The Bible gives the body of Christ complete instructions for
ministering to one another, yet in rebellion to its teachings and the
enablement that the Word of God supplies, the church for decades now has
turned to man’s ways and means.
In numerous past articles (most of which are found in Psychology and the Church: Critical Questions, Crucial Answers
) we have dealt with the destructive invasion of psychological
counseling in the church. Few movements within evangelical Christianity
have turned believers away from the sufficiency of the Word of God in
their lives as has psychological counseling, and tragically so. This
article deals with some of the influential teachings and practices that
claim to be biblical but cloak the psychological concepts and practices
they incorporate in spiritual language .
In order
to recognize where alleged biblical counseling programs deviate from the
Scriptures it’s important to understand what is central to most forms
of psychological counseling. It has been referred to as mesmerism,
initiated by Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician (1774-1815). Mesmer’s
work—referred to today as hypnosis—became the basis for the
psychotherapy of the fathers of the modern counseling movement,
especially Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. That may seem irrelevant to
those who wouldn’t consider using it as a technique in counseling,
especially biblical counseling, but as you will see, very few are aware
of how pervasive it is in nearly all forms of counseling.
First of
all, “hypnosis” does not refer only to putting someone into a trance to
entertain an audience (a very dangerous practice); it has many forms and
techniques (some of which you may recognize). These include deep
hypnosis, Eastern meditation, relaxation techniques, induced
suggestions, monotonous stimulation, stimulation of the imagination,
imagery suggestions, guided imagery, activation of unconscious motives,
visualization, regressive therapy, altered states of consciousness,
trance phenomena, induced hallucinations, hypnotherapy, autosuggestion,
medical hypnosis, shamanic hypnosis, et al. Although the list is quite
diverse, the activity is basically the same: the individual becomes receptive to the suggestions of a person or an entity other than himself .
The Bible
has its own list of activities related to the practice of hypnosis:
sorcery, wizardry, enchantments, “charming,” necromancy, astrology,
consulting with familiar spirits, and practicing magic arts. None of
these, as we all should be aware, are okay with God. In fact, they are
condemned, and all involve deception.
Research
regarding hypnosis and its variations does not speak favorably for the
practice. Renowned research psychiatrist Thomas Szasz calls hypnosis the
therapy of “a fake science.” Eminent research psychiatrist E. Fuller
Torrey sees the contemporary techniques of hypnosis as no different from
that of witchdoctors and shamans. “Medical” hypnosis runs the whole
gamut of therapies from relaxation inducement to Freudian regression
into the so-called traumatized realm of early childhood development and
the “unconscious” mind, to “past lives” and “future lives” therapy.
Again, none of these have anything to do with true science, yet millions
of Christians are seduced by the medical label. As Dr. Martin and
Deidre Bobgan have noted, “Hypnosis in the hands of a medical doctor is
as scientific as a dowsing rod in the hands of an engineer.”
A
seductive myth of hypnosis is that memories recovered through that
process are more accurate than normal memory and provide the key to
inner healing. This delusion is a major boon to the acceptance of
techniques used in the “healing of memories” ministries, nearly all of
which claim to be biblical. To identify the errors resulting from the
use of hypnosis in recovering memories, researchers use the term
“confabulation,” meaning the tendency to remember past events to be
different from the way they actually were…and even to remember
fantasized events as having actually happened. This is very common in
“regression” therapy, used by many Christian counselors. But in fact, as
the Harvard Mental Health Letter states, “In reality, all
memory is a reconstruction rather than a reproduction, and it is almost
always deeply unreliable, threaded with fabrications and distortions….
Hypnotic subjects readily confuse real with imaginary events and…become
overconfident about their memories” (cited in Martin and Deidre Bobgan, Hypnosis , p. 69).
Memory
expert Dr. Elizabeth Loftus declares, “There’s no way even the most
sophisticated hypnotist can tell the difference between a memory that is
real and one that’s created” ( Hypnosis , p.71). According to
the American Psychological Association, “…it is impossible, without
corroborative evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one”
(Ibid., p. 74). The Bobgans write: “Exploring the past through
conversation, counseling, hypnosis, guided imagery, and regressive
therapy is as likely to cause a person to create false memories as to
remember accurate accounts of past situations” (Ibid., p. 76).
