Quenching the Holy Spirit

An Analysis Of

SIMA MOTIVATIONAL ABILITIES PATTERN (HEREAFTER MAP) vs. SCRIPTURE

by James Sundquist

Sources of all quotes by SIMA International and/or Arthur Miller located at:

http://www.yourhrdreamjob.com/

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=462015054

There is now an epidemic today in churches and ministry organizations which has convinced people that they must take some sort of psychometric personality and gift evaluation assessment(s) or test(s) in order to be able to determine how God would want them to serve, whether it be in the church, in para-church ministries, or in the workforce. These assessments and/or tests claim that up until now there has been no way to determine how one should serve or work without using the assessment(s) or test(s). Some of these assessment(s) and test(s) even claim that they can predict future behavior and job performance. The founder of the evaluation being featured in this article claims that his assessment is “as from the hand of God.”

Ironically, some of the originators of these assessment(s) and test(s) contradict and/or criticize each other as invalid. Many of the personality assessment(s) and test(s) used by Christians today are based on some sort of Greek mythology, principles of this world, or even have occult roots (such as MBTI Carl Jung and Rick Warren's SHAPE). Some Christians are now compelled to take these assessments or they will not be allowed to be a church member or to be employed by a particular organization or denomination. In other cases the ministerial credentials of pastors are even threatened unless they comply with taking the required assessment(s) or test(s).

It is important to make a distinction here between assessments or tests which evaluate personality traits vs. objective skill sets such as trade requirements (e.g. plumbing) or professional requirements (e.g. bar exam). Of the course the latter is needed to determine competency and, in some cases, safeguard society. So tests, per se, are constructive for job placement when they deal with skills and aptitudes.

This article profiles one particular psychometric assessment system (SIMA) using content taken directly from the published resources of SIMA International (see MAP references below), as well as emails from its founder, Arthur Miller, and then compares it with scripture (see SCRIPTURE).

SIMA International came to my attention when I was discussing with a close colleague her interest in applying for the position of President of Southeastern University (Assemblies of God). Up until then I had never heard of SIMA. However, I was very familiar with many of the other personality assessment systems in use today. SIMA International was listed as the contact to begin the process of selecting a group of the “best of the best” candidates for the position of President at Southeastern University. Prospective candidates are required to contact SIMA International (as documented on Southeastern University's Presidential Search Committee website) as the initial step of screening. This led to my researching where the MAP assessment originated. I discovered that the founder is Arthur Miller. Subsequently I emailed him with several basic questions about the MAP assessment and his own testimony and was shocked by his responses, which are also cited below.

1. MAP: “What we accomplish through the System for Identifying Motivated Abilities (SIMA®) is a definition of the uniqueness of individuals: their personality; their 'ways'; their m.o.; their heart and mind”.

“SIMA is not a test and is diametrically opposed to psychometrics because it cannot access the heart and mind of the person...SIMA is a study of the uniqueness of each person. We represent it as from the hand of God.” “knowledge of those ways enables us to predict his detailed behavior, which is the essence of our science” Arthur Miller September 7, 2010 email to James Sundquist

RESPONSE: But in SIMA's FAQ page, they state: “The research design followed test standards established by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1985 for determining psychometric characteristic of assessment techniques.”

So Arthur Miller says it is a test then he says it is not a test, so he loses all credibility. He spends much of his website denouncing psychology and psychometrics, while simultaneously defending it. Does the APA know that Arthur Miller states that SIMA comes “as from the hand of God?”

Do any of his non-Christian corporate clients know this?

SCRIPTURE:

There is not a single example in all of Scripture in which a person's calling or job was ever based on one's personality profile. But for the righteous, every job was determined by their character and conversion.

Mat 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Phl 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

1Jo 2:16 “For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

1Cr 2:16 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

If Arthur Miller's SIMA were as from the hand of God, it would not contradict Scripture, promote false teachers, and falsely accuse, as you will see cited throughout this document! If SIMA is indeed “as from the hand of God” which would reveal an individual's mind, there should be something in it about the “mind of Christ.” So where is it? I could not find it on his website. Furthermore, if Arthur Miller refuses to answer my simple question of whether he is a born-again Christian, we must question whether his SIMA system can be as from the hand of God.

