More Americans than ever are going to therapists. Studies reveal that as many as 40 million adults see a therapist. Not surprising then is that prescription pharmaceutical drug use is also soaring. Mental-rest vacation days are becoming job-place normal. But is it all working? Suicide rates are soaring. Depression is everywhere. Emergency room visits for mental trauma are way up. Kids, and women in particular, are more miserable than ever. What to do?! Mark and I chew through the issue of therapy culture. We note how it can be beneficial, why it is beneficial. We also talk about possibilities for local churches to get involved, where and when they can. Should sermons be encouraging therapy sessions? Why, why not? And then, significant to the whole culture, is that the presuppositions of most Psychology programs are indifferent to or opposed to biblical teachings. Come and think and laugh with me and Mark about this intractable issue.

Christians and "o"rthodox churches would easily spot a rank heresy, but too commonly ignore a factor that sucks people into the godless Matrix: the Self. The Self is played to and pandered to at every level of western culture. So when the Church seeks to be relevant by pandering to the Self the mission is already thrown off. Relevancy is not the first (or eighth) critical element for Christian mission. My good friend Mark and I explore this element of the Matrix that overwhelms most every element of daily life. Our focus is not selfishness, which the Bible condemns. Our focus is the Self. In different ways we note how the Self dominates our lives. Jesus was relevant precisely by being irrelevant. Mark talks about how 1 Corinthians' model of one body many giftings can be healing balm to the dominance of the self. Ed talks about how the Matrix made he and his dad feel weird when driving a car without a face mask on during COVID, in Idaho! Come and think with us, and avoid being sucked down into the rocks of the river of the Matrix.