Earlier this year I was approached regarding certain materials disciminated or referred to in the healing and prayer ministry of the Sierra Presbyterian Church. Since then, I have been approached by several other individuals with the same kind of concerns.

Because we had only one book given to us by a local pastor and several books in our research library pertaining to the subject, we began to collect as much of the material under question as we could. While the material revealed aberrations on a number of points, we wanted to assertain other materials not yet in our possession in order to examine the subject more fully. We finally had an opportunity to meet briefly with Rev. Dan Prout, Minister of Prayer & Worship at Sierra Presbyterian Church where we discussed some of the problem areas brought to my attention and agreed that we need to exercise caution where certain doctrines are concerned. Upon that, Rev. Prout graciously gave us a number of books distributed for use in the healing and prayer ministry of their church.

Having said the above, our approach to the subject of gifts, healing, and prayer is not one of disdain or condemnation. In February of this year IBA had produced a position paper on spiritual gifts independent of this investigation which in fact affirms the perpetuity of the gifts (charismata) in the Church today. Our view is that God is capable of revealing Himself or manifesting His power by and through any means He so chooses.¹ That God has communicated to His creatures in various ways is obvious. The Bible states that God revealed Himself directly (as in the case of Moses before the burning bush, Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, the Man accompanying the angels visiting Abraham), , etc.² ) or indirectly, that is, through objects (such as the Ark of the Covenant [Ex. 25]; in the fire and smoke on Mount Sinai [Ex. 19:18-20], or the glory of the Lord [the presence of God in a cloud]), through an animal [a mule; Num. 22:22-34], or through God’s special messengers, the prophets (Moses, Nathan, Elijah, Micaiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc.) either through their words [ "thus say’s the Lord..."³] or through the miracles they performed [e.g., 2 Kings 4-6]). The Lord also spoke to individuals in an audible voice (i.e., Abraham, Noah, Samuel, etc.).

That God has revealed Himself in some way or communicated through humans or animals, is not disputed. While these manifestations are immensely important, it would be incorrect to define these as episodes of prayer in the biblical sense. While some instances of God’s presence or power may be out of response to prayer, they seem to be direct manifestations of God’s power in a given situation. Prayer in the biblical sense is personal dialogue with God and entails both the revealing of ourselves (our hearts and minds) to our Maker and the revelation of His desire (will) to us. While we may observe the prayers of those recorded in the Bible (Moses, David, Paul, and of course, Jesus) the Scriptures give us no real prescription of prayer. Prayer in the Bible is largely descriptive, in that we are able to view in some detail the prayers of those who walked in communion with the Lord.⁴ In essence, there is no biblical theology of prayer which is probably why most systematic theology books do not address the subject. It appears that manner, method, and content with regards to prayer, varies from person to person in the Bible, yet, it all constitutes prayer. Perhaps the reason there is no formal teaching on prayer is because it is so intensely personal. Even the prayers of Christ, Himself, reveal little by way of method and content.⁵

Because the Bible lacks formal guidelines to prayer, we must be careful to approach the subject with the highest degree of sensitivity, and I might ad, discernment. That is, we want to be sensitive because we don’t want to in any way judge the motives of those who seek the Lord through "Listening Prayer." Indeed, it appears that most of those who engage in listening prayer and/or are involved in the inner-healing/visualization movement affirm the essentials of historic biblical Christianity, believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, and confess the historic creeds of the Church!⁶ We want to also be especially discerning in that prayer may involve everything from "listening" to "meditation" and if we learn anything in Scripture about the activity of the enemy, it is that he is capable of corrupting the mind and distorting the truth (Gen. 3:1-5; 2 Cor. 11:1-4). As with Jesus, when we lay our hearts and souls before the Lord we too may be putting ourselves in a position for Satanic attacks (Matt. 4:1-11). It should be no surprise that Scripture tells us that when we submit to God out of obedience or perhaps as we enter into prayer, we need to at the same time resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). The apostle Paul reminds us also in Ephesians 6 to "arm" ourselves for spiritual battle which I think may presume an encounter with the enemy in prayer as well.

