The American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) is at it again. And, why not? They made over 15 million dollars on their amalgamated program “Caring for People God’s Way.” (See PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, Vol. 9, No. 1).
Now they are offering “Marriage Works.” The AACC claims that both programs are “God’s Way.” The AACC with the same scheme ($750 tuition minus a $300 limited scholarship=$450 reduced tuition) and the same kind of team (psychologists) will probably rake in another 15 million dollars.
An article in The New York Times refers to the “Marriage Works” program as “faith based.” If it’s “God’s Way” and “faith based,” who can be opposed to it? Answer: We are! And, so should all true believers be opposed to these programs as well as to the AACC itself.
AACC is an organization that thrives on integrating the psychological wisdom of men about which we are warned (1 Cor. 2:5) with the Bible. Everyone listed in the “Marriage Works” program is an integrationist and proud to be so.
We believe that a comparison of members of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC), as well as others involved in the International Association of Biblical Counselors (IABC), the Biblical Counseling Foundation (BCF) and other such organizations, would reveal that many of those people are also members of AACC. None of these organizations that say they promote “biblical counseling” have, as far as we know, taken a stand against the AACC, which obviously supports the integration of the psychological wisdom of men with the Bible. We are not surprised by those at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) belonging to AACC. They’ve already set the standard for this practice, as well as other such “ecumenism,” by belonging to secular psychological organizations, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology (NASAP).
We doubt that the present ecumenical stance of NANC, IABC, BCF, and other such organizations will change to criticize membership in AACC, APA, or NASAP.
PAL V10N5 (September-October 2002)