Richard Radio begins in three, two, one. To convince a child to keep walking, try switching roles with them. Let the child play the role of the parent. They'll immediately do what you want them to do. You are raising in your home people that the Bible is very clear about their status. They need to be converted. not just a conformity of their behavior. They need a transforming encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate priority. It's time for Wretched Radio with Todd Friel. It's about time! Amen? Let's go talk about the book we all read. ♪ You know they're dangerous ♪ ♪ Take a look, it's in our book ♪ ♪ So many books, so little time ♪ This is Amen Wretched Radio, thrilled to pieces, amen. To finally announce, amen, it is here. Why do you keep amening? I'm sorry, what? Why do you keep saying amen? Have I been saying amen a lot? A little bit. Oh, I know what happened. I watched an episode of Joseph Prince. Amen. Wow, does he amen a lot. It's his little, it's his um, it's his placeholder. It's his whatever little tick that you use to find your way. By the way, I've noticed a tick, and I use it too. You maybe do also. You can run parallel thoughts in your brain. You can be speaking and kind of getting your mental act together. And we do that sometimes with lifts, when you just need a little time. For instance, if I said, I'm going to set up camp here, that would be enough for you to understand exactly what I'm talking about. I'm going to build a fire and I'm going to make sure that the tent has a pad underneath it. In other words, I start giving a bunch of details about the camp that are unnecessary. So why do I list them? Because it gives me the mental time to figure out what's coming next. Amen. Don't know why turned on the TV. And there was Joseph Prince, who, by the way, this is, um, this is really quite interesting. I suspect now I didn't go take a look at their numbers. I didn't get into their financial statement, but I suspect the line item for hair care products exceeds Fortis Institute's entire budget. That's all I'm saying here. Furthermore, by the way, Jimmy looks like you got a haircut and you trim that beard of yours. You were looking like a mountain Yeah, I did. I finally did. Mrs. Hicks said, that's enough. Well, she didn't say that's enough, but she said, thank you so much after I did it. There it is. I'm going to be getting one of those one of these days as soon as I can get to a barber, which won't cost nearly as much as Joseph Prince hairstylist. You see, some of us have barbers and that's the way it should be. If you're a man and you're going to a hairstylist, you need to rethink some things. You need to start going to a barber and let him cut your hair, not style your hair. And if you're by that, you'd say, I don't know the difference. Here it is. If when they're done cutting your hair, they say, would you like me to use some product? Just get out, just tear that thing off that robe and get out the door as fast as you can and find yourself a barber pole and get your hair cut. where they'll drop a comb on the floor and just keep on using it. That's the way a man gets his hair cut. Joseph Prince spends a lot of time getting manicures, getting his hair cut, and getting his face lifted, amen, so that he can become fabulously wealthy. You say, well, that's kind of impugning the man's integrity. No, that's rightly identifying an individual who is a false teacher. This is a man who is confused and who is misleading people for the sake of wealth. He's a word-faith preacher. He's a prosperity preacher. And if you still are reticent, I say reticent, to judge anybody, please consider the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 23. Please read it. In fact, I'll give you a little challenge. You're looking for something to read in the Bible so that it kind of engages you. Well, here's a couple of challenges where you can run parallel thoughts as you're reading through it. Ask yourself the question in Matthew chapter 23, when Jesus is woeing the Pharisees, was that judgmental? Was he judging people? And the answer is absolutely. But simultaneously ask yourself the question, what was his tone? That's always difficult to assess because reading the printed word, unless the author says he was saying it like this, You're on a bit of shaky ground. Nevertheless, I do think that the text itself reveals the heart of Jesus in woeing the Pharisees. It wasn't a gleeful woeing. It was a broken-hearted woeing. Because these false teachers, I'm telling you, I can't say this on totally solid biblical grounds, but when you consider how hot hell is gonna be for some versus others, because there will be different temperatures in hell, there will be some cottages that are closer to the lake of sulfur than others. Who's gonna get the hot house? And the answer, I think, is false teachers. You can't read Matthew 23 without recognizing God really hates hypocrisy, false teachers, and systems that put a yoke on people's back. And that describes Joseph Prince. So I'm watching him to kind of see where's he at these days. And I think, Jimmy, when you look this up, Joseph Prince, I think he's 60. And he basically looks like he's about 12, because he's probably got one of those baby faces anyway, but he just got it pulled back so tightly that he looks like he's about 12. And I couldn't help but notice he's into a new bag. A number of years ago, this is gonna sound like a discursus that is going way far away, but a number of years ago, I remember talking to Dr. John MacArthur, from whom we will hear in a moment, and I asked him about a gospel presentation that I saw and heard Benny Hinn give. It was magnificent. It was loaded with the covenant and the blood propitiation. I mean, he was just, it's like, whoa. That was amazing. And I said to Dr. MacArthur, what was that? How do you harmonize Benny Hinn being one of the chief prosperity preachers and a good gospel presentation? And very few sentences stick with you for life. This one did. Dr. MacArthur said, it's just a shtick. Oh. Manzilla and I recall Joseph Prince the last time I had checked in on him. He actually looked older then than he does today The hair was still amazing, but he just keeps getting younger and younger and a number of years ago He was he was really he was hyper gracing At least he was tiptoeing near it, if not crossing the line. It was all about the grace, the grace, the groovy, groovy grace, and about forgiveness. And it wasn't all wrong, but it was his shtick. And I noticed that his current shtick is, get ready for this. Biblical counseling, biblical counseling. He's discovered it. It is clear. He even used the term root and fruit. And it's clear to me that Joseph Prince has stumbled into another shtick. And on the one hand, I would say, well, he made a good choice because he recognizes that people are hurting. and that they're depressed and anxious and fearful and lonely. He's no dodo. In fact, I think he's actually a pretty smart guy. I don't know how well he knows his biblical languages, but he's more than a little acquainted with them, and he knows enough to see what the needs of people are and address them, which As another discursus, this is why the seeker-sensitive movement should agitate us because they've robbed us of something called, get ready for this, felt needs. You hear that word, I hear that word, and it's like, whoa! Oh, no, you don't. We're not seeker-sensitive. We don't address felt needs. We should. Because people have them, now you don't elevate it to the level of the gospel. Nevertheless, we should identify that people are struggling with something and preach the word to help them with it. Joseph Prince, he's on to that. And so he's littered his sermons with biblical language lingo. And I will say this, amen, it was a total dog's breakfast, amen. It was all over the place and ultimately unhelpful. And then they go to the glitzy commercials to sell you his book and resources, et cetera. And it broke my heart because a lot of people follow this guy, especially in light of A new book! That's right, we're actually getting to the premise of this segment. A new book, Dr. Greg Gifford's new book, it is here. And guess what it deals with? The mind versus the brain, your emotions, what to do when you or a loved one is diagnosed with a mental health disorder. What about psychotropics? It is here. Lies my therapist told me. Okay, when I say it's here, you can pre-order it. And I would like to encourage you to do that. Would you please, please consider getting this book. It's a big one. It's hardcover. It's a glorious work. And it's a magnificent read. I just, I just, I drink this stuff in. And you're going to see the power of the Bible when it comes to overcoming so many of our emotional issues. No, all of our emotional issues. And it's an important book. And it's a book that if your pastor isn't willing to read it, you should. Whether you have a family member who is struggling with ADHD, whatever the emotional moniker that they have been given, get this book, Lives My Therapist Told Me, and here's what'll happen. This is kind of strategic. It will help more people see this book. It's sort of like YouTube. The more people like a YouTube video, the more people they show it to. The more people who pre-order this book, the more are going to ultimately get it. So please visit fortisinstitute.org slash lies fortisinstitute.org slash lies and get Dr. Greg Gifford's book, Lies My Therapist Told Me. And we We'll take a sneak peek inside of its covers, particularly pertaining to... Psychotropics. How old is Joseph Prince, Jimmy? 61. This is Wretched Radio. You might not see them, but the world keeps handing you chains. Chains of fear. Chains of people-pleasing. Chains of self-love disguised as confidence. It tells you that your worth is found in self-esteem, that your security is found in human approval, that your strength is found in emotional indulgence or cold, hard stoicism. It's all a trap. And on the better way with Libby Glossen, she's cutting through the lies. This isn't just another self-help pep talk, never cheesy, never shallow, just powerful, practical, biblical truth that sets women free. This is intelligent talk radio for women because real freedom doesn't come from looking inside yourself. It comes from looking up. to Christ. If you're ready to ditch the world's empty solutions for something real, it's time for The Better Way with Libby Glossen. Because in a world full of compromise, there indeed is a better way. Perhaps you've been wondering, is there a Christian university that isn't woke? Or that hasn't compromised on important biblical doctrines like, you know, the age of the earth? There is. It's the Masters University in Southern California. Beautiful campus. All of the athletics and activities that you've come to expect from universities. But it's more than that. The academic programs are most excellent preparing students for the future. The Washington Post just said number six for preparing students for the real world. All that plus The Masters University isn't woke, and it is thoroughly biblical. Would you like to learn more? I encourage you to visit the Masters University at masters.edu slash wretched, masters.edu slash wretched. Someone you love is grieving. You want to help, but what do you say? It's Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time. It's a Fortis Institute webinar with Fortis Institute fellow, Tim Challies, because mourning those who mourn isn't just about showing up. It's about knowing how to bring real biblical comfort in the hardest moments. When do you speak? When do you stay silent? How do you pray with someone in deep sorrow? How do you remind them of God's goodness without sounding dismissive? Grief is not a problem to fix. It's a burden to bear. Jesus wept, Paul encouraged, and the church carries one another. Are you prepared? If not, join us this Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time for a free Fortis Institute webinar, Comforting Those Who Mourn. You can register now at fortisinstitute.org slash webinar. That's fortisinstitute.org slash webinar. Because at some point, someone in your life will need you. Know Your Church Fathers Tartian is known as Asia's first Christian theologian. He came from Assyria and studied under Justin Martyr before returning to prepare a path for the gospel into Western Asia. He wrote A Harmony of the Four Gospels. It was the primary gospel text in Syria throughout the 3rd and 4th centuries. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Freel. No family is left untouched by the mental health industrial complex. This is Wretched Radio, Dr. Gregg Gifford's book. It is available for pre-order right now. And I encourage you, I implore you, I beg you, consider getting this book. and read it, it's a lengthy tome, but it's needed because this subject has been virtually unaddressed by Christians now, at least since Freud and psychoanalysis and suppose a neuroscience has ruled the day and Dr. Greg Gifford's book drops a bomb on all of it and says, hold on, not so fast. You are not scientific at all. Furthermore, the Bible offers a better way, and this book will be eminently helpful for you if you have a family member who is diagnosed, and you likely do. After all, these days, sorry, we are all on the spectrum, aren't we? That's the joke. We're all on the spectrum. Why? Why the huge increase? In fact, I think I heard Donald Trump at that, whatever that speech was that he gave in Washington, not the State of the Union, but whatever they were calling it, talking about the autism rates skyrocketing. We got to figure this out. Well, one of the big problems is our definition of what is autism and who gets to say and what exactly is the test for that? Dr. Greg Gifford's book, it is a scud missile, and I encourage you to pre-order it now. It will help massively with how many people end up reading this book. Pre-order sales have big implications. So if you're thinking about it, you're intrigued, please visit FortisInstitute.org slash lies. FortisInstitute.org slash lies. We don't make a penny on that. We're just encouraging you to get a book by one of our fellows that we believe is eminently important, perhaps especially for you. Fortisinstitute.org slash lies. Let me share with you a chapter eight or at least bits of it on the subject of psychotropics. And don't jump ahead to chapter eight. He lays the foundation. The groundwork is made in the early chapters about the distinction between the mind and the brain. Remember, your brain, it's an organ between your ears. It's not you. You're the inner man. Your mind is you. If you prefer, your soul is you. Your brain is not you. And psychiatry goes about the business of altering the chemicals in the brain. And the question that Greg asked that has not, it's staggering that this has not been more in the front of the conversation because it's like, duh, If you give a pill to alter the chemicals in the brain, how does that help the mind? And the answer is, it doesn't. To the book, we go. Tens of millions of Americans are taking antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications. Get ready for this. 76 million people. That's one in four At least, and those numbers, by the way, were from 2020. And Greg is going to plead with everybody inside of evangelicalism who gives a enthusiastic thumbs up to psychotropics to just quickly dispense them. By the way, please note, he doesn't say that each and every instance is sinful. We'll get to that. But this rush to give people a pill to deal with their mind issue? He says, let's take a look at this biblically. In sum, psychotropic medications cannot treat the mind, only the brain. Who can we thank for this? Freudian psychoanalysis morphed into biological psychiatry. And we started to think that, hey, we're going to be more scientific about this and have empirical science and research psychiatrists to advance the banner of the scientific approach. And they typically called it neuroscience. In the 80s, that got put on steroids. Today, that's the air we breathe. You've got a mental disorder. You've got an emotional disorder. The DSM-5 says so. It's all very scientific, or is it? And the answer to that question is, it's not. We've talked about this before. You go to the doc. How are you feeling? Well, my knee's kind of bothering me. Well, take some Advil. Well, what's wrong with my knee? Just take some Advil. You're going to do a test on my knee? No, just going to fix the symptom. Oh, OK. I accept that, doc. But how are you feeling emotionally? Well, you know. Kind of a long weekend and a little... I guess I'm a little more tired than I used to be. Well, let me write you a prescription for that. Oh, what's that gonna do for me? That's gonna help your brain. Okay, what's wrong with my brain? Well, it's telling me that you need this pill. Excuse me, I feel like I'm caught in a loop. Why do I need this pill? Are you gonna test my brain? They don't. They can't. Dr. Daniel Amen, for all of his effort to try to persuade you that it is all about the brain, and we can see here's a normal brain, here's an abnormal brain, however we define that. Now, that may or may not be true, but that has nothing to do with the mind. Furthermore, how's about this? Is it possible that your mind can affect your brain? What about the issue of unconfessed sin? We know that David felt wretched when he didn't confess his sin. What about that component? The secularists will never discuss it. Back to Dr. Greg Gifford's book, which I encourage you to order at fortisinstitute.org slash lies. Since the brain became the primary focus for understanding so-called mental illness, fixing the brain became the primary goal of psychiatrists. Quote from Daniel Lehman, once people understand that the brain controls everything they do and everything they are, they want a better brain so they can have a better life. I'm familiar with Dr. Daniel Lehman. He professes to be a Christian. He has not studied his own craft with his own faith. That's obvious. This is rudimentary. You're not your brain. The Bible never suggests that. Psychiatry has searched for biological reasons for mental illness. And what has become the standard way of fixing the brain for them? Psychotropics. Now, Greg is going to ask you to follow some logic here. You meet with a psychiatrist who asks you questions, maybe gives you screening questions before he meets with you. And after asking the question, he offers medication or a combo. In most instances, he never takes your blood. Never takes a CT scan of your brain. Never tests you for vitamin deficiencies. The psychiatrist has no clue how your thyroid is doing. By the way, thyroid is a big deal. And thyroid, it can affect your mood and your energy so much. Back to Greg. Rather, they verbally assess you based on arbitrary symptoms and then offer a medication recommendation. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is exactly what you can expect. How in the world did we get here? We just, we just let them do it. We trust those people who wear lab coats and they've got diplomas on the wall and we give them a title and we trust them. Greg Gifford's book says it's time to stop trusting them. It's time to start trusting the Bible. Although they're considered medical doctors, psychiatrists are often seen by other medical doctors as practicing pseudoscience. After speaking at a conference, an ER doctor came up to me and said, Dr. Gifford, I've been saying these things for years. Even Daniel Amen said, quote, all other medical professionals look directly at the organs they treat. But psychiatrists are taught to assume what the underlying biological mechanisms are for illnesses, like depression, ADHD, etc., without ever looking at the brain. That's his profession. Now, he's trying to change that. He's got the cart before the horse. Nevertheless, this is not science we're dealing with. It's pseudoscience. Psychiatrists who are focused on mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and have legal authority to prescribe medication have used medical terminology for describing and attempting to treat the immaterial. And how's that worked out for us? Have you seen the commercials now where you have to take a pill to help your pill that's supposed to help you feel better? And it's just staggering. Has it not worked for you? Are you still not quite there? Well, this will just boost you up a little bit more. It's not working. Greg Gifford, it would be more accurate to say that what the psychiatrist is doing is seeing the effects of the mind on emotions and behavior, and then prescribing medications to address those downstream effects. It's much like treating a headache. Why do you have a headache? Not sure? Take a couple of Tylenol. It makes the pain go away temporarily, but it never addresses the underlying issue. And when it comes to our emotions, that is precisely where the Bible goes. Like an arrow, it hits its mark when it is aimed at the mind. Dr. Greg Gifford's book, Lies My Psychiatrist, told me you just got a little taste of it. And it just keeps getting better and better and gooder. It is a book that is needed, and I would encourage you to consider pre-ordering it now. FortisInstitute.org slash lies. Now you can get it anywhere you want to, pre-order anywhere you want. FortisInstitute.org slash lies might be memorable for you. Because the more books that are pre-ordered, the more books that will be in the hands of people who need to read this important book, Lies My Therapist Told Me. This is Wretched Radio. Books of the Bible. Zechariah was a prophet who preached God's judgment, repentance, and the promise of salvation to the Jews returning from exile. He relays a series of apocalyptic visions focusing on the coming of Christ, the final salvation of God's people, and the final judgment upon sinners. Remember that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Freel. Hey, Mental Health Industrial Complex, how's about we trust... The Science. This is Wretched Radio. Dr. Greg Gifford has dropped his book, Lies My Therapist Told Me. Boom! It's gonna make ripples in the world. I suspect that he's gonna be getting on programs, perhaps Joe Rogan, etc. This is the type of fodder that they love, and we're more than happy to join them in their exposing of the industrial complexes that perhaps don't always do what they purport to do. And perhaps no complex is more guilty than the mental health industrial complex. They make their field sound so scientific. We do science. We're doctors. We do conferences. We have journals. They're peer-reviewed. Trust us. And Greg Gifford says, not so fast. And this book is long overdue. Been encouraging you to consider pre-ordering this book. And might I perhaps even more encourage you, dear pastor, read this book. Because you've got people in your congregation, you know this if you're a if you're a shepherd who smells like the sheep You know this that they have got struggles. They've got kids who are bouncing off the walls. They don't know what to do They're telling them take the drugs and this book will help you to help them Please consider pre-ordering it Now, Lies, my therapist told me you can do that at fortisinstitute.org slash lies. And Jimmy, you went there. Tell the tens and tens of people what you saw at fortisinstitute.org slash lies. Yeah, it's a funnel, as you were saying, for you to be able to order it at tons of places like preorder, like at Amazon, Target, Walmart, wherever they sell books. So you can get the best deal wherever you want it. You can do wherever you want to. We get nothing out of it other than Oh, we'd be so excited if a bunch of people read this book. It could be a game changer inside of the church and perhaps start persuading pastors quit sending people to the air quote professionals. Quit encouraging your people to give their kids pills for problems that we used to consider immaturity. Isn't isn't when you think about it, just You had ADHD, Jimmy. I'm sure you did. Probably. I mean, if we were going to use the criteria of the DSM-5, we're just immature. Didn't want to focus. Didn't think that stuff was important. Other things were more interesting. It's fascinating that we as a society determine, no, those are not the things that you must be interested in. The things you must be interested in are the things we say you need to be interested in. And I get it, we want to educate our kids. But there are some kids, they don't quite slot. into that file. They struggle to be interested in learning those things. I remember that vividly. Isn't this true? Haven't you said this? Okay, this is about a scientific, a psychotropic medication prescribing. Have you ever said, I wish I could go back and do my education again? I think I learned so much more and I'm certain that you would. Why? You're more mature. You're developed and you understand the importance of these things and you see how these things work in the world and why you're actually learning them. When you were learning these things as a kid, you had no clue. You just did it. And some excelled more than others. I don't know who those people were because it certainly wasn't I, but As you grow, things change. Why are we giving kids pills? Simply because they're immature. Greg Gifford's book in addressing the claim from the secularists that psychotropics, it alters the brain chemistry. Here's what he writes. It should be made clear that psychotropics supposedly work by adjusting levels of brain chemicals. But one problem is that when a psychiatrist assigns them, they've typically done no work to measure the chemicals of a patient's brain. Man, this is so obvious, isn't it? It's believed that psychotropics are treating a known medical issue, but that claim, debated. Even secular researchers cannot agree on what a psychotropic is treating. An author of a book from 2010, Anatomy of an Epidemic, he's a researcher, quote, the hypothesis that the drugs balanced abnormal brain chemistry Never panned out. In fact, when the serotonin bombshell was dropped, that should have been the end of psychotropics. Wait a second, we keep being told that we need to just alter our serotonin, and then we discovered, you mean the serotonin level doesn't affect all of those things? Hold on a sec, so why are we giving us a pill that deals with serotonin, which doesn't actually deal with my issue? Nevertheless, we keep marching to the pharmacy. and we keep sending our children there. He writes, this hypothesis has never panned out. Although the public may still be told that the drugs normalize brain chemistry, the truth is that researchers did not find that people with schizophrenia had overactive dopamine systems, or that those diagnosed with depression suffered from abnormally low levels of serotonin, or Norepo. nor other stuff that's inside of your brain. 2022, Dr. Jonathan Raskin, State University of New York in the Daily Mail. Many medics continued to prescribe the medication, even while they were unsure if they were effective because it was easier than offering more time intensive care. Insert plug for becoming a certified biblical counselor here. This is one reason why so many people are given scripts One wonders, it would be fascinating. Jimmy, we should do this. We got to check out the legality of this. years ago used to do this, would just call up a place live on the air. We should see if we would do that with these places that are advertising on TV. Do you have a mental health issue? I think of the swimmer, Michael Phelps, you know, just, Hey, here's a phone call. We're a phone call away. Give us a call. We'll help you. I wonder how many minutes you would be on the phone before they sent you to a medical professional to write you a script. because they can't fix you on the phone, and a conversation typically doesn't get the job done. We know the complexities of this issue, and even biblical counseling doesn't say, take a Bible verse and call me in the morning. Biblical counseling says we need to transform your mind, needs to be renewed, and that's going to take some time, and it's going to take a particular context, the local church, And the professionals, they don't have time. We're in the process at Alpharetta Bible Church of actually opening up a biblical counseling center. I'm so excited about this. We've got a ton of certified biblical counselors in our body. And wow, are we going to put them to work? And we've been doing some research. So we're talking to some good churches. Now, we're talking, for instance, to Faith Community and Woodstock Great Church, John Kratz's church down in Sharpsburg, Faith Bible. How do you put together a counseling center? What does it look like? How do you let the community know? And their basic answer is you don't need to, they find out. and you'll be swamped within minutes. People are like, what? There's counseling? Help. Nothing else has worked. The professionals have not gotten the job done for my family. And you will have a waiting list. Everybody keeps saying you're going to have a waiting list, like a year-long waiting. Greg Gifford says that, too, when I was talking to him about this subject. He says, get ready. You're going to be overwhelmed by the number of people who need help. The professionals know that, and they can't deal with it. But the local church can, because guess what? We have more outposts than the psychiatrists. There's more of us than there are of them. And if we get trained to counsel people biblically, This is what your people need inside of your local church. Become a biblical counselor, biblicalcounseling.com. You can go way up the chain, a master's degree, a doctor's degree in biblical counseling at the Masters University, masters.edu. Greg Gifford is a prof there. Adam Tyson, another one of our fellows, he's a prof there. And you can help these people who, Otherwise, they're going to be given a pill, and it ain't going to help them. Because so many times, we know that there are other issues going on here. From the book, if the mind is immaterial, we know the psychotropic isn't treating the mind. Strike one. The psychotropic may affect the chemicals of the brain, but those are not what is causing so-called mental illnesses in the first place. Strike two. In this way, the psychotropic is not actually treating the root of the issue in so-called mental illness. Rather, the psychotropic is treating chemicals in the brain. Three strikes, they should be out. And there is an alternative if you're going, whoa, this is heavy. And by the way, he doesn't say to quit your medication and get rid of your prescription. Stop today. Don't do that. Don't do that. You need to talk to your doctor about doing that because now it is affecting the chemicals in your brain. We don't know how, but it is. And you want to do this rightly if you are going to wean yourself off, which by the way, this particular chapter in Greg's book, Lives My Therapist, told me deals with just that. This is an exhaustive treatment on the subject, a needed treatment on the subject, and it is a hopeful treatment. Their results, they stink in the secular world. It's time for biblical counseling in the sufficiency of God's word. Get Lies My Therapist Told Me, fortisinstitute.org slash lies. This is Wretched Radio. Hey, thanks for listening to Wretched Radio today. You know that moment when you're scrolling through your newsfeed on social media and everything just feels upside down? Yeah, that's the culture we're living in right now. But you know what gets me excited? At Fortis Institute, we're not just watching on the sidelines. We've assembled a team of incredible voices who are diving deep into God's word every single day. I'm talking about Dr. John Kratz helping you integrate theology into real life, or Dr. Adam Tyson who is speaking truth into young men's hearts, or Pastor Brad Bigney transforming marriages from surviving to thriving. But here's the thing, while we're standing strong, that's what Fortis means by the way, we need gospel partners who'll stand with us. People who will look at the culture and say, you know what? The church needs more than just encouragement. It needs equipping. We're not starting something new at Fortis. We're strengthening something vital. And so if you're ready to join us in this mission, if you're ready to help us equip believers with truth that transforms, then head over to FortisInstitute.org right now to find out how to become an ongoing monthly gospel partner. Wretched, amazing grace, amazing gospel. the life issue, we cannot disengage from the battle. And there is a way that you can win a life and rescue a soldier who's about to be executed through abortion, preborn.org slash wretched. Ultrasounds still save lives. These pregnancy centers that progressives would love to shut down or arrest people for praying in front of abortuaries, they're still doing excellent work and babies are still being rescued. This is a tangible way to save a life. An ultrasound is $28. 