Arthur Miller says SIMA is not a test. But science requires tests. He even states "SIMA®'s scientific "accuracy" has been evaluated against other forms of assessment in a number of formal studies". "Scientific accuracy means testing and measuring." So if it is not a test, then it can't be scientific. The recruitment industry would consider any assessment profiling a "test". Merriam-Webster definition of "test" would render Miller's MAP assessment a "test":

Merriam-Webster Definition of TEST

1a chiefly British : cupel b (1) : a critical examination, observation, or evaluation : trial; specifically : the procedure of submitting a statement to such conditions or operations as will lead to its proof or disproof or to its acceptance or rejection <a test of a statistical hypothesis> (2) : a basis for evaluation : criterion c : an ordeal or oath required as proof of conformity with a set of beliefs

2a : a means of testing: as (1) : a procedure, reaction, or reagent used to identify or characterize a substance or constituent (2) : something (as a series of questions or exercises) for measuring the skill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, or aptitudes of an individual or group b : a positive result in such a test

3: a result or value determined by testing

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

psychological testing

“Use of tests to measure skill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, or aptitudes and to make predictions about performance. Best known is the IQ test; other tests include achievement tests — designed to evaluate a student's grade or performance level — and personality tests. The latter include both inventory-type (question-and-response) tests and projective tests such as the Rorschach (inkblot) and thematic apperception (picture-theme) tests, which are used by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists to help diagnose mental disorders and by psychotherapists and counselors to help assess their clients. Experimental psychologists routinely devise tests to obtain data on perception, learning, and motivation. Clinical neuropsychologists often use tests to assess cognitive functioning of people with brain injuries. See also experimental psychology; psychometrics.”

Miller's MAP as well as all Personality Profiling (SHAPE, DISC, MBTI, MINNESOTA MULTI-PHASIC, KEIRSEY-BATES, TAYLOR-JOHNSON, PLACE and others), is based upon and considered magic arts (sorcery). Personality Profiling schemes are a form of “divination” because they think they can predict the future....like horoscopes. They are also a form of divination because they think they can reveal Satan's so-called secrets (of course most Christian psychologists would say these are not from Satan, but God). I also call them magic arts because I simply use the template of what Simon the Magician did...making profit off of the souls of men. Sorcerers seek assistance from evil spirits. But even though psychotherapists do not directly invoke evil spirits, they are still letting them in by practicing psychotherapy because the origin of its teachings came from evil spirits in the first place.

2. MAP: Human heart is the mother lode: “accesses the heart, mind and will of a person by identifying an inborn Pattern of motivated competencies which determines and drives performance and results.”

SCRIPTURE:

Gen 8:21 ...for the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth...”

Jer 17:9 “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Only the Holy Spirit has ultimate access to the heart, mind and will, dividing soul from spirit. Neither MAP nor ANY Psychological theory or profiler can do that:

Hbr 4:12 “For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Mat 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” Jesus Christ

So how reliable is the heart that Miller thinks is so reliable? Answer: totally unreliable!

Conclusion, in defiance of Scripture Miller and MAP take a totally depraved and unclean thing as a basis for determining the future for job applicants. Where is the Grace of God in reversing downward spiral into darkness in MAP? Where is supernatural intervention even if MAP were accurate? And where is the doctrine of Original Sin in Miller's model of human nature?

SCRIPTURE: A person comes into the world in sin and is only driven by the lusts of the flesh...

no man seeks after God; he is incapable:

Rom 3:11 “There is none that understander, there is none that seeketh after God.”

3. MAP: “The Pattern inheres in the nature of each person and is not the result of a developmental process. Effectively, a person comes into the world with the focus, drive and capability to follow and fulfill a destiny.” “We describe the way you naturally function”

"SIMA® is not designed or intended to look at those kinds of factors. We want to discover, not what's wrong with you, but what's right with you—the "good truth" about your core strengths and natural motivation."

"In cases like these, the MAP® itself will be presented by the SIMA® practitioner, as a way of helping others gain the best, most accurate understanding the person's core strengths and natural motivation."

RESPONSE: