Biblical Counseling Without Psychology: A Spirit Filled Approach

By Rebekah Prewitt

In this practical and one of a kind book which does not draw upon clinical and counseling psychology and psychiatry, the reader will be reintroduced to the pure spiritual means Christ has given to His Church to do the work of counseling.

Christians serving or intending to serve in the counseling ministry will find useful answers to topics such as:
• Qualifications, Training, Authority, and Work of the Biblical Counselor
• Dealing with Clients
• Four Types of Clients the Bible Addresses
• Dealing With Clients Who Are Part of a Cult
• Arguments Clients Present and How to Handle Them
• Preparing for Sessions
• Frequent Cases: Adultery, Unruly Children, Addictions etc.
• Counseling Under the Authority of the Church
• Meeting with the Opposite Sex
• Charging for Counseling
• Why One Should Not Acquire State Licensure or Join Associations
• Assessing Clients
and much more...

May the uncompromising ministry of counseling once again flourish in its simplicity and power through the body of Christ to God’s glory as He intended!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebekah Prewitt
• Release date: Oct 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005713157

Rebekah Prewitt

Rebekah is the wife of Billy Prewitt. She is also a Bible based Pentecostal Christian Counselor. She holds a PhD in Christian Counseling and operates in North Florida, USA. Visit LakeCityCounsel.com to learn more.

Book preview

Biblical Counseling Without Psychology           A Spirit Filled Approach

by

Rebekah Prewitt

LakeCityCounsel.com

Biblical Counseling Without Psychology:

A Spirit Filled Approach

Copyright ©2022 by Billy and Rebekah Prewitt

All rights reserved. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Other permissions will likely be granted upon request.

Unless noted, all Scripture references are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

Other Resources

by Rebekah Prewitt

The Biblical Role of the Wife

Overcoming Ungodly Fear

I’m Thinking of Leaving My Husband

Dealing With Suicide

Women Pastors

How to Talk to Your Child About Divorce

The Proper Role of the Wife: An Academic Study

by Billy Prewitt

The Pentecostal Commentary: Matthew

The Pentecostal Commentary: Galatians

Evidence for Speaking in Tongues

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

What if Calvin Was Wrong?

Why Children Cry

The Inspiration of Scripture

Abraham

Dedication

To the body of Christ

Contents

Introduction

Part I. The Life of the Biblical Counselor

1. Born Again

2. Baptized with the Holy Ghost

3. A Holy Life

4. Full of Goodness and Knowledge

5. The Counselor’s Doctrine

Part II. The Training of the Biblical Counselor

6. Training in the Church

7. Seminary

8. Learning From Testimonies

Part III. The Authority of the Biblical Counselor

9. God Given Authority

10. Limits to the Counselor’s Authority

Part IV. The Work of the Spirit Filled Counselor

11. Casting Out the Devil

12. 2 Timothy 3:16

13. Judging

14. Prayer and Fasting

15. Laying On of Hands

Part V. Dealing with Clients

16. Four Types of Clients

17. Dealing with Hypocrites

18. Dealing with Clients Who Are Part of a Cult

19. Dealing with Talkative Clients

20. Arguments Clients Present

Part VI. Sessions

21. The First Session

22. The Basic Understanding Behind Frequent Cases

Part VII. The Mechanics of Counseling

23. Preparing for a Session, the Room, and the Client

24. The Counselor’s Appearance

25. How to Begin and End a Session

26. Visual Aids, Aural Aids, and Timing of Sessions

27. Meeting with the Opposite Sex

28. Charging for Counseling

29. Concerning Confidentiality

30. The Influence of the Counselee on the Counselor

31. Measuring the Counselor’s Success and Assessing Clients

32. Counseling Under the Authority of the Church

33. Advertising and Forms

34. A Few Words of Caution

35. The Charge

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Forms

Appendix 2. What is the Difference Between Mental Health and Christian Counseling?

Appendix 3. False Consolation #5 – Talking  To The Dead

Appendix 4. A Note to Compromised Counselors in the Church

Notes

Introduction

There have been many books written on the subject of counseling. Of those books aimed at the Church, many are written by state licensed psychologists who also claim Christianity. Others have been written by pastors who strictly practice only Bible based counseling, but these are in the minority and are mostly by those who hold to non-Pentecostal theology. The first integrate psychology with the teachings of the Bible. The latter do not mix psychology with counseling but are willing to deny certain teachings of the Bible claiming that they are not relevant for today. The first group adds to the Bible, and the second subtracts from it. This writer, however, is not willing to do either. Rather, she is writing on the subject of counseling from the perspective of a Pentecostal. Why?

Pentecostals are filled with the baptism with the Holy Ghost as the first church was filled on the day of Pentecost. The infilling of the Spirit enables Pentecostals to go out in the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective witnesses. Pentecostals also see the Scriptures with a different pair of glasses than others of a non-Pentecostal background. Pentecostals not only see the written word, but they also see the Spirit underneath the black and red letters. Pentecostals also generally believe that the last twelve verses of the book of Mark should be in the Bible and are applicable for the church today. Pentecostals also believe in the gifts of the Spirit and of the necessity in having those gifts in operation. Pentecostals believe in teaching the full gospel and are not willing to add or shy away from any part of the Bible. Simply put, Pentecostals do not want to quench the Spirit of God. The ministry of counseling is a spiritual work and cutting out the Spirit is not an option. With this basic understanding in mind, the way a Spirit-filled counselor will operate in the counseling session will be remarkably different from those of a non-Pentecostal background. For this reason, reading a counseling work like this one may be like no other the reader has ever read.

Before diving into the specifics of a Pentecostal counseling ministry, it will be important to understand the influence clinical and counseling psychology has had and still has on the body of Christ. Before working on her Master’s in Christian counseling, the writer was ignorant of the real distinctions between Christian counseling and psychology. Like so many who grew up in church, there was no thought or interest given to the subject. Psychology was viewed as simply a subject in school that should be studied in order to help people. In time, however, the writer’s understanding greatly increased as she studied the subject more in-depth. To her amazement, she discovered that there were tremendous and consequential differences between true Christian counseling and clinical and counseling psychology. The man responsible for aiding in this discovery was Dr. Jay E. Adams. Like Luther with his ninety-five theses pinned to the door of the Wittenberg church in the 1500s, Dr. Adams book titled Competent to Counsel published in the 1970s opened the door for the rediscovery of what has been hidden from the church for far too long. In the introduction, Dr. Adams wrote:

Like many other pastors, I learned little about counseling in seminary, so I began with virtually no knowledge of what to do . . . . When I took graduate work in practical theology, I seized the opportunity to enroll in courses in pastoral counseling taught by a practicing psychiatrist on the staff of a large university hospital. ‘Now, at last,’ I told myself, ‘I shall get the real inside dope.’ But by the end of the second semester I was convinced that he knew no more about counseling than the men in his class (almost all were pastors of churches)—and we were confused!¹

Many in the church, especially the Pentecostal churches, have never heard of Dr. Adams. Perhaps, there is good reason for this seeing that the late Dr. Adams was a reformed Presbyterian and outside the influence of Pentecostals. Even so, while Pentecostals will not agree with Dr. Adams on certain core doctrines, his contribution to the body of Christ on the subject of counseling has been very instrumental in exposing the dangers of the Church intermingling with psychology and her need to return solely to Biblical counseling.

Psychology, This field of study that has nothing at all to do with the Bible—and, in fact, is not only extra-biblical but anti-biblical,² has pervaded the church to the point that many true born again Christians are having a hard time recognizing its influence or even delineating the difference. As a result, many believers operate with a hybrid understanding in approaching the problems of man. Consider the following examples:

Writing on the subject of demons, the editors of the New Spirit Filled Life Bible present a good definition for demon, but then conclude that definition with the following. Schizophrenia can be a mental disease, but can also be caused by demon possession.³

Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, is hailed as one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century,⁴ yet, surprisingly, Lewis stated that

the philosophy of Freud—is in direct contradiction to the other great psychologist, Jung . . . But psychoanalysis itself, apart from all the philosophical additions that Freud and others have made to it, is not in the least contradictory to Christianity.⁵

Lewis also attended Freud’s lectures and listened to his talk on how to cure neurotics. He continues,

he is speaking as a specialist on his own subject, but when he goes on to talk general philosophy he is speaking as an amateur. It is therefore quite sensible to attend to him with respect in the one case and not in the other—and that is what I do.⁶

