Saturday, October 9, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Let God Speak For Himself
So you want to help the hurting find peace and wholeness in their life. That is a most worthy goal and one God has called us all to be a part of. In Galatians 6:1 He says "IF you see a brother or sister missing he mark, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering your selves lest you also be tempted." To become a facilitator helping hurting people become restored means you have reached a point in your own spiritual life where God is considering you spiritual; a worthwhile achievement to say the least.
First you must understand what causes emotional pain. All emotional pain is the direct product of what you believe to be true about self. Lies believed to be true produce emotional pain. We acquire lies by the misinterpretation of life's daily experiences. Sometimes trauma causes its victims to believe lies. Plain life on the other hand teaches us some of the lies while others may be the direct results of people's thoughtlessness or cruelty. But all lies have one thing in common; they hurt. All internal pain promotes negative behaviors and the need to find inner peace.
If lies cause us pain and misery then it stands to reason that TRUTH makes us free. Jesus came on the scene 2000 years ago and said "I am the way the truth and the life . . ." Notice that Jesus called himself the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE? Without truth there is no life therefore we all need a way to the TRUTH. Jesus is that way and the Holy Spirit is the voice from Heaven bringing us truth.
Therefore, the first lesson is to let God speak for Himself. God is the Truth and only God knows exactly what the hurting need. To actually help someone you must learn how to help them communicate with God and then let Him speak for Himself. You can learn how in my book Genuine Christianity and the training material, Restoration Ministry Training, from my website www.genuinechristianity.org
Typically, humans like to tell those hurting how to fix their pain. Many times while ministering I knew the truth about a person's inner pain but when man speaks, very little change takes place in those listening, if anyone is listening. If the pain is intense enough it is difficult to pay attention to what someone is saying; you cannot take information coming from the outside to heart where the pain is.
However, the Holy Spirit speaks from the inside where the pain resides. When a hurting person receives what God is telling them it changes them every time. God never fails to heal those who call upon Him once they learn how to work with Him. Most hurting persons need someone to facilitate a meeting between them and the Healer. As a facilitator you can learn to be very effective helping hurting people find the permanent help they need. This is the ministry of restoration taught in Galatians 6:1. This is possibly the most needed ministry in the world today because of the emotional pain all people carry.
For years I would give those hurting scripturally sound advice to offset their issues. People would go away saying they felt better; they would all thank me and tell me how wise I was and how much they appreciated me taking the time to help them. The problem with all of this was nobody changed; the problems remained and it wouldn't be long before they would be back for more personal attention. For awhile it stroked my ego by making me think these poor folks couldn't live without me. However, after awhile I got real tired of seeing the same old problems in the same people. It wasn't long before I began to see just how ineffective I was at helping hurting people.
If you are looking for return business, keep doing it the conventional way. However, if you are looking for results; people who actually change and become productive within the Body of Christ then learn how to facilitate meetings between the hurting and God and please allow God to speak for Himself.
After working fulltime for over 15 years with hundreds of hurting people, during thousands of hours of one on one ministry, I have produced a video training set of over 8 hours of line upon line precept upon precept teachings for those desiring to learn how to truly restore hurting people back to their rightful place in the Body of Christ. It is simple, effective, accurate and easy to understand. You can find the details of this training set at www.GenuineChristianity.org; click on Ministry News followed by CD's & DVD sets and then click on Restoration Ministry Training
You can also follow this blog for more video clips and articles to help encourage and inform those who truly desire to help the hurting.
You will also find more information at seekinghelpwith issues.blogspot.com and larrylow.blogspot.com
Email me and ask those questions you need to find answers for at PastorLarry@GenuineChristianity.org
Allow me to help in your training and then join our team of ministers who stand ready to help the hurting.
Together we can change this world, one hurting person at a time. Remember that Psalm 34:18 shows us that God hangs out with the hurting so I believe that is a good place for me as well. Join me won't you as we help turn inner pain to inner peace.
Blessings until next time;
Pastor Larry
Thursday, February 4, 2010
I Need More Help
"I am on an antidepressant but I need more help." the woman in the commercial exclaims.
A calming voice continues to describe depression as a serious disease caused by an out of balance condition of epinephrine and serotonin, two drugs produced by the brain to regulate mood swings. The announcer goes on to explain that the new drug EZmood, taken with the antidepressant has helped many with the same problem. However, notify your doctor immediately if you have thoughts of suicide, swelling of the tongue, violent mood swings, heart palpitations, and on and on the announcer goes describing problematic symptoms that you should be aware of if you chose to use their new drug. Unfortunately these symptoms have obviously happened as other people took their drug which, in my understanding, increases your chances of the same things happening.
Do you hear the message in that advertisement? No, I'm not talking about the alleged benefits of the product being sold but the warning message that is only there because of the FDA's labeling laws. I absolutely agree that persons suffering from depression do need more help because offering them mood altering drugs is not helping them but hurting them in the long run by masking their real problem. The proof that I offer is the AMA's own statistics that up twenty five percent of America is classified clinically depressed even though they are currently on anti-depressants and under a doctor's care. If that doesn't give us cause for alarm then nothing will. In fact, we should be more than alarmed, we should be absolutely horrified.
Over the past 20 years I have been helping many overcome depression without the use of drugs. In fact it all started many years ago when I was personally given to a routine of anger followed by depression that with the Lord's help, I was able to escape. This is done by simply helping those suffering learn how to control the thoughts of their mind. It may seem too simple for some while the thought of controlling your mind may seem overwhelming for others. However, believe me it is possible and I am seeing it done on a regular basis. Because of this I would like to give you some food for thought as it pertains to dealing with depression. I will also address the issue of a chemical imbalance or low epinephrine and serotonin levels in the blood as the cause of depression in the latter part of this article.
Depression is looking inward, it is a sinking down in your thoughts; looking at self or the problems and challenges at hand. It involves becoming so absorbed by the challenges you are facing that you are unable to see any hope of overcoming them. Our mood swings follow our thinking process' so if you allow your mind to think down, dark, depressive thoughts you are naturally going to feel depressed. If you feel bad about yourself and continue to allow your mind to replay the same old sad stories of life again and again you are naturally going to be depressed and potentially self-destructive in your behavior. The key to your freedom is to simply find the good things in your life to think about. Only then can you expect to feel better. I want to help you find the way.
Too many people allow their minds to direct and control their day; they have never been taught how to control the use of their bodies including their minds. Your mind is a tool for you to use, not an organ that is intended to use and direct you. You are responsible to make your mind be still. You must not allow your mind to dictate what you think about or when you think.
The natural mind that is uncontrolled will naturally gravitate downward to negative thoughts. In fact God created the human mind to doubt everything. That is how progress is made; when people doubt that this is the best way they put their mind to work finding a better way. However, depression goes beyond doubting and into the realm where they cannot see any hope of improvement or change. Many people I have worked with over the years have described this as their mind wandering down by the pit. Some have even seen a bottomless black hole in their mind's eye. If you allow your mind to stay down by the pit long enough or often enough you will eventually fall in. However, you don't need to allow your mind to do this to you. When thoughts that you know will hurt you or take you down come into your mind you must say "No, we're not going there." You force your mind to think on things that are uplifting and edifying. Refuse to allow your mind to lead you. When your mind wants to run off onto other thoughts you merely refuse it the privilege; pull it back onto the subject you wish to think about.
Some people have told me that at first, during this battle and it is a battle, they have a hard time finding positive things to think about. Let me help you with this; look at the end of your legs, if there is a foot attached to each leg you have just found two things to rejoice over. Look at your hands, if they work you have two more things to rejoice over. You are probably reading this on a computer so be thankful you can be connected in this manner. There are people all over the world that do not have this privilege. Be thankful you can read. If you are reading this because someone loved you enough to print it off then you have love in your life and people that care about you.
When I found myself either in or heading to a pity-party I would ask myself this question; "Am I worse off today than I was yesterday?" If I could honestly say that I was no worse off today than I was yesterday I would be able to shake it off and get back into life. If things looked worse today than they seemed to be yesterday I would then list how different today was from yesterday. As I looked at the things that made today worse I would then consider this "Do I know this for a fact or am I assuming this is the way it is." Most generally I was assuming and by the time I determined that I was assuming something to be fact, I was far from the pit and ready to live again.
Consider this statistic; it may help you understand why so many people are in depression. Medical science has proven that 70% of a person's daily, uncontrolled thought process is redundant and negative. In other words, we keep thinking the same old thing over and over and it keeps growing worse and worse with each pass through. Talk about a huge waste of energy. No wonder depression makes one tired and unable to function.
Another way to shake off the blues is to find someone else to invest your life in. Depression is thinking about self. Your life is more important than that. There are others out there that need you. You have much to offer others; your life experiences can be used to encourage people who may be going through situations similar to what you have experienced. As you invest your life in other's problems you suddenly find out that you don't have it so bad after all. Begin to look at yourself as a potential fountain of life, offering others hope rather than a pit of depression, taking life. God has a purpose for your life; begin seeking His purpose for your life.
I have a friend that is a missionary in a country that is closed to Christianity. That in itself isn't to unusual but this friend mine is much older than I am. We'll just say that I am old enough to retire and he is at least 10 years my elder. This too is not so unusual. However this missionary friend of mine has Multiple Sclerosis and struggles to walk. In addition to his physical condition he ministers to lepers in the jungles and mountain areas of his mission field country; mountains and steaming jungles because that is where they banish lepers too, the undesirable places to live. He could be here in the USA being taken care of by people trained to help him but no, he is out stomping through the jungles and mountains searching for people no one else even want to be close to. He told me once that when he is in the USA he becomes depressed because he watches people running to and fro never giving any thought to others around them. Therefore, when he goes to his mission fields he finds people who suffer much worse than he has ever had to suffer and he is happy and contented serving the unfortunates of this world.
I have another friend that learned how to whip depression by being thankful and in his process of finding things for which he could be thankful, he visited a nursing home where a friend's family member was residing. While he was there he noticed a nurse having a tough time with one of their residents so he went to her aid and began speaking to the elderly gentleman that was giving her a tough time. As he communicated with the resident these two men discovered something about themselves that changed both their lives. The nurse told my friend that she appreciated his help and by the way, have you ever given any thought to becoming a nurse's aid? She said. She went on to say "you have a natural ability to help these folks. We need someone like you on staff here. The majority of my day is not dealing with physical health like I am trained to do but I spend most of my day trying to convince them they have a reason to live and to take care of themselves. You just have a natural way with these folks." To make a longer story shorter, he recognized how good he felt about his ability to help those who obviously had it much worse than he so he began volunteering until one day, at the insistence of the director; he went on staff only to replace the director a few years later. He told me "I never knew how great life could be until I began to pour myself into others. When I met this young man he was in the depths of despair and depression; he couldn't function for himself or take care of his family. He had no purpose or direction in life. Once he began volunteering to help others he never again returned to his private bottomless pit of depression. As he found his place in life he not only helped the residents but he helped the nurses so they could return to their trained call in life. Soon after that he began coming off all his antidepressants and other drugs and today lives free from all his past struggles. (Never come off your meds cold-turkey. Always seek the Dr's help as I will explain at the end of this article.)
