Pastor Shaun Marksbury

“Enduring Temptation” (1 Cor. 10:11–13) Series:               “1 Cor: Holiness from Messes” #35    Text:                 1 Corinthians 10:11–13 By:                    Shaun Marksbury                         Date:                Sept. 6, 2026 Venue:              Living Water Baptist Church             Occasion:          AM Service   Introduction One of the famous recent anthems of the sexual ...

Because we are including so many more foster children and children from broken homes into our fellowship, our church participated in a trauma training session today.  Our main purpose was to gain practical insights into how to handle situations where children who have experienced trouble act out their emotions.  To that end, we can be thankful for our time together.  However, there were many errant teachings included which we must reject.  ERRANT TEACHING ON THE BRAIN The presentation alleged that the brain is physically transformed through traumatic events, creating “holes” in it and in its ability to process information.   This is possible, but there is a lot of debate on this subject.   The subject is relatively new, based on the largely anecdotal research of Dutch psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, published in his book The Body Keeps the Score .   Secular psychologists and even some Christian counselors (who are not always biblical in their app...

I found these books while cleaning up, and I recommend neither of them.  Still, they illustrate perhaps equal and opposite errors. The first book is The Psychology of Counseling: professional techniques for pastors, teachers, youth leaders, and all who are engaged in the incomparable art of counseling b y Clyde Narramore.  I've marked this book bad theology because the author helped craft the Christian psychology movement and believes a degree in psychology is necessary for counseling. He said so during an interview on the 700 Club where he was asked about Jay Adams. We believe, rather, that scripture is sufficient for all life and godliness, and much of the disease model of the mind is either exaggerated or insufficiently addresses the root causes of problems.  This places far too much faith in the methods of man.  (If you need biblical counseling and you are not in our church, I recommend visiting the website for the Association of Biblical Counselors,...

 MacArthur writes, Self-love always has been associated with worldliness, but heretofore it was never taught as a doctrinal tenet in the church, even in its most corrupt periods.   It was universally acknowledged to be the sin it is.   Even most neoorthodox theologians have recognized self-love, or pride, as the root sin of all others.   But psychologists Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and many others strongly denounced that God-centered view and boldly claimed that lack of self-love and self-esteem is the root problem of man.   That false and damnable twist has permeated the church to an alarming degree. [1] He continues, “The eighteenth-century preacher Samuel Johnson said, ‘He that overvalues himself will undervalue others.   And he that undervalues others will oppose them.’   Self-love alienates men from God and from each other.   Self-love is the supreme enemy of godliness and of genuine friendship and fellowship.” [2]   [1] ...