Stop! The Bridge is Out!

This is the last Installment from the Book: The four temperaments by Martin and Deidre Bobgan
Here are some links for your further investigation
http://http//www.psychoheresy-aware.org/mainpage.html

http://http//www.thebereancall.org/node/2564

http://http//www.thebereancall.org/node/6951




Spiritual Warfare.
Why, then, is there so much seeming failure in the
Christian life? Why are so many Christians looking
for answers outside the Word of God and outside the
provisions promised in His Word? Perhaps there’s a
misunderstanding about what it means to be a Christian
in terms of His life at work in us. Perhaps some
have forgotten that there is a warfare going on, or
they haven’t learned to do battle against the world,
the flesh, and the devil. Rather than learning to wage
battle in spiritual warfare with the sword of the
Spirit—the Word of God—and with the shield of faith,
many Christians have entered enemy territory looking
for other ways to improve their condition.
Paul continues his letter to the Galatians with a
description of the battle between the flesh and the
Spirit:
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary
the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would (Galatians 5:18).
The only way to victory is to be led by the Spirit. As
Paul says, “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not
under the law” (Galatians 5:18). The key is to be led
by the Spirit, but that requires one to die to self and
that is where the resistance lies.
How many of us still want to hang onto our old
ways? How many of us clutch some cherished part of
what we once were? God’s ways require His
eignty in our lives. Do we resist Him to be Sovereign
Lord, King of Kings, Master, and Owner because we’ve
been our own little gods for so long? Is it because we’ve
been strengthening our flesh through extrabiblical
self-improvement programs?
Rather than teaching us to find out what temperament
or personality type we are and to use our
strengths and overcome our weaknesses, the Bible
reveals that we are in a spiritual battle between the
flesh (our old life) and the Spirit (His life in us). When
the flesh wins a skirmish the works of the flesh will
be manifest:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and
such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have
also told you in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
(Galatians 5:19-21).
But when the Christian is walking in the Spirit
and being led by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will
be manifest:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law
(Galatians 5:22-23).
The fruit of the Spirit are not temperament traits of
the new man; they are manifestations of the Holy
Spirit. They are essentially different from those similar
traits of natural man, because they are the result
of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is
evidence of Christ in you, the hope of glory!
The spiritual battle was initially won at the Cross.
Therefore Paul declares:
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit
(Galatians 5:24-25).
Paul describes walking in the Spirit in Romans 8 as
well. One key element that applies to the error of
using personality theories is this:
For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).
Temperament and personality typologies cause
people to “mind the things of the flesh.” Even though
one of LaHaye’s purposes for using the four temperaments
was to encourage people to walk in the Spirit,
such a plan contradicts the clear Word of God. We do
not become more spiritual through minding the things
of the flesh.
Christ has given Christians His righteousness.
They need not establish their own. Nor can they attain
their own righteousness though any kind of psychological
system of self-knowledge or self-improvement.
God is the One who works in believers through His
Word and His Spirit to conform them into the image
of Christ. There is no need to use the wisdom of men.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and opened unto
the eyes of him with whom we have to do
(Hebrews 4:12-13).
The Lord, the discerner of hearts, sees what needs
to be changed. And, believers do not have to hide from
their own sin, because Christ Jesus is their High
Priest.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest,
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we
have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15).
And through all of this He is conforming us into
His own image, “that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren” (Romans 8:29).
The Lord knows each person’s individual uniqueness.
He knows how many hairs are on the head of
each person at any given time. And He knows the
exact genetic makeup of every person born on this
planet. Nevertheless, in His Word He did not set forth
a system for understanding temperament traits. Nor
did He set forth a plan by which people could analyze
the strengths and weaknesses of their temperaments
or personalities in order to find success and happiness.
Instead, He gave us His Word and His Son. He
gave us new life to enable us to live in love and obedience
to Him. His work in a person and that person’s
response of love and obedience will bring out the
beauty of individual differences to reflect His glory
in a unique and living way. The Bible’s focus is not
the mystery of individual differences of temperament
and personality. The biblical focus is Jesus Christ and
the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory!