Participants: Aaron Chancy (Host), Magna Parks
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000009
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00:01 The following program discuses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:11 Welcome to "The New Journey," 00:12 the program where we meet real life people, 00:14 with real life testimonies, 00:16 with real life working ministries for Jesus. 00:18 Today we are gonna talk to a psychologist, 00:20 Dr. Magna Parks to uncover the solution to overcoming 00:23 the thoughts of suicide and revenge 00:25 that stem from childhood and/or prison rape. 00:28 According to the Human Rights Watch 00:30 at least 140,000 inmates 00:33 are raped each year in the United States 00:35 and there's a significant variation 00:37 in the race of prison rape by race. 00:40 Shame regarding perceived homosexuality 00:42 may contribute to the under reporting 00:44 of prison rape by victims. 00:46 Prison rape statistics are much higher than reported 00:49 as many victims are afraid to report, 00:52 being threatened with physical violence by a rapist 00:54 if reported as well as staff indifference. 00:57 This is a very solemn subject but you, 00:59 the viewer, might have been a victim 01:01 to prison rape or you, 01:02 the viewer, might have been a perpetrator. 01:04 We want to provide the solution 01:06 to overcoming the guilt and the desire 01:08 to victimize a human being in this manner. 01:11 I'm your host Aaron Chancy, 01:12 come join us on "The New Journey." 01:44 Welcome back to the program. 01:45 We have an exciting program for you today. 01:47 Our guest is Dr. Magna Parks. 01:49 Thank you, Dr. Parks, for being on the program. 01:51 Thank you for having me. 01:52 Now you're a psychologist, I want to talk about first, 01:55 how did you get involved in psychology 01:57 and what led you to this point? 01:58 You know, I started school 02:00 wanting to be a doctor, a medical doctor, 02:02 but I found myself often listening to people talking 02:06 and I liked to be places like the airport 02:08 or the grocery store and just observe and listen. 02:12 And I decided, after talking to a few people, 02:14 there was a friend of mine at high school 02:15 who was going into psychology I said, 02:17 why not give that a try? 02:18 I like to listen to people, 02:20 I'm good with listening and talking with them 02:22 about their problems so I thought, 02:24 why not go into this and be paid. 02:26 And that's what led me to get into that field. 02:28 You know, that's interesting you should say that, 02:29 my wife is actually a very, very good listener. 02:32 She likes to kind of listen in all people conversations 02:34 and things like that. 02:35 Okay. 02:36 And I can understand what you're saying, 02:38 how you want to view people, 02:39 listen to people and you know, 02:41 try to offer a solution to the people. 02:43 Now you eventually left psychology, 02:46 active psychology work, 02:47 what was the reasoning for this? 02:49 Well, you know, I taught for seven years at two universities 02:53 and then I was in private practice for 13 years. 02:56 But I found towards the ending of my time 02:58 something started to bother me 03:00 about the people coming into see me. 03:02 I was making good money, 03:03 but I started to feel a little restless and uneasy 03:06 because I didn't feel as though I was really helping people. 03:09 And what I found was people would come in 03:10 and repeat some of the same issues, 03:12 they had seen therapist before, 03:14 they knew supposedly the answers 03:17 but I started to feel as though 03:18 I was just putting band-aids on their problems 03:20 based on what I had learned in school. 03:23 And the Lord directed me to study the scriptures more 03:26 and other inspire writings 03:27 and I was exposed to helping people a different way 03:30 working with the particular doctor, 03:32 Dr. Neil Nedley and I learned 03:34 that there were other ways to help people that really got 03:37 to the underlying problem a little better. 03:39 Okay, and we are gonna talk about some of that today. 03:41 And that's what led me to say, 03:42 you know, even though I'm making good money, 03:44 I felt as the Lord was calling me to start ministry 03:47 with my husband and who is now deceased 03:49 but we would go around doing seminars 03:52 and I was sought to talk about how people can truly get over 03:54 their mental and emotional issues. 03:56 You know, it's interesting that you said you felt like 03:59 you were just putting band-aids on the problem. 04:01 You didn't feel that you were getting 04:02 to the solution to the problem. 04:04 No. 04:05 We're gonna come back and talk about that in a few minutes. 