The Baptist Press reports:
Southern Baptist pastor Jarrid Wilson played games with his son Denham, attended his son Finch’s baseball practice and tweeted encouragement to a struggling alcoholic within hours of reportedly committing suicide late Monday (Sept. 9). Wilson shot himself with a handgun and was transported to the emergency room of Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside Calif., where he was pronounced dead at 3:57 a.m. local time Tuesday (Sept. 10), the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office told Baptist Press Wednesday. Wilson was 30.
Wilson left behind a wife and two children. This suicide is a great tragedy for himself and his family as he had two small children. However, Wilson’s legacy is a further tragedy as he continually promoted psychoheresy in his pastorate and in his life as a result of his commitment to professional counseling, which he had received. Just two quotes follow from his years of promoting psychotherapy in the church and in Anthem of Hope, an organization he founded with his wife:
On August 25, 2019, Wilson tweeted:
Imagine for a second if the local church provided both FREE pastoral care and (licensed) counseling/therapy for those who couldn’t afford it. What a difference we could make for people all around the world struggling with mental health issues.
On September 1, 2019 Wilson tweeted:
2 Corinthians 10:5 calls us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. “Christian” Psychology helps us better understand how to take every thought captive.
Following Wilson’s death there has been a rush throughout the media calling the church to become more central in the care of souls by having licensed psychotherapists on staff. This cry to bring the psychotherapists into the church would be a second step downward and away from full reliance on the Word. As it is, most churches already refer their congregants out to psychotherapists; but following the recommendation of the many naïve Christian voices, professionals will be brought into the church itself.
As we have revealed in our 25 books and over 300 articles, psychological theories and therapies have already infiltrated Christian schools, colleges, seminaries, universities, denominations, and mission agencies.
We often have said in our writings, after viewing and listening to live psychological counseling sessions, the very words spoken by both the therapists and clients fail biblical standards. After all, every word, every sentence, every expression, every emotion in counseling must conform to Scripture. If the words violate the admonitions, prohibitions, and restrictions of the Word, they are sinful. We challenge psychotherapists to show us one live, literal counseling session that does not violate Scripture. To date all the ones we have seen and heard have failed this simple test!
Words are important. The trials, tribulations, and troubles of life can be addressed by the words in the Bible or the words of fallible men (counselors). Instead of using the Words of eternal life, psychotherapy offers the many different words of many different men, not all of whom are in agreement. Those who call themselves “Christian psychotherapists” or “licensed Christian counselors,” etc., are still psychologically oriented and can only give a mixture that subtracts from the Word of God.
PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, November – December 2019, Vol. 27, No.6