If you take people to the cross, they will find freedom.
If you take them anywhere else, at best, they get an anesthetic.

In 1949, President Harry Truman declared May Mental Health Awareness Month to raise awareness and educate the public about mental illnesses, the realities of living with these conditions, and strategies for attaining a greater measure of mental health and wellness. The question that begs itself is this…is it working? After 76 years of devoting a full month to the mental health of the people of our nation, one would think we are better off today than in 1949. But are we?

People all over our nation are struggling. It is estimated that in 2025, approximately 1 in 5 U.S. adults will experience a mental health condition; 1 in 20 will experience serious mental illness; 60% of teens will report experiencing some form of mental health challenge, and 2/3 of employees will experience some form of burnout in the workplace. In the midst of the struggle, people are paying big money to find answers. The United States spends a staggering $282 billion on mental health issues annually. Counseling centers are constantly filled, and many people spend years in therapy. Years! One would think that after years of counseling, eventually someone would get healthy. But that is not the case in most situations. Yet people keep going week after week, hoping against hope that they’ll eventually get free, but never really expecting to and therefore never actually getting there.

Unfortunately, Christian counseling doesn’t have a much better track record. A few years ago, Toni coached a lady who had seen a Christian counselor for over nine years twice a month, without a breakthrough. In one 3-hour conversation, Toni helped this lady put her faith in Jesus and coached her through the Forgiveness Protocols to forgive the deep wounds from her past. She left free and no longer needed to see her former counselor.

I personally believe that the reason the mental health crisis in our country is getting worse, not better, in spite of the emphasis and attention given to it, is because at the root of the prevailing counseling model, including a majority of Christian counseling, is unbelief. They don’t believe that certain things are fixable. The Gospel isn’t enough. Therefore, all that can be done is help people manage their mental health issues and learn to live with them.

Sometime ago, Nancy, a Christian counselor in Atlanta, came in contact with the Forgiving Forward material. She invited us to lunch, where she asked us to answer questions about the Forgiving Forward methodology. Afterwards, she completed the Forgiving Forward video course as well as the Coaching Intensive, then quickly began incorporating the Forgiving Forward model into her practice. She was so encouraged by the breakthroughs her clients experienced through the protocols that she began sharing them with other Christian counselors. Eventually, through her influence, we were invited to be the keynote speakers at the annual retreat of Christian counselors in our state, where we trained them in the Forgiving Forward model.

At the retreat, many of the attendees were somewhat skeptical about us and our methodology. Neither Toni nor I have a counseling degree. However, their attitude changed when Nancy shared an amazing story about a client who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and had manifested seven different personalities. Nancy had worked with this lady for several years, and she used all of the tools that her formal training had taught her with no successful breakthroughs. Nothing she tried had worked. One day, she decided to try the Forgiving Forward model with her client. After Nancy coached her through the seven protocols of forgiveness, the lady had only one personality. The other six were gone! The lady was healed and free.

A few years later, Toni reached out to Nancy and asked how the lady with the seven personalities was doing. Nancy reported that the lady was doing great, and the other six personalities were gone for good. She has moved to another state and has become an advocate for Forgiving Forward wherever she goes. Over the years, she has purchased dozens of Forgiving Forward books and gives them to anyone she encounters who is struggling with emotional or mental health issues. We had seen the orders come through, but we’d never made the connection.

Our late friend, Dr. Michael Wells, had a PhD in counseling and a very successful practice and track record in helping people walk in freedom. In addition, Mike walked with God more intimately than anyone I’ve ever known. Mike, who was uniquely qualified to speak on the subject of mental health, wrote the following in an article about counseling:

“I have noticed Christian counseling has actually become a denomination of sorts, with its own language, concept of man, knowledge, and explanations of behavior that generally have nothing to do with Scripture. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to follow the theme of most Christian counseling in any portion of Scripture. This is meant to be critical, for my prayer for the body of Christ each day is that we not be let stray, our focus on Him will be maintained, and we never forget that His presence can cure us of every ill.” (My Weakness for His Strength Vol 2, page 102)

If you take people to the cross, they will find freedom. If you take them anywhere else, at best, they get an anesthetic.

We believe that there is nothing that the presence of Jesus doesn’t heal, and that nothing is healed without Him. Jesus is The Way, and every other way is not The Way. As The Way, Jesus made the way for us through the Blood of His Cross so that we could walk in freedom. Our freedom always involves receiving the forgiveness of God and extending that forgiveness to those who have wounded us.

Jesus is the answer, and the only answer, to every mental, physical, relational, or spiritual problem that we may encounter. If you’re seeing a counselor or mental health specialist and they are not pointing you to Jesus, His death, and resurrection as your only solution, may I suggest that you find somebody who will?

Forgiveness is applying the blood of Jesus as payment in full for every wound I ever have or will suffer.

(For information on Michael Wells and his teachings go to abidinglife.com.)

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