Our view is all doctrine, all experience, and all phenomenon whether it proports to be from God or not is to be tested. Because IBA is by nature a ministry of discernment, our approach to this subject is like any other: to examine these things in light of Holy Scripture.

I reiterate, our purpose is not to judge the motives of Dan Prout, those in leadership at Sierra Presbyterian Church, nor any other individual(s) conducting healing seminars or prayer sessions in other churches around the community. Our objective is to present a fair evaluation of the materials in question and to offer our ministry perspective for prayerful consideration!
 

While there are numerous books and other materials available in Christian bookstores from noted evangelical authors regarding the subjects of prayer, healing, and gifts of the Spirit, etc., for the purpose of this examination we will limit ourselves to materials directly related to the doctrines of "Listening Prayer" and "Inner Healing." All in all, we had in our possession some 50-plus books pertaining to the subject(s) in question. Because as we have discovered, there is such a vast amount of material, we can’t possibly offer a detailed analysis of all the material. However, for those materials not covered we would direct the reader to sources having already dealt with the subjects of inner healing and listening prayer.⁷ Our objective will be to offer an overview of the subject(s) with references to those materials and/or representatives of the Listening Prayer movement and those involved in inner-healing or healing of memories in Christian counseling.
 

Practioner’s of "listening prayer" assert that all believers may hear the Shepherd’s voice and often cite the passage in John 10: 3-5 where Jesus states "my sheep hear my voice" as the clearest biblical basis for their view. But, they argue, most believers simply don’t discern God’s voice and therefore are involved more in monologue rather than in dialogue while praying. God, they say, longs for an intimate relationship outside the Trinity where we may speak with Him as He spoke with Adam in the Garden of Eden. The answer to this, according to Dave and Linda Olsen, and a host of others, is the practice of "Listening Prayer." Listening prayer involves waiting on God to give an answer not at some later date, but at the moment.⁸ Those who advocate listening prayer believe there a number of reasons why one should do so. The Olsen’s mention these: 1) to get specific directions from God; 2) to get fresh wisdom and insight about life; 3) to be able to do what we cannot do in our own strength; 4) to resolve conflicts and disputes in marriage, family, neighborhood children; 5) to avoid error and delusion; 6) to understand the Scriptures; 7) to discover God’s specific leading for crucial events in our lives; 8) to ask the Lord specific questions about circumstances in our lives; 9) to increase intimacy and dialogue with our Lord; 10) to learn how to love in specific situations; 11) to reduce fear and to hear reassurance from the Lord; 12) to enhance the joy in life; 13) to discover more about ourselves than we would normally know; 14) to listen for Church decision-making; and, 15) to cooperate with the Lord for our sanctification.

As with most who practice "listening prayer," the voice of God is not always discernible. In fact, learning to listen to God is a developed skill and is like fine tuning one’s heart to hear His voice. One writer suggests there are four vital elements vital to communion with the Lord: 1) becoming still; 2) tuning to spontaneity and rhema; 3) using vision; and, 4) journaling.⁹ "Journaling" is writing out one’s prayers to God and His response or answer to what one believes He has spoken.¹⁰ Linda Olsen describes her own technique this way: "Instead of praying with my eyes closed, I pray with pen in hand. I’m also trying to learn to pray and listen on my computer, as it would save time on the days when either the Lord or I have much to say to each other."¹¹ Olsen goes on to say that since her own vocabulary is unable to describe what her spirit knows, it is essential to develop a language for our spirit. She calls this writing in the language of the spirit.¹²

As mentioned above, those who practice "listening prayer" advocate using it as a way to do counseling. In fact, those who apply listening prayer have an added advantage because they simply have immediate access to the mind of God on the matter. In essence, the counselor hears God’s words for the counselees. For example, one of the way’s counselors may resolve a problem area in a persons life is to ask the Lord to reveal a person’s root beliefs. We are told that root beliefs are based on past experiences (almost always from childhood) and affect the ways a person thinks or acts. The counselor, therefore, asks the Lord to reveal these root causes to the counselee that they may confess, repent, and be released from root cause of the problem.¹³ This kind of counseling or therapy is called "inner healing" or "healing of memories" and is not unique to Christian counseling.
 

Inner healing advocates maintain that there are emotional blocks and habitual behavior patterns exemplified by the negative fruits of frustration, defeat, and poor self-image. These wounds (which occurred in our past history, before our conversion to Christ) prevent us from experiencing the more abundant life that Jesus promised and need to be healed. The primary objective of inner healing is to extend the Lordship and healing power of Christ to our hidden past and to release us from our emotional and psychological bondage our past experience has produced. One researcher calls this a kind of "retroactive sanctification."¹⁴

Inner healing occurs in counseling as an individual seeking to be delivered from a problem area in his or her life submits to the counselor who then asks the individual to relive his past in imagination. The counselors ask the individual to "walk back" to an incident or traumatic encounter and then to imagine that Jesus is there to bring his love, healing power, an resolution to that event.¹⁵

Many who advocate inner healing agree that Agnes Sanford is known as the mother of the inner healing movement. John L. Sandford (no relation to her), Morton Kelsey, Karen Mains, Leanne Payne, Ruth Carter Stapelton, John & Paula Sandford, Richard Foster, David Seamands, Francis MacNutt, Dennis & Matthew Linn, Dennis and Rita Bennett, to name a few, all make mention of Agnes Sanford’s influence and pioneering work on inner healing.

Promoters of inner healing often cite scripture as their source of authority for this teaching. For example, Jesus spoke often about the heart as being the source of thought and action and about binding up the broken hearted (Luke 4:18). The apostle Paul spoke of renewing the mind in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23. Then, on the occasion in which Jesus met two of his despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), He is said to have healed their memories of failure and frustration. Jesus also ministered to and healed the memory of Peter after his denial.

John and Paula Sandford describe their ministry of inner healing as being the "key to sanctification" and the means for developing maturity within the body of Christ.¹⁶ Inner healing is viewed also as a means of breaking the power of sin over the believer and the answer to Romans 7. The Olsen’s concur and refer again and again to the Sandford’s as a source of their authority. While much more could be said regarding inner healing, more important, is evaluating the doctrine in light of Holy Scripture.
 

Let’s begin first with the teaching of Listening Prayer. As mentioned above, the major premise upon which the Olsen’s doctrine of listening prayer rests is John 10: 3-5). But, as the average student of the Bible will discover, the context of John 10 has nothing to do with prayer! Jesus’ statement "My sheep hear My voice" must be interpreted in the larger context of the passage (verses 1-18) which indicates something quite different than the Olsen’s claim. All one has to do is begin with verse one of the chapter where Jesus warns that there have been and will be those who will attempt to enter the door of the sheepfold in order to deceive or lead his sheep astray, but those who are truly his sheep will not follow the stranger; they will hear the true Shepherd’s voice. In essence, Jesus is referring to the effectual calling of both Jew and Gentile. Verse 16 clearly speaks of Christ uniting together those believers who hear his voice into one fold, under one Shepherd! Yet, again and again, the Olsen’s and others¹⁷ in the listening prayer movement cite this passage and many others completely out of context! Moreover, in a number of instances words received through prayer are equated with the written Word. For example, on page 33 and 34 of their book, the Olsen’s cite James 1:22-25 with reference to obeying the word and equate it with listening prayer! But James 1:22-25 is a direct reference to the written word (the word of truth-v.18; the engrafted word- v.21) and in context, commands Christians to put to practice what they have just read!

Advocates of Listening Prayer often present a faulty comparison between Jesus relationship with the Father and our relationship with Him. The Olsen’s assert that Jesus is our model for listening prayer (they cite John 14:12,16 yet another passage quoted out of context) stating that as he listened to the Father, we are to listen to the Father.¹⁸ Yet, the very scriptures they cite place Jesus in special relationship with the Father.¹⁹

While most individuals practicing listening prayer warn that one must be careful to distinguish between God’s voice, our own, or the devil’s, this appears to be quite subjective. ²⁰ This of course, is where one major concern rests. It comes as no surprise that similar experiences or encounters common with those practicing listening prayer and journaling are common with new agers and cultists.²¹ First, we are asked to accept a word or direction based on someone’s experience and second, the inference is that God spoke and therefore one must obey. Yes, we are told to check it with Scripture and even confirm it by the counsel of a spiritual brother or sister. Be that as it may, it remains rather subjective unless the Lord reveals the exact message (personally) to the one meant to receive it. Experience seems to be self-authenticating while biblical counsel considered marginal.

