solution in the realm of spiritual therapy. The problem for the pastor (or any Christian) is to come to grips w ith the actual factors causing the anxiety so that appro priate spiritual equipment may be applied to the actual factors and not to some superficial symptom. Let us take a specific case. Mr. M is a Christian, 29 years old, one of two children. He had been miss ing the morning service of worship rather frequently, and when the pastor called reported he felt guilty about his spiritual condition. He confessed that now and then he would lose his temper at work. He also confessed that he had the begin nings o f heart trouble and was ex tremely worried- The pastor pointed out that the flare-up of temper was evil. This indicated the growing activity of the old Adam ic nature. It could be attributed to his failure to attend morning worship. The pastor also pointed out that w orry revealed a lack of faith. The minister wanted to know if it were not high time Brother M “ got right with the Lord.” They fell to their knees and had a season o f prayer. In a month the heart trouble grew worse, at tendance at services was irregular and the pastor felt he could do no more than keep the young man before God in prayer. One year later Mr. M ’s mother visited another church and ex pressed her alarm to the minister concerning the health o f her boy. He could n o t e a t o r s l e e p a n d
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