Depression is focusing on self and the issues of life that cannot be changed by worrying or constantly thinking about them. You would be surprised at how those problems or concerns will take care of themselves as soon as you quit holding on to them in your mind.
When I help people struggling I always incorporate God in the mix; in fact, without God you will never find the purpose for which you were created. The young man I told you about began to ask God to show him his purpose and to open doors for him just weeks prior to his visiting his friend's relative in the nursing home. I am not talking about becoming religious. Religion has no part to play in a true relationship with God.
God is the most practical person to build a relationship with because He is always with you and is always ready to help. I can help you build a practical relationship with my best friend if you would like. I teach all about it in my book Genuine Christianity which you can purchase on my website at
Blessings to you all;
Pastor Larry Author of Genuine Christianity, Eight Steps to Emotional Peace, Obtaining Marital Bliss and Your Pain is Showing (A study of Attitudes, Paradigms and Patience)
Making Sense out of Sadness
By: L. F. Low author of
Genuine Christianity (published by American Book Publishing Company)
The saddest thing I know are all those hurting in life caused by the horrors of life growing up, the horrors of life in battle or just life experiences in general. It causes me much sadness because all of these issues that cause life to be burdensome and heavy are heal-able without pills or long hours on the therapist's couch. What really makes all of this sad for me is that God has made it possible to get rid of the bad feelings created by the trials of life, in just a few seconds but the church in our culture knows little to nothing about it.
Everyday I deal with people who are trying to live with the pains of life. Some are on prescription drugs while others are coping in other ways and far too many are self medicating with alcohol, illegal drugs, gambling, eating disorders, self-mutilation, sexual perversions, etc. The problem is, many of mans coping mechanisms cause other devastation's in life; not only in yours but many times in those around you as well.
Now, here is the kicker; everyday that I am dealing with these hurting people, they are finding perfect inner peace and the end to many, if not all, of their inner pain and struggles. Is it me? Heavens no. All I do is facilitate a meeting between those hurting and God. When God speaks to the hurting, the hurting ends. I am not talking about pleading with God for a miracle and then hoping that something will take place. No, I am talking about allowing God to speak to the issues that hurt, finding INSTANT release.
This is what I do every day and I have never found a case where God failed to heal. Yesterday for instance, I had a call from a dear lady in another state who has been reading my book Genuine Christianity. In the book I invite those hurting to call me or get on my website at www.GenuineChristianity.org and seek help. The lady I talked to yesterday has been diagnosed as a Bi-Polar and has been on medication for quite some time now. We have talked a few times in the past month and yesterday she called me saying she was just down, depressed and could not seem to shake it off. As we were talking I just said "Lord would you please show this lady what is causing her depression and where it entered her life?" I then asked her to tell me what the Lord was showing her and she said she was looking at a memory from when she was in the third grade. I asked her "What does that little girl in that memory feel about herself?" She said "I'm worthless." I then asked the Lord "Jesus is that true? Would you please give this dear lady the truth?" I then asked her to tell me what the Lord was telling her. She said, among other things, "the Lord said you or no one else is worthless; I created you for a purpose." I then asked the lady how that little girl feels and she said "She is happy and confident. I see her smiling." I then asked her "How do you feel?" and she replied "I feel just fine; no heaviness at all. Thank you Pastor Low. Thank you very much."
That quick call took only two or three minutes but it ended a feeling that poor lady has been carrying around since she was nine years old. Did it end her Bi-Polar diagnosis? Not yet but it is getting her closer.
Understand this please, DRUGS DO NOT HEAL! Drugs, legal or illegal, are coping mechanisms only. My motto is "Why cope with something you can get rid of completely."
This process is called genuine CHRISTIANITY; the Real Deal. This is why Jesus came to the earth; to heal our broken hearts. Medical science has been trying to heal with drugs, shock treatments and hours of analyzing all the details of your past. They have never healed anybody. Don't believe it? Read my book Genuine Christianity and note the quotes from the American Medical Association that I included where they themselves have admitted to not being able to heal.
ONLY GOD HEALS! Man can only deal with the symptoms but God heals permanently. The reason He doesn't heal everybody that hurts is because the hurting are not asking Him to help them. Most do not know how to work with God because the churches are not teaching them. That is the main reason I wrote Genuine Christianity; to
teach the church there is so much more to our faith than religious dogma, poems and platitudes.
As I have mentioned before, when you begin to talk to someone about turning to God for help many reject it as some superstition, fable or an old wives-tale of days-gone-by. That is because the church has done a horrible job of presenting God to the general public. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship with a living God who cares very much for you and your life. When you hurt, He hurts with you. That is why I am doing this blog; I want the world to know this God who heals. That is why I wrote Genuine Christianity, to help those who care learn how to help those who are hurting. This is called restoration; learning how to restore a person back to God, back to health, back to confidence in themselves, back to peaceful living.
Living in perfect inner peace is absolutely possible but you will never get there on your own without God. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. It is His peace we all seek because with His peace it doesn't matter what storm you are currently going through because the promise is the same, peace that passes all human understanding.
