The Biblical pattern of counseling

God is our councilor! The Father: Psalm 73:21-24 Jesus Christ: Isaiah 9:6 The Holy Spirit: John 14:16 The Bible: Psalm 119:24 Christians: Rom 15:14

Introduction:

1. We have pioneered "The free, three session, Biblical counseling system". If you need help, go to that help.
2. Every Christian is called to council but not all Christians are counselors.
3. Psychiatrist's are needed today, not because they actually cure anyone who is mentally ill, but that they can prescribe drugs to control them so they do minimum damage to society. If you are unwilling to listen to God and the Bible for your advice or direction, the devil has an alternate system waiting for you: Chemical psychiatry! If you reject the "counsel of God", the world will drug you into submission as a form of "chemical house arrest".
4. Lack of hope is one of the causes of mental illness and the very process Upon your first visit to a typical paid Psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor, you will be told that the process cannot guarantee results or cures and that it will be a long process of months and years. In fact they have no solutions, since they do not even know what the problem is. It is very typical for people to enter counseling and receive no tangible advice after 10 sessions! They have merely listened to you for 10 weeks without offering any advice! You won't get any better, but it will continue to cost you money! Any good advice they end up giving you, is likely exactly the same as your father or best friend could have given for free!
5. Biblical psychiatry, on the other hand, gets you solid advice after the first one hour session.
6. Mentally ill people have an infestation of sins in their lives that need to be fixed. They are often selfish narcissists, have high self-esteem and a feeling of entitlement like they deserve the best to be given to them, lazy, spoiled, unwilling to work, have no self-discipline, cannot hold a job down, are high school drop outs, illogical, smoke cigarettes and drink and do drugs, are in terrible physical fitness, are angry, throw temper tantrums, they have learned that welfare and social assistance pays a lot more than the allowance their mother gave them when they were living at home, etc. They have been living this way for a long time and it has become a habit that must be broken.
7. See also:
   The free, three session, Biblical counseling system
   Full discussion of the Requirements of the councilor
   Detailed study of the Greek words for counseling.
   Full discussion of the requirements of the person being counseled
   Full discussion of reactions of the person being counseled to your advice

A. God is our councilor!

1. With Your counsel God, You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory." Psalm 73:21-24
2. "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:16
3. "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
4. "Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors." Psalm 119:24

B. The church is the institution for counseling!

1. The church is the all-sufficient institution for all of man's spiritual needs.
2. Historically the church is the institution that God has used to fix all problems in people's lives, including mental illness.
3. Only until very recently (the 1970's) has the church begun to shirk its central role in spiritual matters and handed it over to atheistic, evolutionary psychiatrists. Back in the 1970's Jay Adams sounded the alarm with this enlightening statement to anyone with a "remnant of the spirit".
   "In order to chalk out an area for his newly-spawned discipline, the psychiatrist moved into territory that once was inhabited by Christian ministers and by physicians. The larger amount of territory, by far, was usurped from the minister. The psychiatrist drove out pastors from the land of their forefathers, a land originally given to them by God. Pastors, you must recognize the fact that they moved onto your inheritance and stole your birthright. They now are situated firmly on that land as squatters. Asserting squatters' rights, they now have the audacity to defy ministers to move back. ... I find it necessary to question seriously whether there is any legitimate place for the psychiatrist. Is there any territory allotted to him in the economy of God? Physicians, psychologists, ministers of the gospel, all have legitimate separate functions-but psychiatrists? Where is there room for a third person to stand midway between the physician and the pastor? Does some kind of mid-ground belong exclusively to him upon which neither a physician nor a minister can tread? What territory, what discipline is rightfully his, and his alone? Is there anything that he does that no one else has any right to do? I think not. My point is that in order to justify his very existence he has had to take a little bit of land from the physician and a great deal from the minister. Subsequently he fenced off this land and called it his own. And it is on this stolen property that he has posted "No Trespassing" signs! One way to determine whether this is true is by asking the question, "What does a psychiatrist do?" ... What is it then that a psychiatrist mainly does if he does not do medical work, if he is not really a medical specialist? He talks; that is what he does. He spends most of his time talking to people about their problems." (The Big Umbrella, Lecture, Jay Adams)
4. "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?" 1 Corinthians 6:2-3

