The Supernatural Component in Christian Counseling
There is a
battle being fought that is unseen. For
those that are in Christ, the Bible speaks clearly and plainly that the enemies
we fight are not flesh and blood, but the powers of this dark world and the
spiritual realm. (Ephesians 6:12) Even
many of our churches struggle to see this as true so it is not shocking that
the scientific world would view this aspect of Christian counseling as
ridiculous. Why does the church turn a
blind eye to the spiritual battle?
Jay Adams in
his book, The War Within, points out
that there have always been two mistakes made by the church regarding the power
of Satan. The Christian community has
either gone to one extreme or the other, underestimating or overestimating the
power of the enemy. Satan has been made
to be a cartoon character and something laughable while at other times his
abilities and powers have been exaggerated to the point to make Christ’s people
wilt in terror. (Adams, 1989) The result
of this improper balance is that the church is “asleep on the battlefield”.
(Adams, 1989, p.8)
In the clinical
setting trained in secular science, the results are just as destructive. Dr. Anderson brings out in his book that if a
patient comes to a doctor with the complaint of a hearing voices and feeling terror
or seeing things. How is this observable
by counselor? It is not, but yet the
professional would view the counselee as out of touch with reality, possibly
resulting in a medication to dull the awareness of these voices. (Anderson, 2003)
What if it is
possible that these people are indeed hearing and seeing the things they
claim? People cannot see what exists in
the minds of others. “Without some
Biblical explanation, most people (including many Christians) accept the
psychological diagnosis of psychosis, neurosis, or schizophrenia”. (Anderson,
2003, p.45) Using terms such as these are acceptable to define or explain the
symptoms, but they do not reveal the source or root.
In an
interesting journal article written by Marcia A. Murphy, she interviews
patients diagnosed and treated for various psychosis disorders. Several describe their experiences and
episodes with “hallucinations” and voices as being malevolent, sinister,
feeling as though they were in Hell, and even contemplating suicide as a
result. One such individual claimed that
the only thing that kept them from committing suicide was their faith in
God. Another patient described a
situation where her atheist psychologist convinced her to give up church and
walk away from God so that she could “rebuild her” (Murphy, 2000, p. 182) only
to have the patient fall farther into despair.
It wasn’t until the patient went back to the previous religious support
that she made strides. In the conclusion
of her article, Marcia A. Murphy determines that “spiritual life aids people
with mental illnesses”. (Murphy, 2000, p. 183)
Humankind is
both physical and spiritual by God’s own design. Therefore, a fine balance needs to be struck
when counseling. There is not always a
spiritual answer for every experience just as there is not always a physical
answer. However, there are two essential
beliefs to encourage and maintain good mental and spiritual health. An individual needs to understand the nature
of God and who they can be as a child of God if they accept Jesus Christ as
Lord of their heart and mind. “Satan can
undermine your mental and emotional health simply by distorting either one”.
(Anderson, 2003, p. 56)
More tomorrow..........
