SOZO Ministry - Thoughts?

[EdwinWillers]

I recently met someone who is into "sozo ministry" and considers themself a "sozo counselor" and speaks of "sozo sessions," "sozoing someone," "the sozoee," etc.

I did a little research on it, finding the word is the Greek transliteration of "to save" or "to heal" or "to make whole," etc.

They are apparently non-professional "counseling sessions" designed to "heal" or release from bondage the "sozoee."

Initially, it sounded quite weird to me - not so much what they were doing, which sounds like basic discipleship counseling in my world, but the weirdness was more around the adoption and frequent use of the terminology, which suggests to me something of a bit of concern - though I can't put my finger on exactly what.

Has anyone encountered this? What are your thoughts on it?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

it's a quandry.

someone born of Yhwh may use sozo or not, and not be hurt.

someone not born of Yhwh might be helped by it, or hurt, Yhwh's choice.

a quik search online showed that the anti-christ world church is against it, so that's one good thing in its favor.(if anti-christ is against it, there's a much better chance it may be good, than if anti-christ was for it).

as for the terminology, american society and terminology basically is so strange and foreign to Scripture (like most of the world) that that's not a very good indicator one way or another .....

 

[Bramwell]

Hi Edwin,

I'm not familiar with the group. But I would be curious to know what they teach. Is there anything noteworthy which the group has done since its existence?

 

[EdwinWillers]

Hi Edwin,

I'm not familiar with the group. But I would be curious to know what they teach. Is there anything noteworthy which the group has done since its existence?

Hi Bramwell, I don't think it's a "group" as much as it's a type of ministry. I can't tell if it's limited to a single denomination or spans a number of denominations; so I think the only "teaching" involved is related to how it conducts its "sozo sessions" - perhaps with instructions on who may conduct them, who may be a qualified "sozoee" etc.

It's just a very strange language they've adopted and applied to all aspects of the ministry - everything seems to be some variant of "sozo," which just strikes me as having an undue emphasis on a rather unique word.

Phrases I've heard are:
"I'm setting up a sozo session for a member of our church."
"We sozo'd them..." or "they were sozo'd."

What I guess I'd like to know is what their "sozo sessions" are actually like. What form of "counseling" does it actually take? How scriptural is the counseling that's done?

 

[EdwinWillers]

it's a quandry.

someone born of Yhwh may use sozo or not, and not be hurt.

someone not born of Yhwh might be helped by it, or hurt, Yhwh's choice.

a quik search online showed that the anti-christ world church is against it, so that's one good thing in its favor.(if anti-christ is against it, there's a much better chance it may be good, than if anti-christ was for it).

as for the terminology, american society and terminology basically is so strange and foreign to Scripture (like most of the world) that that's not a very good indicator one way or another .....

Yeah, it could be a totally innocuous thing, like basic discipleship counseling. It could be something more akin to exorcism too; I haven't a clue.

And we've transliterated a LOT of Greek and adopted such words into our everyday language - baptism for example, among many others, so that's nothing unusual; but this is the first I've heard of the word "sozo." And perhaps because we HAVE adopted a lot of transliterated words, and used them for a long time, that this one appearing of a sudden on the scene comes across as particularly odd - which is how it strikes me, but I don't know.

 

[Norah63]

Sounds a lot like another term I have heard called "soaking sessions".
Just another term for getting a group togeather. Whatever.

 

[BryanW92]

I recently met someone who is into "sozo ministry" and considers themself a "sozo counselor" and speaks of "sozo sessions," "sozoing someone," "the sozoee," etc.

I did a little research on it, finding the word is the Greek transliteration of "to save" or "to heal" or "to make whole," etc.

They are apparently non-professional "counseling sessions" designed to "heal" or release from bondage the "sozoee."

Initially, it sounded quite weird to me - not so much what they were doing, which sounds like basic discipleship counseling in my world, but the weirdness was more around the adoption and frequent use of the terminology, which suggests to me something of a bit of concern - though I can't put my finger on exactly what.

Has anyone encountered this? What are your thoughts on it?

Sounds like a Stephen Ministry. My wife is a Stephen Minister. Never heard it called a "sozo" but they are commissioned as non-professional counselors to heal and make whole. https://www.stephenministries.org/

 

[Norah63]

In the old days they called it, waiting on the Lord. It was to, tarry at the alter in church.
Now that everyone wants to be, 'in the ministry', there are many terms used.
We are all trying our best to help each other with sessions, books, advice, conferances, ect.
Just so money is not envolved, that could lead to temptation.
Freely you have recieved, freely give.
Encourage one another daily while there is still time.

 

[contango]

I recently met someone who is into "sozo ministry" and considers themself a "sozo counselor" and speaks of "sozo sessions," "sozoing someone," "the sozoee," etc.

