By Dr. Larry Nims

My life belongs to God. I was born again in August 1981, after struggling for forty-six years to find God. Looking back, it's now clear to me that He found me long before that -- even before "the foundatios of the world." I cried out to Him to help me believe in Him in high school church summer camp. But, legalistic religion kept me from hearing Him.

I suffered enormously under the hopeless burden of condemnation from negative religiosity (in my mainstream denomination) throughout my childhood and into adulthood.

I could not join with the hypocrisy and judgmentalism that I saw in the Church in which I was raised. It just did not make sense to me.

I was really a very miserable guy. I was bitter, severely depressed and suicidal, caustic and contentious. I was a mess! I now call my experience of those "forty years in the wilderness" the kind of suffering that makes poets, artists ... and shrinks.

But, bless God! He is using all of that experience to help me have the understanding and compassion to truly help people. But, I have to say that I certainly wouldn't care to repeat much of it.

But I kept searching for God all those years-everywhere but in His Word. I finally got this all untangled enough to receive Him by faith when I was nearly 47 years old.

I am now 66 years young! He has done a lot of "catch up" work in me since then. So much so that I became an ordained minister in 1988. Amazing to me, still.

In 1990 I got clear confirmation from a multitude of godly counselors to move ahead with being trained in the "Callahan Techniques."

This was after I had tried these techniques on phobias with two clients a year before that. They worked so well that I was frightened by the power of this treatment method.

You see, since being saved, I had repented of using the many occult practices in which I had dabbled; so, I was very concerned not to be tricked back into any of that stuff again.

So, I put Dr. Callahan's book back on the shelf and, quite literally, I said to God "I am not sure whose power is behind this. So I will not touch it again unless you make it clear to me that it is from you and that you want me to use it." And I did not use these techniques again for over a year.

I, sadly, went back to using the inadequate methods of treatment that I had been using.

My heart ached about the suffering of so many people and the insufficiency of our counseling methods to fully meet their healing needs. But, I could only use methods that I knew that God confirmed.

"The earnest and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Then, in mid 1989, I began deep and earnest prayer for God to show me a better way to help my counseling clients. I said to Him ...

"God, you have got to show me a better way to help people. There are too many hurting people out there and there are more and more of them all of the time. You have got to show me a better way!

"I know that you called me to be a counselor, and that is what I want to do. But, you have to show me better ways to help people. Our techniques are inadequate. We can help people a lot, but not enough to finish the job. So, their 'last state is often worse than the first.'

"Clients so often give up and then they come crashing down later. Then, they blame themselves, they blame You, God, and they blame me. This keeps them even more stuck in their pain and limitations, afraid to try again. You've got to show me a better way to help them."

I was pretty determined about getting an answer from Him.

After all, He says in His Word to "Come boldly before the throne of God for mercy and grace in time of every need." And, I knew that I had a very important need, not only for myself, but also for millions of wounded people in the world.

I prayed these things intensively for about four months. Then I began seeing that God seemed to be bringing Dr. Callahan's work back to my attention.

However, on such big decisions as to whether to pursue using these rather strange looking techniques again, I was determined to "let everything be established in the mouth of two or more witnesses," as He says in His Word.

But, on such huge issues, I seem to need about 22 witnesses. I want to be very certain that I am hearing accurately from God. After all, He says two or more witnesses.

So I continued to pray fervently and to seek much Godly counsel. Besides, it takes a lot of convincing to get me to spend $5,000.00 for any training!

I got consistently clear messages to go ahead and learn these techniques -- just to be sure to use them in Christ -- to serve Him and His people. That is what I wanted to do anyway-to serve Him and the people that He sends to me. So I finally began the training in February 1990.

God Still Speaks to His People -- A Prophecy

Amazingly, a few months before I started the Callahan training, in October 1989 at a conference of my denomination I received a wonderful prophecy from a man of God.

Among many nice things that God told me then was this. "I am taking you in a new direction now. You will be a deliverance counselor. You will disciple people who want to know the things I will teach you. You will teach it and write books on it nationally and internationally. You will be doing this for the next twenty-two years."

Wow! I wonder what He has in mind after that!

I had no idea then what "deliverance counseling" was. I just knew that this was from Him, and that I would wait on Him to lead me however and whenever He chose.

I had already learned much about spiritual warfare and taught my Christian clients to become alert and to practice warfare to help maintain the progress we were making in our work together. And I did not think I wanted to be in a "deliverance ministry."

In fact, I had already told Him that.

So I continued fervently praying for another three months. Then I got clear on His answer to my six months of prayer.

I took the training from Dr. Callahan. I am so thankful that I stepped out in faith in this really strange new direction in my profession. But, I really wanted to help people much better than I could with the limited tools that we had in traditional counseling.

Well, I sure know now what He meant by that term "deliverance counseling." That is what I am doing in my work-for eleven of those 22 years, now. I use the acronym BE SET FREE FAST for my (of course they are really His) methods.

This acronym is descriptive of much of what BSFF actually does. It "sets the captives free." And, it "binds up the wounded"-mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I cannot imagine a more rewarding ministry for me to have from Him!

So now, in May of 2001, a little over three years since I first introduced BSFF to the professional community, I have already given training seminars for counselors in seven states, Canada, and Australia.

More trainings are being scheduled nationally and internationally. Counselors and individuals are using the BSFF Training Manual in over 30 countries, on six continents. I counsel clients by telephone around the world.

The Lord is doing wonderful things with BSFF ... and with me!

Since that time so many wonderful developments have ensued. I continue to ask for him to show me everything about this work. And He certainly has, and still does.

I ask Him regularly. He guides me in so many amazing ways in sessions with my clients, whether they are Christians or not. I have learned to trust him single-mindedly in this work, and He is amazingly helpful.

And, I tell people about His help in my office and when I do presentations or training in BSFF.

This guidance from God, along with the wonderful BSFF methods that He has taught me, have made counseling the truly rewarding work that I had always wanted to have. It is great fun to be a counselor now.

More than that, to be a victorious counselor! And to help others become "more than conquerors."

My Professional Experience with BE SET FREE FAST

As a practicing clinician for over thirty years I am very pleased to have found a technique that is truly effective and readily usable by my clients.

My extensive experience includes both inpatient and outpatient clinical practice as a licensed psychologist in California. I have treated virtually every major clinical diagnosis.

I have been trained and have utilized numerous therapeutic modalities, including Cognitive Behavioral work, Hypnosis, Gestalt Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Behavior Modification, Neuro-linguistic Programming, and many others.

Are these methods Christian?

All of these methods were helpful, especially when combined with submission to God's direction in using them. Some of my Christian clients have concerns about using these techniques, especially hypnosis.

However, hypnosis is not an unnatural or "new-age" technique in and of itself. It is a natural phenomenon that can be used for good or ill. And that is true of any counseling method and virtually anything that God designed into us as humans.

We truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by Him. He has given us abilities that we do not even know yet. If we reject or misuse those abilities, understandings, and skills that He has revealed to us, how likely is He to give us any further understanding of the wonderful likeness to Him that we are as His children?

We can be "transformed from glory to glory" only to the degree that we are willing, boldly and faithfully, to follow Him into the "newness of life" that He has for each of us.

I remind Christians that, when we reject an idea, method or technique out of hand, without truly examining it, we are doing precisely what we object to in those non-Christians who summarily reject Christ.

We Are "Throwing The Baby Out With The Bath Water."

A committed Christian counselor can use these various counseling techniques quite safely under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even non-Christian counselors around the world can and are being used by God to help people of all faiths. After all, He does love everyone equally, and He wills that none should perish.

God created these amazing mechanisms in us, and He has revealed them to us now so that we can participate with Him in "setting the captives free." BSFF simply needs to be used under His direction and protection.

Development of BSFF

In this section I hope to show you how God has brought about BSFF and how He is true to His word in so many ways. Here, He has fulfilled one of His promises, namely, "Trust in Me and I will show things that you know not of."

You will see that He did this in bringing BSFF to the light and continues to do this with me in my counseling sessions. We serve "an awesome God!"

Because of the limited and incomplete results of all of these traditional modalities, I began to develop BE SET FREE FAST™ about eleven years ago. BSFF™ is a remarkably rapid, gentle, thorough and effective tool for treating most mental, emotional, physical and spiritual issues that limit and impair optimum human functioning.

BSFF typically ameliorates or totally eliminates the symptoms and the very roots of the issues in most clinical diagnoses. Since every psychological problem has spiritual roots, it is essential to eliminate the spiritual blocks to freedom as well.

It is a joy to help my Christian brothers and sisters to do this.

Some of the areas of treatment application in which I have seen BSFF work effectively are listed on the BSFF website. They are quite extensive.

The Royal Road to Forgiveness

A major emphasis in my work is on clearing unforgiveness. This is rampant in my clients, whether they are Christian or not. It was in me, too, until quite recently. So often, many people do not even realize that they are holding anger, judgment and criticism towards themselves, toward others and even toward God.

Yes, many Christians are angry and unforgiving toward God. The horrible result is that they usually do not consciously recognize it, and they, therefore, are blocking Him out from helping them in the very areas that they need His help the most.

Now, I am finally able to help them see it and quickly and gently eliminate it. This is a wonderful area of new freedom for them. The new joy they feel from the lifting of this burden is wonderful to share with them.

It is especially gratifying to do this work with Christians since I can also help them with the spiritual problems they are struggling with, and which are holding them back from true "freedom in Christ."

And, we can go beyond just clearing unforgiveness. We can go to God in confession and repentance for our sinful attitudes and actions, and quickly return to right standing with Him in the areas where we were unknowingly blocking Him out of our lives.

The deep satisfaction as a therapist that I now experience daily is dramatically different from the frustration, helplessness disappointment, inadequacy, sadness, sorrow and heartache that I so often experienced with traditional therapeutic modalities.

None of the traditional counseling methods could get the job done thoroughly, even when used in various combinations. I knew that we needed better tools -- tools that would really work.

BSFF is such a tool.

It is truly amazing how simple, gentle, rapid and thoroughly effective it is. I consistently get results in many of the really tough areas of treatment, in which I was unable to make stable and substantial progress previously.

In one session we frequently completely remove a whole series of problems that previously would literally have taken months and years to only partially treat.

Of course, as with most things of God, when we follow His way, with His understanding, things are not nearly so complex as we make them by ourselves.

The personal rewards with BSFF as a psychotherapist are enormous. To finally know that I am actually truly able to help people, and to watch their transformation right in session, is deeply satisfying.

To help therapists worldwide learn BSFF and use it skillfully to help so many people is more than just rewarding. It is glorious. And for His glory! I am wonderfully blessed!

This is God's work. I am deeply thankful to be a part of it and to help Him spread this wonderful method worldwide. Praise His wonderful Name!

Sincerely,

Larry Phillip Nims, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Ordained Minister

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