04:07 Now you're the author of two very, very interesting books, 04:11 very interesting books. 04:12 Can you tell us a little about 04:13 what motivated you to write the books 04:15 and what's involved-- 04:16 what's the information in these books? 04:18 Well, the first book that I wrote was called 04:20 "Treating Depression Naturally." 04:22 Okay. 04:23 And I actually started writing that before I left my practice. 04:26 After working briefly with the doctor 04:28 I mentioned earlier, 04:29 I learned about healthy ways to help people 04:32 by changing their lifestyle, particularly with depression 04:35 and I wanted to put that in a booklet 04:37 because I started working with clients 04:39 and implementing some of these things 04:40 and found that they were getting 04:41 over their depression earlier. 04:42 So those things were actually working? 04:44 They were working. 04:45 Okay, so weren't like band-aids anymore? 04:46 No. 04:47 No, no longer like band-aids, exactly. 04:48 I felt like I was really getting into the wound 04:51 and getting out all of the putrefying sores 04:53 and everything in there. 04:54 So I wanted to write that in a little booklet 04:56 where they could easily read it 04:58 and be able to get over their depression 05:00 but I also found that people 05:01 who didn't have depression was reading the book 05:03 and coming to me telling me that it was helping them, 05:06 even with their physical health 05:08 because these are just simple laws 05:09 we are gonna talk about later that was helpful. 05:11 This book "Treating Depression Naturally" 05:13 is what I was able to write at that time, okay. 05:16 And the second book is a little more, 05:19 what should I say, 05:20 risque or a little more kind of grade set the nerves 05:24 or grade set the field of psychology a little more, 05:27 "Christians, Beware! 05:28 The dangers of secular psychology." 05:29 Okay. 05:30 As a Christian, I started to become aware 05:33 that many of the things I learned 05:35 in my doctoral training was band-aid things. 05:38 Okay, band-aid. 05:39 Many of them, sad to say, 05:42 was not really getting at the root of the problem 05:44 and some of it was even anti-Bible, 05:47 you know, but it's presented in such a garb 05:49 that it is so attractive to people 05:51 that even Christians are pulled in by these things. 05:54 And I started to share things, 05:55 seeing different publications by Christians 05:57 and I started to point out, 05:58 you know, this is secular psychology, 06:00 it's not biblical. 06:01 And finally my husband encouraged me, 06:02 why don't you write a book on this to open people's eyes 06:05 about how secular psychology is affecting us 06:07 as Christians individually and as a church. 06:10 And that was a motivation for that book. 06:12 Now with this book "Dangers of Secular Psychology" 06:15 do you encourage... 06:16 other Seventh-day Adventist psychologist to read this book, 06:20 if they definitely want to know the truth 06:21 of what this is teaching? 06:23 I do. I do. 06:24 And some of them have read it and they've been astounded. 06:27 Some of them have read it and not been very happy. 06:29 Because when you build your life, 06:31 your life work on this and you paid all this money 06:33 to go to school and for someone to tell you 06:34 what you learned is not really helping people that hurts. 06:37 You know, and so some people have not been open and others, 06:40 they've have been grateful 06:42 that the Lord has opened their eyes 06:43 to change how they're practicing. 06:45 I'm not telling them to get into out of psychology 06:48 because there are people out there with real needs. 06:49 Yeah, yeah. 06:50 I'm trying to help them implement principles 06:52 that's really gonna help them to be a help to other people. 06:55 Now generally a psychologist 06:57 may talk with a person one-on-one-- 06:59 Yes. 07:00 Or it may be a family psychologist, things like that. 07:03 Now when you're talking to a person one-on-one, 07:06 you find a lot of information out 07:09 about them and things like that 07:10 and you want to provide a solution to them. 07:13 How many years totally have you spent involved 07:16 with psychology talking to people one-on-one, 07:18 practicing doing this? 07:19 Oh, I thought you're asking something different. 07:21 I've done this for about 13 years fulltime 07:23 and prior to that I was doing it, 07:25 when I worked in the university 07:27 I would do it on a part time basis. 07:29 On a part time basis. 07:30 So that was for about six and half years. 