Assessing the psychological make-up of Hillary Clinton, TV psychiatrist
Dr. Keith Ablow concluded that her “really big problem is that she seems
unable to determine when her lies are registering with audiences as clearly
untrue . . .
"At the core, people who lie transparently do so because they lack
empathy—the ability to intuit and vicariously experience what others are
thinking and feeling. Locked behind walls of narcissism or arrogance or
imperiousness, consumed with the pursuit of power, they can’t tell convincing
lies because they can’t truly resonate with how their words and mannerisms are
being received . . .
“As a forensic psychiatrist I have seen this psychological
paradigm before—in those with sociopathy. Not infrequently, criminals
attempt to hide their crimes with lies that are so obviously untrue that they
leave investigators shaking their heads and chuckling. The criminals cannot
tell that their lies are ineffective, because they are too insensitive to the
feelings of others.”
******
China missionary R. Dawson Barlow writes in his 2004 book, The
Origin of the Races, “Old age is rarely a time for a
philosophical search for a living, workable faith and philosophy . . .
“Statistically a small percentage of people 35 years and older are
ever brought to a decisive ‘change of mind’ that brings them to a living faith
in the gospel of our great Redeemer.
“Most conversions that lead to a life of loving, faithful service
to the Lord take place in the teen-years, or perhaps in the early twenties.
“By the time old age creeps up on the sons and daughters of Adam, most have
hardened themselves by their cynicism and their futile outlook on the meaning
of human existence and destiny.
“Unfortunately, many older people develop a superficial interest
in religion merely because of their fear of death. Consequentially,
they often fall into the clutches of a man-made philosophy. In Contribution
to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx wrote in 1844,
‘Religion is the opiate of the people,’ and he was right.
“Hitler said it more eloquently: ‘Religion (is) the means of
doping the people so as to exploit them afterward . . .’ (Hitler, by
Allan Bullock, Pg. 38). An opiate-like religious philosophy seems
to dissolve any anxieties that result from the reality of one’s increasingly
obvious mortality.”
*****
Paul writes in II Timothy 3:15, “And
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
“The salvation there is not salvation from hell because Timothy’s
already saved,” says Jordan. “It’s salvation from the deception and the
difficulties you read about in the first 14 verses of II Timothy 3. Where do
you find salvation from the perilous times? Where do you find salvation from
the persecution, and in the afflictions? You find it in God’s Word. That’s
where the deliverance from those things resides.
*****
“If you want to profile what being a Christian really is, Romans
12 divides it up into five sections, each of which talks about a relationship
you have. Life is about relationships.
“Eternal life is not just living forever because everybody’s
going to live forever somewhere. In John 17, Jesus is talking to His Father and
says, ‘This is eternal life.’
“I read that verse one time and said, ‘Hmm, I want to know
what that is!’ The verse goes on, ‘that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’
“Eternal life is knowing God. It’s not like, ‘Hi, how are
you?’ and shake your hand. It’s to understand Him. It’s to know how He thinks.
“It’s like marriage. I know my wife different now than 40
years ago when we married. I know her more intimately, more personally, more
dynamically, more thoroughly. I know what she thinks about, I know what she
likes, what she doesn’t like. I know how she feels about things.
“How
does God live? Who does He seek to exalt all the time? Himself? No. The Father
lives to exalt His Son. He wants His Son to have the preeminence in all things.
That’s what brings pleasure to the Father’s heart.
“Every member of the godhead lives to glorify the other
members of the godhead. You see, the life of the godhead is spontaneously
living for others, having their interests above their own.
*****
“I like this quote: ‘To engender
confidence in Him and a healthy distrust of yourself is God’s ultimate reason
for every experience He allows into your life.’
“That’s II Corinthians 1:8-10. You say, ‘Why does God let these things happen?’ Steve Jobs said
that as a teenager he gave up on God when he saw sick and hungry children.
“Richard Dawkins, the egghead atheist
of the 21st Century, says he gave up on God as a teenager because ‘a God who
could let suffering exist the way it exists couldn’t be worthy of respect.’ And
you say, ‘What’s the answer to that?’
“Well, you see, underlying that is a false assumption that
everyone knows isn’t true--assuming that there could never be any purpose in
suffering.
“If you go to the gym there’s a sign
that says, ‘No Pain No Gain.’ You know that any growth that ever takes place
costs something and what it costs is called suffering. The very fact of the
existence of suffering is a part of the necessity of growing.
“For sure there can be purposes in
suffering. There can be a redemptive purpose. But ‘the God of all comfort’
comforts us in our suffering and one of the reasons for that is so you’ll learn
the only person you can really trust is Him.
“I learned a long time ago I couldn’t trust somebody like you. Why
would I want to trust somebody who would lie to me? That’s me. Why would I want
to trust somebody who would let me down? That’s me. And it’s you because you’re
just like me.
“What I could trust is somebody who
would never let me down and always tell me the truth, and that’s Jesus Christ.
Didn’t take me a genius stroke of ‘Aha!’ to get that one right!
“The whole issue behind it all is so you learn to trust Him
because, when you learn that He’s really all you’ve got, then He’s really all
you can trust! And when He’s all you’ve got to trust, you’ll find out He’s all
you really need. And when you realize He’s all you really need, you learn a
healthy distrust of yourself: ‘It’s not I but Christ.’ And in that, it’s the
excellency of the power of God’s Word that works in you and teaches you—and the
TRUTH of it.
“Otherwise, you’re like a blind bat flying backward in a dark cave.
You don’t know what the purpose of any of it is.”
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