In may last year my wife and I were recommended by a friend to go to a "marriage intensive" to help our marriage. We went to the marriage intensive that was put on by Michael and Annalea Magana who have a blog called yourmarriagerestored.com. We found out that they are workers under a ministry by Joel and Kathy Davisson based out of Florida. The intensive was interesting, some good principles were laid out, but they really talk almost all to the men. They believe that whatever a woman does or says is in response to how her husband treats her. At the simplest level it is if a husband is treating the wife bad, then she will be bad, If a husband is treating his wife good then she will treat him good. The part of the conference that stuck out the most was when they said "a lot of people think this is a cult, but i assure you it is not." They also said that going to a counselor or therapist is a waste of time and money because it will fail. There method is the only way for you to have a happy marriage." A few months later we actually picked up Joel and Kathy's book and read it. It is full of the worst interpretation of scripture I have ever seen. I showed it to my pastor and he said it was way off base. Even Michael and Annalea's own church won't recommend the book because it is so heretical. Joel and Kathy, aside from writing at a disrespectful 3rd grade level, present facts in a twisted, unbiblical manner.in a simple afternoon I was able to go in and find dozens of errors in their interpretation and presentation. A quick check online on some of there points makes it simple to see that they are teaching falsehood. They found a way to make a buck when Joel lost his pastor job and they don't care who they destroy in the process. Some of the principals they present are good, but the bulk of them are not. On top of that their insistence that counseling does not work is really damaging. My wife has a diagnosed mental disorder that effects her relationships greatly. As soon as she found their ministry she refused to go to counseling anymore, the few times she did she argued with the therapist based on Joel and Kathy's teachings and she became more entrenched in her entitlement and belief that the world completely revolves around her and her whims. Now that my wife has refused therapy and counseling, she actually has become violent and volatile and now we are getting a divorce. Thanks Joel and Kathy for using your lies and deceit, or at the very least lack of education, to destroy my marriage. You made a bad situation worse by allowing my wife to feel okay in her mental illness. Please Please stay away from this cult, it is nothing more than that. If you do read there books, please examine every scripture they present in its entirety, don't believe them when they say discount or dismiss certain verses that don't go along with their belief, and if they say that the meaning of a greek word is x then it is probably y so examine the meanings of the greek for yourself and you will see very quickly how wrong they are.
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