07:31 Okay, now in that-- in talking to so many people 07:35 for all those amount of years 07:36 have you ever come across any instances 07:39 where people were dealing with childhood sexual abuse 07:43 or abuse from prison, things like that? 07:45 Very much so. 07:46 That is so prevalent, much more prevalent. 07:49 It used to be-- I'm not, you looked-- 07:51 I have not looked at the statistics lately 07:54 but it used to be one out of every three or four girls 07:57 and one out of every five to seven boys 07:59 were sexually abused. 08:01 It might be higher. That's a lot. 08:03 And you know, what, for a lot of people 08:05 they don't talk about it. 08:06 You know, its kind of, you know, 08:07 this happened but, you know, 08:09 you kind of scared to come out 08:10 with that information that something happened. 08:13 And, you know, I've seen interviews 08:14 of people where they say, you know, 08:15 I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't know how, 08:18 later on, my wife would view me 08:19 or my husband would view me, things like that. 08:21 I even heard a story one time of a gentleman 08:24 that was sexually abused while he was incarcerated. 08:27 He got out some years later, 08:29 he told his wife about it 08:30 and his wife ended up leaving him 08:32 because she started to ridicule him. 08:33 Well, I thought you were man 08:35 and different things like that and you know, 08:36 she ended up leaving him. 08:38 So these things actually do happen 08:40 and it keeps people from coming out 08:41 with that information 08:43 where they just kind of keep it bottled in 08:44 and it eats them up. 08:45 Yes, exactly and you know, part of that is true. 08:48 People do react in that way 08:50 and what happens is that there is a psychologist 08:53 called Dr. Martin Seligman 08:55 and he did an experiment with dogs 08:57 that first he had them in a cage where one part, 08:59 the dog would get shocked 09:00 but when the dog would move to the other part 09:02 they wouldn't get shocked. 09:03 So they knew to do something. 09:05 Afterwards he set it up where both parts 09:07 of the cages would shock the dog. 09:09 So wherever the dog went, that dog was shocked 09:12 and from that the concept of learned 09:14 helplessness was developed. 09:16 And so the dog which just sits there 09:17 and-- I don't know what to do. 09:19 Exactly, I don't know what to do 09:20 and I think that has been the case with many people 09:23 who've been abused. 09:24 It's like I don't know what to do. 09:25 If I talk to this person 09:26 they are gonna think negatively of me. 09:28 If I do this, this may happen. 09:29 So they just sit with it 09:31 and it just affects their whole life, 09:33 just sitting with it and doing nothing, 09:34 not recognizing that there is power and hope 09:37 to help them move past this. 09:38 Okay. Okay. 09:39 You know, I remember reading a story on the internet, 09:41 it was a young boy, 17 years old 09:44 that had got incarcerated, it wasn't a real big crime 09:48 but they ended up sending him to a maximum security prison. 09:52 And you know, in a prison system 09:53 you have different levels of prisons, 09:54 level one, two, three, four five, 09:56 and normally your non-violent offenders 09:58 who will be like a level one, 09:59 level two and your more high risk offenders, 10:02 violent offenders will be in level fours, 10:04 level fives things like that. 10:06 And he got sent to a high level security prison 10:09 when he needed to be in a minimum security prison. 10:12 And a lot of things ended up happening to him. 10:14 He was sexually abused, 10:15 17-years-old and he ended up committing suicide. 10:19 You know, and it's tragic when we, 10:21 you know, have to give up on hope and things like that. 10:24 What is the emotional state of a person 10:28 that goes through something like this, 10:30 that is being victimized? 10:31 Can I read something in the Bible 10:32 to give you good example? 10:34 Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, read something in the Bible 10:35 because I know there's some powerful text 10:36 in the Word of God that will, 10:39 you know, help a person overcome, 10:40 will give them some encouragement. 10:42 Read that text for us. 10:43 Well, before I read that, 10:44 you asked about some of the affects 10:46 and there's a story about Amnon raping his half-sister, Tamar. 10:52 Well, I don't want to take up time 10:53 but I'll just share with you, 10:54 I thought I had and marked here. 10:56 What happened afterwards with her is that 10:59 she went around, her head was covered 11:01 as she went around in grief and shame. 11:03 And when we talk about some of the effects, 11:05 it's actually in 2 Samuel one of the chapters here 11:07 but for time sake I'll just talk about. 