Techniques become immoral when, consciously or unconsciously, we use them to manage the will, emotions, or consciousness of others.
- The first time I saw him? Brainwashing: Evangelism took place in England in 1945.
- She was tasked with helping a young woman who.
- The day before.
- Had woken up the next day recognizing that she had fallen into a trap that had led her to make a hasty decision.
- His anguish and confusion disturbed me deeply.
It could be argued that the young woman’s conversion was genuine and that her subsequent reaction was inspired by Satan, I remember that on that occasion I adopted that view, now, however, I am more inclined to think that her conversion was psychological and not spiritual. .
Let me define my terms
In a sense, every conversion is psychological. Each conversion includes a decision and a change of perspective. Decision and change of perspective are psychological phenomena. But while the emotional changes of spiritual conversion are the result of God’s action, in a purely psychological conversion, these changes are the result of a technique used or emotional pressure They are not a miracle of grace.
This distinction began to shine in my mind when I heard about the “indoctrination” used by the Chinese communists, just after the revolution in China. Did you organize large meetings with personal testimonies, choirs, “dynamic” speakers, calls, and personal workers?All communists, fraudulent imitation of the devil? Not exactly, on the contrary, was the Chinese way of using, openly and deliberately, the techniques that some evangelists use (perhaps unconsciously) to obtain converts.
Our minds are subject to certain laws and, to some extent, are open to manipulation. If, in a great crowd, they make me laugh and then cry; then laugh and cry again; and if, on top of that, they repeat certain phrases insistently and, in turn, speak to me and comfort me, my mind, if I am not alert, will become more and more flexible in the hands of those who do this to me. .
I can get to a point where they do what they want me to do, my judgment loses their sensitivity, my conscience lights up, my emotions make everything different, if in such condition I make the decision that you want me to make, whatever that “decision” I make, I will probably feel relief, joy and peace. It’s a well-known psychological phenomenon. Their techniques are also well known, even if I stay alert, it can be difficult to resist, at least temporarily.
True spiritual conversion is much deeper. It has an immaterial, non-psychological dimension, is accompanied by passing joy and peace, authentic conversion gives way to sweetness, hunger and thirst for justice, humility of spirit and all the fruits of justice.
If you are a gospel preacher, it is up to you to know what you are doing. Be careful not to use your preaching skills in driving collective psychotherapy. Remember that you collaborate with the Holy Ghost. You should be careful to point to a large number of conversions, for fear of trying to do the work that belongs to the Holy Ghost. His job, as a preacher, is to explain the Word of God, showing how it is applied. The work of the Holy Spirit is for You to have the Word rooted in the conscience of man, so that it may remain under the effect of conviction. So don’t play with the sinner’s conscience telling you incredible stories. Let the Holy Ghost execute conviction and arouse fear. Stories serve to lighten, dark points of the message, so as not to produce chills in the congregation.
Does this mean that all evangelistic techniques are wrong?
No, I don’t think so. It’s impossible to do anything without some technique. We need techniques to communicate the truth clearly. I prefer to say that techniques become immoral when, consciously or unconsciously, we use them to manipulate the will, emotions or consciousness of others; when they become more important in our thoughts than the Spirit of God; results become more important than people.
I am not against emotions in preaching, but against emotions, I am not declaring against fervent persuasion, but against the tricks used to make a man change his mind, Paulo pleaded with men and women, crying as he exhorted them. Attitude! Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a meaningless intellectual proposition, and the fate of an unrepentant man is not a matter of mere academic interest.
Therefore, let there be tears and not those who “cry”; persuasion, not persuasive techniques. In non-spiritual areas, when we deal with something that concerns us, we read books and textbooks to learn persuasive techniques for people to make decisions. However, in preaching, I prefer a crying preacher and a congregation of eyes than the other way around. The preacher has something to cry about. He sees, or should see, what people really are, and his job is to convey what he sees. And in the process, you may not be able to control your emotions.
The danger of psychological manipulation is not limited to large concentrations of people; personal evangelization techniques can be equally dangerous.
Have you ever met people who asked you, “Oh!Have I had the experience?” When he interviewed them, he discovered that they had “accepted the Lord” when an overly jealous personal evangelist put too much pressure on them. Is it true that some of them become? But I’m equally sure that most of these cases are the result of “brainwashing. “Evangelization applied by some “personal workers”.
Part of our difficulty comes from our desperation in search of results, full-time pastors have to show that they work so hard that they deserve their wages, they are forced to get results and despair because they want to be good sales agents for those who study for the evangelical ministry try to demonstrate their Christian performance (as some Indian warriors prove their manhood) by ripping their scalps off.
Now the results leave us perplexed. I am not saying that we should not worry when the people around us are not guided to salvation, in fact, in this case, we must be extremely concerned, however, the results must be authentic for them to have some value. It is the regeneration, that makes the sinner fit for paradise, not the manipulation of psychological conversion.
What can I say about the reasons I think about when I look for results?Do I desire God’s glory or am I just trying to prove something?