Theophostic counseling?

[Gnarwhal]

From a generic and theological standpoint, what are your thoughts on theophostic counseling?

 

[Frogster]

You can't go back, and fix the flesh. This is coming out of the hyper charismatic movement. ( I am a charismatic though). Everyone is selling a new way to draw near, instead of realizing Christ is within. I don't need a jewish prayer shawl, I don't need to blow a shofar either, I just can walk in the faith that saved me, and not get caught up in what Paul fought in Colosians, all new ways to find access.



8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

 

[Frogster]

Hi. Ps, a;ot of this is just the pysche stuff of Carl G Jung.

One goes into the soul, to embrace the dark shadow, and wrestles with the archtypes etc. My friend, in 20 years you may run into one of them, and they will tell you they are still embracing this mystical journey into the wound. geesh!

When you found Christ, did you find Him? yes...

Continue on that same way....no distractions, no alternate routes.


Col 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

 

[Seeking Him]

Theophostic prayer is another humanistic psychological scheme. Based on what you have to do to get healing. The simple truth is that we are healed by Jesus wounds. He suffered for us and carried our griefs and sorrows, our illnesses. It can take alot of time for deep seated emotional pain to be healed, but Jesus payed the price and He alone heals, simply and beautifully.

There are alot of these schemes in the church. They all avoid the finished work of the Lord. It's the most powerful event that ever happened and it's all we need.

A church nearby offers theophostic prayer. I don't like the idea you have to pay money for the therapy.

 

[sunlover1]

From a generic and theological standpoint, what are your thoughts on theophostic counseling?

I had never heard of this before so after some investigating and a bit of reading ,
from what I can see so far, and if this is a true representation of
theophositc counseling, then so far so good. I would certainly want to
examine it more than what I have (five minutes)

And as someone who has been involved in Christian counseling (i used to
seek counseling through the years when I was a teenager and young adult)
many times and eventually decided it was worthless and that God alone
could help, I still see great value in this TC so far. It's exactly what I would
look for in counseling.. but again I ONLY read about it here on this page...

Excerpt:

Principle Nine: When We Receive Truth from God in Memories Where We Harbored Lie-Based Thoughts, We Can Walk in Effortless Victory in These Areas

I sometimes use the phrases "maintenance-free victory" and "effortless victory." This principle is sometimes misunderstood. I am not saying that if we have a session or two of TPM we will suddenly be free of all difficulties. Our Christian life is filled with struggles and we will only reach sinless perfection in eternity. But when we know His truth experientially where lies were harbored, the pain that those particular lies produced can be completely eradicated. Lies are dispelled one-by-one, memory-by-memory. Every believer can know a victory that is fully empowered by the indwelling presence of Christ, free of striving and accomplished through resting in Him in specific areas where true renewal has occurred. When the Spirit of Christ brings truth into my thinking, He replaces the lie with truth, and I find genuine release and peace where I once only knew pain. When the pain produced by these lies is resolved, any behavior that this pain motivated can also cease. The areas of our minds that are renewed with truth will no longer be stirred up with lie-based pain. Since our emotional pain is a primary motivator for our inappropriate behavior, we should be able to walk in a more consistent victory in these specific places. Experiencing the truth frees us to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4) so that we might experientially agree with the Apostle Paul who declared, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness [the very thing we tend to do when emotionally stirred up and in pain]; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God [which is effortless when we are walking in the truth and peace of the Holy Spirit]" (Romans 6:12-13, bracketed words mine).

Principle Ten: Only an Encounter with the Presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit Can Free Us from the Lies We Believe

 

[BrendanMark]

From a brief look on the Web, I would be wary of its relation to Recovered Memory Therapy.

We had a case Down Under where someone was prosecuted for malpractice for using it.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophostic_counseling:

Legal and ethical issues have been raised in association with the practice of TPM. In Cumberland County, Maine, sexual-abuse charges against pastor Thomas Wright were laid after a church member's memory surfaced during Theophostic sessions, of Wright allegedly abusing a child. When the case went to trial in 2002, the charges were thrown out by the District Attorney because evidence was based on ‘unconventional and biased therapeutic methods’. The District Attorney noted that these methods were considered unreliable by the American Psychological Society. In Australia, a psychologist was found guilty of malpractice for using Theophostic methods in 2006 by the Queensland Health Practitioners Tribunal. The tribunal found that Irene Moreau, who practiced from a Christian counselling centre in Brisbane, 'inappropriately used Theophostic Prayer Ministry as a counselling technique'.

 

[Frogster]

From a brief look on the Web, I would be wary of its relation to Recovered Memory Therapy.

We had a case Down Under where someone was prosecuted for malpractice for using it.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophostic_counseling:

Legal and ethical issues have been raised in association with the practice of TPM. In Cumberland County, Maine, sexual-abuse charges against pastor Thomas Wright were laid after a church member's memory surfaced during Theophostic sessions, of Wright allegedly abusing a child. When the case went to trial in 2002, the charges were thrown out by the District Attorney because evidence was based on ‘unconventional and biased therapeutic methods’. The District Attorney noted that these methods were considered unreliable by the American Psychological Society. In Australia, a psychologist was found guilty of malpractice for using Theophostic methods in 2006 by the Queensland Health Practitioners Tribunal. The tribunal found that Irene Moreau, who practiced from a Christian counselling centre in Brisbane, 'inappropriately used Theophostic Prayer Ministry as a counselling technique'.

yea, and alot of times, this technique, is ministered by untrained church people. You can find people 6 years later, still theophostiking, it does not work.

