God of Hope and Healing

I am not necessarily looking for this comment/question to be "aired"; I am looking for information and understand that Chuck Colson, having a prison ministry, may be able to help me.

I work in a ministry that include prisoners and we understand that a Resource Book of Halfway Houses and Rehab Centers has been put together and published by him. Is that so and could we have access to it?

If so, email me please at: nammann@sourcelight.org

I minister @ THE SOURCE OF LIGHT, INT'L in Madison, GA 30650, 1112 Mission Lane.Sincere thanks,
Naomi Ammann

So god is supposedly all-powerful, yet is not accountable for the evil perpetrated by his own creation?

This of course would be the same god that, according to the Old Testament of the Bible, drowned all of humanity, orchestrated some of the bloodiest wars in human history, and commanded the brutal murder of disobedient children, gay men and women, and shellfish eaters.

Quite a moral trick; if that degree of evasion had worked for your onetime boss, Mr. Colson, your personal history and his might have turned out rather differently...

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God, being in control of the universe, can prevent suffering whenever He sees fit, but wherever free will exists, consequences of choice must also exist. We refuse to remember that we are the ones who betrayed God, not vice versa. We are the ones who listened to the lies of the evil one in the Garden of Eden. We chose to mistrust the heart of God. In breaking the one command He gave us, we set in motion a life of breaking His commands.

Being able to discipline oneself for the benefit of others is the very essence of maturity. Shantideva said, “All the joy the world contains, Has come through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains, Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself (at the expense of others).” How we spend our time shapes who we are, and how we assemble the persons we are is cause for social concern. What examples are adults, entrusted with the awesome responsibility for their care, to the rapidly maturing next generation who will impact our society positively or negatively depending on to what we expose them. We have experienced the natural progression of an unguarded nation towards neglect, corruption and the loss of idealism. When awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the Dalai Lama said in his lecture, “…For if we each selfishly pursue only what we believe to be in our own interest, without caring about the needs of others, we end up harming not only others but also ourselves…” One does not have far to look to witness the chaos and devastation caused in our society due to our turning away as a nation from our Judeo-Christian roots. Our culture is rotting. Just listen to the lyrics of popular songs, pick up a book or magazine, view a movie or television show. Pay attention to the violence permeating our communities, the disrespect and lack of courtesy displayed by all, judicial tyranny, and the neglect of and abuse directed at women. (Could this be a direct result of pornography? Duh!) Then consider that perhaps we are allowing the wrong input in our lives and the lives of those who have been entrusted to our care. After all, we are raising our next generation of leaders!!! Words like diversity, pluralism and tolerance have anesthetized us to the reality of good and evil. Tolerance is the cultivation of an attitude of indifference to things we see happening around us. In the name of peace, we tolerate evil. In the name of tolerance, we accept sin and call it freedom of speech or freedom of sexual persuasion. Albert Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” We dare not stand up for what we believe for fear of being labeled intolerant. Tolerance sees your sin and embraces it. Grace sees your sin and hands you over to Christ's healing embrace.

God cannot make us choose to abide with Him. For now, God, tormented, waits upon us through one holocaust after another. satan’s best deception is its general success in concealing its own reality from the human mind. Most people live in such naivete regarding evil. What will it take for us to take evil seriously? satan lashes out on the earth like a madman, setting people against each other all over the globe. it devastates many lives through starvation, alcoholism, substance abuse and pornography. satan is at work in the holocaust of violent, disrespecting aborting of babies; narcissism; materialism; elitism; and the self-absorption we wallow in when we do not ensure our next generation is brought up in a culture with enriching, wholesome values. Failing to label evil evil misleads us about the world in which we live and our necessity for God’s grace, the only real answer and hope for any of us. If you are not living in touch with God, it is easy to blame Him or pass judgment on Him. We experience suffering and temptation because mankind chose to follow satan. Lurking in the heart of man, evil will erupt when it is permitted to act unimpeded.

Entrusted with the awesome responsibility of my children’s care, I am concerned about how their generation is being raised, to what they are being exposed, and the examples they have in their lives. Are they being enriched in mind, spirit and character? They all need highly esteemed mentors to guide them along the path to liberty. If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. “The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of Error,” - William Jennings Bryan. Hopefully, seeking our own pleasure is not the measure of our lives. We are called to be intolerant in love. Why not live as Philippians 4:8 instructs us to: Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. God is reaching out to rescue us … God made nature to sing His praises, to declare His glory and to love Him. He made humans with the ability to choose. He could have ordered our obedience; instead, he calls for our heart.

