Hartland Winter Convocation 2019: That, Knowing the Time

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Phil Mills

Self-Inflicted Dysexecutive Syndrome

Jeremiah 21.8, now you shall say to this people, thus says the Lord, behold, I have set before you the way of life and the way of death.

Let's just bow our heads for an additional word of prayer.

Dear Lord, bless us as we study the book of nature, the book of life experiences, and then open up the book of Scripture and see how profoundly it helps us understand ourselves.

I pray that tonight will be different because you've spoken to us.

And may it not simply be words to our minds, but may it be encouragement and life change to our hearts, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

We listen to a patient's complaints and then we ask focus questions.

Finally, we perform a physical examination and where necessary do appropriate diagnostic, radiographic lab tests, all to confirm our impression of what a patient may have.

But just as there are diseases of the body, there are diseases of the soul.

Pretend you're a doctor here and try to imagine, take your hand at spiritual diagnosis this evening.

What would your diagnosis be to a church member who presented with the following signs and symptoms?

First sign, failure to recognize the real value of spiritual activities.

For example, he'd go to prayer meeting but would consider that drudgery and would prefer not to and may not go.

At the same time, the member shows attention and interest in secular topics and meetings and would have no problem staying at home from prayer meeting and watching television.

A second sign, a church member is able to get to work on time daily but can't make it on time to Sabbath school.

Notice the third sign, the member has time for news, internet, and hobbies but little time for Bible study and prayer.

The fourth sign you observe is that the member's evangelistic fervor, zeal, and enthusiasm for present truth seems to be waning.

While the member may have lively discussions on sports and topics of the day with politics, the member doesn't have much to say about the Bible or eternal life to his co-workers, fellow students, families, or friends.

The fifth sign you note, the member has unwanted feelings of guilt when reading portions of the Spirit of Prophecy, listening to convicting sermons, or in the presence of spirit-filled Christians.

The fifth sign you note, however, is associated with a temporary false peace that people get whenever they give up the battle against self.

Peace has come because they are now getting their way.

And they may say they are rich, become wealthy, have need of nothing, and do not recognize that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Another sign, frequent disagreements and arguments with a member's spouse or with family members.

The member complains and criticizes and has few expressions of praise and gratitude and thankfulness.

The member is often impatient with the spouse and family members.

Unkind, rude, and cutting comments are made to others or of others.

Immoral desires increase and there is a bondage to addictions.

There are attempts to hide these addictions and then emerges a double life of deception and hypocrisy.

There's independence of action and a rejection of authority.

Can you recognize and diagnose the following 2 common signs in a parishioner?

Do you know the most common cause of this disorder?

And do you know how to administer the only known curative treatment for this otherwise fatal disorder?

Recently, a close friend of mine developed apparently minor changes in behavior.

For example, the individual had been a pattern of dependability, but began to forget some appointments.

Other changes occurred, but their importance was not recognized until 1 day the symptoms suddenly worsened and became so severe that my friend was rushed to the emergency room.

An MRI was ordered and a malignant tumor was found in the frontal lobe, explaining the behavioral changes.

Frontal lobe deficits from disease, surgery, medications, or injury vary.

They can be very subtle or they can be profound.

They can become so severe as to completely change the personality.

Probably most of us are familiar with the widely publicized and classic story of Phinehas Gage who had the injury to his frontal lobe pictured above.

It changed his behavior and his personality completely.

Since it's so well known, I'm not going to repeat it today.

But there is an interesting component to the story that is less known.

John Harlow was the physician who followed Phinehas Gage.

And he published his findings in 1848 in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, now known as the New England Medical Journal.

He had a subsequent follow-up study, but Dr.

Harlow's focus was not on the injury, but was on the fact that this patient had survived.

He did note personality changes in his final report in 1868, but it was just in passing.

Oppenheimer connected the frontal lobe injury with personality changes.

Many other studies have since been published in the medical literature connecting the frontal lobe to our thoughts and our actions.

1 I found very interesting was a study by Hugh Jarvie, a physician in Liverpool, England.

The study was published in a British medical journal following World War II.

Let me give you a little background for the study.

When soldiers were inducted into the army prior to World War II, they were given special tests that included psychological and personality tests.

Of course, many soldiers had frontal lobe injuries from gunshot wounds during the war.

And after their maximal recovery, they were retested and the results compared to their pre-injury results on those psychological testing.

And the research indicated that certain permanent changes in behavior took place only when the frontal lobe was injured.

Jarvie found that certain patterns of reaction were markedly present with frontal lobe injuries in only a minority of cases, however.

1 very interesting conclusion was that while many individuals did not have profound and striking changes that you see in a full frontal lobe syndrome, there were many others with subtle personality changes from frontal lobe damage.

These more subtle changes are the focus of our study together tonight.

Let me just briefly review the fact that the frontal lobe is a key distinguishing human feature vastly separating man from animals.

That's why an injury involving the frontal lobe is so serious.

On the screen you can see the frontal lobe of the lion, the hyena, and the kodimundi, which is a member of the raccoon family.

When the Spirit of Prophecy speaks of the animal or lower nature, or Paul speaks of the carnal nature, the flesh, they're referring to this, the much less executive area of the brain.

As you might guess, there is much less difference between the animals and man in this back part of the brain.

Do you think this is the skull of a human or an ape?

Since the forehead encases and protects the frontal lobe, you can infer from the scalp forehead the relative size of the frontal lobe.

We instinctively know this, and this was recognized from ancient times.

The ancient Chinese sculptures of their gods typically had a very broad, high forehead.

How do evolutionary artists attempt to portray early what they consider precursors to humans.

Notice this exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.

These are supposed to be evolutionary ancestors to humans, but they're just a figment of an artist's imagination.

What is this artist portraying by the slanted receding forehead?

The artist was attempting to portray that animals have less frontal lobe than humans and he is imagining what supposed missing links pre-humans might look like.

But moving from the make-believe to the real, what do you think Jesus' forehead looked like?

Notice Inspiration's description of Jesus' forehead at the time of Christ's trial before Pilate.

His forehead was described as broad and high.

The Bible tells us that mankind was created a little lower than the angels.

Since the frontal lobe separates humans from animals, what part of the brain do you think separates man from angels?

You might surmise that they have a larger frontal lobe.

Speaking of the covering cherub, his forehead was what?

High and broad, showing a powerful intellect.

And again, another statement, his forehead was high and broad showing great intelligence.

Paul quotes Psalm 8 5 that we just read in Hebrews 2 7, but Paul quotes from the Septuagint, you made him for a little while lower than the angels." So we were a little while lower than the angels.

Humans will not always be a little lower than the angels.

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Self-Inflicted Dysexecutive Syndrome

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