In the world, we have hurting people. We bring them to salvation through Jesus Christ. Now we have saved hurting people. When God removes our sins through repentance, water baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost, He does not remove our memories or life experiences. If anything happened in the past that caused physical or emotional pain such as any type of abuse, we can be saved but have damaged emotions that are distorting our current thinking.
Let me give you an example. Before my Bible-based counseling education, I had a firm foundation of biblical knowledge. My late father, Elder Raymond G. Theobald, was a great theologian and eschatology teacher/preacher. I received the Holy Ghost at age nine and began teaching young children in Sunday school at the age of 14. Even before 14, I loved God’s Word. My father planted a desire in my young heart to know God through His Word.
In my 30’s, I was teaching adult classes the Word of God, people would come up to me with emotional wounds from the past or present life. They were saved, but dealing with emotional pain and I did not know how to answer. When the Lord opened the door for me to attend THE INSTITUTE OF CHRISTIAN COUNSELING (2-year master’s level teaching integrating biblical principals with counseling principals) it revolutionized my understanding of how to apply God’s truth to help the hurting be ‘set free’ from the pain of their past.
Do you know that sexual abuse victims feel dirty, unclean, unlovable and sometimes unforgiven even after salvation? Do you know many abuse victims become promiscuous because they feel dirty and live out their feelings in actions? Do you know that 1 out of 3 females is an abuse victim and 1 out of 4 males? Do you know the damage that is done physically, emotionally and spiritually when someone is addicted to pornography? Do you know that porn addiction is the worst addiction to overcome and the reasons? Do you know how to walk that addicted person through recovery? Do you know the emotional damage that takes place in the hearts of children who are victims of divorce? Do you know how to help someone with anger issues that are rooted in an abusive childhood? Do you know the family of origin and family systems that are dysfunctional are displayed in adult relationships of the next generation? Do you have an understanding of some of the root causes of making a decision to becoming a homosexual? Do you know how to walk a person who has homosexual tendencies to healing by allowing God to re-parent them? Do you know how to help a marriage that has been destroyed by adultery? Do you know how to help that broken marriage be healed by working through the dysfunctional issues that existed before the adultery? Do you know how to help a couple restore their marital trust factor?
All of the above questions and many other subjects I could name were things I did not know before my God-based counseling education. Even after 26 years of pastoral counseling, I still do not know it all but continue learning every day.
The reason I present this case is we have saved hurting wounded people sitting on our church pews who do not have the joy of the Lord in their lives. Their lives and marriages are dysfunctional and they do not know what to do about it. It takes more than saying, “Honey, just pray and give it to Jesus.” They’ve been praying for years over these painful issues. What they need help with is knowing how to “be transformed by renewing their minds” – Romans 12: 1 & 2. I want to teach others how to be ‘healing helpers’ within the body of Christ through the power of God’s Word!
I’m offering pastors an opportunity to equip their church leaders and the hurting people through teaching God-based counseling principles through the modern technology of the Internet. If your church is equipped with the Internet (or even home leadership classes), through the free download of www.Skype.com, I can teach your church a series of counseling principles on all the subjects above. This could be done weekly or monthly over a period of time. This would save your church the expense of my transportation, housing, food, etc.; your only expense would be giving my ministry an offering per session. Along with the teaching, I would recommend specified books that are Bible-based on counseling issues.
The church needs to be more than a salvation station. We need to be a spiritual hospital helping the saved with their emotional and relational issues. The first ten years of my counseling was under the leadership of the late Bishop Kenneth Haney. When he decided to have me provide pastoral counseling for his church he said, “If most pastors would admit it, we are not equipped to help people with their relational and emotional issues.” I’m thankful for his wisdom. This does not take away from theological knowledge. (I taught six years at Christian Life College – one subject being: “Principles of Counseling.”)
My father who was an 80-year-old theologian when I began my counseling education said to me, “I see you are learning how to use God’s Word in a way I do not understand. If I wasn’t 80 years old, I would be going to college with you.” He did attend with me as a guest on occasion.
I provide nationwide counseling by phone, Facetime, FB video and Skype. I counsel pastors and lay people. It is done in complete confidentiality between the person, God and me. I teach worldwide for English speaking churches through Skype. In today’s tight financial economy, teaching/counseling through Skype provides financial savings to churches and individuals.
Pastors, if you are interested in helping your church become more efficient in meeting the needs of the church membership, please call me (636) 448-0121. When the church receives emotional, spiritual and relationship healing, they can reproduce healthiness to the next generation and new believers.
Go to my website: www.carolclemans.org. Read the 500+ articles I’ve written and the ‘counseling/teaching info’ page. Order my teaching CD’s, DVD’s – book, God’s Design for Marriage. The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know. This truth creates a desire in my heart for continued learning everything I can based on God’s Word to help others – “speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him” – Ephesians 4:15. Email: carol@carolclemans.org.
NOTE: I recently started a membership only teaching site: www.patreon.com/carolclemans – I post new teachings on a weekly basis for spiritual, emotional and relational growth. The minimum monthly donation will help to expand Life Enrichment Ministries, Inc. (501c3). Pastor Daniel Batchelor of Dupo, IL., is on my Bd. Of Directors.