Mr. Colson

I respectfully take issue with today's "BreakPoint: Something Horribly Wrong, 4/19/07 "

Yes, something is horribly wrong. Much of the church is still in the Dark Ages about Mental Illness. I found that article to paint very large generalizations about mental illness, people who have a mental illness, crime, and demonic activity.

Please read the article below.

John M. Crowe, D.Min., APC

The VTI Tragedy: Distinguishing Mental Illness from Violence

Statement of Ken Duckworth, MD
NAMI Medical Director

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) extends its sympathy to all the families who have lost loved ones in the terrible tragedy at the Virginia Technology Institute (VTI). We are an organization of individuals and families whose lives have been affected by serious mental illnesses.

Despite media reports, Cho Seung Hui, the shooter in the tragedy may not actually have had a serious mental illness relative to other diagnoses. But the possibility opens the door for reflection on the nature of mental illnesses—what they are and what they are not— with regard to symptoms, treatment and risks of violence.

The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the likelihood of violence by people with mental illness is low. In fact, “the overall contribution of mental disorders to the total level of violence in society is exceptionally small.” More often, people living with mental illness are the victims of violence.

Severe mental illnesses are medical illnesses. They are different from episodic conditions. They are different from sociopathic disorders.

Acts of violence are exceptional.

Treatment works, but only if a person gets it.

Questions must be answered about whether the mental health care system responded appropriately in this case. We know that Cho Seung Hui was referred to a mental health facility for assessment. Did he receive the right treatment and follow-up? If not, why not?

NAMI offers below the federal government’s authoritative language on perceptions of violence.

Mental Illness and Violence

Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health (1999)

Are people with mental disorders truly more violent? Research supports some public concerns, but the overall likelihood of violence is low.

The greatest risk of violence is from those who have dual diagnoses, i.e., individuals who have a mental disorder as well as a substance abuse disorder. There is a small elevation in risk of violence from individuals with severe mental disorders (e.g., psychosis), especially if they are noncompliant with their medication….Yet to put this all in perspective, the overall contribution of mental disorders to the total level of violence in society is exceptionally small.

National Institute of Mental Health (2006)

A study of adults with schizophrenia showed that symptoms of losing contact with reality, such as delusions and hallucinations, increased the odds of serious violence nearly threefold. The odds were only about one-fourth as high in patients with symptoms of reduced emotions and behaviors, such as flat facial expression, social withdrawal, and infrequent speaking.

Overall, the amount of violence committed by people with schizophrenia is small, and only 1 percent of the U.S. population has schizophrenia…By comparison, about 2 percent of the general population without psychiatric disorder engages in any violent behavior in a one-year period.

The researchers found that the odds of violence also varied with factors other than psychotic symptoms. For example, serious violence was associated with depressive symptoms, conduct problems in childhood, and having been victimized, physically or sexually; minor violence was associated with co-occurring substance abuse.

SPECIAL EDITION

Friday Facts from NAMI National: April 18, 2007

For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007

Contact: Alexis O’Brien
703-312-7893
202-441-8764
alexiso@nami.org

The events that took place at Va. Tech Monday are horrible indeed. I offer for your own use and in offering pastoral care to others a sermon on "Prayer and Tragedy" posted below.

In Christ,

John M. Crowe, D.Min., APC
Incapacity Leave
Chair Committee on Disability Concerns
nccumcmentalhealth.org

On September 9, 2001, a sermon was preached from Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18. Psalm 139 contains King David's joyous reflections upon the truth that God knows. Throughout King David's obstacle filled life, he learned the security of living in relationship with God. David's Psalms express his certainty that God knew and understood the depths of his words. So, he poured them all out before God in times of tragedy, crisis, and when godless foes attacked him.

Two days after the preaching of the sermon on Psalm 139, the tragic events of 9/11 took place. People gathered together to pray. How comforting it is to know in times like those that God knows and understands the depths of our words when we pour them all out before Jesus in times of tragedy, and crisis.

According to Psalm 139, God knows the very depths of your soul. God knows what you are saying to him in prayer even better than you do. Isn't this what we are told in Romans 8:26 about the Holy Spirit helping us.26 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

As we focus on prayer, remember last year's national tragedy, and focus on the tragedies of our own or of others, I

Human tragedy cuts deep. It is very painful. The Bible says in Ephesians 6 that your real struggle with tragedy, suffering, and evil in the world is not a fight against people on earth. You are fighting against spiritual powers of evil that attack outwardly through others who yield themselves to evil attitudes and actions. You also fight against spiritual power of evil that attack your soul in hope of leading you into evil attitudes and actions. The strongest attacks upon your soul always come in times of great tragedy and crisis. These attacks can be overcome through prayer. You can do this by asking God daily to grant you wisdom and courage for the living of these days. Then, God's grace will save you from weak resignation to the evils you deplore.

