Customer Reviews

Only God Can Heal the Wounded Heart

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This book gives a wonderful overview of the biblical methodology of change. Man is not basically good, just a little dysfunctional. The Christian doctrine of total depravity is correctly identified along with the answer from 2nd Peter 1:3. True hope is given through the transforming power of God's word, not the pandering to pop-culture, nor so called "christian counseling" that employs ineffective (but secularly popular)psyco-techniques. For the truly serious biblical counselor, pastor, or those who are hurting, this book is a must read!

While the title may appeal to those like myself who would give ultimate credit to God and His word for help in times of trouble, this book is anything but the truth or helpful. It is basically a grossly misinformed response to the book and seminar, The Wounded Heart, by Dr. Dan Allender. Mr. Bulkley, although he may be sincere, has done a great disservice to the abused through his misunderstanding and misrepresentation of Dr. Allender's work on sexual abuse from a biblical perspective. Mr. Bulkley has twisted many of the principles of The Wounded Heart and, sadly, may steer others away from this tremendously helpful understanding of abuse. As a Christian who is also a counselor, I would highly recommend you avoid Mr. Bulkley's book and purchase the biblically based Wounded Heart and its companion workbook instead. Dr. Allender has helped many face the effects of abuse and begin the process of healing which ultimately leads to a greater understanding of, and love for, God.

The whole stinkin book is about some woman that made up that she was abused and went to some therapist and ended up with a bunch of multiple personalities and left her pastor husband and her kids. In the end she is speaking at some seminar about the dangers of therapists.

The whole book is like a kick in the stomach. It goes back and forth between the story line and talking about how people make up this stuff. It really hacked me off and hurt. The title of this loser of a book is Only God Can Heal the Wounded Heart by Ed Bulkley.

This book heaps pain upon pain. The only thing this book is good for is throwing or burning.

This book is another collection of Ed bulkley's flimsy strawman arguments demonizing any Christian counselor who makes even the slightest use of the science of psychology. Reviewer J. Brackman has Ed Bulkley pegged perfectly.

Is it any wonder that Bulkley's "PhD" is a correspondence doctorate from a non-recognized school? Bulkley's arguments are almost universally dismissed by scholarly conservative evangelicals in the counseling field today.

Dr. Jim Beck, Professor of Counseling at Denver Seminary, writes: "The worst offenders are those authors who not only take an anti-integration position but more specifically an anti-psychology position. Authors who recklessly seek to dismiss the entire clinical wing of psychology as well as all of its scientific production (Bobgan & Bobgan, 1989; Bulkley, 1993) must use contorted and contrived arguments to make their points. Their misunderstanding of basic social science, their selective use of outdated material, their dismissive attitude to the significant contribution psychology has made to ministry and church life in general are all embarrassments to evangelicals who strive to serve Christ within the mental health professions."

Give this book a thorough read. I highly recommend the methodology of Ed Bulkley.

This is a great book that you can read when you have hard times. Keep buy your bead and read at a slow pace.

This is a problematic book from an extreme viewpoint on the Biblical Counseling issue (bible-only vs. secular psychology). Bulkley's arguments are full of strawmen and poor Biblical exegesis.

This is the irony: that in pillorying "Christian psychology" and upholding "Bible-only" counseling, Bulkley shows his own weakness in handling the Word of God. In one passage (I believe it's page 91, but I don't have the book in front of me during this writing), Bulkley uses the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9 to espouse his belief that Jesus is "still [telling] us today" to "go, wash [our] eyes and be healed." Is this really what Jesus is telling us?

This is nothing more than Benny Hinn for the Soul. Claim your healing in the name of Jesus. Jesus doesn't want his saints suffering. Of course, with Hinn, it's physical healing primarily, but with Bulkley, it's the same mentality applied to the soul.

Very dangerous, and very wrong when considered with the rest of Scripture. Take 2 Cor 12, for instance-- is not the suffering of the saints to the glory of God? Does not Romans 8 say that God uses ALL to bring about good? Suffering is a reality, and not a good one in and of itself. Suffering is bad. But our Sovereign Lord can use it to his eternal glory through the mystery of redemption. The Lord does not necessarily remove emotional pain in this life just because we desire it to be gone.

The strawman argumentation I alluded to earlier has to do with Bulkley's archetype of the Christian Psychologist. This is a FICTIONAL character, a so-called Christian Therapist who doesn't even know where his Bible is in his office. A therapist who believes in hypnotic regression, multiple personality disorder (personality dissociation) and other controversial, subjective, and dangerous practices.

This is not an accurate picture of many counselors who ascribe to some of the truths of secular psychology while holding to the absolute authority and sufficiency of the Word of God and espousing a thoroughly biblical worldview (which of course, necessitates rejecting a great deal of secular theories about emotional healing).

All in all, this book is anti-psychology screed from a man who apparently holds a PhD, but is nevertheless a failure as a biblical scholar.