Bernard
Diamond, a professor of law and a clinical professor of psychiatry, says
that court witnesses who have been hypnotized “often develop a
certitude about their memories that ordinary witnesses seldom exhibit.”
They “graft onto their memories fantasies or suggestions [that were]
deliberately or unwittingly communicated by the hypnotist” (cited in Hypnosis , p. 76).
Researchers have found that subjects who are put into deeper states of
hypnosis have spiritual experiences very much like the state described
by the Eastern mystics, including “an emerging sense of infinite
potentiality, a separation of mind and body, and ultimately reaching the
sense of oneness with the universe.” This should come as no surprise
even to secular researchers, since various forms of hypnosis are found
throughout ancient occult religions and have continued to be the primary
techniques that shamans, witchdoctors, and medicine men use to contact
spirit entities and employ in their healing techniques. Medical doctor
William Kroger notes that “for centuries, Zen, Buddhist, Tibetan, and
Yogic methods have used a system of meditation and an altered state of
consciousness similar to hypnosis” (Ibid., p. 84).
Although
the connection between hypnosis and the occult spiritual realm is
obvious, it’s important to understand that the findings of the
researchers regarding this apply not only to those who are put
into a trance state. Even more critically, these findings apply to
people who have been given “suggestions” by a counselor—whether he calls
himself a psychotherapist or a “biblical” counselor—who is employing
techniques that are directly related to hypnosis.
Given the
pervasiveness of various forms of hypnosis in counseling, a Christian
needs to realize that whatever form hypnosis takes, 1) it is not
scientific, 2) it is no more helpful than a placebo, 3) it is not true
to its positive claims, 4) it is often mentally and physically
dangerous, and 5) it cannot be isolated from its occult roots.
Furthermore, from a biblical Christian perspective, hypnosis and its
various techniques a) are specifically condemned in the Old Testament,
b) are never taught as a method for spiritual or physical healing, c)
use deception and a submission of one’s will to another person or
created spiritual entity, d) employ techniques that are occult, and e)
can open a person up to doctrines of demons and demonic oppression, and,
in the case of the unsaved and professing but not true Christians,
demon possession.
Even
though a great deal of information is available from secular researchers
discrediting hypnosis and its stepchildren, and, more important, the
teachings of Scripture that are in opposition to it, numerous professing
Christian counseling programs have opted for spiritualized
psychotherapeutic versions that use hypnotherapeutic concepts and
practices. This is very evident in programs that major in inner healing.
The Inner
Healing Movement may be the oldest of the erroneous contemporary
approaches that claim to be biblical but are psychological at best and
occult at worst. It is simply a Christianized version of Freudian
psychoanalysis that uses the power of suggestion (again, a form of
hypnosis) to supposedly solve the problems that in most cases it has
actually created. The healing of memories process that was supposed to
solve problems in fact has created pseudomemories. In numerous cases,
false memories induced by the therapist have destroyed the lives of the
client and those who, based upon the false memories, were wrongly
accused of everything from Satan worship to child molestation and rape.
Furthermore, this methodology displaces a believer’s reliance, through
simple faith, upon the promises of the Bible.
Tragically, Christians become dependent upon practitioners and practices
that attempt to mediate God’s blessings through emotional experiences
and periodic cartharses created by guided imagery through visualization.
It was brought into the church by Agnes Sanford, the founder of the
School of Pastoral Care, where she trained or influenced a host of
“inner healers” who had a huge influence in Christendom in the ʼ70s and
’80s, including John Wimber, Richard Foster, John and Paula Sandford,
Francis MacNutt, Ruth Carter Stapleton, and David Seamands, a pioneer of
the movement, who declares, “The imagination is used to 1) recreate the
painful memory…visualize it as it once took place” and 2) to visualize
Christ present at the time of the painful incident (cited in Hunt, Beyond Seduction
, p. 205). This is possible, he claims, because Jesus transcends all
time and space. Jesus isn’t the only one whom inner healers visualize.
Spiritual counselors include visualizing all sorts of inner guides,
one’s inner child being a favorite.