Fulfilling the Bible's call to be angry and yet not sin is very difficult when you are in the middle of a painful crisis. Barnacles on a wooden ship are as bad for the ship as for anyone who knocked up against them for their cuts are painful. Some find their lives shipwrecked after such experiences with the barnacle like tragedies of life by becoming a barnacle themselves.

If you forever nurse the pain, you will never be free to love again. Also, if you do not feel the pain of your experience with the barnacle like tragedies of life, then you become numb and remain naive. Feeling the pain and giving it to God for his healing work as well as his dealing with those responsible in prayer is the biblical way to a better day. This is much healthier than feeding the pain and holding onto it as if that is somehow going to accomplish something. Not to forgive digs a dark and dreary day. However, to forgive brings about a better day.

To forgive means taking others off of your hook and placing them on God's hook. Such a prayerful response by God's free grace through Jesus Christ can make you a better person. I am convinced that a lot of people's lives' are shipwrecked in a crisis by their living in self-pity. Bitter self-pity, unfocused anger, loveless fears, and wounded pride will shipwreck you unless you stop and change your mind as well as your heart from the bondage of unforgivenessto freedom through forgiveness. Such freedom comes only after pouring your heart out completely to God in prayer.

Also, you can prayerfully refocus the energy of your anger. You can focus your energy to work toward making the world, your country, your state, your county, your schools (shooting), your community (political assassination, racism), your families (spouse abuse & child abuse), and your hearts free from the sins that leads to inflicting terror into people's lives.

Very often in times of tragedy, you feel abandoned by God. You may find it difficult to believe that with God's help, your life can be rebuilt. Yet, the good news of rebuilding with God's help is the Bible's message for you today.

It is easy to sail along life in your own strength and wisdom, when life is smooth sailing. However, no one's life is without tragedy. Disaster and heart-ache will inevitably hit you. There's sorrow by death. A woman dies, leaving her husband with three small children to raise. A car accident claims the life of a couple's only son or daughter. A senseless boating accident caused by someone' drunken and reckless condition takes the life of someone's fiancée just a few days before the wedding.

While some are the soul survivors of a departed spouse, others experience multiple losses in their life over a short time. In one three year period, a lady lost her father to cancer, her mother to senile dementia, her husband after 31 years of marriage, her talented son in an accident. Many were the nights that she went to bed hoping that she would never wake up. Because of her faith, she knew that she could no more take her life than the life of someone else. Through it all she never doubted God's love and mercy for her, yet she did not always feel his presence. She did however reach a point where she could no longer bear the pain of her losses. She prayed to God for help. He brought I Thessalonians 5:18 to her mind. It speaks of giving thanks in all things. It does not say give thanks only when your life is going right. Nothing in her life changed outwardly, but she did gain a heart for gratitude that changed her. Truly, without her faith, she would either be a miserable person or dead. The hymn "I need the every hour" probably became very dear to her.

Neither the book of Isaiah nor the rest of the Bible make any claims that rebuilding is easy. No, rebuilding after any tragedy or crisis in our lives is tough and takes time. Isaiah and the Bible does say that with God's help through prayer whatever rebuilding needs doing will be done by God's grace and power.

God still controls the world, even your world with unexplainable suffering. Your mind can neither contain nor control all knowledge. The important truth is that God can be trusted in the worst of circumstances as well as in the best. Thus, living by faith means far more than simply accepting suffering as a part of life.Living by faith means growing in your relationship with God, knowing his care and love more deeply as you trust God more thoroughly in prayer.

The author of "It Is Well WithMy Soul" must have been a great person of prayer to have written this hymn after such a personal family tragedy.

As you intercede for those most directly impacted by 9/11 and other tragedies, pray that each one will experience the reality of God knowing and understanding the intensity of their souls.

As you intercede for those most directly impacted by 9/11 and other tragedies, pray that each one will see their fight is not against other human beings, but against the spiritual attacks upon their souls in hope of leading them into evil attitudes and actions.

* Pray for God to help them fulfill the Bible's call to be angry and yet not sin.

* Pray for people to not nurse the pain forever, but to feel the pain and give it to God in prayer for his healing work.

* Pray for the healing of those whose lives are already or almost shipwrecked by bitter self-pity, unfocused anger, loveless fears, and wounded pride.

* Pray for people to refocus the energy of their anger toward making their country, state, county, community, workplaces, schools, churches, marriages, families, and hearts free from the sins that leads to inflicting terror into people's lives.