I did a little research on it, finding the word is the Greek transliteration of "to save" or "to heal" or "to make whole," etc.

They are apparently non-professional "counseling sessions" designed to "heal" or release from bondage the "sozoee."

Initially, it sounded quite weird to me - not so much what they were doing, which sounds like basic discipleship counseling in my world, but the weirdness was more around the adoption and frequent use of the terminology, which suggests to me something of a bit of concern - though I can't put my finger on exactly what.

Has anyone encountered this? What are your thoughts on it?

The only times I've heard the term "sozo" used like this everything points back to a church like Bill Johnson's Bethel church in Redding CA.

As soon as you ask about Bethel you'll get polarised opinions. Some people will rave about how great it is and how anointed it is and talk as if Bill Johnson were practically Christ returned, others will talk as if Bill Johnson is practically the antichrist incarnate.

Personally I'd be wary of it. I really struggle to reconcile Bill Johnson's teachings with Scripture - much of his teaching appears to suggest that God's will is always to heal in full, and he also appears very keen on the concept of decreeing into the heavenly realms in a way that smacks more of sorcery than prayer to me.

I'm going to be deliberately vague with a couple of examples because I don't want to inadvertently identify people or situations.

I know one lady who had a major illness that doctors hoped could be treated by medication. Her husband said how he was sending her to the doctor for treatment but believed she was already healed because Jesus had bought our freedom from illness. It's hard to reconcile the two - if you send someone to a doctor you clearly don't believe they are already healed because if they were divinely healed they wouldn't need medicine.

Another lady had a "healing ministry" and insisted that God wanted to heal everyone who was sick. She appeared to heal all sorts of people, although virtually all of the cases I heard about were little more than assorted aches and pains going away. When her husband needed major surgery, apparently God didn't want to heal him before he went under the knife.

I really struggle with the doublethink required to truly believe that God wants to heal everybody, while at the same time going for major surgery because God apparently doesn't want to heal you.

 

[BryanW92]

With a Google search, I found Sozo Ministries. Used as a proper noun, it looks like a product of the Bethel cult of Bill Johnson.

I have mixed feelings about Bethel. I love their spontaneous worship on YouTube and listen to it often while I am writing code because it is a very centering form of music. But, as a church, it is absolutely cultish.

 

[EdwinWillers]

With a Google search, I found Sozo Ministries. Used as a proper noun, it looks like a product of the Bethel cult of Bill Johnson.

I have mixed feelings about Bethel. I love their spontaneous worship on YouTube and listen to it often while I am writing code because it is a very centering form of music. But, as a church, it is absolutely cultish.

Hmm, yeah.

I found an article on gotquestions.org talking about sozo prayer: What is Sozo prayer?

They call it a form of new age mysticism blended with some Christianity.

I found a reference to something called "TheoPhosticism" that seems related to Sozo.

The deeper I dig into it, the more repellant I find it.

I need to do it though because someone with whom I work is big into it.

 

[Norah63]

At that site it said. Requires the presence of a mediator or guide. Thats the red flag!
Jesus is our mediator and our guide.

 

[EdwinWillers]

From the bethel sozo website:

SOZO is the Greek word translated “saved, healed, and delivered.” Sozo contains the whole package of being made whole or well.

Salvation—
"That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved [sozo]" (Romans 10:9).
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save [sozo] what was lost" (Luke 19:10).

Healing—
"But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage, your faith has made you well [sozo], and at once the woman was made well [sozo]" (Matthew 9:22).

Deliverance—
"And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well [sozo]" (Luke 8:36).



The SOZO ministry is a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry in which the main aim is to get to the root of those things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are six tools that the SOZO team uses:

• Father Ladder
• Four Doors
• Presenting Jesus
• The Wall
• Trigger Mechanisms (Advanced Tool)
• Divine Editing (Advanced Tool)

By using these tools and following the Holy Spirit, wounds are healed, strongholds broken, truth revealed, and “doors” closed.

A SOZO session may last 1 1/12 - 2 hours with trusted members of our Sozo team.

The Sozo team will sit down with you and with the help of the Holy Spirit walk you through the process of freedom and wholeness.

Sozo is not a counseling session but a time of interacting with Father, Son and Holy Spirit for wholeness and pursuing of your destiny.

Salvation - Something God does.
Healing - Something God does.
Deliverance - Something God does.

Sozo - Something in which men apparently attempt to mimic what only God can do.

Wow. This sentence in particular floors me:

The Sozo team will sit down with you and with the help of the Holy Spirit walk you through the process of freedom and wholeness.

The Sozo team will walk you through the process of "freedom and wholeness" - with the help of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Sozo team is the agent of healing and deliverance, graciously allowing the Holy Spirit to help them in the process.