And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? - Luke 12: 25-26 (ESV)
This is only one verse of many from the New Testament. He tells us to cast our anxiety upon Him for He cares for us. Also from Noble's wrong foundation it is not screaming to God that you do not trust Him if you take medication. It may be a sign of desperation, deception, or believing in the world system too much, or but not screaming that you do not trust God. I would liken it more to screaming at God that you simply do not know what to do anymore. Perry then goes on to exclaim that he doesn't feel that way anymore! He then recounts his first bout with "mental struggles."
"It was brutal. I even gave suicide serious consideration. However, through a series of situations in my life that needed to be changed, along with some intense and excellent biblical counseling, I was able to come through the storm that had dominated me for so long," wrote Noble.
Hallelujah! Note here what he had to do. There were things he had to take stock of in his life and change that were contributing to his suffering. That along with excellent and intense BIBLICAL counseling allowed him victory over that storm. He decided after this victory to do a series on stress, anxiety and depression and then start a book about it. It was during the course of writing the book that the feelings began creeping their way back into his life. Is this surprising? Of course not! You just won a tremendous deliverance from extreme anxiety and the first thing you want to do is write a book about it? Dredge up all the old demons you had just so successfully cast out? What followed this victory? Was it genuine repentance for all of the false preaching and leading people astray? No, instead the first thought was to write a book. Jesus told a parable about someone who had an unclean spirit leave them but returns only to find the place swept. So they bring seven more unclean spirits and the new condition was worse than the old. Here is the commentary from Matthew Henry:
Here is the condition of a hypocrite. The house is swept from common sins, by a forced confession, as Pharaoh's; by a feigned contrition, as Ahab's; or by a partial reformation, as Herod's. The house is swept, but it is not washed; the heart is not made holy. Sweeping takes off only the loose dirt, while the sin that besets the sinner, the beloved sin, is untouched. The house is garnished with common gifts and graces. It is not furnished with any true grace; it is all paint and varnish, not real nor lasting. It was never given up to Christ, nor dwelt in by the Spirit. Let us take heed of resting in that which a man may have, and yet come short of heaven. The wicked spirits enter in without any difficulty; they are welcomed, and they dwell there; there they work, there they rule. From such an awful state let all earnestly pray to be delivered.
Sometimes our victory is not complete because our efforts were not sincere. I cannot say what happened in the case of Perry Noble but as he notes, as soon as he started writing about it, the attacks came back and this time they were worse. Even though he claims that his inspiration for writing the book was because he had learned "about Jesus and His faithfulness" he gave in and went on antidepressant medication. Do you get that? He beats it the first time by correcting things in his life and biblical counseling so when it reoccurs he chooses medication? He goes on to call it one of the best decisions he has ever made and that it clarified his thinking and made him less of an emotional basket case. While I do not dispute anything regarding how he feels, that does not make the decision correct, nor Christian. The world offers up all sorts of solutions to mask symptoms and make us feel better but that doesn't make them right and certainly not righteous. We then see this in his defense against those who would disagree with his new found faith in psychotropic medication:
If your liver was shutting down and you were going to die as a result and you went to the doctor and he said, "here is a pill you can take to fix the problem," you would be considered negligent and insane for not taking the medicine. The brain, just like the liver, is an organ in the body. And scientific research has proved over and over again that chemical imbalances in the brain can lead to cases of anxiety and depression. If you would take a pill to cure the liver then why would you not do the same for the brain?
Now be careful to follow along because there is so much wrong here mixed with some partial truths. Yes, if there was a pill to cure a liver condition and you refused to take it, I would call that negligent or even stupid. This is not about being anti-medication. If you are sick and take an antibiotic, you are not exhibiting weak faith. That is just silly. The problem comes in when you take a concrete cause and effect scenario, such as an antibiotic and conflate it with psychotropic medication which has zero observable proof of cause and effect. Also realize that you only take antibiotics for several days to resolve the problem, not a lifetime to manage a condition. While the brain is an organ like the liver there is absolutely no scientific research proving that there is ever a chemical imbalance in anyone. That is why it is referred to as a theory. It was a theory designed to sell pharmaceuticals. Ask any psychiatrist what chemicals are specifically out of balance and they cannot answer because they do not know. The only research they do is anecdotal. If enough people in a study claim to have relief of symptoms then they apply to the FDA to market the drug for the alleviation of those symptoms. Never mind how many did not get relief. Or how many became worse. Or how many died. Listen closely to those commercials with the calm voice over guy or read the fine print in their advertisements. They can only say it is "believed" to work by doing something. The stark truth is they have no idea and they are playing Russian roulette with patients hoping that their desperation for relief will produce a placebo effect of cure before the medication convinces them to take their own life. And by the way, if they do take their own life the treating professionals will just shrug their collective shoulders and say, "well they were depressed."
Also realize that in his example the liver pill cures the liver condition and he then pretends that the psychotropic pill cures the brain. That is also untrue and any honest professional will tell you so. This is not about curing it is about coping. It is about covering up symptoms to provide relief from the negative feelings. Have you ever listened to the side effects of these medications at the end of those cartoon commercials? Here is a listing of just one pill's effects. I call them effects because they are not "side" effects. They are the actual effects of the drug:
