In this sermon, we are going to see what is counseling according to the bible.

To really understand what is counselling according to the bible, we shall take a look at the new form of divination in Christianity which is being misunderstood for counseling.

Before then, we are going to look at the dictionary and the biblical meaning of counseling.

Definition of counseling according to the dictionary.

The dictionary defines counseling as professional advice about a problem.

This means, you must be the one to tell your problems to a counselor; who will advise you on a proper way to solve it.

Definition of counseling according to the bible.

To understand the definition of counseling according to the bible, let us survey the scriptural text below:

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22.

We can plainly see from the above text that the bible also defines counseling as advice that prevents failure in the lives of humans.

And applying this in the Christian way, counseling should therefore mean; consulting a man of God to tell him about your plans, or even the challenges you are facing in life.

And the man of God will in turn use the Spirit of God to give you an advice that will help you succeed in your plans, or overcome the challenges you are facing in life.

For example, if you are used to having bad dreams, your business is not moving; you are always disagreeing and fighting with your spouse, etc.

You need to go to a man of God and relate all you are passing through in life.

Now after telling the man of God your problem; he will advice you to first of all depart from sin and pray God for forgiveness. And will also give you days of fasting’s and prayers with the proper bible portions to use. Etc.

How Christians are mistaking Counseling for divination today.

Today, Christians are really mistaking divination for counseling.

Because when they go to the men of God, instead of telling them their problems; they will be sitting silently while the man of God tells them what is going on in their life.

The worst part of it is that these so called men of God will charge them a fee for the counseling.

But I want you to know in this sermon today that if you go to a minister and he collects your money and sits down to tell you about things going on in your life in the name of prophecy, he is speaking through a medium which is known as DIVINATION.

Paul and Silas encounter a demon of divination in Acts 16.

In Acts 16:16-23 Paul and Silas were thrown into prison because Paul casted out the demon of divination from a girl; whom some ministers were using to make money in those days, same as we see in our churches today.

And this same practice is still going on today in our churches.

You would see the so-called prophets using young girls possessed with the spirit of divination, to foretell the future for people; all in the name of prophecy. 

At times most of these fake prophets do the fortune telling by themselves; and people believe they are doing it in the name of God.

In Acts 8:9-10 we see how Simon the magician was doing likewise; and people back then mistook him to be using the power of God.

That is why in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 and Leviticus 19:31 God strongly warns against divination.

And we see so many people being punished because of disobeying this order.

Punishment for divination.

Notable of all is Saul consulting the witch of Endor to call up the spirit of Samson; and he was cursed to die for doing that;

So Saul died for the unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.

(1 Chronicle 10:13)

(Check 1 Samuel 28:7-19 for the full story)

God was so displeased with divination that He used Josiah to abolish it in the land.

Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spirits,

2 Kings 23:24

And in the scriptures, we see the end and reward of those who practice as well as patronize divination:

“You shall not permit a sorcerers to live.

Exodus 22:18

I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers.

Micah 5:12

Who frustrates the signs of babblers and drive diviners mad;

Isaiah 44:25

And so, God has a message in Ezekiel 13:20-23 for those practicing divination:

How prophecy occurs according to the bible.

Prophecy can occur in the following ways:

1. When someone lives a practical Christian life, coupled with fasting and prayers which will move God to reveal anything to him by visions, dreams, and voices in the ears or heart and through the bible as we can see in the case of Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10:1-17.

2. Prophecy can also occur when the children of God gather to fast and pray and the Spirit of God descends on a person who is worthy and uses him to speak the mind of God to the people, as we see in the case of the apostles in Acts 13:2.

Now, it is very important to test and prove by their life and works, those who claim to prophecy with the Spirit of God: they must be humble and quiet, do no evil, nor put their minds on the vain desires of this present world.

While prophesying they must answer to no one when asked because the Spirit of God does not speak to a man when he will, but when God pleases.

So then whoever speaks with the Spirit of God must speak as God wills.

On the other hand, those who prophesy with the spirit of the devil are foolish and have no virtue.

They exalt themselves i.e. are prideful, and desire the best seat in the church. They are wicked and full of words, spend their time on pleasure, and in all manner of voluptuousness.

And most importantly, they receive the reward of their divination which if they are not given will never divine.

Assignments in today’s churches.

There is an evil practice the false prophets are using today called assignments; they will ask you to pray on olive oils, coconut, etc., and break them, they will ask you to bath at night and burn your clothes; plus many other ways I cannot mention here.

They will claim that Jesus mixing saliva with sand to give sight to a blind man (John 9:6) was an assignment.

But that’s a big lie because, the reason why Jesus mixed the saliva and sand to make the man see was to show us the element of our human creation.

remember the man was born blind, which means that God had not finished creating him because He had not yet fixed his eyes.

So what Jesus did was to finish the work of creation on man by giving him sight, as it is written:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breath into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

Thus the sand Jesus used is the dust of the ground, and His saliva the breath of life from God.

And why Jesus told him to go and wash in the river was to confirm mans need to be born again through baptism; in order to be clean of his original sin.

The same thing also occurred when Elijah told Naman to go and wash in the Jordan, and be cleansed from his leprosy.

Some also claim was assignment-Naman’s leprosy symbolizes sin and the washing in water symbolizes baptism.

The proper assignment to be given is showing the person how to repent; and giving him fasting’s and prayers, and reading of the bible.

Please share this article to help a fellow Christian out there understand what is counseling according to the bible.