11:09 What happens is that we go around, 11:11 we're grieving because a part of us 11:13 has been taken away without our consent. 11:16 There is a lot of shame involved 11:18 because whenever anything is involved with sex 11:20 and it's taken away from us in a way 11:22 that we didn't give our consent, 11:23 there's shame involved. 11:25 There's also anger that's involved 11:27 because someone has come in and violated and desecrated us. 11:30 You know, sometimes depression comes about as a result. 11:33 So all of these things can happen 11:34 which would help me understand 11:35 why the young man would eventually commit suicide. 11:37 Okay. Makes that sense. 11:38 Now, that's very, very interesting. 11:40 You know, I remember even myself 11:42 being incarcerated one time 11:43 and I remember this young gentleman 11:45 that came in who is 16-years-old at the time, 11:47 I was 17-years-old. 11:49 And you know, a lot of people have the idea, 11:51 you know, if I get incarcerated well, 11:53 you know, nothing's gonna happen to me. 11:55 I'm not gonna let anybody take my "manhood" 11:58 or whatever it may be. 11:59 And you know, a lot of times, 12:01 you know, you maybe attacked 12:02 by four or five different people 12:04 and you know, you can only do so much fighting off 12:06 and things like that. 12:07 And you know, the sad thing about it, 12:09 as he was telling me, he was like, 12:10 you know, what, I just kind of gave up 12:12 and I just let them do what they wanted to do. 12:14 And it's like he almost just gave up totally, 12:16 you know, on hope because he was going 12:18 through these different things. 12:19 But there is hope, there is hope 12:21 and we can find hope definitely in the word of God. 12:24 Viewer, you maybe watching, 12:26 you maybe one that has been victimized 12:28 or you may be perpetrator yourself, 12:30 viewing this program and you know, there is hope. 12:33 There's hope for change, 12:34 there's hope for making a difference. 12:36 You may have committed some kind of offence in the past 12:40 but actually there's hope 12:41 and that hope is found in Jesus Christ. 12:43 And we're gonna talk a little bit more about that 12:45 as we proceed in the program 12:47 so make sure you stay tuned. 12:48 Dr. Parks, I want to comeback to you and speak about 12:51 what are some of the underlying factors 12:53 that you have noticed that have led a person 12:55 to commit such a crime like this? 12:57 Some other things are just anger. 13:00 A lot of these perpetrators as we call them, 13:02 they've been abused themselves. 13:04 And sometimes we take out our anger 13:06 on the wrong sources and sometimes 13:07 they're taking it out on innocent people 13:09 who can't do anything back 13:10 because they were victimized as innocent people 13:12 who couldn't do anything back as children. 13:14 Sometimes it's a need for power, 13:16 sometimes this is kind of outside of the psychological, 13:19 typical psychological realm but biblically sometimes 13:21 it's just because of lust, that consumes us. 13:24 You know, we may lust after the same sex 13:26 because we've gotten to that point 13:27 in our sexuality for various reasons. 13:29 Oh, yeah. 13:31 And then sometimes it's just control, 13:32 people wanting to control. 13:34 Yeah. 13:35 You know, we have-- as human beings 13:36 we have a natural bend towards evil, 13:38 just a natural bend towards evil 13:40 and it takes a lot, 13:41 it takes a lot of leaning on Jesus to fight that. 13:44 To really fight that urge 13:45 because we naturally want to do 13:48 those things that are wrong. 13:49 That's our human nature as we're born, 13:51 until Jesus comes in and we allow Him 13:53 to change our life. 13:55 Now in working with many people 13:58 throughout your years of psychology, 14:01 talking to them, 14:02 how has that really helped them, 14:04 talking to them, ministering to them. 14:07 How has this helped them overcome? 14:09 Instead of dwelling on the past, 14:11 how has looking to Jesus, 14:14 looking to the future help them? 14:15 I have a story I'd like to tell about a sexual abuse, 14:18 we call them survivors. 14:20 Okay, survivors, I like it. 14:21 That's a more powerful word than a victim. 14:22 I like that. 14:24 And what happened was this woman had been seen 14:26 by psychologist for years 14:28 and she was seen by me for actually a year 14:30 and then the Lord started working 14:32 on how true healing occurs 14:34 and I started to talk to her about forgiveness. 14:36 Okay, talk about forgiveness. 14:37 Have you ever thought about forgiving those people 14:39 who did what they did against you? 14:41 Share with her some Bible verses about forgiveness. 14:43 She came to me two or three weeks later 14:45 and said Dr. Parks, 14:46 this has been the most helpful for me, 14:48 in helping me move past this abuse. 