C. Ordinary Christians make the best counselors!

1. It is clear from the scriptures that God calls upon individual Christians to diagnose and help the mentally ill. Keep in mind that all the major "psychologists" than "psychiatrists" of history were atheistic humanists who believed in evolution and that man was nothing but a pile of chemicals! The tree of psychiatry is rotten down to the root!
2. We are to council one another as we see the need: "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish [verbal council to put what is right and wrong into another's mind: nouthesia] one another." Romans 15:14
3. "Is therapy effective? Is it any better than friendship? Do high-paid professionals do a better job than minimally trained counselors? Does training and experience improve a therapist's skill? Is therapy always safe? Do professionals know more about human nature than the rest of us? Would people naturally get worse without professional treatment? They say yes to all of these questions while scientific studies that address them are coming to a resounding NO! ... This "NO" is a warning - an invitation to look more closely at the claims that psychotherapy works." (Manufacturing Victims, Dr. Tana Dineen, 2001, p 114)
4. "So, I say that the psychiatrist has usurped the work of the physician, but mostly the work of the preacher. And he engages in this work without warrant from God, without the aid of the Scriptures." (The Big Umbrella, Lecture, Jay Adams)
5. "No one does pastoral counseling better than a pastor. Not a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or a psychotherapist. Professional counselors, the good and the biblical ones, have an important role to fill. I don't understand much about schizophrenia, repressed memories, cyclothymic disorder, or the treatment of ADHD, OCD, or PTSD. Mental illnesses are complex, and I'm not equipped even to recognize some of them. My parishioners and I have benefited from good counselors, and I consider them my allies. But they are not my replacements. I'm not prepared to yield to a society enamored with Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner, Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis, or Joseph Wolpe. Pastors can still do things that professional therapists can't. After all, the prefix "psych" means "soul"—and pastors are tenders of the soul. That's our job." (Marshell. Shelley, Vol. 3, Building your church through counsel and care, 1997, vol 3, p 67)
6. "Factors for Change" percent of improvement: spontaneous improvement: 40%. Common non-specific factors: 30%. Placebo effect: 15%. Specific treatment: 15%. ... Based on this, one could conclude that 85 per cent of clients would improve with the help of a good friend and 40 per cent without even that. Many similar studies have supported the overall conclusion that most of the improvement attributed to psychotherapy is due to the general effects of talking to a warm, kind person and the effect of just naturally eventually feeling better anyway. (Manufacturing Victims, Dr. Tana Dineen, 2001, p 117)
7. "the psychiatrist's special training is said to equip him "no better . . . than any other human being of similar age and similar experience of working directly with disturbed people". Werry sees psychiatric training as largely irrelevant to the work he must pursue. (John S. Werry's "The Psychiatrist and Society," Dis-Coverer, Vol. 5, No. 3, August 1968, p. 8, quoted in Competent to counsel, Jay Edward Adams, p36)
8. Other studies of therapist experience and psychotherapy out-come have similarly concluded that the level of experience of professional therapists is unrelated to their efficacy, that accuracy in professional judgement does not improve with experience, and that paraprofessionals can be just as effective as well-trained professionals. In fact, Leonard Bickman, identifies the belief that professional experience leads to greater knowledge and better skills as one of six myths "that are routinely used to bolster [psychologists] confidence about their effectiveness." to his systematic review of the literature, he finds "no evidence... that clinicians get better at producing client outcomes with more experience." (Manufacturing Victims, Dr. Tana Dineen, 2001, p 119)
9. "The ministry makes a tremendous mistake when it swaps what it has for psychoanalytic dressing.... Where will psychoanalysis be even 25 years from now? ... I predict it will take its place along with phrenology and mesmerism." (Leo Steiner in November of 1958, "Are Psychoanalysis and Religious Counseling Compatible?" Paper read to Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Harvard University).
10. "I will at a number of points bring into question whether the special technical knowledge the doctor presumably has, is significant in effecting a change in the patient's life." (Therapy and Education in Psychotherapy: Interpersonal Relations, Bernard Steinzor, p 204)
11. For the "good therapist" designation, it would seem that two characteristics are important. The first is that the psychologist must exude an aura of warmth, attentiveness, kindness, caring and trust; be "a genuinely nice person". The other quality of this goodness is "power." Kottler, in describing what he called The Compleat Therapist, writes: "it hardly matters which theory is applied or which techniques are selected in making a therapy hour helpful . . . What does matter is who the therapist is as a human being - for what every successful healer has had since the beginning of time is charisma and power." He continues: "Perhaps more than any other single ingredient, it is power that gives force to the therapist's personality and gives weight to the words and gestures that emanate from it. It was the incredible power that radiated from the luminaries in our field that permitted them all to have such an impact on their clients... nobody would have listened to them if not for their energy, excitement and interesting characteristics that gave life to their ideas." (Manufacturing Victims, Dr. Tana Dineen, 2001, p 126)
12. The Psychology industry casts a long shadow over life in North America. And the shadow is threatening to shroud the western world. While psychologists say "trust me," they question and often discourage one's trust and reliance on family and friends. As a substitute they offer artificial empathy, cultivated warmth and phony genuineness, through which they can persuade people to see life the way they see it, and to live their lives in a psychologically ordered fashion. (Manufacturing Victims, Dr. Tana Dineen, 2001, p 269)

