Biblical Counseling: Simoniacs and Pharisaics?
Two of the many criticisms we have of
the biblical counseling movement is the charging of fees
and the separation of counseling from the biblically
ordained ministries of the church, especially to the
extent of ones geographically separated from the church.
Simoniacs?
Charging fees is totally unbiblical and
those biblical counselors who do so should be taken to
task. Any such predators on Christians who are suffering
problems of living and crying out for help should be put
out of business. And, that’s what it is! A ministry
turned business to produce an income for the counselor at
the expense and disadvantage of the person being
counseled.
The fastest way to put a stop to this
outrage against Scripture and biblical church practice is
for church leaders to speak out against such money
extracting practices. For how many more years will church
leaders hear so-called biblical counselors close in
prayer and ask, "Will you pay by cash, check, or
credit card?" before utterly condemning such a 20th
century, never-heard-of-before church practice?
We explain in our book Against
Biblical Counseling: For the Bible that there is no
justifiable reason to charge for such counsel. We say
categorically that any biblical counseling ministry that
charges a price is unbiblical. Yes, "the
labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7), and
"the labourer is worthy of his reward" (1
Timothy 5:18). Paul even argued that as he had sown
spiritual things, should he not also reap carnal things
(1 Corinthians 9:11). Nevertheless, he also said:
"What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach
the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without
charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel"
(1 Corinthians 9:18). Peter wrote to the elders:
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind" (1 Peter
5:2).
Whether one agrees with biblical
counseling or not, it is a ministry. It is designed to
minister the Word of God empowered by the Holy Spirit by
one who knows Christ to one who will receive it. It is
unbiblical to require a direct charge for such a
ministry. There is no example in Scripture that justifies
charging a fee for ministering the Word of God by the
grace of God to a brother or sister in Christ. Someone
might protest that a minister is paid a salary. But that
is a false analogy. The true analogy would be charging
someone a fee to attend church. We hope no one would even
think of doing that!
This pay for service makes any biblical
counseling grossly unbiblical. Imagine someone going to a
biblical counseling center for ministry concerning a life
issue? Let’s say that the conversation and direction
are biblical. Can you imagine at the end a prayer, an
Amen, and then a bill for services? Would Paul or the
disciples have done such a thing? Absolutely not!
A simoniac is "a person who
practices simony," and simony is "the
buying or selling of sacred or spiritual things."
Charging fees for counseling is one example of charging
for a church ministry. Another example of simony is the
sale of indulgences in the Roman Catholic church. The
Catholic church was selling and people thought they were
buying their way to heaven.
Filthy lucre (1 Peter 5:2) is the great
financial fuel that drives both the psychological and
biblical counseling movements. Without the charging of
fees or the hope of receiving payments in the future for
those being trained, the biblical counseling movement
would be decimated. If every biblical counselor stopped
directly charging and receiving fees, it would literally
cripple the movement as it currently exists.
The Christian Counseling and
Educational Foundation (CCEF) receives about $500,000
annually for counseling fees. No one knows how much is
received annually by all the so-called biblical
counselors in or out of churches across America. It is
obviously a huge sum of money. The direct charging and
receiving of money for ministry is just one of many
factors in which biblical counselors parrot psychological
counselors. It is a disgrace and a shame for the church
to sit silently and permit such a blight to exist in her
midst.
The content and controlling factor of
Christian counseling should be the sacred Word of God:
According as his divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust (2 Peter
1:3,4).
True biblical counsel involves the Word
of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, sometimes
directly to a person, but sometimes through another who
knows Christ as Savior, ministered to one who receives it
for deliverance and change.
In his book A History of the Cure of
Souls, John T. McNeill says: "The cure of souls
is, then, the sustaining and curative treatment of
persons in those matters that reach beyond the
requirements of animal life."1 This "cure of souls" began early in
the church with various writings on such aspects of the
Christian life as grief, consolation, repentance,
discipline, guidance, and growth. True Christian
counseling or the cure of souls is a sacred, spiritual
work done by God, not man. It is a ministry to give; not
to sell!