14:50 Because I stood in this 14:52 for so many years being powerless, 14:54 feeling powerless, being angry, being resentful 14:57 but when you started to share with me 14:59 the concept of forgiveness, 15:01 I had to ask for the God's help to forgive 15:03 because that's not a naturally thing. 15:04 We are naturally not prone to forgive, 15:06 especially people who's hurt us like that 15:08 but she said as she asked for God's help 15:09 and the Holy Spirit to come within, 15:10 she was able to start forgiving 15:12 the people who molested her 15:14 and she was able to start moving past. 15:16 Okay, so that's great. 15:17 You know, how danger is it-- 15:19 dangerous is it for a person to only look within themselves 15:23 for help and for guidance? 15:24 How dangerous can that be? 15:25 It's very dangerous because you said earlier, 15:27 we are naturally prone to evil. 15:29 The Bible tells us 15:31 "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." 15:34 So if there's none that doeth good 15:35 where am I finding the good? 15:37 It's not within me. Yeah. 15:39 You know, humanistic psychology has led us 15:40 to believe there is good in us and, 15:42 you know, all of us have a desire to want to do good, 15:45 that God places that in us. 15:46 But looking at the good in us will only get us so far 15:49 because there is only so much that's there. 15:50 Okay. Yeah, that is very much true. 15:53 You know, the Bible even says that 15:54 "There is not righteous, no, not one." 15:56 None of us are, only Jesus Christ is righteous. 15:59 We've all fallen short of the glory of God, 16:01 every last human being on plant earth. 16:03 Now in your book "Christians, Beware!" 16:05 you talk about self-respect, 16:07 you talk about self-worth as well as self-esteem. 16:10 What's the difference between these 16:12 and which ones are more beneficial 16:13 in helping with our relationship with Jesus? 16:15 You know, I used to push the thing about self-esteem 16:18 until I started to understand the Bible says 16:20 things like let others esteem, 16:22 let us esteem others better than ourselves. 16:25 You know, and different things about Christ 16:27 saying deny yourself, die daily. 16:30 And then I started to read literature 16:31 from other Christians who said, 16:32 you know, those two really can't go together. 16:35 Now I do believe that people do things 16:37 because they feel bad about themselves. 16:39 But what I've come to realize 16:41 through reading is that we need to recognize 16:43 the worth that we have through Christ. 16:46 Because Jesus died for us on the cross. 16:47 He came and He would have just done it for one person. 16:49 And that's amazing, that's amazing. 16:51 You know, and we also need to recognize the respect 16:53 that we should have for ourselves. 16:55 You know, we are-- 16:56 we, our bodies are temples of God. 16:58 We were created by the most high God. 17:00 You know, so we have to treat ourselves in a way 17:02 to show that we have respect for ourselves. 17:04 You know, what's interesting, Aaron, is that 17:07 the research shows and we don't hear this a lot, 17:10 many prisoners have very high self-esteem. 17:13 People, they've shown that people 17:14 who are hostile in the classroom 17:16 and have behavioral problems, 17:17 when they measure them with these scales 17:19 many of them have a high self-esteem. 17:21 So we need to be encouraging people to understand 17:24 why they are worth something 17:26 and helping them understand their self worth 17:28 and then helping them 17:29 to increase their sense of self-respect. 17:32 One way to do that is to teach people skills. 17:35 Many people don't understand their skills 17:37 and their abilities and pointing that out to them 17:39 can really help them raise their level of self-respect. 17:42 Now those skills developing is that skills that they have, 17:45 that they may not know that they have or? 17:47 Both. Both, okay. 17:49 Developing something they know they have 17:50 but they never have the opportunity to work on it 17:52 or helping them find the gifts that God has given to them. 17:55 You know, what interesting in prison, 17:57 I know for myself when I was incarcerated, 17:58 you find some talented people. 18:00 I believe it. 18:01 Some very talented people that can draw well, 18:03 that make different things out of almost nothing, 18:06 very talented people in there 18:08 but a lot of times they only use it 18:10 when they get incarcerated. 