Have you tried different inner healing models in Christianity only to still struggle with the same feelings or spiritual issues? So, why does inner healing not work? And what does the Bible say about inner healing? This blog is an excerpt from a teaching by Dr. Henry W. Wright called Inner Healing: What it is and What it is Not. This popular teaching resource is available in our online bookstore.
Modern-Day Sorcery
This teaching will help you unravel the most subtle form of sorcery ever to hit Christianity in the name of Jesus. We must be careful because the term “inner healing” is a misnomer and is unscriptural. It is really a form of Occultism, which is when something other than God presents itself to us as God. Your soul does not need healing; it needs to be washed with the water of the Word and renewed.
A large part of Christian psychology is based upon Jungian psychotherapy. Carl Jung identified archetypes and dark shadows, and his goal was for people to have better lives with these dark things through therapy. However, this is heresy because it teaches co-habitation with the enemy. It is not possible to counsel an evil spirit. Instead, most people need deliverance and to have their minds renewed.
Inner Healing Models
Many people come to me after being through other inner healing models and are still tormented. I have concluded that what is happening in Christianity in inner healing is a variegated form of sorcery. Practitioners hypnotize under the power of suggestion. One of the methods of inner healing is calling Jesus into the picture. As soon as someone says, “Do you see Him?” that person is hypnotized. Hypnosis does not have to be weird; it can be a very simple thing.
We misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit, especially in the conjuration of Jesus through words and visions in inner healing. The person who is receiving ministry is trusting the person who is calling Jesus into the picture. However, there is no guarantee that it is Jesus. The Lord does not appear in our minds. He has a glorified physical body, just like we will have one day. He is all man in heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father—so how can He get into someone’s head? In Scripture, the Lord only appeared to people externally, not in people’s minds. Jesus is no longer God the Word; He is man glorified.
Moreover, if Jesus was there when the trauma occurred, why did He not stop it? Why does He need to heal the trauma when He could have prevented it? We cannot invoke a being in memory recall and the healing of memories.
Guided Imagery
Likewise, there is no guarantee it is the Holy Spirit speaking to them. When the practitioner asks someone, “Where is Jesus or what is He saying to you now?” This is guided imagery or the power of suggestion, and an assumption is made that the thing you are seeing and hearing is God. We do not know if what we are hearing is from the Holy Spirit.
I challenge people who practice this type of ministry—if you can conjure up Jesus on demand for the healing of memories, then why can you not conjure him up to heal your physical diseases if He is truly the Healer? This is modern-day sorcery, and the true Healer has been occluded. The Bible tells us not to ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit to do anything for us. If I cannot find something in Scripture, I cannot teach it.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24 KJV
Sanctification from Sin
At Be in Health, we teach that sin is a being (see our teaching on Separation). And after conversion, we are not totally sinless. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul is speaking to believers. He tells them to cleanse their spirits from filthiness. It is possible to have a mess in our spirit even after conversion. We must clean up the mess from the other kingdom.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 KJV
When we were born again, perhaps we did not clean ourselves from evil spirits by continuing to serve them. This is called sanctification, and most churches do not teach this. We actually need cleansing or sanctification on three levels: spirit, soul, and body.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV
Taking Thoughts Captive
In sanctification, the issue is actually in our thoughts. How do we think? Are we in charge of our own thoughts? We ought to be in charge of every thought that we have. 2 Corinthians tells us to take hold of every thought into captivity, and to cast down the ones that are not of God.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV
But how do we know which thoughts to cast down? We can understand what is good and evil from the Word of God. It is a sign of maturity for us to become skillful in the Word of Righteousness and grow more mature. We can exercise our senses to discern good and evil, and our thoughts can match how God thinks. We can begin to know truth and identify the errors in our thinking.
10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 KJV
The Mind of Christ
An example of an error in our thinking is when we have listened to a spirit of fear for so long that it has become one with our long-term memory. A spirit of fear may have joined us when we were not loved properly or giving and receiving love in a relationship was not safe. The evil spirits of fear can speak to us, bring torment, and cause physical reactions in our bodies. This is because we have yielded to thinking that is not of God and are following its way of thinking.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
Additionally, 1 John says that fear has torment. This can become the psychiatric battleground.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 KJV
We would not need inner healing if our minds were filled with God’s knowledge. Instead, our minds are filled with other knowledge that another kingdom has taught us. Anything that does not match how God thinks is a form of insanity. Sanctification is being cleansed from the other kingdom that has been talking to us. It starts with deliverance, but then we can have our minds renewed. We can have the mind of Christ and learn how God thinks, speaks, and acts and make His ways our own.
Renewal of the Mind
We need our minds renewed because we were previously taught from within how to think differently from God. Even when we remove the source of that thought through deliverance and ministry, our long-term memory can still recall those thoughts. So we must walk them out and have our minds renewed by the washing of the water of the Word. We must train our minds to remember God’s Word.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Ephesians 5:26 KJV
Before, our minds were trained in fear; now, we can train our minds in God’s Word. We can learn not to take thought for tomorrow. We can meditate on the Word of God day and night, and what He has said, and protein synthesis can make the Word of God become a permanent part of our biology. Our mind may still remember, but we can hold those thoughts captive and cast down the ones that are not from Him.
Discipleship in the Word
So, inner healing actually begins in discipleship of the Word; we need to be taught the truth. At Be in Health, we do not do counseling. We tell you what we see in the Word, what we see in science, and what we have seen in thousands of case histories—but the rest is up to you. You either mix it with your faith or reject it because you do not agree.
The more a person mediates on the Word, a biological thing occurs called protein synthesis. Our thoughts can become a permanent part of our tissue and biology. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Scripture from within. God wants our minds to be filled with His knowledge.
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