Ray Brubaker's Classic Radio.
This is Ray Brubaker's Classic Radio, news-related
subjects in light of the Bible.
And now, here's your commentator, Ray Brubaker.
Satan seemingly is attacking men through the medium
of the mind.
There are now some 750,000 patients in
our mental hospitals.
Another 10 million suffer from some form of
mental disease.
According to the Chicago Daily News, one in
every five families will have or has had
someone close to them in state hospitals.
These facts are indeed rather frightening, revealing the
need of prayerful, sympathetic study of problems related
to the mind.
Recently on a television broadcast, a psychiatrist revealed
that one out of 20 persons in the
United States had had assistance from psychiatrists.
He then went on to state that one
out of ten needed such assistance.
There are those in states of moral or
spiritual depression who resort to unscriptural means to
find a solution to their mental frustration.
For instance, there are those who turn to
intoxicating liquors, thinking they can drown their ills.
Instead these merely intensify them.
Dr. Vladimir Erse, superintendent of Psychopathic Hospital, told
a group of Illinois judges that one out
of every four in our mental hospitals is
an alcoholic problem.
Then there are those who have taken to
consulting soothsayers, crystal ball gazers, or tea leaf
readers in an effort to secure peace of
mind.
Palmistry is becoming big business in many sections
of the country.
In fact, a six-year survey revealed that
half the people of the United States believe
in, or have patronized, some form of fortune
-telling.
Still others turn to sedatives, tranquilizers, sleeping potions,
which do not provide a cure, but simply
dull the senses, making one less aware of
his fears, and more vulnerable to wrong actions
and wrong decisions.
Under sedation, for instance, many give in to
the desire to end it all.
Satan thus seeks to accomplish his greatest human
victory, if he can, make one a suicide.
And suicides are becoming so frequent that they
account for at least 50,000 known deaths
annually in the United States, incidentally the ninth
major cause of death today.
Today a tremendous struggle goes on within the
perplexed and troubled hearts of men, and as
we said earlier, Satan is battling for the
minds of men.
Now what is the reason for much of
our mental anguish?
Is there a cure for fear, worry, and
frustration?
You know, the medical practice is constantly confronted
with functional conditions which do not have their
origin in disease germs, brain disease, or fictitious
run-down nerves.
Rather, these disorders are said to be due
to emotional conflicts which produce fears, anxieties, bodily
tensions.
Even as I heard a well-known clergyman
say some time ago, 90% of all
ills today are imaginary.
Well were you to talk to these depressed
folk, you would soon agree they do not
regard their ills as imaginary.
They are very real.
Tchaikovsky, the great composer, suffered much during his
lifetime.
After a medical examination, the doctors reported their
findings.
Nothing wrong, just nerves.
How many, like the great Tchaikovsky, hear the
doctor's verdict?
There's nothing wrong with you.
Knowing there exists within one's inner being an
emotional conflict, like a seething volcano about to
burst.
How often a doctor hears a patient describing
his condition like this, I'm afraid I'm having
a nervous breakdown, I can't control myself.
Another will describe a tightening around one's head,
for instance, growing tighter day by day, producing
a fear that something might snap, and the
person will lose control of himself.
Others tell of hearing voices, some suggesting they
destroy themselves, but most of these persons know
that these are attacks of the enemy, Satan.
Now we might ask, are these conditions real
or imaginary?
And quickly we would reply, such emotional illnesses
are very real.
In fact, they seem to be more real
and more of a problem than physical ailments.
In the case of appendicitis, for instance, an
operation will bring relief.
But no operation can seemingly bring relief to
the tormented and frustrated mind.
Of course there are instances in the case
of psychosomatic sufferers when they feel an operation
will relieve them of their mental anxiety.
And again we might illustrate.
A dear soul might hear that a relative
or close friend has cancer.
The question suddenly pops into the mind, maybe
I too have cancer and don't know it.
The more this person allows her mind to
dwell on the fact that she might have
cancer, the more tendency for that person to
have cancer.
And eventually, sensing a weak spot in the
body or a hardening or a sore that
suddenly appears, the person becomes so frustrated that
instead of allowing nature to take its proper
course and deal with the trouble, there is
immediate suspicion of cancer, followed by a check
-up which reveals nothing.
But that person has allowed her mind to
dwell so long on the fact that she
may have cancer that she asks for an
immediate operation, and only surgery will relieve the
mental anguish.
Now, friends, that may be a far-fetched
illustration, but it illustrates the power of thought
in a person.
And strangely enough, many persons do think themselves
sick.
When a so-called nervous person is under
a continuous strain of fear and anxiety for
a period of time, the tension may become
so great, producing a physical condition, disease, or
even death.
In other words, so-called nervous conditions do
not always remain in the mind as worry,
but may produce physical symptoms, organic diseases.
Thus nervous tension may be the whole cause
or part of the cause for certain forms
of asthma, nervous heart, dyspepsia, gastric ulcer, chronic
gallbladder, appendicitis, diarrhea, constipation, colitis, arthritis, goiter,
migraine headaches, and so forth.
Science is often experimented with thought-reaction.
Suppose you planned an experiment where, on the
job, several of you men decided to play
a prank on a fellow worker, each of
you sometime during the morning hour.
When coming in contact with this fellow worker,
we'll call him Joe, you would show concern
for his physical well-being.
Now one might ask, Joe, are you feeling
well today?
You tell Joe he looked a bit anemic.
Another comes up to Joe to inquire, How
come you're so pale-faced, Joe?
Still another comes over to Joe to talk
about his recent battle with the flu.
His symptoms, he seemed tired, listless, and was
pale around the gills.
You know, before the day is over, if
he's the psychosomatic type, Joe will head for
home sick.
Now to a great many people this sounds
weird and perhaps unbelievable.
Yet there are literally millions who suffer from
somatic diseases, the result of allowing the mind
to dwell on oneself, one's problems, one's worries,
even to the point of actually becoming ill.
Now one thing I'd like to emphasize here,
please be sympathetic and understanding with anyone with
a psychosomatic condition.
Don't be like Job's comforters who never comforted,
but cruelly sought to show Job the cause
of his misfortunes.
How often a patient is instructed, Don't carry
on like a baby, or why don't you
grow up?
There are times when we need to be
told to take our minds off ourselves.
I very well remember in the hospital when
my nerves shot.
I went into uncontrollable crying.
The best tonic I received came when the
nurse demanded of me, Why don't you get
control of yourself?
And how grateful, too, I was for a
sympathetic and understanding patient wife who did not
nag at me because of my frustration.
Dr. Gilbert Little, with over 25 years of
psychiatric experience, has emphasized that nervous patients are
the most misunderstood of all sufferers.
So we need to be extra sympathetic, extra
cautious, with individuals who seemingly can't help themselves,
can't keep from fretting, can't stop worrying.
However, I'm happy to report that for 90
% of most such illnesses, I believe there
is a cure.
One need not be frustrated, filled with fear,
a psychosomatic.
And I want today to leave with you
three simple rules to follow which will bring
complete victory over the mind.
First of all, surrender to Christ as Savior
and Lord.
Today one hears of so many cases of
rape, suicide, murder, and the victim will plead
momentary insanity, declaring, I don't know why I
did it.
You can be absolutely certain that a person
saved, controlled by the Holy Spirit, would never
commit an act whereby he must exclaim, I
don't know why I did it, except perhaps
for a case of real insanity, and I
don't know of any such cases.
Secondly, realize that oppression comes from the devil.
Acts 1038 reminds us God anointed Jesus, with
the Holy Ghost and with power, who went
about doing good and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil.
Oppression, whether of the mind or body, is
of the devil.
And when you are a Christian, and you
allow your mind to dwell upon some evil
thought, worry, lust, financial distress, you are yielding
to satanic oppression.
Now here I'd like to point out that
the Bible forecasts perilous times for the last
days.
Pastors and missionary workers report a strange wave
of unrest sweeping over our land.
Discouragement, depression, seems to be afflicting even the
most spiritually minded.
Now without hesitancy, we point out that the
nearer we come to the day of Christ's
return, the more we will sense this satanic
oppression.
Years ago when men preached in the power
of the Spirit, people literally, in some instances,
held on to their seats to prevent them
from sliding, as it were, into a Christless
eternity.
Today, however, there is lack of concern about
the future.
Little thought of hell.
No fear of the tribulation which the Bible
describes as a hell on earth, when the
redeemed ones are transported back to heaven and
the earth becomes the scene of demonic activity,
when Satan will actually be worshipped by the
masses on earth.
Now these things should alarm us, but instead
there is a spiritual coldness settled over the
church.
Instead of calling men and women to holy
living, we seem to drift along with a
careless attitude of unconcern.
There is an alarming desire for the forbidden
lusts of the flesh, a love of the
world, and little desire for spiritual victory, the
power of the Holy Ghost in our lives,
definite answers to prayer, and the supernatural workings
of God.
Why?
Because Satan, my friends, knows his time is
short and is making an all-out attack
to ensnare us.
And one of his chief attacks, my friends,
is upon the minds of men.
Now the third rule to follow, claim victory
over Satan in the name of Jesus.
The devil, my friends, is a defeated foe
to the Christian.
You may not think so, but the Bible
reminds us when Jesus went to the cross,
it was through death that he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that
is the devil, and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage.
Now how often I've had to declare to
the devil, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan.
I'm a child of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My body I've given to the Holy Spirit
to possess, and through this shed blood I
am his, and you cannot touch me.
Satan knew he was defeated and left like
a wounded hound dog.
However, the Lord began to show me little
sins in my life, petty lusts and pride,
and as long as these were there, Satan
continued his oppressions, which were almost overpowering, still
there was victory in the name of Jesus
and in claiming the power of the blood.
But one day I came to know the
blessed Holy Spirit in a way I had
never known him before.
Whatever experience you want to call it, I
know he came into my being to dwell,
and henceforth he himself has warded off the
attacks of the enemy, as I continue to
lay claim to the resources available to each
believer.
Today, my friends, there is victory, spiritually, mentally,
and physically over all the oppression of the
devil, through full and complete surrender to the
will of God, laying claim to Christ's victory
over the devil, one at the cross, and
through the power of the Holy Spirit, he
who raised up Jesus from the dead.
My prayer that you may come to know
the fullness of God in your soul, and
victory over all oppression of the devil, through
Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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Radio.
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May God richly bless you is our prayer.