As soon as I can figure out how to do it, I am going to post a few video blogs here and on U-Tube that are short clips of the training material I have produced. It is working in my life and all who come to me or call. It is working in all those who have acquired a set of the material and are currently using it to help themselves and others. It works every time because God never fails and all we need to do is learn how to work with Him rather than command Him around like He is our Big-Daddy or a Genie in a bottle. He is God and He longs to help all who will take the time to learn how to work with Him. The name of my training material is Restoration Ministry Training and can be located on my website www.GenuineChristianity.org and is available to all who desire to learn how to deal with their own issues as well as how to help others; Turning inner Pain to inner Peace.
Many have asked me if I have ever seen anyone on psyche-meds able to come off those meds. My answer is "I sure have but it takes time. You never want to just quit what the Dr's have prescribed unless the Dr is working with you, bringing you off slowly."
The people I have helped get off drugs for depression, sleep deprivation, anxieties, Bi-Polar, etc all did so by working with my suggestions (Biblical teachings) learning how to work with God. As they worked with God to eliminate the lies that were causing them their pain, they began to relax more and more. Eventually they would feel physically ill, overly tired or any number of feelings that they could identify as not right. When this happened I always suggest they go to their Dr for a blood test. Most of the time the blood test would show the Dr the patient was being over medicated so they would reduce the amount of their prescription. This is the routine for safely and sensibly coming off prescription medications. DO NOT QUIT COLD TURKEY!
Genuine Christianity is published by The American Book Publishing Company and can be obtained through your local Christian Book Store, pdbookstore.com, Amazon.com or by going on my website at www.GenuineChristianity.org
Let's end all the sorrow and hurting in life by learning how to work with God; it is not as hard as you might think.
Blessings my friend;
Pastor Larry
The Common Quest of Man
By: L. F. Low author of Genuine Christianity
The attitude of the world toward those who are trapped in some obsessive, compulsive lifestyle is commonly captured in the following phrase "Once a druggie always a druggie." The same thing goes for those trapped on alcohol, sexual perversions, gambling, eating disorders, etc. The fact is however, that does not have to be true. When a person is ready to get off of whatever they are trapped by, believe me they can find freedom; I have helped hundreds find total freedom.
The same goes with most rehab centers; they treat the compulsive behavior as the problem. The Compulsive behavior has become a problem or the person would not be seeking help. However, the behavior is not the problem.
Our behavior, regardless of what it is, is the fruit of our problem. Twelve step programs, in most cases, string you along with the promise of freedom only to re-trap you with constant meetings and rehearsing the fact that you are hopelessly trapped and will never escape without continuing with whatever the twelve steps taught you.
I am thankful for the help gained by some involved in these programs however, the percentage of people who have truly found freedom from their destructive behaviors are very small compared to the numbers who are trying to find freedom. Typically there is only 1% or less that actually kicks the habit and the reason is you cannot fix your problem by simply picking off the bad fruit. To change the fruit of a person's life you must change the root of that life. No human can do that-- but God can!
If you treat your compulsion as the problem you are constantly picking bad fruit. Consider an apple tree that produces wormy apples; picking off all the apples does not fix the problem. Constantly admitting that you have a problem does not fix the problem either. No, constantly admitting you have a problem makes the problem worse and your condition hopeless.
Constantly condemning a person because they do drugs does not change the reason they do drugs. Punishing them for doing drugs actually adds to the problem by intensifying or exasperating their root problems that caused their destructive behaviors in the first place.
Unfortunately most contemporary religion is merely picking bad fruit by preaching sin, sin, sin to those who are trapped in their destructive lifestyles. I will agree, destructive lifestyles do make us sin. However, we must go deeper if we are to ever help the hurting find the permanent freedom Jesus promised those who would follow Him. The religionist (Is that a word?) would say "You can't go deeper than a person's sin." But I tell you that you can go deeper and that is the very reason Jesus came to the earth (Isaiah 61:1).
In order for Jesus to do what He came to do, He had to deal with mankind's sin issue. The church must quit celebrating what He had to do and go deeper to actually facilitate what He came to do. Once we have helped others gain their freedom then we can celebrate.
Until then however, we need to learn how to work with Him to help ourselves so we can help others. That is what I want to teach you; how to go deeper and receive the good out of why Jesus did what He did. He did it all for your freedom! He didn't do all that He did to trap us in some dead religion! By helping you gain your freedom I will be teaching you how to help others who are hurting as well.
Jesus set a standard for those who claim to be His followers; that standard is talked about very little and most of those who claim to follow Him cannot answer the following questions; "What is the standard of Christianity? Or what measuring stick did Jesus give his followers to help them determine where they are in their faith?"
How do I know most people will not be able to answer that question? Because for years I have been traveling and ministering in churches all over this country and in foreign countries as well and I ask that question wherever I go and I have never found any church who could or would answer it.
Today I am going to tell you what that standard is; it is not sinlessness or perfection as so many think it is. No, it is perfect inner peace and rest. Peace, quietness and confidence forever; in or out of the storms of life. Peace is the answer and if you would like to see the scriptures that prove that just let me know and I will email you a boat-load of them or stick with me.
In my last article I mentioned, quite strongly, that Christianity is not a religion but the potential for a dynamic relationship with God. Why would we want a relationship with God? Now get ready for my answer and please don't decide to stone me until you finish reading this article; then, if I am out of whack, go ahead. Here goes.
We need a dynamic relationship with God for the same reason people do drugs; to find peace. May I also go on and say, the same reasons people are on mood altering drugs such as antidepressants, uppers and downers to find rest and peace; to cope. The same reason some people need an adult beverage after a stressful day, to unwind. The same reason people smoke pot, etc.,etc.,etc.
The point I am trying to make is every human on earth is ultimately seeking the same thing; peace, quietness and confidence. And everything we do on our own to find peace and rest in life can eventually control and destroy our life. Peace, rest, quietness and confidence are God's promised reward for an intimate relationship with Him (John 14:27, 16:33, Isaiah 32:17, 26:3). God has something much better than coping!
Therefore, doesn't it make sense then to at least look at the possibility of getting to know God, rather than run the other direction just because you are afraid of Him for some reason? Especially if you are trying to kick some habit or find peace because of what life has done to you. If you have tried everything else and none of it gave you back your life or helped you gain the peace and freedom for which you are searching stick with me and I will teach you how to live in a troubled world with perfect inner peace and confidence.
You can find much more help on my website at www.genuinechristianity.org, click on Ministry Helps and then look over the offerings under the sections entitled: Articles, Booklets and CD's & DVD's. You will find free teachings even some mp3 downloads free for the taking.
Enjoy my friend until next time,
be blessed;
Pastor Larry
Dealing With the Real Issues of Life
For many years now I have helped hundreds of people turn their inner pain to inner peace and rest. In most cases doctors said these people would have to learn how to live with their inner turmoil or remain on medication for the rest of their lives. The thing they don't tell you is anti-psychotic medications destroys your physical body so the rest of your life may not be as long as you would like. However, God never fails and finding your peace happens when you learn how to work with Him.
This is not as difficult as you may think if you are already a believer. However, if you see God as an impersonal force that really doesn't care about us, or as the ultimate judge just waiting for you to mess up so He can whack you, then you may need some help to change that paradigm of God. I can help you change that paradigm if you are truly searching for help. God's plan has been working just fine now for over 2000 years. However, thanks to the religion of the mind called psychology plus church leaders believing the lie that only the Psychologist can actually help people, God's plan has gotten hidden under this veneer of religion and fear.
If you have a desire to find help without spending the remaining years of your life on a medication regiment that only numbs the real issues of your life; or spending hours of your life on a therapist's couch continuously rehearsing and reliving the pain of your past, hoping against all hope that all this money, time and effort will buy you something only to be taught new coping mechanisms that rarely work and only when you have the energy to carry them out. If this is you I have good news; you don't have to tolerate merely coping any longer.
You may be someone who truly desires to help others in your life that is hurting but you think that without a degree in psychology it is impossible. I can help you with that as well because of the following four points:
1. Psychology has never actually healed anyone in their 230 years of existence.
2. The only ones actually helping are those who have learned how to facilitate meetings between God and those who are seeking help. This is where I can help you by teaching you how to facilitate meetings. I have been doing this for many years now and I know what I am talking about. In fact, if you are curious check out my website at http://www.genuinechristianity.org/ and browse around a bit to see the teachings, download-able free goodies and the teaching products available to you. Once you get to the website, click on Ministry News to more clearly understand our ministry.
3. As I have previously mentioned I have been facilitating meetings now for over 15 years and have helped hundreds of hurting people turn their inner pain into inner peace. I have also trained many who are currently ministering to others on a regular basis.
4. The name of this blog is "Seeking Help with Life Issues" and I will be teaching you what I am experiencing in everyday life not what I have learned in college or through higher education.
I am inviting you to follow this blog spot for it is my intentions to encourage you and convince you that this is no hoax. It is crazy to see all the inner pain and turmoil on this earth today; none of it is necessary because God has a plan that has been working for over 2000 years now and I can help you if you are willing to learn.
I have many who would be willing to testify that my training material has helped them find peace in their own life as well as taught them how to help others. We are building a network of people who have been trained and are being trained to help hurting people.
It's time that the best news ever given to mankind be released to all who are looking for help; Your Broken heart can be healed on the spot!
Join us friend as we work to free those trapped in the prisons of their mind, helping them find healing for their broken hearts.
Blessings;
Pastor Larry
Check out http://www.genuinechristianity.org/ and keep following this blog spot
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
What Drives Our Life
As I stated in my last post, mentioning that it is God that will help you find freedom from your issues causes most people to tune out. And quite frankly I don't blame them because of the way God has been presented to society. He has either been presented as a boring old judge who is ready to whack you for the things you do wrong, and we all do plenty of things wrong to be whacked for. Or he has been presented as a god who drives gun totting crazed wackos who do his dirty work on the earth. Neither is true and if you will stick with me I think, over time, I can help you see who the Living God is and how dynamic He is to know. He is the only one who can actually make this life make sense. I will be sharing with you my experiences in an attempt to help you find answers to life's issues.
Religion presents God in this negative light but you must understand that Christianity is not a religion. Regardless of what 'they' say, by definition Christianity is not a religion and if you give me the time I will do all in my power to prove that to you. Christianity is a relationship with a living God who desires to be actively involved in your life in a very positive, dynamic way. I found that to be true quite by accident over thirty years ago when I was desperately seeking help and I have never been the same since. (You can read the details of my testimony in my book 'Genuine Christianity' published by The American Book Publishing Company)
How does God help us deal with our very personal issues, inner pains, addictions, weaknesses, etc.? To even begin answering that question, which must be answered before we can go any further, we need to talk about what drives our life.
Every life is driven by what that life believes about self. The Bible says "As a man believes in his heart, so is he." In other words what you believe about yourself is what you become. If you believe you are stupid and worthless because somehow, life told you that, you will act like you are stupid and worthless. Notice I said you will 'act' like it. No life on earth is actually stupid and worthless but sometimes we sure act that way.