80% of the time, mom chooses life. Want to engage in the battle? This ain't about politics. This is about saving those who are staggering to the slaughter. Period. Preborn.org slash wretched. Preborn.org slash wretched. 25 years. That's a quarter century of standing firm for biblical truth. This is Wretched Radio. Through every cultural shift, every challenge, every opportunity to proclaim God's truth, you've been with us. And for that, you're grateful. What started as Wretched Radio has grown into something remarkable. Today, as part of Fortis Institute, we're reaching more believers than ever before. Our daily podcasts and radio shows, video content and biblical resources continue to strengthen local churches and equip the saints, just as we've done for 25 years. But none of this would be possible without faithful partners like you, you've helped us reach millions with the unchanging truth of God's word. As we celebrate this milestone, we're reminded that our mission remains the same, serving the king of kings by strengthening his church. Join us at fortisinstitute.org as we continue this journey together for 25 more years of faithful service. Until tomorrow, go serve your king. Titles of Christ. In the Bible, Jesus is given many titles that teach us about who He is and what He has done. Jesus is called the Friend of Sinners. While we were dead in our sins and condemned as enemies, Jesus bore our sins in Himself so we could be reconciled to the Father. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Freel. Storytime! Stories time? Story times. We got a lot of them is what I'm trying to say. This is Wretched Radio. It's dropped. Dr. Greg Gifford's book, It Can Be Pre-Ordered Now, encourage you, really encourage you to consider pre-ordering it now. FortisInstitute.org slash lies because it will bless your family, especially if you or a loved one has been diagnosed. For instance, your kid has been diagnosed with ADHD. What do you do with that? Let me just share with you a line from Greg Gifford's book. Should a parent help their child get medication for ADHD? You'll just have to read his response when you preorder the book at fortisinstitute.org slash lies. He deals with Adderall, for instance, and believe me, he's balanced. He doesn't have an ironclad, never ever can you take advantage of some of these medications that might help you to deal with these symptoms so that you can get to the root issue and actually deal with it. And he goes to great lengths to walk you through it, to help you chart a course, to help your kid, who maybe just has a serious condition of ants in their pants, like most of us had, frankly, please consider getting this book, Mega Important Lies My Therapist Told Me, fortisinstitute.org slash lies. Let me share with you a number of stories that help support the thesis of this book, at least this particular chapter that we've been sharing. No psychotropic will ever cure the issues of your immaterial mind. You can take a pill till you die and it ain't gonna fix you. It's just not. It's gonna treat your symptom. That's what psychotropics do, at best, and we don't even know the process. Oh, how much trust do we have in these people? And some of it is well-earned in some quarters, but just consider we put this thing in our mouth and swallow it. And we've never even been tested for it. They don't even know why these things do what they do. And that's why when you watch these commercials, you hear a laundry list, and you may also experience suicidal ideations. You may want to start murdering people. You'll start to feel like you, what? These supposed side effects? Is it a side effect? Or is it possibly that's what they do? And the answer to that question is they don't know. Because they simply can't figure out what they do once they get inside of you. Greg deals with that also in Lies My Therapist Told Me. Story time. Imagine you had severe dental pain. Your jaw, throbbing, you got headaches. Even breathing brought severe pain. So if you were in this situation, Tylenol would not be the answer or the cure to your problem. But Tylenol would help you to get to a point where you could deal with your problem, which is most likely some infection in your tooth. You see, where this is going, could you possibly use psychotropics so you can get to the dentist? I mixed my metaphors, but the answer is you could. And he walks through the God-honoring ways you can consider that, which is super, super helpful. That you're not, for instance, going to a pill to be your savior. You've already got that. You're not going to medication to be your comfort. You've already got that in the person of Jesus Christ. Can you use that medication potentially? Yeah, with a lot of counsel, a lot of wisdom, and with God-honoring motives. Similarly, writes Gifford, a psychotropic is not going to fix a problem in your mind, simply won't. The psychotropic will