* Pray for people to believe and keep believing that with God's help, their life can be rebuilt

* Pray for others to know that God still controls the world, even their world with unexplainable suffering. Pray that they may trust God in the worst of circumstances as well as in the best.

Prayer

God our hope and refuge, we confess that anger and hatred have held on to us. Healing has begun, but loss is still real. We are not in control. We don't like being vulnerable. We still want security or the illusion of it. We still want our enemies to be annihilated and for our lives to return to safety and Shalom. Forgive us and heal us. Raise us to new life. Strengthen us in the way of compassion and justice. Fix our faith on you so we know that nothing can separate us from you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reprinted from Candles in the Dark, Flames for the Future: Preaching and Poetry in Times for Crisis, ed. David Randolph (Albany, CA: New Way Media, 2003)

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Dear Patient
I used to think as you did.

But I came to a place where reason alone was insufficient. Does that make me one of the stupid masses?

Until you arrive at faith you will suffer the illusion that only seeing is believing.

Since the God of Reason was enthoned during the enlightenment, humaity has suffered greater horrers in one century from the free thinkers (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot et al) than from all the communities of faith combined over the period of recorded history.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Patient:
As a free-thinker I have no “Faith Tradition.” It is fascinating to observe the masses given rubber rulers to measure and to connect the dots we experience in life. How cruel and self-serving.

Posted April 18, 2007 10:05 AM

Commenting as one who adheres to a faith tradition, it is likewise fascinating to observe "free thinkers" who blithely and misguidedly elevate their rationale as soaring products from an enlightened, platonic "vacuum," free from all error and brokenness that plague us, the "masses," as you put it. Your inclination seems to me infinitely more self-serving. Perhaps, in matters of dissension -- particularly, as they relate to the painful recent tragedy at hand -- we would do right to promote love, humility, and mercy over the detached and glib faux-intellectualism of our day.

I can't help but think every time I hear people say "Oh, he was mentally ill, he couldn't stop himself from doing it", it reminds me of the old standard "innocent by reason of insanity". Of course these people are insane! Could a sane person do what they do?! But that doesn't mean they are innocent; that doesn't mean they don't know what they did was wrong. "I was insane; I didn't realize it was wrong to drown all 5 of my kids."

Norrie, that's interesting. However I can remember one night where I was feeling so worn out, stressed out, not feeling good enough and I thought about suicide.

Suddenly alarm bells rang off in my head, and I said "this is not right" and went to look up PMDD. I later unearthed a biological cause for my depression and anxiety that my body had no hope of fighting on its own.

I got it treated. And I credit the "alarm bells" in my head that helped check those thoughts to my historical and taught religious repungance for suicide and knowledge of what I value in life.

The thing is, some people inherently are more fragile than others, but thoughts can always be fought with other thoughts, unless they are truly in a frenzy of unreason.

And I have been in such a state where I could not have changed what I was feeling, irrational as it was; and I don't refer simply to the suicidal depression.
But in every case, I was able to change what I thinking.
And could I have methodically planned a shooting in such a prolonged state of compulsive, irrational, destructive emotion? NO.

People with obsessive-compulsive disorders often are highly afraid of their own thoughts of gore and horror, and thoughts of committing awful deeds they find morally repungant.

But they generally do not commit the deeds they imagine. Because they knew the impulses were wrong-- and they choose to separate who they were, from those thoughts.

Depression narrows the mind. The mind stops growing new connections and shrinks, and learning is disrupted and short-lived.

Therefore the ability to defeat depression and despair must be learned and present before it ever occurs.

Paranoid schizophrenia is very difficult. Even when normalized on meds, often the schizophrenics are depressed enough to suicide because their life quality is so poor. They do literally lack the filter to analyze their own thoughts.

But not all schizophrenics are paranoid; paranoid schizophrenia is markedly different from other schizophrenias. Most schizophrenics (treated and untreated) are not organized or coherent enough to think of others as a threat.

We don't know as much about it as we think we do, I suspect.

Generally insurance often only pays for drug therapy.

Cognitive behavioral training and social skills training, though, have to be shown to be effective in reducing psychosis, as is music therapy, cognitive remediation therapy, and also general therapy to educate and help family and individual dynamics.

Which suggests that again even with paranoid schizophrenia, thoughts can be fought with thoughts.

Maybe the individual cannot help himself, like a physically ill person can't, but that doesn't mean his course of illness and eruption is pre-destinated.

As a free-thinker I have no “Faith Tradition.” It is fascinating to observe the masses given rubber rulers to measure and to connect the dots we experience in life. How cruel and self-serving.