Science is catching up with those of us who believe what Scripture teaches about life. A renowned cell biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton, has been studying how the cells of our body respond to the central voice called the mind and spirit; this is the path he chose in order to understand the origin of life and how life works. He teaches in his book, "The Biology of Belief" that what we believe in our subconscious mind has more to do with our future than the biological genes we inherited from our forefathers. In fact he teaches "genes are not our destiny!" (Page 67 of The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton PhD, Élite Books, Santa Rosa California)
We are not victims of our genes or what mom and dad gave us. We are only victimized by our own mind; what we believe. "As a man believes, so is he." Scripture also teaches us that "You are not held back by anything other than your feelings." (2 Corinthians 6:12)
What we believe about self determines what we feel at the moment. Lies believed about self produce emotional pain. In fact, that is the only source of emotional pain. When we blame others for 'making us feel bad' we are missing it big time and giving others total control over our lives. That's dangerous, giving others total control over your happiness and future. However, the majority of the world does just that every day when they exclaim "He made me feel this way. or You made me do it., etc." People and circumstances can only trigger what we believe about self and our belief causes our emotional pain and our emotional pain causes our words and actions.
Psychology has known this for over two hundred years but those practicing this trade are taught that as they analyze your life while you verbally spill your guts to them (therapy) they can then give you a form of truth that should make you feel better; after all, if it is grandpa's fault why should it be messing you up? Well, the idea is good but it does not work. (That is why over the past ten years I have helped several clinical psychologists find healing for their inner issues.) It may very well have been grandpa's words or actions that put you in a bad situation however; it is what you believed about self that actually produced the pain.
Psychology can in fact analyze you and they do a very good job understanding behavior patterns and their causes but they have never healed anyone with their analysis. They teach you how to cope or live with your pain. Why cope with something that you can get rid of totally?
"In 1955 the American Psychiatric Association held a symposium on "Progress in Psychiatry." Here is the sort of statement which appeared in the published accounts: "Psychotherapy is today in a state of disarray almost exactly as it was 200 years ago." (Zilboorg, G., in Mowrer, The Crisis in Psychology, Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1961, p 3)
"H. J. Eysenck, Director of the University of London's Department of Psychology, recently wrote: 'The success of the Freudian revolution seemed complete. Only one thing went wrong. The patients did not get any better." (Dr. Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel, P&R Publishing Company, 1970)
We have over 200 years of history that proves that psychology has never healed anyone. Because of this, I strongly believe that is why they are resorting to dealing drugs through prescriptions. Psychology is a religion of the mind originally intended to replace Christianity by a young Sigmund Freud who was hurt by his father, an angry preacher using religion as his whip. However, according to their own reports they have healed no one yet. None the less, I personally have seen hundreds healed consistently over the past 10 years by helping people connect to the living God, the author of Christianity. I know of many ministries that have also had the same experience as I have. In fact, this is not a rare occurrence but a daily one. Check out my website for teachings, seminar titles, testimonies, etc at www.genuinechristianity.org
Truth is, if you want something you have never had before you must do something you have never done before. Therefore, it is my aim to help you do something you probably have never done before. I want to help you connect to God for the purpose of helping you find perfect inner peace; wouldn't it be nice to like yourself and to be comfortable in the skin you are in? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get control of that anger; or how about getting rid of the constant nightmares and/or daily flash backs.
It kills me every time I hear a report of our nation's finest, the military men and women, returning from a war zone and the news reporter telling us that these poor souls will be living on drugs and therapy sessions the rest of their life trying to cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when that just does not need to be. I have personally helped many who were suffering from PTSD because PTSD is caused by the same thing; a series of lies believed about self caused by a traumatic event or a series of traumatic events.
Feelings drive our life! Everything you say and do is driven by a feeling, usually from the subconscious mind, which is why we blame the current situation as the cause for our harsh words and/or actions. Many times that is why, after a negative event, we say "I didn't mean it." After we react and see the effects of our negative behavior we cognitively think about what we just did and most of the time we cannot believe we just said or did what was said or done. The power that drives our actions (all of them) come from our subconscious mind; our super computer. Proof of it is, you cannot say something kind if you are angry and upset neither can you be angry if you feel lovey-dovey.
The key to changing your current behavior lies in what you currently feel. What you currently feel is directly connected to what you subconsciously believe about self. Therefore, to change what you are currently doing you must change what you believe and the thing you believe is stored in your supercomputer--your subconscious or your memory. How in the world do you change the memory of your past? That is where we are going.
Modern science is saying "if we could only reprogram our supercomputer". Well, we can and I have been involved in that for many years now so stick with me and I will help you learn how. (Not using hypnosis or drugs) You can also find out how by reading my new book Genuine Christianity, published by The American Book Publishing Company.
Now just a few words in closing about how this affects our addictions; man's addictions are caused by attempting to rid self of bad feelings (inner pain). In other words, what we get addicted too starts out as our medication of choice. The problem is painfully obvious, the medication we chose eventually takes control of our bodies and we call that control an addiction. That is why addictions are not a disease of the body but afflictions of the soul. (Note my Blog entitled Addictions Not a Disease)
Emotional pain was created by God to inform you of when you believe something about self that is not true. Why would God be so interested in what we believe? Because there is only one thing that can stand between God and His created beings and that one thing is a LIE. Lies keep us in bondage and God's entire plan is to build a relationship with us so He can heal our emotional pain or broken hearts. That is why Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life." Without truth you have no way to life. Truth brings peace and rest while lies produce pain and turmoil.
I don't know about you but I do know about me and the many I have ministered to over the years; when we were in total control of our life it worked pretty well for quite awhile. However, there always comes a time when we begin to have difficulties we cannot fix. Those difficulties always compound into greater difficulties until one day we experience despair and a great sense of hopelessness. That is not a good place to be and the good news is WE DON'T HAVE TO STAY THERE. THERE IS HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS, HELP FOR THE HELPLESS and it is my plan that in time I can help you physically, emotionally and spiritually get there.
If you would like to get there ahead of this blog you can probably do just that by obtaining my book Genuine Christianity from your neighborhood book store, online through Amazon.com or from my website www.GenuineChristianity.org
Until next time all I ask you to do is to think about it, check it out and see if what I am saying is not true in your life.
Blessings;
Pastor Larry
Addictions not a Disease
"Experts" find Addictions not a Disease
By L. F. Low
While waiting for my annual doctor's visit I noticed a News Week cover picture of a hypodermic needle and a bottle of whiskey with the headline of "A Vaccine for Addictions". I found the very small article accompanied by pictures of four or five individuals who evidently were testing the vaccine based upon their one or two sentence testimonies. The article began with "It has been known for decades that addiction is a disease."
Claiming or believing your addiction is a disease allows you to transfer the responsibility of your addiction and the associated behaviors into the hands of the medical professionals. However, medical professional treatments and directions do not heal the addiction or the associated behaviors. Treating addictions from the outside in is trading an addiction of illegal drugs for legal drugs; or from personally paying for your drugs, to allowing insurance to pick up the tab. After all, giving drugs to a drug addict in order to get them off drugs is like giving the fox free chicken dinners to keep him out of the hen house. The free dinners never destroys his appetite for chicken.
Who am I? I am a minister of the Gospel who, for over fifteen years, has been helping people find permanent freedom from their inner pains and compulsive addictions. Once free of their inner pain, they go on to live lifestyles free from the temptations faced and the battles fought as addicts. I am currently ministering with Teen Challenge of the Midlands who have a proven 85% cure rate for those who finish their program. (The Health, Education and Welfare federal government study provided that statistic from a 1975 study. Details of the study results are available from the author upon request.)
I do not have a PhD, but I do have proof that addictions are not sicknesses cured from the outside in. Addictions are caused by, problems within the soul. Therefore, addictions are cured successfully from the inside out, with no exceptions. In the past ten years, I have personally witnessed hundreds of people find permanent freedom. The ministry of Teen Challenge has a 50-year history in which they have seen literally thousands find permanent freedom. I guess that does give me a PhD of sorts, because I am now "Past having Doubts".
When I mention being cured, I do not mean being on some other drug for a lifetime or being strapped to others for accountability for a lifetime. I am talking about the battle being over and the attraction is dead. This is freedom with no negative side effects and no self-belittlement, guilt and grief from their past actions— COMPLETE FREEDOM.
Let me briefly explain sickness of the soul; Sickness of the soul is emotional pain or bad feelings. Emotional pain comes from believing a lie about one's self. Addictions are never the problem but the fruit of the deeper problem—emotional pain. Throughout our life, our brain is automatically interpreting every life experience based upon the premise of "what does this experience makes me feel about me". The information our brain deals with is mostly assumption therefore, our interpretation is usually wrong, causing us to believe lies about our self. If for some reason your life contained trauma, this can also contribute to the lies you believe about yourself. This is a very simple explanation but adequate I believe for this article. (I will offer much more on this subject in future articles.)
How do our interpretations of past experiences affect us in the present? As your brain works to interpret your current experience, it first compares this experience with every experience you have ever had, looking for places where you were hurt (believed a lie), that contain enough common elements of this moment to give you a warning. That warning is the emotional pain stored in your memory. As the subconscious memory of the four-year-old child, who believed he would never be good enough to please his father, gets triggered by the current argument taking place with your father, or your boss, or your wife (Anyone basically disagreeing with you could trigger it.) the pain of the four year old is what the adult will feel. The problem with that is typically we have been running from our bad feelings, hoping to outgrow them or forget them entirely. However, our feelings are driving our current responses and most are totally unaware of it. Therefore the problem, bad feelings, cause bad responses which include bad decisions such as rage and drug usage which adds to mans hopelessness as he loses total control of his own actions to the humiliating grip of chemical dependency.
Not understanding where these bad feelings and their associated responses come from causes those hurting to blame others currently in their life or the current situations they are dealing with, such as their job, stressed relationships, traffic, etc. However, blaming others never changes anything nor does learning new coping mechanisms or techniques. In other words, none of man's counsel, legalized drugs, punishments or accountability techniques will ever end the battle for those suffering.
When a person suffers from enough emotional pain, he/she will do whatever is necessary to escape it. Most of the time people turn to cigarettes to calm their nerves or to a drink or two after work to relax which then escalates to more and more until you become hooked (dependant) chemically but more importantly emotionally. Everyone experiences this soul-sickness at one level or another. Everyone has their own remedies that they use to escape the pain but most merely ignore it thinking, if they can't feel it they have it under control.
Many others currently believe that addictions or addictive tendencies are genetic, inherited from our forefathers. Truth is, many alcoholics or drug addicts raise alcoholics and drug addicted children. Not because it is somehow in their DNA, but because of two basic issues that I have observed repeatedly:
1) The first observation is this lifestyle is a learned behavior. We learn best by observing our elders therefore, children of the addicted observe how mom and dad cope with their issues and it becomes more sociably acceptable to them –after all, mom and dad do it so what's the problem.