How
serious a concern is the use of visualization, a technique of hypnosis,
by Christian psychologists and inner healers? “Visualization” and
“guided imagery” have long been recognized by sorcerers of all kinds as
the most powerful and effective methodology for contacting the spirit
world in order to acquire supernatural power, knowledge, and healing.
Such methods are neither taught nor practiced in the Bible as aids to
our faith or prayer. Those who attempt to do so are not
following the leading of the Holy Spirit or the Word of God, but are
practicing an ancient occult technique for communing with demons.
Two of the
most popular spiritualized psychotherapeutic programs among Christians
that are shrouded in religious terms are Theophostic Counseling and
Sozo. Theophostic Counseling, now known as Theophostic Prayer Ministry,
or TPM, was developed by Ed Smith in the mid-1990s. Its counselors pray
for the counselee that the Lord, who is visualized , will give a
specific revelation as to the source of his or her problem. The
counselor determines whether the visualized Jesus with whom he is
communicating is in fact Jesus or a demon masquerading as Jesus. Smith
gives his basis for discernment: “I have found that when a person looks
carefully at the face of a demon ‘Jesus,’ it will usually be dark or
hazy, or look angry, scornful, or evil” (See TBC Extra, 09/06).
TPM is
said to work equally for non-Christians. According to Smith, “People
consistently say [the resolution and subsequent peace] was from God.
This is even the case with those who do not profess any relationship
with God” (Ibid.). And later he says, “God does not seem to require
confession of sin from a nonbeliever” (Ibid.).
To put all
of this in perspective, we have a Christianized counseling methodology
that: 1) is contrary to the Scriptures, 2) is Freudian, (i.e., it
allegedly searches out deterministic traumas in the past that are buried
in the subconscious), 3) involves occult techniques producing a false
Jesus, and 4) even works for unbelievers, resulting in the “peace of
God” without repentance. It’s shocking that so many Christians would buy
into this!
Sozo is
one of the latest inner healing practices to enter the church,
particularly among those who are into signs and wonders, healing and
prosperity, word-faith, and the Latter Rain/New Apostolic Reformation
movements. The Sozo website declares that “Sozo is a unique inner
healing and deliverance ministry aimed to get to the root of things
hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
With a healed connection, you can walk in the destiny to which you have
been called.” Sozo was developed and is led by two women, Dawna DeSilva
and Teresa Liebscher. Another leader, teacher, and mentor in Sozo is
Randy Clark, who instigated the bizarre manifestations allegedly of the
Holy Spirit at the Toronto Airport Vineyard.
Although claiming to be biblical, Sozo is a problem-solving approach
based upon discovering root issues that are blocking spiritual growth.
The issues supposedly reside in the subconscious memories of the
individual and are identified as a person is regressed by the use of
guided imagery and suggestion by the Sozo therapist. Of course, the Sozo
therapist is trained to believe that the guided visualization is
superintended by the Holy Spirit. This again is spiritualized
psychotherapy, using techniques drawn from occult methodologies.
There is
neither chapter nor verse nor example in Scripture supporting the
approach promoted in the Sozo program. Since there have been a number of
healing-of-memories therapists successfully sued for inducing through
suggestion incredibly destructive false memories in their clients,
ministries such as Sozo have their clients sign a liability release
form. It should certainly raise a red flag when a believer needs to sign
a liability release in order to have someone pray for him (For more
information, see TBC Extra).
The Bible says that all believers in Jesus Christ are to minister to their brothers and sisters in Christ, and they are do so according to the Scriptures : “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual
, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil
the law of Christ” (Galatians:6:1-2
).
).
There is
no gift of counseling, but there are numerous other gifts of the Spirit
to be used for ministering and building up of the body of Christ. Being
“spiritual” refers to anyone who is walking in the Spirit (Romans:8:1,4; Galatians:5:16,25)
and not in the flesh. That should be every believer in Christ. We are
to minister to other believers by bearing their burdens (coming to their
aid during trials, tribulations, failures, struggles, restoration from
sin, giving them counsel from the Word of God, etc.) That is fulfilling
the “law of Christ,” that is, His love. Jesus said, “A new commandment I
give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another” (John:13:34). “Ye” means ye— all
of ye. Until the true church returns to the truly biblical way of
ministering, it will continue to suffer the same destructive problems of
living that are evidenced by an unbelieving world.
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