Victim Theology, Theophostic Ministry

Is anyone familiar with Theophostic Ministry? "Inner Healing" of past hurts? Is this Biblical or 'extra'-Biblical?"It's not my fault, I've been hurt, therefore I sin." Theophostic ministry, inner healing, prayer counseling, prayer cleansing, and prayer soaking have found great favor and appeal in modern Christian culture. Though each group works hard at debating their unique distinctives, many modern deliverance ministries share common ideas and find their premise in what I call, "Victim Theology." What is Victim Theology? It finds its origin in the "Inner Healing" movement. Over the last thirty years or so, a type of "Christian counseling" has emerged and has become a vital part of "altar calls," prayer counseling and personal ministry. It is a popular school of thought which has evolved into several complex doctrines of prayer and deliverance. Furthermore it has spawned several spin-off teachings connected to dealing with "emotional pain," "repressed memories," and "hidden trauma." However, all these ministries manifest similar notions. After being exposed to this teaching, a person might believe that they themselves are not responsible for getting angry, hurting others or they might feel that they are unable to improve their own state of mind. They may be convinced that they lack self-esteem, fortitude, power and mental ability. They might say, "I am not responsible for this 'mess-of-a-life-I-live'. I've been hurt... therefore I sin. Something in my past causes me to hurt people around me. It controls me. It drives me to drink. It makes me smoke, curse, and lash out at others. I am discouraged easily and there is nothing I can do about it. Therefore I need very specialized spiritual counseling. I need a ministry that can offer me the attention to the details of my hidden past. I need prayer. Maybe I need deliverance." "I could use some carpet time." What is carpet time? It is associated with prayer. "Carpet time is when I find myself on the floor and people gather around me to pray over me." Whether this takes place on the floor of a church or in a minister?s office, a person may be convinced that, "during that time of ministry the Holy Spirit will give me a personal revelation. It could be knowledge of my true past... either within my own heart or through the people who are ministering to me. They may give me a word from 'the Father' or I may personally receive a prophetic word that will reveal the truth about any repressed memories or may disclose harmful events that may have affected my life. These hidden events are sources of emotional pain which affect my life today."Continued on the web site below...http://www.testingthespirits.com/victim.HTMGrace,Doug

"I could use some carpet time." Sounds like they could use "closet time" (prayer closet) rather than carpet time! :-P That's how I was delivered!More later.In His mighty name, chanin

Doug,It’s ‘extra’-Biblical.“Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. … For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me” (2 Cor. 11:1-4; 13-16).

No, this is not Biblical. Christians have gotten into some weird stuff. It has to do with pride. People are too prideful to admit that they are sinners, so they make up excuses like, "It's not my fault. I've been hurt." But it is. We were all born with a sin nature. You can see it in little children. You tell them not to do something and they go ahead and do it right in front of you. You don't have to teach a child disobedience! That child hasn't been hurt emotionally. It's their sin nature. There is a verse that says that no man is good, not even one. Those people are just making up excuses so that they feel more righteous in the eyes of people and of God. But they aren't. They are still sinners, whether it's "their fault" or not. Even people who sin without knowing it, still have sin, and that isn't good enough to stand before a holy God.

A big fat Amen to what Jennifer (DelightedInU) said! [laughs] You thought of the exact verse I was going to post. I believe it's in Romans. Possibly 8:28? Let me look... oh, woops, no. Okay, hold on... ahhh. It's in Romans 3:10-12, but my little Bible footnotes say it's quoted from the Psalms.Wow, there's lots of good stuff in Romans. Okay, how about this:"Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace" (Romans 6:12-14).Another thing I was thinking concerning this non-Biblical way of thinking is the whole example that Jesus lived out, especially during the last hours of His life. When others beat Him and mocked Him, He didn't beat and mock back. He took it in controled, humble, silence. He had every reason to squish everyone, but He didn't. He knew what He was here to do, and He didn't make any excuses for not doing it. The same should be with us. We may not know what we're specifically here on this earth to do, but generally as Christians, we know that we're here to live a new life in the Spirit. All over the New Testament it talks about the new and old life. There's no excuse for the Christian to keep living the old life. If we draw near to God, we'll be reflecting His image more and more.

My question is:Given that who we are now is to a certain extent shaped by our past experiences (whether we are conscious of them or not), does it not follow that issues such as healing from repressed memories, childhood trauma, etc. may have a role in our growth?I understand that we should not use these as excuses for our sins, thereby relieving ourselves from our responsibilities; nevertheless, can we on this basis fully reject the role of these psychological issues?My feeling is that there has to be a middle ground somewhere.

I believe there is some middle ground here. I was broken and delivered from my strongholds without counseling but by the Lord's help. BUT, He -Himself had to get me to see where I had believed lies in my past and why these lies were keeping me in bondage to wrong ways of thinking.It is very true that when we go through hurtful situations- the enemy takes advantage of this and whispers lies to us. Because of the state we are in- it is easy to adopt those lies as truth and then go on believing them for the rest of our lives.I am not necessarily talking about repressed memories, etc... and I am not talking about using this information to "blame" our sin away.Even when I saw that I had believed those lies that kept me in bondage- I knew I was still responsible for letting the Lord heal me and renew my mind, etc... Once we are aware of these things- we are then responsible for what we do with that information. I never used it to blame anyone or anything else for my own state.We are responsible for what we do with the knowledge, the revelation of the truth.When people continue to deny the Lord access to many areas of their hearts and lives - these lies will continue to be believed. Not until we surrender to heart surgery or heart circumcision-will we see where we have been deceived.The whole problem is that most people don't surrender everything to the Lord and then never "see". if we were to walk by the Spirit and really live the Christian life as we should -then these things would probably be revealed early on and be taken care of.Nancy DeMoss has a book called "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free". It is very "non- psychologist" if you want to put it that way. The truth is that the enemy is a liar and he will try to get us to believe lies whenever he has the chance though all types of situations and events in life.If someone was hurt many times emotionally by some mean children when they were young- they may believe that they are really ugly and not worth anything. The fact that that "looks" and "worth" should not matter in this world is not the point. A child does not know this and even a growing christian may not know this. The truth they need to see is not necessarily that they are "not ugly" or that they are "of worth to someone in this world"- they need to see the truth of how God sees them. What matter is only what God thinks. He thinks His creation is beautiful. Our worth comes from Him. This is the truth.Hope this helps too.In Him, chanin

Good input "Agent001" and "moreofHim". Seeing both sides is good. I don't think it's right for these churches to be encouraging the excuses for sin, but it is true that some Christians just aren't aware that they're believing a lie. We all have much more learning and growing to do in this life. May both God and others be patient with us.

Given that who we are now is to a certain extent shaped by our past experiences (whether we are conscious of them or not), does it not follow that issues such as healing from repressed memories, childhood trauma, etc. may have a role in our growth? I understand that we should not use these as excuses for our sins, thereby relieving ourselves from our responsibilities; nevertheless, can we on this basis fully reject the role of these psychological issues?I agree with you. We are shaped by our past experiences, but we can't blame sin on those experiences. No we do not FULLY reject the role of these psycological issues. But I wouldn't give much weight to it. They have no bearing on the amount of sin we have in our lives. It can affect our behavior but not our sin. These issues don't cause you to sin more. Jesus is the master healer. He has all power to heal you of your past hurts and experiences. I believe that even with all these thing people deal with in their life, once you turn to Jesus, He can heal you if you will let Him. It might not be instantly, maybe a process. But eventually you find joy in the Lord and he gives you a hope in Him.

When it comes down to it, I have one response to those with any problem or dissatisfaction:Matthew 6:33But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.