2) The second observation is, the reason the parents are addicted is to cover or cope with their inner issues (emotional pain) caused by their childhood and their parent's behavior. Not only are they currently coping with their own pain, but now they are passing that pain on to their children by their responses to current life issues which trigger feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, shame and hundreds of other feelings. These feelings are the product of the misinterpretation of their life's experiences as children and the trauma they endured growing up in a dysfunctional home, raised by addicted parents. And the gift goes on and on until someone says "Enough is enough—this has got to stop."
When you want something you have never had before, you must do something you have never done before. If you want to escape the cycle of addiction, you must turn to the root cause and the only ONE who can help. Here is where most people quit reading but here is where your help comes from.
God has reserved the transforming of the soul for Him and Him alone. Man has no way of helping you because man can only affect you from the outside in. Your issue is on the inside therefore, help must come from the inside out. Only God can do that. I have witnessed this truth personally in my own life and I have witnessed it professionally in hundreds of others for over 20 years now –God is the only answer. Not a religious god but a living God who desires a relationship with you.
Until next time, be blessed my friend;
Pastor Larry
For further information on this subject, including testimonies of many who received help, check out the author's new book Genuine Christianity in a bookstore near you, on Amazon.com or from my website at www.genuinechristianity.org .
Genuine Christianity the book is published by The American Book Publishing Company
Purpose for this Blog
Last year was a wonderfully productive year that brought me many personal blessings. I'm not talking about riches or physical blessings, even though there have been a few of those, but the blessings I am talking about are more personal than that; spiritual blessings, emotional blessings, the joy of seeing those hurting find peace, personal quietness and confidence, knowing you are making a difference in others lives, etc.
For that reason I feel obligated to begin this blog spot. You see, I believe our lives do count for something bigger than we ourselves. I believe that there are personal reasons all humans are alive and that each human on this earth has a very specific reason for being here. Let me rephrase the first sentence of this paragraph and say because of what I have experienced in life I know I must share my experiences and the blessings I have received along with the blessings received by those to whom I have ministered.
Let me explain a little about who I am and my background. I have reached my golden years and have been involved in ministry for the past 25, whoops 30 years now. Prior to ministry I was involved in the computer industry, I farmed, I sold insurance, I did a lot of things that never satisfied me. However, the Lord changed all that when I began to see the futility of my life and began seeking a life of purpose and meaning. I don't wish to go into all that now but just suffice it to say that I was working very hard and reaping no personal satisfaction from my labors and I certainly was not peaceful, quiet and confident about myself or my life overall.
If you are thinking "Here goes another religious blog spot" I assure you that I am not religious; I am a spiritual Christian but I am not religious. You see, to me religion is just rules, regulations, ceremonies and rituals (dogma) that man needs to sooth his guilty conscience. Religion is used by man to control man. No I am not religious and what I offer is not religion. However, what I am offering is an opportunity for my readers to gain from what I have learned about helping hurting people. And who doesn't know multitudes of hurting people? In fact, you may find some issues in your own life that I will help you resolve just by reading. I have received many reports from people who have purchased my book Genuine Christianity, testifying that they found help with their own issues just by reading and putting to practice what they learned.
On with who I am; Since 1999 I have dedicated my life to helping people who had a difficult time enjoying life because of their self-hatred and/or their hated for the world around them; many were depressed all the time or angry, fearful, confused, etc. Many of those I have helped were heavily medicated or addicted to their own medications; be that alcohol, drugs, self-mutilation, gambling, shopping, working, sex or what have you. Just look around you and you will recognize that we live in a very hurting world. Over the past thirty years I have also learned why that is and how our pain is passed on from generation to generation. Stick with me as I share and soon you will also understand how that happens. If we can end our pain we can keep from passing it on to the next generation.
I want to offer you what I have learned and help you apply it to your life; when it works for you then you can help those around you find inner peace that few people find in life. I would hope that we can share some dialogue via this most wonderful media -- blogging.
What I am not going to offer those who will give me a few minutes a week is a bunch of religious platitudes and poems. Platitudes and poems are nice but I haven't noticed many of them actually changing a person where they hurt the most. I am not going to share with you philosophies that sound good but only really change your intellect and not your heart.
I will try to keep it short and meaningful each day that I write (hopefully weekly). I encourage you to comment on what I write; not so much on how it is written but the content of what I am writing. If you do not understand something you read please tell me so I can explain myself and potentially improve what I share with others.
I hope I can encourage some of those I have helped to offer testimonies of what life was like for them and how what I am teaching changed their life. I am not talking about a few people over the past eleven years but hundreds of people. To be honest, what I am going to teach you works every time once you learn a few simple biblical principles. I am also going to encourage other's (pastors and non-pastors alike) who are currently helping people in their area with what I am teaching, to offer their input to this blog. If they have blogs of their own we will link to them so you have all the input you need to help your life or those around you who are struggling with life.
I will also be offering you parental suggestions of how to help your children become all that God intends them to become which, quite frankly, is much more than any parent can ever hope or dream for their child. Most of the time we are not helping our young children as much as we think when all we have to offer them is the advice we received from the generations before us. Or when we holler, scream and yell at them to do or not to do something and then back it all up with "because I told you so and I am the parent, that's why!"
If any of this appeal to you or if you know of people who we could be a blessing to, please pass the information on and join me as I share. You can also locate me on the web at http://www.genuinechristianity.org/ and I invite you to check me out. You can also read the comments from readers like you who have enjoyed my new book Genuine Christianity who have posted their critiques on Amazon.com and on my website under Testimonials.
Blessings;
Pastor Larry
