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FEBRUARY 2012
LETTER
 Dear Friends,
In our upcoming
March/April newsletter we have an article on a New Tribes Mission (NTM)
school for missionary kids (MKs) in Fanda, Senegal. The focus of our
article is not on the “sinful and criminal activities” perpetrated
against the MKs housed there, which was abuse of a variety of kinds, but
rather on the recommended treatment and monetary reimbursement being
offered to the MKs who were abused when they were children but are now
adults. The treatment NTM is offering to those former MKs and their
families includes psychological and psychiatric care. If the adult MKs
who had been there as children have received any psychological or
psychiatric treatment related to their past abuse at Fanda, they can be
financially reimbursed. If any of the MKs wish to begin psychological
and/or psychiatric treatment related to their earlier abuse at Fanda,
they can submit such a claim to NTM. The Fanda abuse became public
through the “Grace Report” and opened a “can of worms” as many other
former boarding school MKs have reported similar abuses.
The child abuse, whether
at NTM or other mission agency boarding schools, that has subsequently
come to light is a tragic testimony to what can occur under the best of
godly intentions with some of the worst caretakers. However, compounding
the tragedy of abuse is the fact that the remedy being offered is
psychological rather than biblical. We were not surprised, because we
have interviewed many of these mission agencies and found that they
screen prospective missionary candidates through the use of mental
health professionals and personality tests and they also provide mental
health care for their missionaries.
Unfortunately, even beyond
mission agencies and throughout the church the default setting for
treating nonorganic problems of living is psychological and specifically
psychotherapeutic with the use of licensed mental health professionals
and psychological tests, rather than the Word of God and the work of the
Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the saints. Biblical means of help
served Christians well until the recent arrival of the mental health
professionals.
Thank you for helping us
to oppose this “science falsely so called” and “enticing words of man’s
wisdom” about which God warns (1 Tim. 6:20; 1 Cor. 2:4). We are grateful
to those of you who support these efforts to overcome the fleshly wiles
of psychoheresy throughout the church.
In Christ,
Martin and Deidre Bobgan |
