William Backus - Freedom From the Lies You Tell Yourself

This book has been written to help you live with the one person you must live with for lifeyou. The precepts set forth here are not new; in fact, theyve been around since the time of King Solomon and before. People become happy and contented by learning how to practice the habits this book describes.

The current writings of the cognitive therapists such as Albert Ellis, A. T. Beck, M. J. Mahoney, D. Meichenbaum and Arnold Lazarus and their scientific points of view, the writings of philosophers such as Titus and Marcus Aurelius, the findings of psychological researchers as well as the probings of the greatest minds of history bring us to the truths set forth in the Holy Scriptures and the principles we share here with you. These principles are so practical and time-testedin fact, Gods own method for destroying the strongholds of evil in the minds of men and womenthat it is amazing the average reader has never heard of such things!

Most of us want to be honest-to-goodness happy human beings who can handle life well and manage to feel good in spite of ever-increasing odds against us. Ironically, we use methods of achieving happiness that make us unhappy. We work at and strive for something that we cant quite catch hold of.

What does it mean to be happy? We could define it as a continuing sense of well-being, a state of feeling good about life, others, and self. We could also define happiness as the absence of mental and emotional discomfort and pain. The Bible calls happy blessed.

Blessedhappy, fortunate, prosperous and enviableis the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly.... But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His lawthe precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus names those who are blessed, or happy. They are people who are spiritually prosperous [that is, with life-joy and satisfaction in Gods favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions].

What is your definition of happiness? After you answer that question, we want you to know that its possible to be happy, really happy in the deepest corners of your being, and to stay that way. You dont have to be a victim of circumstances, events, relationships. You dont have to be trapped by persistent painful emotions.

This book is written to help you possess the happiness you desire and to be the person youd like to be. You can live happily ever after with the person you are and make a profound affect on those around you because of it.

Misbelief Therapy, as we have called our modus operandi, involves putting the truth into our value systems, philosophies, demands, expectations, moralistic and emotional assumptions, as well as into the words we tell ourselves. The Bible says it is the truth that sets man free. Jesus Christ is the living Truth. When we inject the truth into our every thought, taking a therapeutic broom and sweeping away the lies and misbeliefs which have enslaved us, we find our lives radically changed for the better.

It is our hope that other professionals will join us in the exciting discovery that truth as it is in Jesus is a teachable way of life which leads to wholeness, restored functioning, and freedom from neurosis.

We ask the indulgence of our professionally trained readers who will find little scientific terminology in this book. We have purposely eschewed psychologese in order that all of our readers will feel comfortable with us.

Recently we completed a research project which involved follow-up calls to every client seen at the Center for Christian Psychological Services in a six-month period. The purpose was to ascertain how well Misbelief Therapy, as we call it, had actually worked in the lives of the clients. The results were gratifying. Ninety-five percent of the clients that had been treated at the Center had improved. Not only that, but these people were able to cite specific behaviors which had changed for the better. They were enthusiastic over the treatment they had received and the results that had been obtained in their lives. That is why we feel confident in recommending that you not only read this book, but that you also put into practice the procedures it offers you for bringing about real change in your life. You will be learning skills which you will want to keep forever.