Psychoheresy and Inner Healing, 1

by Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries

Psychoheresy is the use of psychology where God has already spoken in His Word. It is using the very wisdom of men about which God has warned His people. Inner healing is a process through which someone goes in order to transform the effects of the past on the present. Inner healing involves finding painful memories of early life traumas thought to be buried in the unconscious.

The inner healer guides people into reliving and recreating past events by imagining the presence of Jesus or some other significant faith figure. It is a reliving of the person's past in his imagination. By replacing the memory of a past event with a new one, painful memories are claimed to be healed and one is supposedly set free from the grip of the past. Some of the elements of psychoheresy are used in inner healing. Therefore, inner healing is psychoheresy.

Individuals Involved

Agnes Sanford mothered the inner healing movement and directly or indirectly mentored many others. Best known followers of Sanford are Ruth Carter Stapleton, John and Paula Sandford (no relation to Agnes), Dennis and Rita Bennett, Francis MacNutt, Morton Kelsey, Richard Foster, David Seamonds, and John Wimber.

Though some of the promoters are deceased, their books, which have sold millions of copies, are still a powerful influence in this movement. Moreover, these individuals have spawned thousands of other inner healers, perpetuating these teachings to millions of others. The past and present book sales testify to the popularity of this movement.

Errors of the Movement

There is a real, genuine, biblical healing and transformation of the inner person. But while one may call the Lord's inner work "inner healing," let us quickly add that among all the seminars, books, tapes, or workshops of which we are aware, we do not know one that is truly biblical and has not dipped into the broken cisterns of the wisdom of men about which the Bible warns believers. We would not recommend any of them because they represent a spiritually unholy combination of biblical, psychological, and even occult ideas.

Inner healing teaches often sound biblical doctrine at the beginning. Many of them even elevate excellent biblical principles, but all those with which we are acquainted eventually worship at the altars of psychology and the occult. While we cannot cover the whole spectrum of inner healing false teaching and heresies, we will discuss some of the serious errors that are common in psychoheresy.

The serious errors involve five psychological ideas, one of which is right out of the occult. John and Paula Sandford describe and summarize what Agnes Sanford was trying to do. They say:

"She saw that ancient [past], unforgiven, forgotten sins [memory] buried in the heart [unconscious] could be manifested in unwanted, unseemly behaviors, which could be changed [emotion and imagery] if such sins were forgiven and the heart cleansed."

Two of the very important components often used in psychotherapy and in inner healing are those of the unconscious and the past. These two elements are found throughout the teachings of the inner healers. We will first discuss their use of these two psychological concepts and then deal with their dangerous and unbiblical use of memory, emotions, and imagery.

These potentially perilous five psychological ideas are used by those involved in psychoheresy, which includes inner healers. Christians need to be wary of these five activities from psychoheresy wherever they are used. While this article focuses on the psychoheresy of inner healing, Christians will encounter these psychological elements elsewhere as well.