A Warning; An Open Letter to World Christian Leaders!
Dear Church World Leaders, Missionary Outreach Leaders, and Ministries to the Persecuted Church,
Urgent action is needed to address the Christian Counseling Movement within the Evangelical Churches, a trend that is eroding the power of the gospel in the lives of believers. These well-meaning Christians are advocating for secular solutions to our problems, a shift that must be addressed swiftly.
As a result, they are inadvertently steering believers towards placing their hope in man’s solutions rather than in Christ. This shift is not only undermining the healthy development of the Church in mission areas but also weakening the general church body in the West and across the world.
This is a terrible development. Our churches must be prepared to fight the good fight against the darkness of this world, and they are being provided with worthless weapons in the ever-so-crucial theater of spiritual battle.
I have spent my whole life studying Christianity and Modern Psychology. I have been in practice for nearly 40 years and have seen the fruit. The sad reasons for the development of the Christian Counseling Movement are rooted primarily in Enlightenment Thinking and a hyper-rational philosophy of faith, which fundamentally undermines the accurate comprehension of the power of the gospel in the believer’s life.
This tragic development will cause sincere believers to lose hope in the power and faithfulness of God because they are not being taught to place their hope firmly in Christ. As Paul warns, “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). This is often a subtle and implicit teaching, so it flies under the radar. Lip service is given to faith in Christ, but no real confidence in His power will develop because faith is placed in the processes of nature and human sources of healing of the soul.
Paul warns and pleads against such a development in Galatians 4 and 5 and Colossians 1 and 2. The only victory for the believer over the darkness of their own human nature and of this world is faith in Christ’s atonement. This is the only thing that sets the Church apart from the world. It is the only thing of value that we have to offer the world. But oh, such value resides there, beyond the sum of all other things! It is Christ.
It is crucial that we unite in spreading the truth about these issues before they claim more lives. I urge you to join me in this fight. In Christ’s death and resurrection lies all the power to liberate the self from the darkness of sin, the root of all psychological pathology. Let us stand together in this battle, for He is the victory!
Amen
In Christ,
Mark Demanes, MFT, Ph.D.