D. Do not reject the counsel of Christians:

1. "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel." Proverbs 12:15
2. "Listen to counsel and accept discipline, That you may be wise the rest of your days. Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand." Proverbs 19:20-21
3. Proverbs emphases council from other men: "And you neglected all my counsel, and did not want my reproof" ... "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof." Proverbs 1:25,30
4. "Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand." Proverbs 19:21
5. "For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them. "Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future!" Deuteronomy 32:28-29
6. "For the choir director. A Psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me." Psalm 13
7. "When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory." Psalm 73:21-24

E. Prerequisites & Requirements of the councilor: (Summary)

Full discussion of the Requirements of the councilor

1. Knowledge of the Bible
2. Be Spiritual
3. willing to boldly judge sin
4. fearlessly fight for right
5. confidence in self and God
6. Have proper final goals in view
7. Wisdom to know which approach to use and when
8. with genuine love
9. gentleness
10. reliance upon God

F. Overview of what the councilor must do: (Summary)

Detailed study of the Greek words for counseling.

1. offer sharp cutting criticism (apotomos, 664)
2. offer formal instruction, like in school. (didache, 1322, didasko, 1321)
3. bluntly tell someone they are wrong (Elencho, 1651)
4. strongly rebuke, identifying sinful behaviour (epitimao, 2008, elenxis. 1649))
5. fight like a Jedi Knight for right (epagonizomai, 1864)
6. When someone is driving in the ditch and you put their car back on the road in the proper lane. (epanorthosis, 1882)
7. Be patient. Do not be like what happens when you put a match on gasoline. Do not be explosive, fast, instant but slow, unchangeable, patient, suffering for a long time before you have a noticeable change in your actions. (makrothumia, 3115)
8. Speak truth as though in open court. Do not get charged with contempt of court by God! (marturomai, 3143)
9. verbal council to put what is right and wrong into another's mind (nouthesia, 3559)
10. long term parental guidance of a child to mold and modify behaviour to mold and modify behaviour (paideuo, 3811)
11. demanding one to put an idea into action, pleading for one to put your words into deeds, pleading for one to take action (parakaleo, 3870)
12. quiet, tender, intimate, soothing, consoling, talk when needed (paramutheomai, 3888)
13. Your faith and judgement must be firm and committed and fixed as with a nail so it will not move (sterizo, 4741)

G. Prerequisites & qualifications of the person being counseled: (Summary)

Full discussion of the requirements of the person being counseled

1. Seek truth and be honest
2. Be willing to change by taking the advice given:
3. Pray for personal wisdom
4. Personal humility
5. Appreciation for the councilor
6. Respect for councilor

H. How the people being counseled react to advice: (Summary)

Full discussion of reactions of the person being counseled to your advice

1. Denial and pleading ignorance
2. Blame shifting
3. The decoy
4. Confessed to escape the heat of the moment.
5. Confessing only after getting caught.
6. Sexual seduction
7. The confession of that cures mental illness

Conclusion:

1.      The wisdom of the world is foolishness before God. Only Christians can be trusted to give the full council of God.

2.      The harm the world suffers when it rejects the moral standards of God revealed in the Bible is the price of their own sin.

3.      Rebellion against God will always result in a lack of happiness, joy and comfort.

 

By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

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