18:11 They don't use it while they're out in the world, 18:13 they when they get in there they use it as a means 18:15 to make money and things like that. 18:17 But, you know, in helping each person 18:19 be able to develop that skill that they have within, 18:22 that they may not even know 18:23 that they have is a great, great thing. 18:26 You know, you said something very important 18:27 in understanding our self worth. 18:29 You know, when you think about when God created the world, 18:32 He created the world and everything 18:34 the Bible says He spoke, He spoke into existence. 18:37 But when He came to humanity, 18:39 He didn't speak humanity and existence. 18:41 He came down and He got on His hands and His knees. 18:44 He got down there and molded 18:46 and shaped humanity out of the dust of the earth. 18:50 Now that shows that God is a relational God. 18:52 We are special, we are special in His sight so, 18:55 just on that and knowing 18:56 that Jesus would die for that one, even that one, 19:00 that one that shows that there is some worth within us 19:03 because God loves us. 19:05 If He didn't, I don't believe Jesus would have died 19:07 on the cross for us. 19:08 I don't believe God would have came down 19:10 and got on His hands and knees and shaped and molded humanity 19:14 when all the other beautiful things of the world, 19:16 the Garden of Eden, the sun, the moon, 19:18 the stars, the clouds, all these things, 19:20 He spoken to existence but not humanity. 19:23 He took time with humanity. 19:25 So we are like that apple of God's eye, 19:28 the apple of God's eye. 19:29 Now I want to shift gears 19:30 and I want to talk about the underlying solution 19:33 to helping a victim overcome sexual abuse 19:37 as well as a perpetrator overcome 19:39 being aggressor to someone. 19:41 Wow, if I could do that in eight minutes 19:43 that would be great and I'm gonna try my best 19:45 which is give few little notes. 19:46 All right. All right. 19:47 I mentioned my case study earlier about the woman 19:49 who began to forgive, that is a key to overcoming, 19:53 is to start to forgive and move past that. 19:55 It's also a thing that the Bible says, 19:57 "Forgetting those things which are behind, 19:59 and reaching forth towards those things which are before, 20:02 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 20:04 calling of God in Christ Jesus." 20:06 In Philippians 3: 13, 14 we're told that. 20:08 We have to ask God to help us to move past, the past. 20:11 Okay. 20:13 And every time that past comes to you, 20:15 if you claim the promises of God's word, 20:17 start to understand those promises and apply it to you, 20:20 you can move past that past. 20:22 In fact, I can just say something personal the way 20:23 I'm applying that myself. 20:24 Sometimes the enemy tries to come at me. 20:26 My husband died last year. Okay, I'm sorry about that. 20:28 He has-- sometimes he tries to come at me 20:30 with all kind of things about what if, 20:32 should have, could have been done. 20:33 And often times I have to repeat the promises that says, 20:36 forgetting those things which are behind, 20:38 and pressing forward to those things which are ahead. 20:40 And just repeating that promise, 20:41 it might happen several times a day. 20:43 Whatever promise you could find in God's word 20:45 to help you to contradict those thoughts 20:47 is every helpful for a person 20:48 who has been a sexual abuse survivor. 20:51 Now for the perpetrators, is understanding 20:53 that all of these kind of destructive habits come 20:56 because of selfishness. 20:57 Plain and simple. On line. 20:59 And when you replace God's love with your selfishness, 21:02 healing can come. 21:03 I've worked with perpetrators for years. 21:05 And the psychological way was helpful 21:07 but the idea was that they could not be cured. 21:09 And its true with secular psychology you can't cure it. 21:12 When they get to know that Jesus and God of this word-- 21:14 That's the solution. 21:16 That's the solution, right there. 21:17 I remember working with one towards the end of my time 21:19 and he was just dealing with shame 21:21 and guilt and shame and guilt 21:22 because what happens is that shame and guilt, 21:24 because they don't know what to do with it, 21:25 it takes them back to perpetrate. 21:26 And I said to him, 21:28 there is a verse in the Bible in 1 John 1:9 that says 21:30 "If we confess our sins, 21:32 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 21:34 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 21:36 He said that was such an eye opener for him. 21:38 I don't know what happened to him afterward 21:39 but I told him if you claim that promise 21:41 because what happens with perpetrators 21:43 is their thoughts start to come back 21:44 of wanting to hurt this child. 