Today my husband asked me to go with him to the auction barn...we wanted to get some new hens. So I went...it was my first time and he wanted me to see all the animals.

The first animals I saw was in a mud and manure filled pen...two horses and a mule. One horse had been abused horribly, his skin stretched over his back bone, the ribs showed and his hipbones stood out sharp. He could not walk properly because his hooves were so malformed...

I saw on TV the other night how some animal owner had let his cats multiply so bad that there were cat feces and dead cats everywhere. And while cats are very clean animals they have to have a way to be clean. They had dug into the walls to find a clean place to sleep...

32 people were killed by one man...15 injured yesterday.

Some will blame all of this on god...where was S/he? Within each of us. Do we listen? Do we care?

I will always remember that horse...and those poor cats...and I hope I will never forget the stories I have heard about those who died on a Monday morning at a University in Virginia.

It's not God's fault...I have heard people make exuses for what Imus said...its the rappers fault, its the culture's fault. Who creates the culture...It's all the same thing. A disrepect for what is life. How do we treat life?

That horse looked at me and I wanted so bad to take it home. To feed it and make it clean... to feed it carrots and apples...and to show it that life can be good.

But I couldn't.

We have made life a commodity,something for the market.Does it make a profit? If not, it's not worth bothering with.

That is our culture. And this is the world we are co creating. You don't like it?

Brambleton,

A few minutes ago I was watching The Lehrer Report on PBS. They had a panel of psych professionals who agreed that the VT shooter fit a classic pattern.

When someone fits a "classic pattern" it almost certainly means that he's like a train on rails. The rails are immovable and determine where the train goes and where it ends up.

It's theoretically possible to argue that even though the shooter fit the classic pattern, he had, or should have had, sufficient free will to abort his doomed flight to destruction.

In answer, I'd refer you to the title of a book, if not the book itself. It's "The Savage God" (studies in suicide) by A. Alvarez (who attempted suicide himself).

"The Savage God" title vividly suggests how the suicidal person is in inescapable thrall to an overpowering external destructive force. Sounds to me like yesterday's shooter, who finished as a suicide.

Another book that might be of interest is William Styron's "Darkness Visible - A Memoir of Madness"
(i.e., suicidal depression). This is the imprisoning psychological bubble that the victim can't free himself from that I mentioned in an earlier post.

My heart is sick for yesterday's victims and their families, but also for the shooter. What a hellish world he must have been living in.

Thanks Norrie.

I guess I'm more of a skeptic. I'm not well versed in psychology or behavioral science, but I think we sometimes rush to judge those who commit horrific crimes such as this as "mentally imbalanced". It's almost as if we've concluded that actions like this must, without exception, be the work of someone who had lost total control over their own actions. That's might be true in most cases, but I haven't read or heard anything about this specific case that makes it clear to me that he had lost the ability to discern right from wrong.

Again with the "evil" stuff! Yes, the massacre at VT was horrific. I grieve for the victims and all affected by it. But the shooter was obviously mentally ill. He was told by an instructor to go to counseling, but he never did. He was quite possibly schizophrenic. Is schizophrenia considered to be evil in the Fundamentalist Christian belief system? Are we going to start exorcising demons from people next? I know that most schizophenics do not go over the edge and kill people. However, this person chose to do that.

This was a terrible, terrible tragedy perpetrated by a sick individual. Perhaps what God (or Gods) want us to do is to comfort the bereaved and heal the injured. Bad things happen - sometimes without reason. It's how we react to them that shows our humanity.

Brambleton,

I've studied and read enough psychology to know that this student fits a classic pattern where violent thoughts arise, and the person can't force his way out of the psychological "bubble" he's trapped in, or do anything other than what he ended up doing.

I'm not a psych professional and can't give you a modern technical description of exactly where the shooter "was at", and how he got there, but I'm pretty sure psych professionals would agree with my layman's phrasing of his situation.

Regards.

Norrie,

Please explain how it is "already clear" that he had "no effective free will."

Thanks.

"Explaining this evil is more difficult. The Christian answer is that God loved us so much that He gave us a free will—God did not desire humans to be mere automatons. A free will presupposes that we may chose bad rather than good."

It's already clear from the little that has been revealed of the personality and behavior of the VT shooter, that he had no effective free will.

Psychologically he was an automaton, drawn mothlike to the flame.

Thank you for a message of hope, not one preaching sin.

Bad, good, sin, and evil. Hard to put such things in order when you are subject to them.

Thanks. I completely agree. In times like this, we must always look to the truth of the Gospel for our comfort.