potentially alleviate symptoms so you can focus on the deeper issues of your mind. So it's possible to use the psychotropic to help focus on the true problem, which is the mind. Then wean off the psychotropic medication. That's, that's... I got to tell you, that's just really mature, especially for a whippersnapper like Gifford. He's just like, did he even hit 30 yet? Because he looks younger than Joseph Prince at the age of 61. It is not a sin to take psychotropics, writes Gifford, but psychotropics are not treating the real issue. They're like Tylenol, a symptom relief that sometimes can even mask the real issues. Example, if you were to meet a man who was considering using antidepressants because he had lost interest in daily activities, losing weight, not sleeping, struggling with motivation, antidepressants would seem like a pretty normal treatment. Ask yourself the question, if you were presented with a fellow like that, What would you counsel? What would you say? Where would you send him? Maybe, just maybe, a little digging might reveal the source of this gentleman's problem. And what a tragedy it would be if we didn't dig deep into the heart of the issue to reveal what might be going on behind closed doors, which might be producing the fruit of somebody who isn't sleeping and losing weight and has lost interest in activities. Maybe there's more going on. Gifford, as you spoke with him, you found out he was secretly engaging in sexual sin, specifically pornography. He feels hypocritical, fake, and condemned, unable to approach God. But he also isn't finding any other balm for his guilty, fearful conscience. Well... Could it be that a rush to give a prescription to a man who is immersed in pornography would be to perhaps dull his senses? But it certainly is not going to stop looking at porn. And frankly, he won't feel any better. He can't feel any better. Why? Because David didn't feel any better. When you've got unconfessed sin, it's going to just eat away at your bones. You're going to ache in the inner. Everything is off. That's what sin does. Psychotropics don't deal with sin. And what a basic analogy, what a good illustration to show giving this guy a pill And he's still looking at filth? That makes no sense at all. Back to Gifford, Proverbs 28, 13. Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper. You cannot expect a person to feel well while hiding personal sin. Insomnia, depressed mood, loss of integrity in daily activities, weight loss can all result from harboring secret sin. David said, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away. So what would antidepressants do for this guy? They'd simply mask the symptoms of the real problem of unrepentant sin. Please note, and Greg addresses this, not all sadness, depression, lack of motivation is because of unconfessed sin. You can't say that. Some depression comes from personal sin. And that means in those instances, taking antidepressants ain't going to do nothing for you. Here's another story from Greg Gifford's book. A man was being unfaithful to his wife. This is from a counseling case. Neither his wife nor I knew about it at the time, but they came to me for counseling because their marriage was not going well. He said he was depressed and had actually been prescribed antidepressants. Isn't that staggering? It's just a mate, it's clear the source of the, if you're, if you're, I can't speak for you ladies, but I think it's true, but I, I suspect it's heightened in men. And maybe you don't believe this because it doesn't look like it, madam, but when we're not getting along with you, we're miserable. We're just, it's all out of joint. Nothing is quite click. It just, it's just broken and it feels like we just, so let's say that that continues. You're, you're feeling that I'm out of joint because you know, you're having an ongoing affair. You go to a doc who says, well, here you go. Here's your prescription. Take this. And the dude's going to keep having an affair. I mean, even a secularist might go, maybe the source of his problem isn't chemical. Maybe it's moral and behavioral. And the secularists never look at that. So this dude who is having an ongoing affair is given a script from a doctor and nobody knew about his escapades? Quote, even after months of counseling and using his antidepressants, there was no change until we found out he was cheating on his wife. A friend of the wife caught him visiting his mistress and told the wife about it. Why did his feelings of depression not go away? Hmm, let's ponder. After this, he repented of this sinful relationship and saw God begin to restore his marriage in beautiful ways, no prescription necessary. Now, every situation has complexities and differences. We want to be careful that we're not making a proclamation for every single instance of somebody feeling depressed or sad. As I mentioned, Greg Gifford is well-balanced in his book, Lies My Therapist Told Me. He does address the possibility of, but as a rule, overwhelmingly, it's junk. It's not needed. It's not helping. In fact, it's probably making it worse because you probably exchanged one bag of blues for another. That numb, dull sensation that comes from psychotropics. Please consider pre-ordering this book if you would be so kind. Lies My Therapist Told Me You Can Do That. Say now at fortisinstitute.org slash lies. Congratulations, Greg. And until tomorrow, go serve your king.