By Larry C . ~ "B rother John" was a gregarious Baptist preacher who pastored The First Baptist Church of Oldsmar, Florida in the 1970s and early 1980s. Sometime in the 1970s Brother John switched from being a traditional Baptist preacher and went Pentecostal . But John just didn't go mainstream pentecostal. No, he became attracted to the lunatic fringe (of the lunatic fringe?)of the pentecostal movement: the Word of Faith message as promoted by evangelists Kennth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland . Hagin and Copeland took the idea of the absolute authority of the bible to the nth degree. The Word of Faith movement emphasized the idea of "faith" to the point that you could reject modern science, medicine, etc. if one truly believed in "the promises" of God for one's health and financial prosperity, then you don't need all this man-made treatments and props. The Word of Faith folks are like Bible-believers on speed. Though he had no for...

By  Larry C. ~ In this 2nd part on the Dangers of Biblical Counseling, I want to examine the "biblical" brain-washing I received from multiple outlets of the fundamentalist/evangelical church world I found myself in following my experience with Ruth and Dr. Bob. What follows are a list of some of the main influences which conditioned my mind to only seek Biblical Counseling for the woman I met in the Spring of 1980 who would become my wife. I will tell her story in Part 3 of this series. First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga,TN A fter his attempted failed exorcism of my girlfriend Ruth, the distinguished Dr. Bob introduced me to the world of fundamentalist Presbyterianism . He recommended I check out the young adult Christian Coffee House operated by First Presbyterian Church (affiliated with the very conservative Presbyterian Church in America denomination) in downtown Chattanooga . I went and I loved it! I was befriended by church members and felt very welcomed. M...

By Larry C ~  O ne of the biggest dangers to a person's mental well-being and health is getting the wrong diagnoses. I have seen some true "miracles" of positive change happen to persons who were diagnosed and then treated properly with therapy and - if needed - medication. I have worked in the substance abuse treatment and mental health fields for several decades now. I am a Masters level clinician and have a good grasp of what particular symptoms and behaviors could mean, and what needs to be done to help a person. My work as a counselor is "evidence-based". This means that the practices that I use must be based on real research and results and just not some unproven and untested "theory" of human psychology . Such was the case for many years when psychologists and psychiatrists were interpreting people and their problems based on Freudian, Adlerian and Jungian "theories" which had not been put through any real clinical trials or re...

By Larry C -- I live in Gainesville, Florida . Gainesville is a college town and is the home of The University of Florida. The general educational level of people in this community is rather high. Gainesville has a number of churches but they tend to be rather liberal or mildly evangelical. Hard-core fundamentalist religion is rare here, but it does exist. Our most fanatical fundamentalist church is a charismatic congregation called The Dove Outreach Center Church . They have posted signs in front of their building that read: " Islam Is Of The Devil ." When members of Fred Phelp's Westboro Baptist Church came through town to do their rude, crude protests outside places of worship, they were universally condemned by the our local liberal and conservatives churches, but there was one exception: The Dove Outreach folks joined with the Westboro loonies in their protests! On July 4th, I was driving down University Avenue here in Gainesville and I was surprised to...

By Larry C -- S omewhere in the middle of my 2nd year of seminary (1988/89), while I was serving as an Army Chaplain Candidate in the Tennessee Army National Guard , and was endorsed by a extreme religious right "full gospel" (i.e., Pentecostal/Charismatic) chaplaincy group, I quit believing in my fundy faith. Image by justinhenry via Flickr But here's the strange thing: I knew I no longer believed, but I didn't want to see myself as an "unbeliever". I had, what I would now call, an "identity lag" due to the fact that by the time my de-conversion had taken place, I had a deeply ingrained self concept as an "on fire for Jesus" believer. It's an odd kind of floating phase that one enters into when one has crossed from faith to unbelief. You are aware that you have changed, but you don't want to identify oneself as an agnostic or, God forbid, an atheist! I think this phase is much like someone who is a lifetime drinker final...