10.30-Transformation of Mental Health in a Russian Village

10.30-

When I was first in Russia in 1993 I met a man named “Ernst”.  He had lived for most of his life thinking that those who followed Jesus were mentally ill.  He was a psychiatrist sent to Siberia to treat “patients.”  Many of those patients were those who believed in God and the Bible in a nation that was for 70 years committed to atheism and demanded this be taught in all the government schools. 

 

When I met him he had been listening to World Radio Broadcasts and learned about the gospel.  He wanted to come to our campaign in Barnaul Russia, 13 times zones away from America.  He had been touched by the gospel and wanted to know more.  We studied for three days very intensely.  Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday.  On Wednesday he said he wanted to become a Christian and be baptized.  That evening he was baptized. 

On Thursday our team of teachers and translators worked with him to explain how that when he went back to the village where he worked he could start a church in his home and teach others.

I did not see him for two years.  In 1995, on our next trip to Barnaul, Siberia,  I found out he wanted to meet with us.  He came into the room where the teachers and translators were working and he was smiling.  He had his daughter, an attorney, with him.  He was excited for her to hear the good news of God’s love.  

I asked him how it had gone in the last two years in his work and village.  

He said, “When I went back to my village I had experienced a complete change of my attitude.  Before I had been taught that Christianity caused people to not have good mental health and destroyed families.  When I got home I started to teach people in my clinic about the principles of Christianity and they started to overcome their depression and mental health issues.  

I met with some of my psychiatrist fellow workers and they wanted to know what I was doing different.  I told them that I had come to understand that false religion did make people mentally ill, but true Christianity as taught in the words of Jesus and His followers in the New Testament is good for a person’s conscience and mind and soul.

 The message of forgiveness and mercy cleared their mind and set up a good mental attitude and would also have a good effect on the family and the community.

My colleagues then asked me to write a column of mental health for our community newspaper each week.  I have been writing it for about and year and it is helping our whole community and I have a new relationship with those working with them.”

Jesus as teacher gives His followers the gift of choices of thoughts and behaviors through self-control.  None of us are perfect.  We have not arrived at the final growth we have to accomplish in our walk on earth.

 

Finally, when our work with God here on earth is over, Jesus will return to take us home and He will transform our body to be exactly everything it is mean to be. 

Jesus heals us and gives us a fresh start each day to live His way.

Mark 1.

²⁹ As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰ Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. ³¹ So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
³² That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. ³³ The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴ and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Philippians 2.
¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^[h] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

3.
¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

4.

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

² I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³ Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Final Exhortations

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
 

Larry Wishard