Consider men and women whose lives are
affected by fears, anxieties, depression, marital
conflicts, family conflicts, or any one of a number of
other traumas of life, some by virtue of their own sins
and others by virtue of the sins of others, to be
ministered the wisdom and grace of God and then to be
told that they must pay for such ministry! Can you
imagine Jesus or His disciples praying for souls in such
jeopardy and then saying, "Cash, check or credit
card"? It boggles the imagination!
We say to those many so-called biblical
counselors who extract fees or even suggest donations for
such ministry: Repent of this unbiblical wickedness and
ask God for forgiveness! And, we exhort those
organizations that train individuals to counsel to speak
out strongly against such an evil practice.
Pharisaics?
"Biblical" counseling that is
separated from the biblically ordained ministries in or
out of the church are unbiblical. Particularly
reprehensible are those that exist outside the church.
Two examples of such unbiblical centers are the Christian
Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) and Faith
Baptist Counseling Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana. The
leadership at both centers would agree that
"Counseling is fundamentally a pastoral activity and
must be church-based," as David Powlison declares
but does not practice.2
Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette is
not only the home of Faith Baptist Counseling Ministries,
but it is also the home of the National Association of
Nouthetic Counselors (NANC). The director of NANC, Dr.
William Goode, is also the pastor of Faith Baptist
Church.
Dr. Bob Smith, the head of Faith
Baptist Counseling Ministries, is a member of Faith
Baptist Church and a member of the boards of both CCEF
and NANC. If one looks at the Boards of both CCEF and
NANC, one will see some duplication of members and an
obvious liaison between the two.
NANC Director Goode has said:
The basic position of NANC is that
the ideal in Biblical counseling model is one
where troubled people receive counseling from
their pastor and or church family. We would not
tout Faith Baptist Counseling Ministries or CCEF
to be ‘the ultimate Church sponsored
model.’ They are training centers. A church
where pastor and people are involved in
counseling is the ultimate model.3
The definition of Pharisaic is:
"1. of the Pharisees; 2. emphasizing or observing
the letter but not the spirit of religious law; 3.
pretending to be highly moral and virtuous without
actually being so; hypocritical." Does Goode’s
remark sound Pharisaic?
NANC and CCEF would say,
"We’re not ‘the ultimate church sponsored
model,’ but it’s okay because we ‘are
training centers.’" But, can’t any
"biblical counseling" center separated from the
church be a training center and thereby justify its
existence? Both NANC and CCEF approve of charging fees
for counseling. Maybe the fee is also justified by virtue
of being a "training center."
Whether one is dying in the hospital or
"dying" from the sins and heartaches of life,
there is absolutely no biblical reason to charge for
ministering to one another in the Body of Christ. Goode
would not dare directly charge the members of his church
for worship services or for private pastoral consultation
or for hospital visitation. He wouldn’t dare even
suggest or hint at "cash, check, or credit
card" for ministry in his church. Nor would he dare
attempt to justify charging for worship services and
pastoral care by making his church a "training
center." Then why dare charge for ministry given at
Faith Baptist Counseling Ministries? Why do both CCEF and
NANC not only approve but encourage such practices?
Because both NANC and CCEF participate
in and support the extracting of money and the degrading
of the biblically ordained ministries of the church, we
recommend against both organizations. We think both
organizations have drifted too far for too long and are
too intertwined to be salvageable. The principles and
practices of these two organizations weaken the position
of the church, the role of pastors, the role of church
leaders, and even the ability of lay people to minister
to one another. Though NANC and CCEF contain some good,
the church of Jesus Christ is worse off because of the
seriousness of these practices.
1 John
T. McNeill. A History of The Cure of Souls. New
York; Harper & Row, Publishers, 1951, p. vii.
2 David
Powlison in Introduction to Biblical Counseling by John
MacArthur and Wayne Mack.
3 Letter
on file.
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