21:46 Thoughts thought, as the child comes to them, 21:48 sexual thought start. 21:49 And so when I would work with them, 21:51 we were taught to help them change in their thoughts. 21:53 And that's something perpetrators have to do. 21:54 The Bible tells us to renew our minds. 21:56 They have to get help to renew their minds 21:58 and change those thoughts 21:59 and they recognize God will forgive 22:00 and they can move past this. 22:02 So that in a quick nutshell 22:03 that's what I can give you to help thing to the perpetrators. 22:05 Amen. Amen. 22:06 You know, you talk about a story 22:09 in your book, "Christians, Beware!" 22:10 I believe, about a lady you shared 22:13 the book "Desire of Ages" with. 22:15 Viewers, if you don't know about 22:16 this book "Desire of Ages" 22:18 you'll get a little snip bit of it right here 22:20 but I encourage you to get a hold 22:21 of this book "Desire of Ages", 22:22 very, very powerful, powerful book. 22:26 Now Dr. Parks, I want you to talk a little bit, 22:28 what information you can shed on this of how that-- 22:31 how that the book "Desire of Ages" 22:33 had an affect upon this lady? 22:34 This was 50 something plus year lady, 22:39 50 something year old 22:40 I should say a better way of saying. 22:42 She had been to therapists for years 22:44 and she came to me and I said, Lord, 22:46 what can I do differently with this woman? 22:48 And what happened was the Holy Spirit reminded me 22:50 that in the "Desire of Ages" 22:51 which is the book on the life of Christ, 22:53 I said the Library of Congress, 22:54 I believe says its the best book 22:56 ever written about the life of Christ. 22:58 And it gives us details and inside into the Bible. 23:00 The woman who wrote was very inspired we believe. 23:03 Anyway I was impressed to take that particular page 23:06 where it talked about the fact 23:07 that Jesus was born out of wedlock. 23:09 I think they call it illegitimate. 23:10 She was dealing with that, struggling with that for years, 23:12 a successful career woman 23:14 and she was struggling with the fact 23:15 that she was the only child born out of wedlock. 23:17 She couldn't get pass that. 23:19 I gave that to her to read, 23:20 the next week she came in and said Dr. Parks, 23:22 this has just changed my life tremendously. 23:25 If my Savior can go through this 23:27 and do the work that He did, surely I can move forward. 23:30 Yeah. Amen, amen. 23:31 Viewers, that is very, very powerful. 23:34 A lady was able to make some changes 23:35 after reading the book "Desire of Ages." 23:38 That could be you, that maybe you viewer, 23:40 that maybe the perpetrator. 23:42 I encourage you if you do not have the book 23:45 "Desire of Ages" try to get a hold of that book. 23:48 Try to-- it's a great book on the life of Jesus Christ. 23:51 Now, I want to shift here as a little bit more Dr. Parks, 23:53 and I want to talk about some lifestyle 23:55 changes a person can make to help 23:57 with mental thoughts that are going on in a person's life. 24:00 Yes, earlier I talked about using life's, 24:02 what we call the laws of health. 24:03 You know, lifestyle strategies. 24:05 One of that is just changing your diet. 24:06 There are foods that we're eating 24:08 that's making us hard for us 24:09 to move past our particular thoughts 24:12 that's getting us in the trouble 24:14 and there are foods that are helpful. 24:15 Eating more fruits, eating more grains, 24:17 eating more nuts and vegetables 24:19 and decreasing some of the processed foods 24:21 and even some other foods that we eat that we kill. 24:24 You know, decreasing some of that 24:26 because we pick up what we eat, 24:27 you know, so decreasing some of that, 24:29 increasing more healthy foods, 24:31 you'd be surprised at how that will help your mind. 24:32 Yeah, what it can do to the mind. 24:34 Another thing is getting to bed on time. 24:35 That's hard for many people. Yeah, for most. 24:37 One author that we know says that 24:38 "two hours before midnight is worth 24:40 more than four hours after midnight." 24:42 And many of us are getting to bed too late 24:44 and it makes us more cranky, irritable, sad, angry, 24:48 during the day and thus we take a lot of coffee 24:49 to cover that up. 24:50 But getting proper sleep, 24:52 getting good amount of exercise especially when it's sunny. 24:55 Getting exercise because you are killing 24:56 two birds with one stone. 24:57 Yeah, get the natural vitamin D from the sunlight. 24:58 The natural vitamin D from the sun 25:00 and more studies are showing that sunlight, 25:02 it can increase serotonin, you get the vitamin D 25:05 and that helps you feel better. 