At the heart of Listening Prayer is healing of memories. This is borne out in the many books available on the subject which not only offer techniques of administering this kind of counseling but refer to others who passed on their knowledge to others who were taught by others who were mentored by others who were...ad infintum. It may be surprising to some that Agnes Sanford (earlier mentioned as the mother of inner healing movement) was heavily influenced by new age thinking, especially Unity School of Christianity, and introduced inner healing and visualization into the church. Mrs. Sanford who was heavily influenced by Jungian psychology, introduced inner healing to her pastor, Episcopal priest, Morton T. Kelsey. Kelsey and to her son John A. Sanford who studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich where he was deeply influenced by the psychiatrist, Carl G. Jung.²² Again, the influence that Agnes Sanford and others have had on Christian counseling has been tremendous. As a result, elements of secular psychology (Freud’s, infantile trauma and Jung’s nature of the unconscious mind) have penetrated the Church and in essence, undermined biblical authority on a number of points. The practice of Listening Prayer and doctrine of inner healing must be examined in light of what God has already said in the Bible. Everything is to be tested by the standard God has given to us; because something produces results or even changes a persons life is no guarantee that God is in it or that the technique is based on objective truth. We are not interested in pragmatism! We are interested in truth above everything else!
 

As we stated earlier in this study, the Bible itself seems to be somewhat silent where manner, technique, or content in prayer is concerned. In other words, true prayer, in the biblical sense has its basis in the Spirit of God who cannot be encased in some ritualistic formula.

In the Scriptures, prayer is seen as petition and intercession, adoration, thanksgiving, and confession. It is quite literally, pouring out our souls to God and it should cause us not only to acquire a deep understanding of who God is but who we are before our Maker (Matt. 7:7,8; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 5:7). Prayer is both a pleading with God that he will hear and act upon our requests and a trusting surrender to the Lord that He is sovereign and will act according to the councel of his own will. And until we understand who it is we are addressing in Scripture and who we are as his children, we will miss the joy and yes, fear of coming before the personal God of the universe.

Prayer, as pictured in Scripture, is a means God uses to give us what He wants. Our will is to be conformed to His will. We go to Him therefore, not demanding nor claiming something because we have all the rights and privileges thereof! That’s not the way it works with our own children, neither does God work that way (1 John 5:14,15).

The question is not does God hear us. Scriptures are replete with verses stating that the Lord loves us and desires we bring our petitions before Him. The question, rather, is how does He answer prayer. Does he in fact communicate to us through "Listening Prayer"? Our view is one should never limit the manner or way God wishes to communicate to us. However, if the method or practice is contrary to Scripture (visualization or imagining Jesus in counseling), produces results through means not supported in Scripture (inner healing, healing of memories), or brings forth doctrine foreign to the revealed Word, it should be considered sub-biblical and rejected out of hand.

Listening prayer, in the biblical sense is to place ourselves before the Lord either in our "prayer closet" or in union with other believers. We are called to present personal and individual needs to God and urged at times to intercede for the body of Christ universal (John 17:20,21; Eph. 6:18). Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to imagine Jesus in our prayer to the Father nor are we to taught to seek counsel to relieve ourselves of past traumatic moments as a way of overcoming nagging sins or compulsive behavior. We are told on the contrary, who we really are and that our way to victorious living is by trusting in the on-going sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit! Our conflict is with our fallen nature, the old man, the flesh and we are told that Christ is able to give us power to live by the Spirit if we submit and obey his Word (Gal. 5:17). While prayer changes things our focus must be always be on the work of Christ in us: his life for ours. Paul says He is my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). We come into this world as sinners and we remain that way until we die. However, we are given the life of Christ and told that it is in essence his life, his desire, his thoughts, and his perspective which will get us through this life if we submit to his lordship (John 15)!

May God give us the strength and courage to submit to the Written Word and then the desire to come before His throne in prayer and fellowship and commune with the living Word, Jesus Christ!
 

Dan