Others in the ministry include believers like Nicky Cruz, a former gang member who gave his life to the Lord Jesus after encountering pastor David Wilkerson. In his book, The Devil Has No Mother, brother Cruz writes of a woman whose husband committed adultery on her. In revenge, the woman shot her husband and children. Brother Cruz concluded that this woman was mentally ill. She needed clinical help, but she didn’t get it.⁷ In another place, brother Cruz also suggests that depression has different causes and different cures. Medication can help depression and should be used. But a spiritual solution is called for when the cause of what we feel is a spiritual attack.⁸

It is easy to realize that the above examples clearly depict the Church as being foggy on the issue just like the writer was before she studied the subject. Sadly, the dust storm kicked up by psychology has settled its particles on every flavor of the face of the Church. From Methodists to Holiness to Baptists to Pentecostals to Presbyterians, etc., none who claim the name of Christ can say that they have been exempt from its influence. This is not to mention its worldwide influence on governments, educational systems, and businesses.

Many churches, denominations, and Christian organizations have willingly surrendered and joined hand in hand to accept psychology’s understandings and obey its dictates. The Assemblies of God, for instance, reports on their website that they have been a long time partner with a Christian mental health center called Emerge.⁹ Emerge boasts that services were provided for thousands of pastors across the United States through the Assemblies of God (AG).¹⁰ Some churches and denominations may not have been so easily ready to surrender, but because of fear they outsourced their counseling. Pastors were threatened with the possibility of doing serious harm to people if they did not refer.¹¹

The organization, Teen Challenge, founded in the 1960s by Pastor David Wilkerson now says,

We are aware that some Teen Challenge corporations have chosen to modify their programs to add state licensed secular approaches . . . These corporations, operating under the name ‘Teen Challenge’, do not require mandatory participation in the traditional Teen Challenge disciplines of Bible studies, prayer and chapel services.¹²

The Teen Challenge for men located in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of those corporations. They say that by having a licensed counselor on staff, they receive government funding and client referrals.¹³

As a result of intermingling between believers and clinical psychology, teachings are ushered into the Church on subjects like inner healing, self-love, mental health, the use of therapies, techniques, licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, substance abuse counselors, and programs (Celebrate Recovery, Alcoholic Anonymous, Grief Share, Sexaholics Anonymous, and many others). People who claim the name of Christ now make statements that their loved ones were mentally ill if they committed suicide.¹⁴ Or, if they committed adultery, they claim to have a mental sickness.

At this point, a brief interjection may be necessary. One cannot talk about counseling today without first addressing the issues of mental illness and mental health. The propaganda of mental illness and mental health are being pushed in full force. Even going to a local department store, like Big Lots for instance, the writer is confronted with solicitation signs to support mental health through a donation. What then is mental illness and mental health?  

The subject of psychology can be a confusing subject because the terms mental illness and mental health are thrown around arbitrarily. The following explanation might help the reader understand why these terms are there. Mental illness and mental health fall under the umbrella of psychology. A brief look into Webster's 1828 Dictionary, however, offers no definition for mental illness or mental health. Hunt and McMahon note,

Psychology is of rather recent origin. It wasn’t even well known in the secular world until after Freud and Jung popularized it in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Nor did it enter the evangelical church until after World War II.¹⁵

Today, however, open-ended definitions are given so that any and all problems can fall under the banner of mental health. Merriam-Webster now defines Mental illness as

any of a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked distress or disability and that are typically associated with a disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning¹⁶

Mental health is

the condition of being sound mentally and emotionally that is characterized by the absence of mental illness and by adequate adjustment especially as reflected in feeling comfortable about oneself, positive feelings about others, and the ability to meet the demands of daily life; also: the general condition of one's mental and emotional state¹⁷

These definitions, however, are the world’s understanding. Dr. Jay E. Adams thinks otherwise, he writes,

You need to understand that apart from injuries, tumors, and other brain problems, there is no such thing as mental illness. Those who use this terminology—unless they are speaking metaphorically—are using words inaccurately. All true illness is organic. Yet, these people, by adopting medical terminology, cloud the issue. How could a non-organic entity (whatever it may be) cause a non-organic illness? The very idea is preposterous. It is the body that becomes ill. Don't be deceived by medical terminology used to describe a non-medical problem.¹⁸

Prewitt says of Mental Health,

By definition, Mental Health