25:07 And then there's other thing such as getting fresh air. 25:10 As much as you can get out into the fresh air 25:12 because those negative ions 25:13 will help the mind function better. 25:14 Just throwing out a lot of things-- 25:16 And these are all natural things a person can do 25:18 without even spending a dollar. 25:19 Not even spending a dollar. 25:20 If people were doing this, many psychiatrists 25:23 and psychological practices would be closed, 25:25 we'd be out of job. 25:26 You know, it's funny if I could just say this real quickly. 25:28 When I saw the change in my way of dealing in my practice 25:30 and people were coming in with all the stuff, 25:32 I dealt with sexual abuse 25:33 but I'd have them change their lifestyle. 25:35 After two or three sessions 25:36 they would be calling in and saying I'm fine, 25:38 I don't need to come in 25:39 and the receptionist started saying, 25:40 you're gonna lose a lot of business, Dr. Parks, 25:41 if you continue to do what you're doing. 25:43 So-- 25:44 But you're really helping them 25:46 with some simple things that they could do. 25:47 That's what I felt. 25:48 Instead of having to spend so much money, 25:50 because you know, medication these days 25:53 can be very, very costly. 25:55 But to be able to do some natural things, 25:56 they call the eight laws of health, the eight doctors. 25:59 Simple things that you can do, nutrition, 26:01 exercise, water, sunlight, temperance, air, rest, 26:04 and trusting our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 26:07 these things can be so, so helpful. 26:09 I want you to talk for a little bit, a few seconds, 26:12 about there maybe someone 26:13 that hasn't decided to choose Jesus yet. 26:16 What are some first steps that a person 26:17 needs to do to choose Jesus? 26:19 Because many believe that, you know, 26:20 what I need to clean myself up first 26:22 before I come to Jesus. 26:23 Can you speak on that for a little bit? 26:24 You know the Prodigal Son come to mind immediately. 26:26 He didn't do any cleaning up. 26:28 He just came and the Father embraced him. 26:30 That's what we have to realize. 26:31 Our God is a God of love and He loves people 26:34 and He wants to clean you if you viewer, right now. 26:37 He wants to clean you. 26:38 And so that's something to recognize 26:40 and one of the ways that you understand who God is, 26:43 is by picking up this word. 26:44 Yeah, you have to. You have to. 26:45 It tells us who He is. 26:47 Start reading the gospels, 26:48 it gives us some good pictures and stories 26:50 of the compassionate, caring, tender Savior that you have. 26:53 Now the gospel is being 26:54 Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. 26:56 Yes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 26:57 The more that you get to know a person, 26:59 the more you trust them. 27:00 Don't think about anything that you can change, 27:02 just get to know Jesus. 27:03 The Bible says, from beholding from glory to glory 27:06 we're changing His image. 27:07 By beholding we become change. That's right. 27:08 So just beholding Jesus and through His word 27:10 we can do that and then He will help you to pray. 27:12 You'll know what to pray for. 27:13 It doesn't have to be anything spectacular 27:16 but once you open up your heart 27:17 and start praying to the Lord 27:18 you will start to hear Him speak to you 27:19 and you know, address some of these issues. 27:22 So those two things, 27:23 starting out prayer and reading His word 27:25 and getting to know who He is. 27:26 Okay, it's just like a relationship 27:27 with a human being. 27:29 You got to spend time with Him. 27:30 You got to talk to Him and study them basically 27:33 to understand who this is you're dealing with. 27:34 Same thing with God 27:36 and we have to do it through the word of God. 27:37 I want you to take about ten seconds, 27:39 talk to the viewer, talk to the perpetrator, 27:41 talk to the one that has been victimize 27:43 and I want you to speak some words 27:45 of encouragement to them. 27:46 I want to tell you that God loves you. 27:50 He loves you and He died for you 27:52 and that love is everlasting. 27:54 He tells us with everlasting love 27:55 He is drawing us and He is drawing you. 27:57 If you'll just respond to the drawing 27:59 you would be amazed at what God can do in your life, 28:01 whether you're a victim or survivor or a perpetrator. 28:04 God can change you. Amen. 28:05 If somebody wanted to get a copy of your books, 28:08 five seconds how can they get your books? 28:10 You can email me at info@bingoodhealth.com, 28:13 bingoodhealth.com 28:16 or you could call, actually at 678-665-7968. 28:20 You've been watching "The New Journey," 28:21 join us next time. |
Revised 2015-04-27