 

[Lulav]

From a generic and theological standpoint, what are your thoughts on theophostic counseling?

Run as far and as fast as you can in the other direction!

 

[sunlover1]

Run as far and as fast as you can in the other direction!

That's what I was going to say originally but I did see some good stuff in the article I read.
Have you had some experience with this sort of thing?

 

[Frogster]

Theophostic prayer is another humanistic psychological scheme. Based on what you have to do to get healing. The simple truth is that we are healed by Jesus wounds. He suffered for us and carried our griefs and sorrows, our illnesses. It can take alot of time for deep seated emotional pain to be healed, but Jesus payed the price and He alone heals, simply and beautifully.

There are alot of these schemes in the church. They all avoid the finished work of the Lord. It's the most powerful event that ever happened and it's all we need.

A church nearby offers theophostic prayer. I don't like the idea you have to pay money for the therapy.

yea, it is very you centered, you have to do all this inner searching, which leads really, to just discovering what we all know, that the flesh is there, then one gets entangled in an endless vortex, of trying to figure out what is what, in the depth of the unconscious mind. An endless maze, instead of just knowing Christ, who alone is our peace, eph 2:14.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I'm not personally looking to get it, my mother-in-law is sort of a counselor and she performed this with my wife after she had a rough day, I'm not real comfortable with it on a number of levels. This isn't the first time she's done this with my wife by a long shot.

 

[Lulav]

That's what I was going to say originally but I did see some good stuff in the article I read.
Have you had some experience with this sort of thing?

Yes, I have the handbook and study book, my congregational leaders got into this about 5 years ago. I had serious doubts about it and then read the book and my suspicions were confirmed.

 

[sunlover1]

I'm not personally looking to get it, my mother-in-law is sort of a counselor and she performed this with my wife after she had a rough day, I'm not real comfortable with it on a number of levels. This isn't the first time she's done this with my wife by a long shot.

sorry to hear this Slanky.
Well if you have a check in your spirit then you may have to speak to her about it. Sometimes we hear God and other's dont.

Yes, I have the handbook and study book, my congregational leaders got into this about 5 years ago. I had serious doubts about it and then read the book and my suspicions were confirmed.

Thanks Lulav.
Garbage is always very subtle , praise God for leading you.

 

[Mr Dave]

I'd not heard of it, so just went for a standard wiki search.

Looks very dodgy to me. I'd steer clear.

...Edit...

From what I gather it is a re-hashing of an already discredited service, that is delivered by people who have no professional qualifications in this field. Something that doesn't work that is delivered by people who aren't trained to deliver it. This can only be a bad thing.

There may be some positive responses, but I'd say that these don't indicate that it works but that some people have happened to have positive responses in spite of what it is.

 

[plmarquette]

John G. Lake Divine Healing Technician Training Course, taught by Curry Blake

might be better listening to Curry Blake and what is said in the Bible about healing..., avoiding Scientology, Psychobabble, and other quasispiritual hub-bub

 

[Howard Cneal]

I've known churches who use this method. Granted, they don't call it this, but it's the same idea. I personally did not benefit from it, but there are some who do. God can speak to us however He chooses, though I have my doubts about being able to somehow "summon" Him and expect an answer... :/

It's basically the same idea behind other - more worldly - therapies, which ironically work better and DON'T directly involve a spiritual component. I'd go with them (and someone trained) instead.

Inner healing therapies can be useful, but need to be done in the hands of a trained and qualified counselor. Religious leaders, I do not feel, are equipped to help people in this capacity. Knowing theology or the Bible from cover-to-cover is not always enough to help people with real emotional issues.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I think the most dangerous thing is that my M-I-L considers herself a full blown counselor when she only has an associates degree and a license to work at a DUI counseling center...

 

[bbbbbbb]

I have a friend who is a professional psychiatrist who has been using this for over five years. He took me through the technique when I was enduring extreme pain. It proved to be fibromyalgia, not a psychological disorder, but he tried to convince me otherwise and "cure" me. At. best, I wasted my time with him. At worst, he forced me to invent non-existant things from my past in order to cleanse me and relieve me of non-existant psychological pain.

My own opinion is that, at best, it is worthless, and, at worst, it can mislead sincerely hurting people such as myself.

 

[Frogster]

I have a friend who is a professional psychiatrist who has been using this for over five years. He took me through the technique when I was enduring extreme pain. It proved to be fibromyalgia, not a psychological disorder, but he tried to convince me otherwise and "cure" me. At. best, I wasted my time with him. At worst, he forced me to invent non-existant things from my past in order to cleanse me and relieve me of non-existant psychological pain.
My own opinion is that, at best, it is worthless, and, at worst, it can mislead sincerely hurting people such as myself.

interesting. That reminds be of something , where people years ago, in a hysteria, started to all think they were molested as infants. see pink above

 

[bbbbbbb]

interesting. That reminds be of something , where people years ago, in a hysteria, started to all think they were molested as infants. see pink above

Yep, that was a lot like my experience. The only difference was that he tried to work up the hysteria in me.