How do I know whether I am using a good Christian therapy?

This article is divided into four considerations: 1) What do you know about the form of therapy? 2) What does God’s Word teach on this form of therapy? 3) How does the therapy work? And 4) Who is applying the therapy? In addition, there is a simple decision model, which helps to make a well-considered choice.

1. The first consideration: What do you know about the form of therapy?

‘Know what you eat’, was a well-known slogan from the past. The same principle goes for alternative forms or types of therapy: know what you’re consuming and what you get involved in. So please, do some research, and above all, delve into backgrounds. Only a few therapies will be openly offered as occult or based on feeling, magical thinking, etc. All therapies are promoted by their advocates as being responsible and (scientifically) based.

All therapies are promoted by their advocates as being responsible and (scientifically) based.

Therefore, seek knowledge, not only with those who are excited about the therapy and/or who offer this form of therapy; but seek also with those who are against and with the skeptics; with good and solid Christian resources, and also check out its scientific background and its weighting, as far as you’re able to find. The measure of this should be whether it comes from a clean source.

2. The second consideration: What does God’s Word teach on this form of therapy?

Do you consider to undergo a certain therapy from the alternative circuit? Then ask yourself how it relates to the principles of faith in God’s Word, the Bible. So first of all, this implies knowledge of God’s Word. Philippians 1: 9 and 10 teaches us that ‘we may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent …’ Knowledge is vital. So it is equally vital that we acquire this knowledge by making a study in the Bible and of the Bible.

Van daaruit kunnen we vervolgens vragen gaan beantwoorden als: wordt God ermee geëerd als de enige die redt als jij hiermee inlaat? Krijgt Jezus als Geneesheer de ruimte? Past de achterliggende filosofie en spiritualiteit van deze therapievorm bij de Bijbel? Heel vaak zijn alternatieve therapievormen gebaseerd op oosterse spiritualiteit, mystiek en New Age. Belangrijk kenmerk daarvan is dat het goddelijke wordt vermengd met het menselijke. Daar waar de Bijbel onderscheid maakt tussen Schepper en geschapene, gaat oosterse spiritualiteit, mystiek en New Age uit van het goddelijke in de mens en schepping. Zo zijn er (goddelijke) energiebanen die stromen in levende wezens, chakra’s die in balans moeten worden gebracht, de aarde en de kosmos die een spirituele kracht in zich hebben (‘chi’ of een andere variant ervan) en ga zo maar door. De Bijbel leert echter dat God God is en dat wij dat als zijn schepsels niet zijn. Het goddelijke zit niet van nature in ons.

Another alarming sign is the search for balance between good and evil.

Another alarming sign is the search for a balance between good and evil. That also is eastern, which we also find in the western New Age. Think of the symbol of Ying and Yang, black and white, masculine and feminine, good and evil. When the balance in the body is disturbed, then people would get ill and it would make them have psychological problems and blockages. The restoration of balance is then the way to healing and recovery. However, God’s Word shows us another path to restoration: not black ánd white, but the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing of all unrighteousness. Holiness and ultimately perfection in Christ. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”, says God in Isaiah 1:18.

3. The third consideration: How does it work?

The fact that alternative therapies can work, we don’t deny at Promise Foundation. The question, then, is not whether a form of therapy does something, but especially how it does something? The central and most important question here is whether something provable and explainable works or not. Is there a mention of efficacy out of substances, for example? Natural remedies that extract active ingredients from plants for our benefit, are a good example. Even to this day, we are still discovering all kinds of new applications and remedies from what God had already provided in all His wisdom in creation. We can use these remedies with gratitude because they were given by Him. Their efficacy is provable and well-supported by logic, data, and research.

It becomes different with many alternative (psychological) forms of therapy. Their exact method is not known or hardly known.
That’s not necessarily a problem, but we do want to warn you about it. We have actually learned from many years of experience in the alternative circuit, that many of them are based on suggestion and some of them even callous deception, or, that it works because it has its source in the occult. After all, the devil and his henchmen want to make an exchange: your soul for temporary ‘healing’ or ‘improvement’. In practice it ultimately becomes clear that the remedy proved worse than the malady to which is was applied, but you often don’t hear that anymore. Therefore, always ask yourself the question whether there is something provable and explainable working in this particular form of therapy or whether it goes in the direction of ‘magic’ (which always goes together with manipulation to get control over something or somebody) because the efficacy cannot be proven other than with a reference to imagination power/ spiritual powers, or physical images and philosophical convictions that have no basis in reality nor in God’s Word (see also point 1). Many therapists claim that there is untapped (divine) potential in man, which can be expressed when it is tapped, but that’s untrue. This image of man is absolutely un-Biblical, just as many other alternative images of man that especially blend the divine with the human. In such a case it is clear that we are dealing with a therapy that should be rejected.

But, can’t there be something that does work, but of which it hasn’t been proven yet how, while it may later appear to be provable? Yes, of course that’s possible. Our human knowledge is but limited, according to the teaching of God’s Word, after all. However, the risk that you may fall into a pit you can’t simply get out of if you make a mistake, is immense. ‘In case of doubt don’t do it’ is a wise motto for a Christian in this.

‘In case of doubt don’t do it’ is a wise motto for a Christian in this.

Should it later turn out that there is a concrete efficacy (which is also shown by repeatable research and is provable with logic, knowledge, and common sense), then you can still choose to get engaged in it. In this, the Spirit of God does not allow Himself to be manipulated or guided by man. An occult healer always has to upload himself or can heal a person on command during a ‘consultation hour’, whether the person is a believer or a non-believer. That’s not how God’s Spirit works. He is free and works how, where and when He wants. He is not bound to persons, times or places. Therefore, the gifts of healing (1 Cor. 12:10, 28) cannot be claimed or transferred. We may ask for it, but God’s Spirit is free to do as He wills.

In doing so, be aware that even in the regular circuit, meanwhile, all kinds of therapies have crept in, that have no basis for provable efficacy. These therapies can, for a greater part be traced back to the alternative and magical thinking with a corresponding worldview. A good example for this is hypnotherapy for children. This is being peddled as scientific and justified in Dutch hospitals and by pediatricians. It would not have anything to do with hypnosis and such, but that’s a lie.

4. The fourth consideration: Who is applying the therapy?

What strikes us about all kinds of therapies in the alternative circuit, is, that many therapists and practitioners are offering many different forms of therapy. Their efficacies are often not limited to one ‘treatment method’. They sometimes also offer therapies which in essence are not directly harmful or wrong, but they do take themselves into it as practitioner. And as practitioners, they are often also involved in all kinds of occult forms of treatment. They, for example, practice Fortune-telling or Spiritism, Reiki, Healing Touch or another variant of energy transfer. Even if you were to find a ‘clean’ treatment method with such a person, even then the source is so polluted that you cannot trust that he/she deals purely with what you ask them. In this way you do not know whether a person is secretly using reiki anyway (whether consciously or unconsciously) in a mainstream massage treatment.

You do not know whether a therapist is secretly using reiki anyway, in a mainstream massage treatment.

The division written on paper, is not always made so sharply in practice. Perhaps you wonder if you are not protected for this because, after all, you don’t allow yourself to get engaged in it consciously and you don’t open yourself for it consciously. This is true, as far as you don’t know it or cannot know it. In this sense, Christians do not need to live anxiously and frenetically, for “the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”, according to 1Jn 4: 4. But let us be neither naïve nor to blindly trust everything and everybody. If you consciously look for a ‘healer’ about whom you by just looking at their website can discover that there is more to it, then at the very least you are playing with fire if you get engaged with him or her. We have our own responsibility and we ought not to take it lightly.

5. Decision tree as a tool to get a Christian therapy

Promise Foundation receives a lot of questions about all kinds of variations in alternative therapies and ‘treatment methods’. Questions such as: Do you know this therapy and what does Promise think about it? Is there a reason why you advise against a certain approach or not, on Biblical ground? And if so, what is the reason? Or, are you familiar with this ‘healer’ or ‘therapist’? And, am I allowed to get engaged with him/her? And so on.

Decision tree as a tool to get a Christian therapy / therapist – Source: Dutch book: Complementaire zorg en de Bijbel author Gerard Feller

Many legitimate and critical questions about as many ‘treatment methods’’, therapies and practitioners. It is not manageable for us as a small team of four volunteers to keep track of that all. One could have a day’s work on it, so to speak.

In the alternative circuit, new therapies keep popping up. Variations of already known practices are constantly emerging, where the new is not immediately recognizable and bears a different name, but still does have the same roots and source. For this reason we decided to write this article, in which we share four considerations and a decision tree that help you in your question. An example of a neutral method is an orthopedic physician who determines diagnosis of a worn hip via x-ray. In addition, Promise Foundation makes many articles on various alternative therapies available.

In particular, we mention the modern magic of the spirit, such as: visualization, positive thinking, hypnosis, etc., that, precisely in our time, are flourishing. And, which, under the guise of new science, modern theology and para(psychology), subtly make their appearance in our society. The new formula for success is self-development and self-improvement, as well as with regard to practicing ‘paranormal’ gifts.

6. In conclusion

Making choices goes with life (in faith). God has also given us possibilities to do so, in our sense, in His Word and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Keep searching and keep praying and find your way. Every therapy, every therapist, every medicine or every treatment method should be visible by your personal conscience as a means to thank God in consequence thereof.  Personally, in this, I find the principle of rest very important. When I consider, and come to a conclusion based on the above-mentioned, I may then expect the peace that is given to me by God’s Spirit. In case of any dissatisfaction or a feeling of doubt, I abstain and do not take the step. You should not take risks. The peace of God is as the heavenly referee’s whistle in this.

The peace of God is as the heavenly referee’s whistle in this.

Above all, however, I would like to close with that which matters most in the end: God, the Lord and Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the end, it’s not about what we want, but about what God wants, His purposes, His conditions. And that’s so beautiful, for the Triune God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He holds the world in His hand and He shall accomplish. Also in your life. Trust in Him. He is our Healer!

Ursula Moestafa translated the Dutch article into English. Jaïro has edited this article written by Roelof Ham. Gerard Feller is the author of the ‘decision tree’.